Recipe: QT's "Cures-What-Ails-Ya" Lemon-Garlic Chicken Soup

Okay, so I'm kinda fighting-off some sorta mild plague right now.  I'm not "down for the count" or anything like that, but I've got the whole sluggish, achy, "my face feels tired," can't-decide-if-I'm-hot-or-cold thing kickin'...

BLAH!

I headed out to the grocery store, last week, and loaded up on "Comfort Foods" (krep my momma used to feed me when I was sick): Chicken and Stars Soup, Tomato Soup, White Bread and American Cheese ('cause ya GOTTA have grilled-cheese-sammiches with Cream of Tomato Soup!), Goldfish Crackers, Chicken-in-a-Biskit Crackers and Spray Cheese! (Do NOT read the ingredients list on this sh*t - unless you really want to make yourself sick!)

In short:  All of the overly-processed, mega-sodium krep that my body *really* hates!  I "binged" for a couple of days - but now my body is saying "WTF?!" (and skin is starting to flare-up - Oooops!) so I gotta dial-it-back to more "NATURAL" stuff.

Okay, so here is a DELICIOUS soup that I threw-together this afternoon.  It's "mostly" home-made (with some cheater-additions - to keep it simple).

QT's "Cures-What-Ails-Ya" Lemon-Garlic Chicken Soup

Ingredients and Instructions are all crammed-together for this one:

- 4 stalks celery, chopped (include some leafy-tops)

- 1 cup onion, chopped

- 4 carrots, chopped

- 5 cloves fresh garlic, minced

- 2-3 TBS Olive Oil

Grease your dutch oven with olive oil (I had Lemon-infused and Lime-infused, I used 'em both - appx 2 TBS worth) (Or you could use Garlic-infused) (Or use whatever-the-hell-you've-got!).  Saute on medium-low, 'til the onions and celery are limp and translucent.  Next up:

- Baby Spinach - couple fistfuls

- Fresh white mushrooms, sliced

- Poultry seasoning

Rinse about a cup (or two) of baby spinach

Slice a few fresh, white mushrooms (maybe a cup's worth - after they're sliced).

Add spinach and 'shrooms to the other sauteed veggies, stir until soft.  Dash in a few shakes of Poultry seasoning (I used Grill-Mates Montreal Chicken Seasoning).

Next...

- 32 oz low-sodium chicken broth

- 1 regular can of cream of mushroom soup

- 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Add a carton of chicken-broth, a can of cream of mushroom soup (+ a can of water).  Toss in the rosemary sprigs.

Next...

- 1 Grocery-store Rotisserie chicken (mine was "Lemon-Pepper" seasoned - but that's a moot point since I strip the skin off of it), discombobulated/chopped

- 2 fresh lemons, juiced.

- Couple-three dashes of Tabasco sauce (optional - if you're into the whole "Hot 'n Sour" vibe)

Dump the chicken chunks in, add the fresh-squeezed lemon juice and tabasco (I tried it without the pepper-sauce and it was good.  I liked it a squee better with the added spice).

Bring to a light boil, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 30-45 mins...

Remove the rosemary sprigs (the leaves may have fallen off and become part of the soup - it's fine, either way, but you don't want the woody stems in there).

Enjoy!  It's quite "aromatic" - which is perfect when you've got a cold.

Guaranteed to cure what ails ya!*

*I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV (Nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express), so it might not cure EVERYTHING :-P  But it does taste damn good!

Diabetes and Byetta

In case the "Title" didn't clue you in... This is gonna be one of them-there "Diabetes-Related-Posts" so if this subject matter bores you... "Move along... Nothin' to see here!"

So I was diagnosed as Type 2 in December '07. I probably had "Metabolic Syndrome/Pre-Diabetes" long before that. But that's a separate rant that falls under "Why I don't trust Doctors" and best left for another time...

"It is what it is."

I now have a doctor that I *do* trust. She's an Assistant Professor at Stanford's Endocrinology Clinic. She's helped me make HUGE progress in the past 6 months - and I feel WORLDS better than I did!

