Reverse Diabetes Challenge Day 4

April 1, 2016. April fool's Day!
Day 4 of my reverse diabetes challenge.

I woke up at 9am today. Did some daddy duties. Carried my soon to be 1 year old son. Played a little with him.

Drank my replacement drink minus one tablespoon of milk. So I only had two tablespoons of Herbalife Formula Shake (80 calories), one tablespoon of Personal Protein Powder (20 calories), and one tablespoon of milk (40 calories). Making my meal replacement to 140 calories.

Lunch time! I was planning to have my replacement meal BUT my neighbor invited us to their house. It was a combined party. Combined meaning that, the guy's birthday was on March 29, the girl's birthday was on March 20 and today was their son's graduation. So, yes lots of food on the table. But like I said yesterday I should control myself at parties. So, just got one cup of rice (200 calories) and two tablespoons of lechon. How many calories is that?

Well, I needed to do some computation. Put in "litson calories" in google. Got "suckling pig - 107 calories, 10oz(28.4g). So I needed to check how many grams is equivalent to one tablespoon and got 14.18 grams times two thats 28.36 grams. So lets just say that two tablespoons of litson or suckling pig is equal to 107 calories.

I also added two tablespoons of dinuguan or pig's blood to my plate. According to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/23790158 1 cup is 255 calories. I estimated that two tablespoons is 1/4 of a cup so that means two tablespoons of dinuguan is equivalent to 63.75 or 64 calories.

Plus two talbespoons of spaghetti at 28 calories and two tablespoons of fruit salad at 40 calories (1 cup is equal to 160 calories). That brings my current total to 579 calories.

I felt sleepy at 4:49pm, so I made my sugar free coffee for the day with only 90 calories and nibbled on nuts with 150 calories,

Dinner at 9pm with only two tablespoons of Formula 1 Shake and one tablespoon of Protein powder. That is equals to 100 calories.

I'm out of the office by 1am. My wife texted me to buy Mcdonald's fries and Mcflurry. I passed by KFC to buy a junior burger (242 calories), Coke Zero (0 calories!), and regular french fries (290 calories)

So how many calories did I eat today?

Breakfast - replacement meal at 140 calories
Lunch - 1 cup of rice at 200 calories
              2 tablespoons of lechon at 107 calories
              2 tablespoons of dinuguan at 64 calories
              2 talbespoons of spaghetti at 28 calories
              2 tablespoons of fruit salad at 40 calories
Snack -  Sugar free coffee at 90 calories
Dinner - 1 pack nuts at 150 calories
              1 KFC junior burger at 242 calories
              1 KFC regular french fries at 290 calories

That's a grand total of 1,451 calories for today against my required daily calorie intake of 2,619 calories. Leaving me with a 1,168 deficit. If you measure it with my BMI and calories burn at rest at 1,719 calories, I have a deficit of 268 calories.

I feel better with today's results as compared to yesterdays. Blogging about what I eat and computing the calories I eat daily really helps. It inspires me to keep going at it and it makes me really motivated. That's it. Goodnight!

Reverse Diabetes Challenge Day 3

March 31, 2016
Day 3 of my Reverse Diabetes Challenge

It's my mom's 67th birthday! Uh-oh. I know I'm going to eat a lot on my only meal for the day.

So, first thing in the morning. Breakfast! That's 200 calories of my meal replacement. Two tablespoons of Herbalife Formula 1 shake, one tablespoon of Personal Protein Powder, and two tablespoons of powdered milk. Mix with water and drink! Add three tablets of Fiber and Herb and wash it down with water. Done with breakfast at 9am.

Got a bit hungry by 11am and ate one slice of bread with 2 slices of cheese. Based on my previous post, that is 138 calories.

I cooked spaghetti for my mom, my wife bought chocolate mousse cake, ice cream and roasted chicken. Just looking at the food I got dismayed I know its going to cost a lot of calories. So my family went to my mom's house and celebrated her birthday during lunch.

Here's what I ate:

One and a half serving of Spaghetti worth 840 calories. I got the numbers based on this link. I also had 2 pieces of chicken worth 300 calories based on this link. Plus dessert that consists of one slice of chocolate mouse worth 355 calories based on this link, and ice cream worth 186 calories based on this link. That's a grand total of 1,681 calories. Oh my god! That's only for lunch.

I already ate 2,019 calories today. My minimum calorie requirement per day is 2,619. That means if I get hungry for dinner and eat my meal replacement my total calories for the day is 2,219. I hope I survive this day.

