Sugar Sugar.............

Ron is at the hospital having is PET scan this morning.  I'm at work.  The sun is shining and that is reason enough to be happy.

My daughters and I are going to a paint and palette class tomorrow night.  I'm not a painter or an artist of any kind but both of my daughters are quite talented.  I'm looking forward to the evening.  I've never painted anything other than a wall so it will be interesting to see what my picture will look like.

I can't believe I've been able to get my fear under control.  I'm grateful but surprised considering how scared  I was last week when I heard the spot  in his lung had grown.  But I'm better today and I just don't let myself think too far ahead.  I think that is going to be key to getting through this.  Just deal with the here and now and take it step as it comes.

The fact that I'm feeling so much better physically has really helped me I think.   I can’t believe I never made the connection between sugar and joint pain.  I am learning that there is a direct connection between sugar, inflammation and joint pain.  

I have been in constant pain for the past two years from joint pain in my hips and back.  I have tried everything from physical therapy to purchasing ergonomic cushions for my chairs.  I’ve consciously worked to improve my posture and taken all the supplements recommended to reduce joint pain.  I had pretty much given up on finding relief.

So, I decided to work on lowering my blood sugar in response to my diabetes.  I started following the Atkins diet.  

In the Induction phase your carbohydrate intake is reduced to 20 – 25 net carbs per day.   The first thing I noticed within one week was my blood sugar readings dropped dramatically, almost in the normal range and then the second thing was I dropped 15 pounds after two weeks.  But within the next two weeks my hip pain had all but diminished and my back pain is greatly improved. I couldn’t believe that the 15 pound weight loss was the only thing contributing to my decrease in pain so I started researching the effects of sugar on joints.   There is considerable information on the subject and I was shocked that I had never heard of it before.  Maybe I had but wasn’t ready to initiate a change in diet.

As we know, inflammation is the immune system's healthy response to restore the affected area to normal following an injury, irritation or infection. However, in response to high sugar intake, which includes simple carbohydrates, the body is flooded with insulin and stress hormones. These inundate your blood supply triggering the inflammation process which creates stress and pain on your organs and joints. The less sugar you eat, the less inflammation experienced, and the stronger the immune system will be to protect the body from infectious and degenerative diseases.

So, I'm now a believer.........I just have to keep it up and believe me it is hard.  They say you finally quit craving carbohydrates but so far that hasn't happened for me.  I have to constantly resist them.  I hope that gets better.  

Right now I'm just grateful that I feel so much better.  I think that is giving me the strength I need to get through what may come next.