Anyhoooo... Over the past couple-three years, I've gained an enormous amount of weight - no matter WHAT I did. Exercise more? Eat less? (Cut fat/Cut carbs/Eat Cabbage Soup/Drink Protein Shakes/Eat Nothing/Ad Nauseum).. Uhhh... Nothing worked!

Since my diagnosis, with the veritable cornucopia of pharmaceuticals I've taken, the weight-gain has not only continued, but increased at an alarming rate! I don't want to say exactly how much I've gained, so let's just say that it's A LOT!

Along with that, I am highly-highly insulin resistant. My problem is not that my pancreas can't produce enough insulin (it produces plenty, actually). It's that my body can't/won't utilize the insulin properly. In fact, about the ONLY thing about insulin that does seem to "work" for me, is it's ability to convert food (glucose) to FAT. Ohhhh yeah, it does that VERY well!

Doc switched me over to Humulin R U-500 which is 5x the strength of "normal" insulin. That actually metabolizes very well for me and I've definitely seen a HUGE improvement in my Blood Glucose [BG] numbers. I remain highly carbo-phobic, however. Carbs send my BG#'s thru the roof, but the U-500 insulin (in conjunction with *strict* carb restriction) works extremely well and I am happy to report that - as of February anyway - I am now a Proud Member of the "5% Club!" My last A1c came back at 5.7 (I'd started out at 11)! So "Yayyyy Me!"

The U-500 does work very well. And, in fact, my weight gain has *slowed* significantly. But... I'm still gaining!!! My hope was that if I got my BG#'s in-line, that the weight gain would stop and - maybe, just maybe - get replaced with weight LOSS, right?

Not so, Kemosabe!

Yes, I feel better... Yes, I have a *bit* more energy... Yes, I *have* increased my activity levels (from being a total slug [NOT by choice!] to being able to take the stairs at work and work in the yard)... I even took it a step further and started experimenting with cutting back carbs to ridiculously low levels (aimed for 20g or less, managed to maintain appx 40g/day) and cut back calories (aimed for 1300, managed to maintain appx 1600 cals/day)... I even started dialing back my insulin usage as far as I dared (to the equivalent of appx 300 units/day - which was as low as I could go without experiencing spikes) (and I've NOT been able to maintain that, I had to ramp-back-up to 390u/day). I worked on that DILIGENTLY for one solid month...

The payoff?! Ohhhh, I ONLY gained 7#!!!!

Words cannot describe.................................................

Anyhooooo... During my early-Feb appt with my endocrinologist, I expressed Extreme Dismay over my inability to lose weight - no matter what I did!

See, it seems I'm stuck in a Vicious Circle with my Insulin Resistance and High Insulin Requirements. It seems the more insulin I take, the more weight I'll gain. And the more I weigh, the more insulin I'll need. So add more insulin, gain more weight, and need still MORE insulin!

"Lather. Rinse. Repeat."

So we kicked around a few ideas and finally settled on Byetta (Exenatide). Byetta is an incretin mimetic that was originally derived from some sorta poisonous lizard. I don't claim to know a whole helluva lot about it (despite my Googling the hell out of it!), but the Bottom Line is - it seems to "play well" with T2 diabetics and helps with BG control. And one of it's side-effects is weight loss. That seems to (mostly) come from the fact that it slows digestion so you feel "fuller" for a longer period of time (but the downside to that is you might end up getting nauseous)...

It is not FDA approved for insulin-dependent diabetics, and it's not prescribed as a diet medication - but I've heard-tell of many insulin-dependent diabetics who have had WONDERFUL success on this medication (likewise, there are many who it hasn't worked for).

But since I seem to be a bit of an "Extreme Case," she agreed to let me try it. First, we wanted to draw more lab tests and make sure it wasn't contraindicated in my case. Plus, I wanted to do a bit more Googling...

Well, during my early-March appt, she wrote the prescription for it. She also warned me about side-effects (which are plentiful - and some sound pretty nasty, especially "Acute Pancreatitis!"), and gave me a list of things to "watch-out for." She basically scared the beejezus outta me!

