Back To Routines And Blogging

Trying to get back into the swing of things for the new year. No "new year, new me". Just trying to get back into a routine and improve on things from there. I went with quick and easy rather than healthy for meals, except dinner, this week. Breakfast is shop bought soup with gf & df bread and Violife df cheese alternative. As usual, I have a late morning snack of fruit. This week's dinner consists of Carb Lover's Cauliflower (above) with a dish called Sea Bass en Papillote - both from The Paleo Diet Cookbook. Supper is gf & df bread rolls with cheese, gf sausages and gf black and white puddings.
It's tricky to manage my blood sugar in the middle of the day because the carbs in the dinners are slower acting. I'm trying testing and dosing after eating. I had a low that took a while longer than expected to come up from recently. Then I ended up above 20 even a couple of hours after taking insulin because of thinking I could have an extra snack after the low. So preventing the low should negate the need to eat for a low and risk bouncing back to being too high. I'll monitor the strategy and see how it works out.
It's difficult to motivate myself to trying to improve life outside of my regular routines. I get into habits that free my mind temporarily from what's going on around me and end up procrastinating and wasting a lot of time that could be spent doing constructive things. Indeed today I didn't get out of bed until after 11am, despite waking at 8, because of looking at social media and youtube videos on my phone. As a result I didn't start writing this blog until the evening despite normally publishing posts before 4pm. Part of that is a mental thing, probably triggered by being autoimmine. I'm lonely too. I'd love to have a female companion in my life to keep me happy and motivated. But solving that problem requires stepping out of my comfort zone. Something I can't drive myself to do at the moment. My mental health isn't too bad though, but there's still a lot of room for improvement.
The other issue going on is slight joint pain. Nothing major, bearable brief flashes from certain movements. Probably because I'm low in vitamin D. Must look into supplements. I intend speaking to the doctor about it as a precaution when I go to get my diabetes prescription renewed later this month.
That's what's going on at the moment. I just wanted to put something here to get back in the habit of posting this year. I might put a bit more thought into next week's.

Garlic Chicken with Vegetables

This is a nice dish that I had for dinner this week. I normally can't digest legumes but green beans are different. I like them, they are less bean and more stalk. Throw some spinach, sweet potato and parsnips on the plate as well and before you know it the plate is overflowing with a fine hefty meal. They can be buttery sweet when you use ghee but animal fat is also an option. I went with animal fat this week because I don't have ghee. Still lovey though, and the juices from the chicken help to caramelise the vegetables during cooking. The skin of the chicken is a crisp golden brown when cooked and the meat falls off the bone when you're eating it (off of the hands is best for the chicken part instead of a knife & fork - make sure to keep paper towels nearby if you're a messy eater). The image shows it before it goes in the oven. The recipe says an oven proof glass baking dish but I only have a ceramic one which is close enough as far as I'm concerned.

Garlic Chicken with Vegetables

Serves 4

Utensils:
glass oven proof baking dish

Ingredients:
1.5 medium onions halved then quartered
2 carrots cut into 2.5cm (1") rounds
100g (3.5oz) celery cut into 5cm (2") pieces
140g (5oz) green beans, ends trimmed and halved crosswise
3 tbsp ghee or animal fat
2 tsp rosemary
3 tsp sea salt
8 chicken thighs
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp chopped thyme

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F/Gas 6).
Combine the vegetables, 1 tablespoon of ghee, the rosemary and  1 teaspoon of sea salt in a large bowl. Transfer to the baking dish and spread in an even layer.
Using the same bowl, toss together the chicken, remaining 2 teaspoons of salt, garlic, thyme and remaining 2 tablespoons of ghee.
Distribute the chicken evenly on top of the vegetables in the baking dish. Bake in the middle shelf for 1 hour.

Credit: Healthy Gut Cookbook by Gavin Pritchard & Maya Gangadharan. 

