So even with unpacking and back-to-school mayhem, I’m proud to say I made it through Phase I (the first two weeks) of the South Beach Diet — with just a little wandering here and there.  Remarkably, my bathroom scale tells me I’ve already shed the 3 pounds I gained on my Europe trip, although I’m still feeling a bit bloated (and sick to death of those spinach quiche cups, I must say).

Thankfully, I happen to like salad and lean meats. We eat a lot of fish anyway.  But altogether it wasn’t easy sticking to a diet.  That is to say, I was pretty well fine until the weekend hit, and we suddenly found ourselves at friend’s homes faced with hors d’oeuvres and chips and salsa and desserts that everyone was cooing “you just haaave to try.”  Aargh.  It’s very awkward to bring your own food to a Labor Day weekend grill party.  Even if you are diabetic and allergic to wheat, who wants to be the weirdo sticking their Tupperware in the microwave?  So I simply enjoyed the grilled salmon and pushed everything else around on my plate ceremoniously.

In Phase 2 of this diet, you’re encouraged to “reintroduce certain healthy carbs” including a little rice, pasta, whole grain bread, and fruit.  As welcome as it sounds, I know this is where things get tricky. Once we get a taste, we want more than a little, don’t we now?  I know the author speaks to my heart when he says the limited choices in the ultra-low-carb Phase I “make it a bad choice for a long-term diet.”  But I’m still thinking I might try to stick with it for another week.  The blood glucose triumphs are hard to ignore:

* My 14-day average BG was 109 (56% within or below goal, which is set at 120 tops)

* 30-day average was 117 (54% within or below goal). Maybe vacation works as well for me as dieting.

* 60-day average goes back up to 128 (55% within or below goal).

* 90-day average was 126 (at 56% within or below goal).

Wow.  Really not a bad summer at all, even if my jeans still do feel a bit snug.

By the way, a reader asked for an update on the Abbott Navigator continuous glucose monitor system I was testing earlier this summer.  Since my skin “blew up” (as she put it), I had to set the unit aside for a while. I’d planned to pick it up again after the post-vacation dust settled, but I just can’t face it so soon after this nasty infusion site infection.

Of all the great reader suggestions I received, I’m thinking most seriously of trying the SkinTac wipes.  But at $17 a box, how do I know they’re a good investment?  Maybe they’ll irritate me, too, and end up in the box of unused D-supplies (aka wasted dollars) under my bed.

Meanwhile, at least one diet book I own is no longer gathering dust there, thanks to my incredible willpower these last two weeks.  A-hem…

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)