I have found a good Support Board: Diabetes and Byetta

Anyway... I started the Byetta last Friday... One of the (many) things the doctor warned me about were hypos, so I dialed-back my insulin before I started it, and also ramped-up the carbs. I figured it was safer for me to run higher numbers initially and then tweak it from there.

I have posted to the D&B board, but I thought I'd also post my results here - in case there are any Diabetic "lurkers" out there who might find this interesting..

Here are my notes about starting Byetta @ 5mcg:

• I've had no stomach issues - other than a little burpy-gas, and I'm starting to get a bit more "brave" about what (and when) I'll eat after I take the injection.
  


• I can't say that I necessarily feel "full" faster - and certainly not over-stuffed after eating. But as long as I remain vigilant and eat *less* - I'm finding that I don't get ravenously hungry a couple of hours later. So I'm going to call that a "subtle" improvement (Meaning: I have to pay attention to it - NOT that it's an "insignificant" thing!).
  


• I haven't found any foods that "disagree" with me (yet!) - so I'm counting myself very fortunate (If I had to give up BBQ pork ribs... Arr! Don't go there!) (Of course, I haven't tried BBQ pork ribs since I've been on it!) (But when/if I do - it'll only be a couple of small ones!)
  


• I have been able to cut my insulin usage by appx 25% (from 390 units/day to 300!). My avg BG has risen slightly (avg 130 now - it had been in the 115-120 avg range before) - but I'm attributing that to increased carbs. I'm going to start experimenting with dialing the carbs back.
  


• I've had NO hypos. But I have had a few "spikes" over 170 - and one over 200 (again, carbs are to blame - and that was partially "by design" b/c I wanted to ramp-up my BG#'s while starting Byetta).
  


• Even when I do spike, it drops back and stabilizes pretty quickly. This is another positive improvement (previously, if I hit a 200+, I'd be sick, and my BG would be all-over-the-board, for a full 24 hours+ afterward)
  


• Yesterday, I had lunch w/a friend at a Mexican Restaurant. Tortilla Chips are like cocaine in that they're highly addictive... I also had a "real" margarita (with sugar and everything). Yes, I sinned. Yes, I spiked. No, I didn't suffer (Yay!).
  


• Normally, after sinning like that, I could expect to see a 3-4 lb. gain the next day - plus I'd feel like a Zombie. Today I felt surprisingly good, first thing this morning, ANNNNNNND... The scale (a very accurate model, BTW) actually showed a 1 lb drop! Yaaayyyy!!! (No, I don't intend to make a habit of it - but I'm happy to know I can indulge ONCE in awhile!)
  

Soooooo... I'm thinking and hoping that this IS gonna work for me! In fact, I think I'll even upgrade from "Guardedly Optimistic" to "Fully Optimistic!" I expect to stay @ 5mcg for a month (longer, if I feel comfortable with my progress). I'll probably upgrade to 10mcg at some point though.

And I'm still experimenting w/food (especially carbs) and insulin dosages. I'd like to get my avg BG#'s down a bit lower and need to figure out how best to dial-it-in (Obviously Mexican Food ain't the way go!)...

Militant Low-Carb (and Diabetes) Update

Warning: There's some Diabetic/Health-Related Whining Info here, so if that's not your thing - Move along!

* * * * *
Well........ So far, So good!

I think I'm mostly past the "Carbo Detox" stage and I no longer feel like a Snail on Quaaludes.

In fact, dare-I-say-it? I think I actually have a little more energy now!

I've even been taking the stairs at work - rather than the elevator! (Although it's not like I work on the 50th floor or anything - but still!).

The Biggest, Most-Dramatic Improvements have been:

• No more Bolus [Novolog] Insulin (and, in fact, I'm reducing the Basal in small increments)
  
• Blood Sugar has improved DRAMATICALLY.

Fasting BG, most mornings, has been under 100!!! Let me repeat that: UNDER One-Hundred!!!

(Just a few weeks ago - I was thrilled when FBG was under 140 - seriously! 140 was my threshold! Now I get p*ssed when it's over 110! And that's just in the last week or so!)

