It's Friday morning and I'm happy that the first week back "in the saddle" is almost over. Returning to the daily and weekly routine is always hard after the holidays and after time off from work. But with the erratic hours, hit-or-miss exercising and, dare I say, undisciplined eating, my body is relieved to be back in some routine.
I finally had a chance yesterday to do some investigation of "insulinemia," which appears to also be referenced as "insulin resistance," "insulin sensitivity," or most ominously, "Syndrome X." I was stunned at how many web-like connections there are between insulin resistance and --ready?-- diabetes, coronary artery disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, abdominal fat, and . . . well, the list seems to go on and on.
From there, I also "googled" my way to a reference about drinking a small amount of vinegar (mixed with water and optionally, some saccharine) before meals to help the body recognize the insulin that it's producing, and thus, ward off the blood-sugar spikes that occur for diabetics after eating a high carbohydrate meal.
I went home last night, cracked open a wonderful bottle of muscatel wine vinegar from the ever-delighting Zingerman's and had my vinegar "cocktail." It made me grimace, it made me shiver, but it was also surprisingly invigorating. And the wine in the vinegar definitely helped the flavor!
I am going to a luncheon today for a departing colleague, and safely tucked away in my pouch purse is a small leakproof container of wine vinegar and water! Cheers!!
3 comments:
Consuming red wine WITH your meal is supposed to have the same effect, leveling off the impact of simple carbohydrate on insulin production -- also making sure you have at least 30% of calories provided by protein will soften insulin production spikes. Good luck! ~Rayne Today
Thanks, Rayne. I saw your posting (http://blogs.salon.com/0001549/2004/12/14.html) recommending red wine and flax seed and a bunch of other good ideas. It is now printed out and taped on my fridge. I look at it daily.
I'm impressed at how nutritionally "aware" you are. What got you so tuned in to eating healthy?
Sorry to be so long getting back to you. My dad has had to watch his cholesterol since I was in high school more than 2 decades ago. It was 330; he took up running, dropped a mess of weight, ate better. He still has to watch himself, but he's the best guinea pig in the world. He's an engineer and he views everything he does as an experiment; takes baseline measurements before he makes any changes, measures results frequently, reports his findings. What a geek! But he'll probably live to 100+ -- no joke. At 71 years of age he still runs 6 to 10 miles a day, literally runs circles around my 48 year old spouse.
And that's the other reason for the awareness. My spouse was diagnosed with cholesterol problems when we had our blood tests for our marriage licenses 14+ years ago. He was diagnosed with diabetes six years ago. And his 45 year old brother dropped dead of a heart attack five years ago. It's no longer an experiment here, it's life-or-death. // ~Rayne
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