Rash, Health & Food Diary

I was going to do another recipe today, and I still might in another post, and I was also going to talk about stuff that I'll get to anyway. But this came up and I thought I might as well blog about it. I was writing in another blog I have going earlier today and I felt an itch on my cheek. I scratched the irritation. I thought it might be a spot or something and took no notice until I was going to apply sudocreme. When I looked in the mirror I noticed that it was like a big red rash on my cheek. It looked much worse than it felt and looks worse than it is in the picture. I put sudocreme on it anyway. That stuff is great for helping the skin to heal. I don't know exactly what the rash is or what caused it. I suspect it might be an autoimmune flare up of some sort. I ate out for lunch on Monday but I didn't feel any ill effects from that so I doubt it's that but you never know. I was also eating gluten free and dairy free fruit flavoured ice pops for dessert last week. My sugars were a bit higher than usual because of them. I didn't think to link them to the rash because it was last week and I thought it'd be a more immediate flare if it was them. Again, you never know! I've heard of people with autoimmune diseases having all sorts of skin flare ups anyway. No point in going to a doctor because I'm not sick, there's a possibility he'd put me on antibiotics if a creamy pus developed and I don't like taking antibiotics, and, he'd probably prescribe a cream which would do the exact same thing sudocreme is already doing - helping it heal. I'd like it if general practitioners took a more open and holistic approach to healing and treating illness instead of just treating the symptoms with drugs until something is way more serious than just applying a cream or taking medicine.
That got me thinking. I was watching "The Zoo" on television the other day and they were dealing with sick and healthy animals. I don't know if I touched on this before but I'll mention it anyway. When an animal is sick they go by behaviour, energy levels and diet. I sometimes wish I could be examined and treated with a vet-like approach. It looks more natural. The animal is treated in a way that they live their life as normal with treatment in the least invasive way possible. When we humans go to a doctor we're not asked about diet unless we have an ailment or illness that specifically affects our digestive system. I saw a post on instagram recently about a woman who is autoimmune and following AIP. Her husband and children are not restricted in their diet. The woman managed to avoid getting the flu when the rest of her family got it. A lot of AIP posts cover the link between gut, brain, immune system and mental health. I don't have the luxury of someone to help me get started or coach me through AIP so it's hard to get the drive to start. I see a dietitian because of diabetes and coeliac disese but that's once every six months and I'm just another patient in that scenario. Very little in the way of a personal approach. It'd be nice to afford a personal approach to my diet and health with the help of a nutritionist and AIP or lifestyle coach. I think that I'll just have to try and learn to be a substitute for those things for myself.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that I'm keeping a food and wellness diary. I started this week and am doing it as a practice run for the new year. I have a 2019 diary that I hardly wrote in that I'm now using for the practice run. I also bought a 2020 diary for the real run. The hope is to be able to link certain foods with certain dietary problems and eliminate them, to link certain eating patterns with mental health issues and alter them accordingly and to log my blood sugars and insulin intake to be able to show a dietitian without having to print off the readings from my glucometer. The diabetic nurse can link my glucometer to her computer and print off the data so I don't need any visual eveidence for her. But the dietitian can't do that as easily so keeping them with a food diary will make life easier for her, I hope.
All in all the hope is to take a more proactive and positive approach to how my diet and lifestyle affects my overall well being.

Chicken Ratatouille With A Twist

Before I get into this recipe I want to say that I often deliberately eliminate nightshades and dairy products from recipes and replace them with something else. Although I eat gluten free pizza which has tomato sauce and cheese and I sometimes eat crisps which are, obviously, made from potatoes. It is also optional to use ghee in the dish. This is based on the Winter Ratatouille variation of the Chicken Vegetable Ratatouille recipe in the (credit) Healthy Gut Cookbook by Gavin Pritchard and Maya Gangadharan. I have highlighted green pepper, aubergine and tomatoes in the book with highlighter marker as nightshade ingredients to avoid. That is why I only go for the Winter Ratatouille variation when I make this dish. But that also has tomatoes which brings me to the twist I put on it which is small oranges instead of tomatoes. It meant I had a fruity ingredient and didn't have to use lemon juice as stated in the book. You'd expect small orange segments to add sweetness to the dish but I found that it gave an actual fruity bitterness that actually complimented the vegetable sweetness of the butternut squash ingredient. I'm not saying you might like it but it certainly appealed to my taste buds. It's a fine dinner on its own but I had a side plate of sweet potato, parsnips and spinach for greens with it. So overall it's a fine warm, very filling dinner to get your teeth into in the winter. I eat the chicken off my hands so have a place to put the bones and plenty of paper towels to wipe your face when things get sloppy.