I can't find where I was tracking my BG#'s a year ago (I'm sure I was - I just can't find it!), but I was able to go back to Feb 1, 2008 and see that, on that day, my FBG was 211. Two-Hundred-Eleven!!! And it would consistently go UP from there!

I won't recount the veritable cornucopia of pharmaceuticals I've gone through in the past year - what with my doctors "practicing" medicine on me - other than to note that when we FINALLY started insulin, things got even worse! March's FBG Average was a whopping 211! The High was 264! Eeeeek!

I was a Freaking Zombie back then. Seriously! I couldn't even get out of bed in the morning!

So, I'm sure any Diabetic Readers will agree: For me to have finally achieved FBG's in 80-90's is Abso-Freaking-Lutely Fan-F**king-Tastic!

Also, since starting "Militant LC" my BG swings have decreased significantly!

Just for grins, I went back thru my spreadsheets for part-of-December and all-of January to see what the High/Low Ranges were, by day (Yes, I'm a Geek! Remember, I'm a "Systems Analyst" so I do have a little bit of "Anal" in me!). December High-Low swings were pretty dramatic - sometimes as much as 160 points in a day! From a low of 66 to a high of 226 - (Although that *was* on Christmas Day! But that wasn't too far out-of-the-ballpark for me). Actually, the "average daily swings" seemed to hover around 80-100 points a day back in December.

Since starting Low-Carb, the swings have mostly been under 40 (although I've had a couple of "indiscretions" and my numbers reflect that)

I've also had one Hypo since going back to LC. So I'm in the process of dialing back the Basal in "Baby Steps." My Basal is Humulin R U500 which is 5x the strength of regular insulin. In fact, it's supposed to require special (tuberculin) syringes. But those are hard to come by, so my Endo has "converted" the Rx so it can be used with normal syringes. In any event, I take the U500 3x/day. And I'm in the process of reducing the dose by 1 unit (equivalent to 5 units) for each dose. Presently I'm at 22u 3x/day (equivalent to 330u/day). I'm hoping I can eventually cut back to 15u 3x/day. Still much higher than the "average diabetic" - but I'm not your average diabetic, unfortunately!

(Bear in mind that - when I was at my worst - I was taking 25u of the U500 PLUS 60-100u/day+ of Novolog. Yes kids, that's equivalent to almost 500u of insulin PER DAY [and only maintaining "marginally" good Blood Sugars at the time @ appx 140]. My short-term goal of 15u of U500 3x/day would put me at the equivalent of 225u/day. And that's about as low as I think I can go - at least until I start to lose some SIGNIFICANT weight!)

Nevertheless, this is a HUGE improvement. My numbers are better and I feel better!!!

Sounds like a "Win-Win" to me! I just need to stick to it!

* * * * *
Much as I'd like to report a "Win-Win-Win," unfortunately, the weight loss doesn't seem to be happening - yet. Of course, since I'm still weaning myself off of carbs - I've allowed myself a bit more "freedom" in the quantity of food I'm eating - as long as it's "Legal" and Low-Carb. I think once Ketosis fully kicks-in, I should reach a point where I don't have much hunger and the intake will decrease naturally (Although I should note: I'm not "stuffing my face" non-stop! But some of my food choices are pretty damned heavy in fat and calories. Like fried hamburger, eggs, bacon, cheese, etc. Very "filling" but not very kind to the waistline, unfortunately!).

And I haven't been *quite* as Militant as I'd hoped. Maintaining CHO intake under 20g is pretty damned challenging. I've actually stayed more in the 20-30g range (with a couple of blips into the 50-60g range - and yes, I "feel it" when that happens - I feel hungover the next day!)

Plus, I think that ultimately the quantity of insulin I'm taking is going to prevent any dramatic weight loss (at least the Humulin R seems to be less-likely to pack-on the pounds - as compared to the Analogs). I'm *hoping* that, as the Basal decreases, and I stick to LC a bit longer, maybe the weight loss will follow.

