THE TRAINS ARE PACKED, LIFE GOES ON….

Steve:  Does this mean, (hopefully), that you won't have to perform a D.I.Y. on this?   Thank goodness if you do not.  Bob S.

Good news Steve.

Thanks Joe. Bob back in February my doctor who is also a friend told me that I had type 2 diabetes. I was 320lbs and had other medical issues to deal with. He told me to change everything…… To make a long story short…. I lost 50 lbs. in 12 weeks walking and eating the right foods. You can bet your --- I going to do the job with some help from my son. STRONG LIKE BULL…… I am now 268 lbs. my goal is to loose a total of 100 lbs. by February 2016……..

Good for you Steve.  Let's talk off the forum.  I'd like to discuss with you about how you are doing everything.  Bob

Steve,

 

Congradulations keep up you weigh loss program, my wife and I walk 1.5 miles each day ,weather permitting, year round for years, were are both 65. Occassionally we have fast food and drink water, coffee, tea and limited soda. Watch your sugar and salt intake just as the doctor says I use black pepper as seasoning. Do not get discouraged about the rate of weight loss, you lost about 4 pounds per week starting out, from my experience, the initial wieght loss per week was quicker than subsequent rates per week, you set a target weight and will achieve it.    

Steve, I also have type 2 diabetes and was at 316 pounds. I've only lost 15 pounds, but I've started walking and cut out bread and potatoes, switched from diet sodas to water and diet fruit juices. It's hard to break old habits, but once you do, be careful not to slowly creep back into them. I have to be on guard all the time to keep from reaching for a soda instead of water. To make things worse, all the meds the Doctors have given me make me tired. I have to force myself to do anything other than sleep.

I'm happy to hear the roof issue will be fixed, but sad to hear about the diabetes. Hope everything goes well.

Hello guys and gals.....

 

How does diet soda affect diabetes? I am type 2 and lost 40 pounds so far. My A1C is down from 6.8 to 5.8% as of April of this year. I have been extercising a lot lately.

 

Tiffany 

Tiffany those are great numbers.  Don't let up.   Steve

thank you, it is not easy I really had to work hard to do that. I do jogging, walking ,bike

riding and jumping jacks. It is very tiring doing that everyday. I was trying to get it down

to maybe 5.0% or so but dont know if that is even possible.

 

Tiffany

Technically speaking, diet sodas don't have "sugars" or carbs in the sense that regular sodas and carb-heavy foods have.  So diet sodas won't directly affect your blood sugar like a regular soda would (big-time).  HOWEVER, most dieticians would rather see you drink water... because the medical community has conflicting opinions as to potentially harmful affects artificial sweeteners have on our bodies.  Maybe in another 10 years we'll have a better picture. 

 

For now... every diabetes seminar I've attended at the local hospital and wellness center always offers diet sodas during the seminar breaks.    OTOH, I also watch the dieticians roll their eyes every time they see the diet sodas on the table at these events.  Again... not because of the blood sugar issue, but rather the whole artificial sweeteners thing in general.  Go figure!!! 

 

BTW, great job on the A1C.  5.8 is excellent for a diabetic!  Normal for non-diebetics is 4 to 5.6, but you should check with your doctor as to what is a good target A1C for you.  Best of luck on your journey!!!  Diabetes has affected far too many toy train enthusiasts (among others) I've known... and hopefully we'll see a day in the future where this disease can be completely managed/cured without unanticipated complications for everyone so afflicted.  So for now, we watch what we eat very closely and stay active.    I hope to be as lucky as both my aunt and uncle (on my Mom's side of the family) who lived well into their 80's with Type 2 diabetes.  They watched their diet carefully for years.

 

Hope you get a chance to read this before these posts fall prey to the moderator's delete key. 

 

David

It's just like David said. My doctors have all recommended that I stay away from any soda, diet or not. Diet sodas may be fine and safe, but when my doctor tells me not to drink them, I take his advice. I'd rather be safe than risk it.

Hello Rocky Mountianeer

 

Thank you, i just read it and shame on me as i had diet mt. Dew today.  I have seen 

Chipset's picture in th forum and seems to be in poor health perhaps he has diabetes 

too. He seems to be a nice man. Is there many forum members here that have diabetes?

 

Tiffany

Diet sodas can be addictive.  You get a sweetener, but your body is not satisfied because of the artificial sweeteners.  Then your body and mind crave more foods to make up for the lack of  something fulfilling.

 

On a side note, I used to drink a lot of soda.  Did it for years and years.  I also suffered terribly form GERD (acid reflux).  I reached a point in my life where I wanted to end my life rather than put up with the extreme pain of the GERD.  I stopped drinking soda, and my GERD episodes dropped from twice nightly to perhaps, almost never.  I also cut out the main stay of my life, since I have been able to eat on my own, sandwiches with processed meats.  I have eaten more sandwiches and have consumed more sodas than perhaps ten people.

