An Education That Could Have Just Saved My Life

As I blogged yesterday, last week I had the opportunity to spend some time at the Center for Diabetes Management.  Much of my time was spent with Jennifer, one of the Health System's Dietitians and a Nutritionist for Healthier Eating. 

Talk about time very well spent, WOW!  I learned that my daily intake of Carbohydrates could actually kill me.  As an example, I go to the gym on Saturday mornings and workout for about an hour and a half.  I then come home for what I thought was a hardy, but healthy breakfast.  I would have a smoothie with a half of banana, a handful of raspberries, blackberries, blue berries, strawberries, OJ and yogurt.  I would then have a bowl of cereal with the other half of the banana.  I would round out my "healthy" breakfast with a whole grain muffin with peanut butter.  Total servings of carbs for that one meal was about 13.  The maximum about for me should have been 4.  That's right, four servings of 15 grams of carbohydrates per meal, and I was eating three times that amount.  Sure there are healthy items that I was eating, but far too many carbs.  Carbs turn to glucose, which is an energy source for your body and is something that your body needs.  My body needs to have the same amount of carbohydrates at about the same time every day. 

So being in a pre-Diabetic state as I blogged about yesterday, my pancreas may not be functioning properly forcing my blood glucose levels to get too high.  As a result, I need to control my blood glucose levels through my food intake and balance my carbs accordingly.  The hope is that I caught all of this in time.  Since last Thursday's educational session, I have changed how I eat, dramatically reducing my carb intake.   Another example of a high number of carbs that I found amazing is a baked potato.  A large baked potato with nothing on it is four servings of carbs for one meal, which would be the max for me.  Add to that all of the dressings for that baked potato, a vegetable, a roll or two, a cocktail before and / or during dinner and the carbs keep adding up.  

I told Jennifer that I was blown away with the information that she shared with me.  I thought that I had a good understanding of healthy eating, but actually, I didn't have a clue.  I would strongly suggest that everyone gain a much better understanding of carbohydrates and what they can do for you as well as what they can do to you.