Jenny did make a good point on her site about how Metformin may prevent the "dramatic" inital weight loss that most Atkins Dieters experience - so I'm clinging to that little factoid and doing my damndest not to get discouraged. Unfortunately, I can't find exactly *where* she posted it - but it's somewhere on her Blood Sugar 101 Site!

(She's published a book that is a definite Must-Read - even if you're not diabetic. If you're "predisposed" toward Diabetes [as I was - "Thanks, Mom!"] you MUST buy it - or at least read through her site! I *really* wish I had!!!)

At least I haven't GAINED any weight. Not even through the Holidays (and, in my mind, not GAINING weight thru the Holidays is *almost* like Losing weight!)! I'm actually still at my "Pre-Cruise" weight (Cruise was in October - and yes I *did* gain weight that week!) (And promptly lost it once I got home!).

I'm still about 100# heavier than I should be (actually, probably more than that), so I've got a looooooooong haul ahead of me...

FWIW: *Most* of that 100# took up residence AFTER the Diabetes Diagnosis (12/27/07). All those f**kin' drugs were really messing with me - BADLY (The sulfonyureas were simply AWFUL - and the initial experimentation with various analog insulins were equally bad! If not WORSE!) (Analogs=Bad for Weight Loss. That's been MY experience, anyway - YMMV).

And, to top it off, when you're THIS heavy AND you feel like a Snail on 'Ludes... Well, the very idea of "Exercise" pretty-much goes out the window. Merely getting out of bed in the morning was more "exercise" than I could bear, sometimes!

* * * * *
So, that said, I am THRILLED to have my BG#'s "Under Control" (I can legitimately say that now!) (Did I mention that my last A1C in November was 6.2??? Okay, I'm not in the "5% Club" YET - but it's still pretty damned good when you consider that my Starting A1C, last year, was over 11!!!) and I'm DOUBLY-THRILLED that I have some energy.

No, I'm not signing up for the Boston Marathon or anything, but I'm doing the next-best-thing: I'm going to go out to my garden and start tackling my Winter-Maintenance Chores this weekend. I intend to prune and spray the fruit trees and start chopping back much of the now-dead Cannas...

That may not *sound* like much - but it's a start!

Okay, signing off for now.......

Back to Normal...

Well, the Tree is gone. Lights are all taken down. Blow-Up-Santa-On-A-Harley is back in his box... Things are still a bit disheveled and the garage is a disaster area b/c all the Christmas Sh*t needs to go back up in the rafters, but the Normal Routine is starting to return....

And this is the week that The World returns to Work.

My job is such that, normally, the very last couple of weeks of the year are D-E-A-D. All of my New-Year Implementations are *supposed* to be complete and I get a couple weeks of downtime to file away last year's stuff.

This year, unfortunately, I didn't get that "break" (too many clients waited 'til the Last Minute to get their implementations rolling). And now things are back in full-swing again

:::sigh:::

Add to it, the Christmas Cold/Flu on top of the General Holiday Madness... And the fact that DH's company was on shut-down - which meant he was here 24/7 for a week-and-a-half (Love him dearly - don't get me wrong - but there is NO ONE on the PLANET that I want to be with 24/7! Not even MYSELF!!!)...

I was pretty much reaching the end of my rope (Stress-wise!).

Yep - I'm pretty-much ready to go back to my normal routine!

So today was a WAH (Work-At-Home) Day, and Rog went into the office. I suspect many of my clients are slogging through emails and generally getting back-into the daily grind. Although (lucky me!) I did have three conference calls scheduled today. I got through 'em, but all I could think about was how much I enjoyed having the house All To Myself!!!

Even the dogs settled back into their normal routine: sleeping in the guest-room most of the day - as opposed to playing the "Let-Me-In/Let-Me-Out" Game 542,968 times a day!!! (Pandemonium reigns supreme when Papa's Home!).

I did manage to squeeze out a few loads of laundry; Cleaned the kitchen; Started a batch o' Smokey Pork Roast... And - Get This! - I vaccuumed up the Christmas-Tree-Poop and started putting the living room back together!