 

Tiffany, please stay away from the DEW.  Ir has been shown to be amongst the most addictive of the sodas.

Great thread, I'm glad it evolved this way. Most doctors will talk about 6,000 steps per day.  1 Hour to 2 hours at the most.  If you got the time, may be the cheapest medicine you can get. IMO.   Very good walking shoes and patience   I'm very fortunate to have a small, limited access, county park, a few miles from my home. 

Best restaurant advice, maybe, IMO. Ask for that glass of water and do a refill

Healthy people make better model railroaders.

Mike CT    

Hi Steve,

 

Great news on the roof !!!!!

 

As for your health, stay totally away from any type of soda. That's all I drink is water or seltzer. I do cardio 3 times a week and I workout 5 days a week. Great to hear your doing good!!!!

 

Alex

Steve, nice to learn your health is improving.

Steve;

Don't drink to much diet soda! I have type 2 diabetes too. I was up to 260lps. Cut back to 1 can of diet soda a day. I am now down to 205 and off my diabetes medicine. Diet soda has aspertame in it and it will make you gain weight like crazy.

What a timely and thoughtful thread this turned out to be.  Yet we are still all lovers of trains!

 

P.S. Bob, I get a kick out of your reference "Go Ask Alice" 

It is now well known that the consumption of diet sodas has serious adverse health effects. Here are some brief summaries from recent studies.

 

More evidence that diet soda contributes to weight gain, not weight loss

A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that people who drank diet soda gained almost triple the abdominal fat over nine years as those who didn’t drink diet soda. The study analyzed data from 749 people ages 65 and older who were asked, every couple of years, how many cans of soda they drank a day, and how many of those sodas were diet or regular.

Those answers ended up being extremely predictive of abdominal-fat gain, even after the researchers adjusted for factors like diabetes, smoking and levels of physical activity. People who didn’t drink diet soda gained about 0.8 in. around their waists over the study period, but people who drank diet soda daily gained 3.2 in. Those who fell in the middle — occasional drinkers of diet soda — gained about 1.8 in.

That change in waist circumference is especially concerning because it highlights an unfortunate truth about weight distribution: the belly is a bad place for extra pounds. The kind that pads the abs from the inside, called visceral fat, is associated with increased cardiovascular disease, inflammation and Type 2 diabetes.

These results, which the study authors call “striking,” add to the growing body of evidence that no- and low-calorie sweeteners may come with health concerns. Though scientists are still puzzling through the mechanisms by which diet soda seems to have the unintended consequence of weight gain, they have some ideas. Sugar-free sodas contain substances that sweeten up soda at 200-600 times the sweetness of sugar.

“Regular sugar has caloric consequences,” says the study’s senior author Dr. Helen Hazuda, professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. And one of those is that it triggers satiety — a sense of fullness or satisfaction. “Your body is used to knowing that a sweet taste means you are ingesting energy in the form of calories that, if you don’t burn them off, is going to convert to fat,” she says. Artificial sweeteners, however, confuse our bodies and weaken the link in our brains between sweetness and calories. That, Hazuda says, can lead to weight gain and cravings for sweeter and sweeter treats. 

There may be something else at work. A recent study in mice showed that artificial sweeteners actually changed the gut bacteria of mice in ways that made them vulnerable to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance — both of which can lead to weight gain. And other mice research suggests that artificial sweeteners are associated with a drop in the appetite-regulating hormone leptin, Hazuda says. Leptin is the hormone that inhibits hunger.

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Evidence suggests people who consume diet drinks containing calorie-free artificial sweeteners may be at risk for excessive weight gain, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Another review published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine notes that several large studies found artificial use is indeed associated with weight gain.

 

Consuming diet drinks is associated with behaviors that can lead to weight gain. The author of the review published in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine reports that artificial sweeteners interfere with the normal food reward pathway in your brain, and because diet soda tastes sweet it can lead to sugar cravings and sugar addiction. Diet soda doesn't give your body energy or fill you up, often leaving you craving calories and sweet foods.

Diet sodas may not affect your sugars but plenty of that Carmel colored water does affect your kidneys over the long run. Eater esp with fresh lemon juice or a lemon garnishment helps flush out your kidneys.

IC - Thanks.  The reference has several special meanings in my life.  I call my wife my tiny Alice sometimes, and we often refer to the original story.  Then, there were those old Jefferson Starship White Rabbit days of the late seventies and all the accouterments of the times.  

 

Finally, one of our nicest forum members, Nicole, now gone from us, and I used to refer to the Alice, White Rabbit in our off site communications quite often.  Ask anyone about Nicole, and they will tell you she was a fine lady and is sorely missed.  

 

Bob S.

 

Sorry Steve for sneaking this into your thread.  I didn't mean any harm.   Bob

Steve,

   Glad to hear your health has improved, let us know when you start to rebuild!

PCRR/Dave