Saturday Rantings

OK, it's my Saturday to donate time I will never get back. Yes, I'm at work. One tech, no luber. What a waste. But, on the bright side, I can catch up on some paper work, explore the 'net, and generally waste time. Here goes...

Sammy Sanchez took the Gold at the men's road race at the Olympic Games. I sure didn't see that one coming. David Rebellin took silver, and my boy Fabian Cancellara fly up from the chase to take bronze. I hear the heat and humidity were ungodly.

On the diabetes front, there sure are a ton of studies coming down that favor fats and such over carbs a way to combat diabetes. Seems the ADA pyramid suggests we type 2's eat lots of whole grain based starches. From what most make of this is that combating heart disease first and combating blood sugar with drugs is secondary. Now many doctors and researchers are trying to defuse this theory. And it's all just theory it seems to me.

Way back in the late 1900's, E P Joslin was helping people control their glucose levels with a diet of 70% fats and 10% carbohydrates. It worked well, in fact his own mother reversed her diabetes with his methods. Along came Canadian (those damned Cannucks-ha ha!) Frederick Benting with insulin. Soon the low carb fell out of favor due to insulin being effective for those with poorly disciplined eating habits. And there in is the rub. Injecting insulin is a trial and error process. You never know exactly how much to take due to all the variables involved. Diet, exercise etc. change from day to day.

Me, I take Lantus, a 24 hour dose in the a.m., to maintain my glucose level daily. A metformin in the a.m. and p.m., along with Byetta at the same times help also. For me, with my lifestyle, this is a crude form of control, in my humble opinion. My usual dosage of Lantus is 33 units. But if I'm going on a 4 hour ride, I'll cut it back to 20 units, or so. If it's a morning ride, I skip the Byetta. It's stomach emptying control gives me heartburn under hard exertion, so I don't take it if I'll be riding shortly after breakfast.

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, when there is nothing left to say or do, when the last dog is hung, exercise and weight loss are the key for me. The effects of an epic ride last for a couple of days, in that my blood sugar stays fairly low mo matter what I eat. But I just don't have the time to ride every day, and effort changes, too. A 4 hour spin is different than an hour of hill repeats. It does appear in my case, the longer the duration of the exercise, the longer the positive effect is on my glucose levels. But life throws in too many curve balls when your a fast ball hitter. What's my plan, you ask? I'm working on it. More details Monday.