Yes, vaccuuming - for me - is a Big Freakin' Deal!

June Cleaver, I ain't! (That's the Understatement of the Year!).

Funny Story there: When I first met Roger, he had a maid who would come in once a month to tackle the dusting, vaccuuming, toilet-scrubbing, yada-yada stuff. He *did* do his own laundry back then (although you'd never guess that now - based on the whining I hear when he's about to run out of clean undies: "I'm gonna hafta go COMMANDO!!!"). Well, when I first moved in, I started tackling some of the light-duty household chores. First was laundry (And yes, I regret that decision - to this day!!!). And I'd do a light wipe-down of the kitchen couple-three times a day. And, over time, I became the Dishwasher Fairy who made the dishes magically load themselves into the dishwasher - and also caused them to levitate and make their way back into the cupboards... (To be fair - I *did* pretty-much take over the kitchen when I started bringing in matching dishes and flatware and cutlery that actually *cut,* and cookware that didn't flake-off Teflon into our food...).

Well, a short while after I'd moved in - but before Rog began to fully grasp the concept of learning how to express one's desires in a manner that was inoffensive to the recipient (This is an ongoing lesson, by the way. Rog is a notorious "blurter" and doesn't always - ummm - THINK before he speaks!). He was still in Kindergarten as far as that lesson goes, but I *do* applaud his efforts in this particular instance!

Anyway, after I'd moved in, Rog decided to try to broach the subject of Aida, the maid, and was there any way that I would be his Domestic Goddess/Dream-Come-True, right?! It's kinda hard to relay verbally b/c there were lots of non-verbal messages going on in this exchange. But the conversation went something along the lines of this:

"Well, I have a maid, Aida, who comes in once a month..."

"Really? That's nice." I replied.

"And, well...." [I can just tell that he's DYING for me to jump in and say "Oh no, Dear - *I'll* take care of the house!"] "Well, there's two of us here, now..." [Pregnant pause]

"Uh huh." [I have mastered the Art of "Denseness," where appropriate"]

"Well. With two of us here, things get a little messier now." [Pause, yet again... His mind is ticking away and he's realizing that things aren't going as planned!]

"Uh huh." [Mama didn't raise no fool!]

"Well, I think I'll have Aida start coming in every three weeks instead..." [Good Answer!!!]

So yeah, we still have Aida take care of the scubby-vaccuming-dusting chores. Yeah, I work-at-home most of the time - but the keyword there is "WORK." Yes, I have a fulltime JOB! Yeah, I can squeeze in laundry while I'm on conference calls and whatnot - but I definitely don't have the time for full-on Housekeeping (and, quite frankly, I suck at it anyway!!!) (Just ask my mom!!!). But since Aida's not gonna be here for a couple more weeks, I figured I'd break down and vaccuum the living room :::GASP!:::

So that was MY excitement for the day! Well that and making my pork roast.

* * * * *
Here, I'll even share the recipe (Straight from my Rival Crock-Pot Booklet)!





The recipe is actually for "Hickory Smoked Brisket" - but I use it for Pulled-Pork instead.

3-4 lb Beef Brisket [or Pork Shoulder or Butt Roast]
1/4 cup Liquid Smoke [Hickory or Mesquite - whatever you prefer]
1/2 tsp Celery Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Place meat on a large sheet of aluminum foil. If there's a fatty-side, make sure the fatty side is on top (you want the fat to drip-down and cook *into* the meat to keep it tender).

Sprinkle with seasonings and pour liquid smoke on top. Wrap the foil around the meat, seal it up and put it in the Crock-Pot. Cook on low 8-12 hours, or High 4-6 hours.

I would think that if you were doing brisket (I never have!), you'd stick to the directions and when it was all done, you'd remove the roast. Slice and serve warm with juices over each slice.

So here's where I get all creative:

I used 3 cloves of fresh, minced garlic and 4 Tbs onion flakes (in lieu of the powdered stuff). And tossed in a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary (discard before serving). Also, about halfway thru the cooking, I added chopped fresh onion (about half of a large onion). I also added cooked bacon pieces.