Here's my take on the recipe:

Chicken Ratatouille with a twist

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 chicken legs
1 tsp sea salt
1 litre (1.75 pints) home-made chicken stock
115g (4oz) diced onion or chopped leeks (white part of leeks only)
4 chopped garlic cloves
1 carrot sliced into rounds
225g (8oz) halved cremini mushrooms
280g (9.5oz) diced butternut squash
350g (12oz) small easy peeler orange segments
10g (0.25oz) chopped flat-leaf parsley*
10g (0.25oz) chopped basil leaves*
60ml (2fl oz) ghee or animal fat

Method:
Place the chicken in a large, deep frying pan and season with sea salt. Add chicken stock to cover about two-thirds of the chicken. Place over a medium-high heat.
When the stock begins to simmer cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add the onion or leeks, garlic, carrot, mushrooms, butternut squash and orange segments. Cover and cook for 20 more minutes.
Remove from the heat, add the parsley, basil and ghee and stir.

*Tip: I get 50g cartons of chopped herbs in Aldi to save me time. They are in the freezer section and must be kept frozen at home. They have parsley, basil, coriander leaf (cilantro) and I can also get chopped ginger root. So if you can get them it might save a bit of time in the preparation process.

Job Interview, Work Life Balance & Diabetes

I have a job interview tomorrow. Assuming I get the job it'll initially add anxiety and stress to my life. I'll have to arrange transport to and from work. I don't have a car. I'll have to work Monday to Friday while training. That'll be awkward for meal planning and meal preparation. Managing my blood sugar and having to explain to non-coeliacs about cross contamination are other issues I have to overcome to stay healthy. Then there's the anxiety and stress of fitting in to a new job and the pressure to do the job right as well as having to be around and get used to new people. I won't be disappointed if I don't get the job for all these reasons.
If I do get offered the job and they want me to do a rotating shift cycle I won't take the job. I can't do shifts anymore because my health is more important than compromising it for any job. The reason I applied is because it's for weekends, Saturday and Sunday. Two 12-hour shifts is fine because I have Monday to Friday to myself. I worked Friday to Sunday 8am-8pm in a previous job and it suited me. Ideally I'd like to condense a work week into a maximum of three days for a better work/life balance. It doesn't matter what three days as long as it's the same three days in a row every week. This job I'm being interviewed for is better because it's two. It means I don't have to give up my weekly routines and can adjust my meal prep from Sunday to Wednesday for my previous job to Friday to Monday when I start weekends. I don't know what I'll do for Thursdays and Fridays of the training period but I'll figure something out if necessary.
The extra money would be very handy, improving my lifestyle, and I could potentially be driving which means more mobility in my free time. Grocery shopping would be much faster too and might give me more time for food prep for an even healthier diet. To make up for walking less I could probably take up a martial art like I've been thinking (and procrastinating) about  for a long time. So there are pros and cons to this job. I'll see which outweighs the other before taking it if offered.
I've noticed my blood sugar lowering now that the weather is colder. The body probably using more energy to stay warm. I've reduced my breakfast insulin from five back to four. I went low before dinner yesterday just from going out and about getting things done, even though I already reduced breakfast insulin to four units and ate my usual late morning fruit snack. Just felt it as I was testing myself. I snacked going to the shop and coming back last night and it worked. I knew if I didn't I'd go low again. I like having something to munch on coming back from the shop anyway so I liked that I had the excuse to snack without insulin. Nothing of any significance on the coeliac side of things but that's a good thing.

Eating Out And Night Walking Sugar Plummet

Visitors came from America during the week. There was a bit of a get together in Ballybunion. We ate in a place called Coast. I had an open tuna sandwich with toasted gluten free bread. There was no reaction, which was excellent. So I might eat there again if ever I need to eat out in Ballybunion in future.
A few days beforehand I went for a quick trip to the shop after supper. I was above 10 when I tested before supper so I took one extra unit of insulin on top of my usual supper dose. What I was looking for wasn't in the nearest shop so I went to where I knew I could get it. As I approached the second shop I could feel that I was low. This was probably less than an hour after my blood sugar read above 10 and after eating supper. I took a few glucose tablets before going in and tested myself outside the shop after I had bought what I needed and a snack to munch on. I was still 3.5 after the glucose tablets so I don't know how low I actually went when it felt like my legs were turning to jelly before taking them. If I hadn't gone out walking while it was dark I might have been above 6 when testing before Lantus three hours after supper. Whatever it is about walking in the dark, my blood sugar always seems to plummet. Hardly ever falls that fast during the day. I also only had one strip to test myself so I had to go by how my body felt for deciding when it was ok to walk home. I'll have to be cautious of going walking during the winter nights.