The Oatmeal Experiment

For the first two weeks of January I tried a dietary experiment by eating half a cup of sugarfree oatmeal for breakfast every day for seven days, and then other things every day on the following week. The other meals I had were all according to my diabetic diet, so breakfast was the only thing I changed. I tested my blood sugar every morning, and here are my numbers.

The Week of Oatmeal

1/1: 132
1/2: 133
1/3: 112
1/4: 113
1/5: 115
1/6: 117
1/7: 127

Average: 121

The Week of Other Things (usually zero sugar yogurt or a whole grain English muffin)

1/8: 124
1/9: 125
1/10: 109
1/11: 143
1/12: 116
1/13: 108
1/14: 132

Average: 122

There are a couple of things to take away from this experiment. I started out the year with (for me) high blood sugar, which I know was partly due to holiday stress and partly to the fact I wasn't able to exercise. Once I got calmed down and back to my regular routine, my blood sugar dropped to the 112 to 117 range, which is where I usually land if I'm doing and eating everything I should. It could be lower, of course, but it's not horrible.

Not eating oatmeal during the second week didn't much affect my average, but it had me bouncing around a lot daily on the blood sugar scale. Disclaimer: the one morning I tested at 143 was another anomaly; I'd had a sore throat the night before and drank some lemon herbal tea with honey to soothe it. Honey is great for a sore throat, but of course jacks up my blood sugar.

During the week I did eat oatmeal, I noticed a couple of other side effects. I didn't have any indigestion, which tends to be a problem for me toward the end of the day. I seemed to sleep a little longer at night. I also wasn't as hungry, so I didn't eat as much and also lost a couple of pounds (which I promptly put back on during the week I didn't eat oatmeal.)

End result: I'm not convinced that oatmeal actually lowers my blood sugar, but it does seem to keep it more stable. Oatmeal also fills me up, which helps me avoid overeating during lunch and dinner. So I'm going back on sugarfree oatmeal daily for breakfast, but now and then I will have yogurt or an English muffin if I want to break up the monotony.

Fell Off the Wagon

I did cut up that plastic dollar tote to make into something stronger, but got caught up with work and set it aside. Then last night some hand-dyed silk and pretty threads called my name, and, well . . . Felt SO good to do some handwork, except my neck began hurting about an hour into it. I tried changing the way I sit and work, but it's pretty obvious that the doc is right.

Old Loves & Such

My guy kindly bought me my favorite Chinese take out the other night, and my fortune cookie offered up an interesting story starter: This sounds sweet, right? Only the first thing I thought of was an old love coming back from the dead . . . . must be October. In other lovely news, my favorite hand-dyed thread artist, Lorraine from Colour Complements , is moving her business from Etsy to her own web site. Many of my favorite sellers on Etsy are leaving due to the whole "free shipping" coercion debacle, which has also soured me on the site. To show support I did a little shopping at Lorraine's web site and got in these: I love her threads and trims; you simply can't buy anything like them anywhere. Her work makes my specialty thread box look like a treasure chest: At night I'm spending just as hour working on quilting the scrap project runner, and I'm making slow progress: I'll keep quilting the runner while I try to decide on a design for t...

T-minus Day

This was our little Thanksgiving dinner last year, when it was just the three of us. Time keeps whittling down my favorite holiday; this year it will be just me and my guy, and we likely won't even have a turkey.* That will be a first in 35 years. I feel about Thanksgiving the way other people do about Christmas, and while it's a lot of work it's my favorite holiday. Of all the Thanksgivings I've had in the past sixty years, only three were truly terrible: one when I was a kid that I don't talk about (#1 most miserable); the time I roasted two turkeys together and hosted fifteen people whom I cooked for and served with zero help (the largest and #2 most miserable); and the one I spent in basic training (the #3 most miserable.) I have no pictures of any of those, thank heavens. In addition to doing all the cooking I'm the one who takes all the pictures, washes all the dishes and puts away all the leftovers. I suppose no one else cares because to them it...

nightsmusic said…

While hubs is not a diabetic, he's noticed he stays fuller during the day after a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast as well. I have oatmeal occasionally, but not as often as I should. My mother was a Scot. I ate a lot of porridge growing up. A lot. Of porridge...

January 17, 2023 at 11:41 AM

Valerean

Search This Blog