I generally overcook the hell out of it, til the meat falls apart. Today's roast was almost 6 lbs (and had to be squished forcibly, into my 5 quart crock-pot) so I'm cooking on High for 8-10 hours [it ended up taking 9 hours]. Once it reaches the "starting to fall apart" stage, I'll remove the foil and dump the roast in the crock pot. If it's too liquid/fatty, I'll use a turkey baster to suck out the excess (set aside, in a bowl, in case I need to add it back in)

Once it really starts to fall apart, I'll grab a knife and a fork and pull it apart into little chunks. Dig out and discard the bone (if applicable). Then I usually pour-in tons of BBQ sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray's Hot 'n Spicy mixed, half-n-half, with K.C. Masterpiece Hickory or Mesquite) and let it simmer for another hour. Makes AWESOME pulled-pork sandwiches!!!

This time, since I'm on my Low-Carb Kick, I won't cook it with BBQ sauce (might add a little drizzle on top, later).

Or - one recipe I'm dying to try (haven't, yet!) can be found on Jenny's Blood Sugar 101 page: Indispensable Low Carb Treats.

The roast is actually quite tasty - even without the BBQ sauce!

Oh, and for a variation on that whole recipe: I've done something similar to make Hawaiian Kahlua Pork. In order to nearly-duplicate the Hawaiian (cooked-in-a-pit) flavor, you need to wrap the roast in (Banana, Canna or Ti) leaves *inside* of the foil and sprinkle it generously with Sea-Salt and Liquid Smoke (Remove the leaves when you take the roast out of the foil).



Optional - you can also add 2 cans of spinach during the last 2 hours of cooking (I've not tried the spinach option myself - so can't comment on it!).

I made Crock-Pot Kahlua Pork, as a side dish, for a BBQ this past summer and got RAVE reviews (from Native Island People and everything!!!)

Anyway, it's deeee-lish and actually pretty easy to make if you're into the Crock-Pot Thing...

* * * * *
Regarding Militant Low-Carbing: I did GREAT the first day. But I'd forgotten that Rog set us up with a lunch-date on Saturday. A former colleague of his, Jerry, got hit HARD with the Bubble-Bust and is currently jobless and homeless. So we took him out to lunch. We went out for BBQ Ribs - but I kinda broke the Militant Low-Carb rule (I suspect Armadillo Willie's Sauce is NOT low-carb!).

I jumped back on the wagon yesterday, but I need to get thru the Three Solid Days of Low-Carb to fully de-tox! I feel like a Zombie right now (Ugh!)

On the Plus Side: For the Militant Low-Carb Days, I've needed NO Bolus insulin AT ALL! And my BG#'s have remained pretty-damned flat (70-130, for the most part). Hell, I might even be able to dial-back on the Basal, at this rate!

* * * * *
DH is home now, so no more blogging now. I'll try to update later!

Happy New Year!!!

Okay, I'm a couple of days late - but what the hell...

We celebrated NYE one night early by going to one of Roger's Hippie DeadHead Shows: Bob Weir and Rat Dog; and Phil Lesh and Friends at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in downtown San Francisco.

We hooked up with a couple of Roger's old DeadHead Friends and had a good time. I was still sniffling and coughing up a storm - but did manage to catch a contact high (to be honest, it was kind of unavoidable!!! The pot-smoke haze was incredible!!!)

The show was good. Roger had a blast. I hung-in there... Honestly, The Dead really *isn't* my thing. But since Rog has been so accommodating in converting over to Parrothead Status, I kinda feel obligated to play along, right?!

It was wise to do that the night before New Years, though. The drive up to SanFran is pretty harrowing on a good day! To tackle that on New Years' would be damn-near suicidal (although we've done it in years' past...)

NYE, we stayed home and watched some Gawd-Awful Fox Network Ring-In-The-New-Year in Vegas featuring some American Idol dude, some brief glimpses of Cirque du Soleil, and the highlight of the evening was "Kaptain" Robbie Knievel jumping the volcano at the Mirage.

