Sobe Wisdom Misses The Mark

The other day, my hubby and I were watching a movie. I opened up a Sobe Lean Green Tea (which I love) and set the cap on the seat next to me. He picked it up, read the inside of the cap and started laughing. I grabbed it and discovered these bits of wisdom printed in the lid:


We were laughing so hard at the irony of a diabetic getting this advice. The marketing geniuses over at Sobe that came up with this "wisdom" definitely don't have diabetes. That also goes for the executives who approved it to be printed on the caps of their sugar-free drinks.

Carb counting consumes my life, as it should all diabetics lives. When I say consume, I don't mean in a negative, overbearing way, but carb counting is necessary for survival.

I think this incident proves that the general public is not educated enough on diabetes. I'm sure Sobe's marketing team is good at what they do; Sobe is a very popular brand. But if they're going to market a sugar-free drink, they should realized that diabetics are going to drink it. And diabetics count carbs.

Soy's Link To Hypothyroidism: It Almost Happened To Me

The past few months have been a bit rough on me. You see, last October my doctor told me I wasn't getting enough protein. Naturally, being a vegetarian, I upped my soy intake to solve the problem.

My December diabetes lab tests showed I was developing Hypothyroidism. The results were still in the "normal" range, but borderline. My doctor suggested that we redo the tests in January to see if it would get any worse.

Two weeks went by and my husband randomly read a blurb in Men's Health magazine that soy may inhibit thyroid hormone and cause Hypothyroidism. I instantly cut out all soy from my diet, and my January lab tests came back normal!

I am completely shocked that my Endocrinologist was not aware of this soy/Hypothyroidism relationship. Diabetics have a higher incidence of developing thyroid disorders than non-diabetics so this is crucial knowledge for diabetic vegetarians. I would think all Endocrinologists would tell their patients, specifically their vegetarian patients, about the risk of eating too much soy.

This experience confirms my philosophy that doctors do not know it all. While I respect them and understand how vital they are to helping me maintain my health, I am truly my own best advocate. I believe all diabetics need to research their diseases and symptoms as much as possible, and stay actively involved in the health care decisions that many people just let doctors make for them.

Having family and friends who are aware of your diabetes and are looking out for you is also an important part of staying healthy too. If it weren't for my husband having his eyes open, I'd probably be starting a lifetime of thyroid medication right now.

Mission: Accomplished

Six weeks, in the grand scheme of things, is a relatively brief period of time. I thought the past six weeks of tackling the Special K 6-week Challenge would be excruciating, but they've surprisingly sped by.

I did it! Here's the stats.

• Days on the diet: 42
  
• Bowls of Special K: 84, give or take a few. (Cut me some slack. No one can resist pizza when everyone at work is eating it.)
  
• Pounds lost in the 1st 3 weeks: 4
  
• Pounds lost in the 2nd 3 weeks: 0
  
• Blood sugar changes: My BGs are consistently landing near my targets and are much more stable!

This challenge was easy. Even more importantly, I've learned tremendously from this experience. What did I learn?

• Small meals do wonders for my blood sugar. I'm going to stick to just 1 normal meal a day, with 4 mini meals.
  
• Mini meals between 15-25 grams of carbs seem to work best.
  
• My carb counting skills and my insulin dosages have been honed to near perfection. When your BGs are stable all day, you can get a better reading on how accurate you are with that normal meal for dinner.

Will I continue eating Special K every day? Probably not. But I do still like Special K. I plan to do my best with sticking to mini meals. The good thing is I know I can always count on that crunchy cereal if I fall off the wagon and need to start over, which will almost certainly happen.