The host of this debacle was Mark Thompson who attempted to drum-up Anticipation and Enthusiasm by, essentially, YELLING at the camera non-stop. For once, I found myself actually looking forward to the commercials (of which there were many).

About halfway through the program, my Tourette's started to kick in and I found myself yelling back at the TV "Shut the F**k Up!!!"

Honestly, it was sooooo bad - it was actually amusing. And yeah, we *did* have the Power of the Remote and could have easily changed channels. But it was sooo bad, it was kinda like wanting to slow down and look for carnage when passing a traffic accident!

Still, when it was all said and done, I almost regretted springing for a GOOD bottle of champagne. This occasion really did call for something more along the lines of André!

Actually, I didn't regret buying the Good Stuff - because I saved myself from a raging hangover!

So us Old Geezers managed to stay up past midnight. Toasted the New Year. Continued watching FOX until we saw Robbie successfully jump the volcano - then called it a night!

* * * * *

Warning: Health/Diabetes Ramblings Follow - so if this isn't your cup o' tea, "Move along... Nothin' to see here!"

Now we're a couple of days into the New Year. I did reflect, a bit, on 2008 and all the changes I've gone through (including - GASP - "Getting Old!"). Actually, with the Diabetes Diagnosis and all the pure hell I went through, I pretty much "lost" a year of my life - which really sucks! But along with the reflecting, I had to admit that I feel a whole HELLUVA lot better than I did one year ago. Especially when you consider that I spent the night in the ER on December 26-27, 08. And I was a Complete and Total Zombie until Mid-August '08 (Yes, it took THAT long to *start* to get things under control!).

So I'm certainly off to a better start, this year!

I've never been big into New Years' Resolutions. I kinda figure if you want to do something GOOD for yourself, you don't need to link it to a specific date, right? In fact, "forcing" change like that is almost certainly doomed to failure (but that's just the cynic in me!). Nevertheless, I acknowledge that my health has definitely improved over last-year-at-this-time. But I also acknowledge that thru the process of trying to get my diabetes under control, the pharmaceutical "experiments" my doctors were "practicing" on me - really did wreak havoc on my weight. I mean, it's really, really BAD!!!

So, that said, I've decided to attempt Militant Low-Carbing again. And since I'm NOT calling it a New Year's Resolution, I decided to START it today :-)

I did soooooo well on Atkins back in 1998. I won't delude myself into thinking I'll see the same "Dramatic" results I'd experienced the first time (90# lost in 1 yr - and kept it off for 3 yrs). But I really need to do SOMETHING!

I do have my BG#'s mostly under control now. The Humulin R U500 is working like a CHARM. Of course, I'm taking massive doses (75u/day which is equivalent to 375u of "normal" insulin). I had also been taking Novolog (appx 60-100u/day - on TOP of the Humulin) (Yes, sometimes I was taking close to 500 units of insulin a day - No Sh*t!!!). I'd take that to "cover" meals. Carbs, mostly. But I strongly suspect that the Carbs + Novolog were worsening the weight situation. So now I've cut back the carbs significantly and I'm finding I don't need the Novolog (except on rare occasions - like if I choose to eat like a normal person!).

Sooooooo.... Here goes! I'm starting on Atkins Induction Phase - "Old Style" (meaning I prepare ALL my own meals and don't buy any of that faux Low-Carb krep - including Atkins Bars/Shakes/Yada-Yada). Oh, and I'm back to logging all of my meals in my PDA so I can keep close-track of EVERYTHING.

Today, I consumed 20g of carbs (Total) and I'm feeling pretty Slow-Mo. I am determined to stick with it for two weeks and GAWD-I-HOPE-I-SEE-SOME-RESULTS!!!

I'm not sure if I'll weigh myself in the interim - or if I'll wait 'til the end of 2 weeks (I should *probably* choose the latter!).

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I gotta tellya, though - it was a helluva lot easier to do Atkins when I lived alone! This house has waaaaaaay too many illegal foods in it (but DH is a Carbo-holic, unfortunately!)

I'll keep you posted!