5:30 pm - Dang! I got hungry and ate nuts worth 150 calories.

7:00pm - Drank my replacement meal of 80 calories. I didn't bring any protein powder and powdered milk.

8:19pm - Ate Growers peanuts worth 150 calories.

1:00 am - Got home and ate two tablespoon of spaghetti worth 28 calories. Also ate one tablespoon chocolate mousse worth 57 calories.

Now lets compute the calories.

Breakfast - replacement meal at 200 calories
Snack - 1 slice of bread with 2 slices of cheese at 138 calories
Lunch - 1/2 serving of Spaghetti at 840 calories
              2 pieces of chicken at 300 calories
              1 slice of chocolate mouse at 355 calories
              2 tablespoons of ice cream at 186 calories
Snack - 1 pack nuts at 150 calories
Dinner - replacement meal at 80 calories
Snack - 1 pack nuts at 150 calories
Midnight Snack - 2 tablespoons of spaghetti at 28 calories
                             1 tablespoon chocolate mousse at 57 calories

That brings my total to 2,348 calories. Just shy of 135 calories to my calorie minimum requirement. I feel bad about today's results. I need to discipline myself if there is a party and lots of food.

Reverse Diabetes Challenge Day 2

March 30, 2016.
Day 2 of my reverse diabetes challenge.

Woke up at 7am and proceeded to our local pharmacy that offers free FBS. My throat is really dry because I haven't drank water since 11pm last night. Got my finger pricked and got my result. Its 224mg/dl or 12.4mmol/L. Maximum normal blood sugar level is 6mmol/L. Damn! I knew it my blood sugar level is too high. Imagine if I didn't start my diet yesterday.

So here's a link to a good blood sugar calculator http://www.medindia.net/patients/calculators/bloodsugar_chart_result.asp

After getting my blood sugar measurement, I went back home and drank my 200 calorie meal replacement and swallowed the fiber tablets. First meal done for the day.

I felt hungry by 10am. Saw cheese and bread on the table and decided to eat a small amount to curb off the cravings. Went to the internet and checked the calories for a slice of cheese and found http://www.livestrong.com/article/308812-how-many-calories-are-in-a-slice-of-kraft-cheese/. The post says a slice is 36 calories. I then checked the calories for one slice of bread and found http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/13423480. It says a slice of bread is 66 calories. So I decided to eat 2 slices of cheese and put it in 1 slice of bread. A grand total of 138 calories for one cheese sandwich.

I checked back on the diet and read that I should not eat bread or any diary product. Boohoo. I did.

Lunchtime at 12 noon. Drank my replacement meal and tablet. The kids were having fried chicken again today. Nibble a tinsy winsy bit of friend chicken. Barely the size of a pea. A total of 201 calories. 200 calories for the meal replacement and 1 calorie for the tinsy winsy bit of fried chicken.

It's payday! Decided to reward myself and eat lasagna for dinner at 6pm. Greenwich Lasagna Supreme is equal to 360 calories - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/greenwich-lasagna-supreme-112109384.

Got hungry at 8pm and ate nuts equal to 150 calories.

I got back at home at 1am and ate nuts worth 150 calories. That's it last food for the day.

So lets compute my daily calorie intake.

Breakfast, Replacement Meal: 200 calories
Snack, Cheese Sandwich: 138 calories
Lunch, Replacement Meal and tinsy winsy bit of fried chicken: 201 calories
Dinner, Greenwich Lasagna Supreme: 360 calories
Snack, Nuts: 150 calories
Snack, Nuts: 150 calories

A total of 1,119 calories against my BMI at 1,719 calories (calories burnt at rest).

I wanted to know how many calories I actually burn daily so I googled and found out that I approximately need 2,619 calories per day. Cool, that means if I maintain my current diet I will really lose weight fast. I'm eating approximately less than 1,100 calories a day getting a deficit of around 1,500 calories against my body's daily need of 2,619 calories. That's a lot. I can't wait for my 1st week results and compare it to my Day 1 results.

I'm really motivated right now. Here's the link to estimating your body's daily calorie requirements: http://nutritiondata.self.com/tools/calories-burned.

Reverse Diabetes Challenge Day 1

March 29, 2016. Its Day 1 of my reverse diabetes challenge.

I ordered a wild berry formula 1 shake, a personal protein powder and a bottle of fiber herb. The Formula 1 shake is my meal replacement. The personal protein powder is an additional ingredient for loosing weight. The fiber and herb is for my fiber and for a feeling of fullness during the meal replacement.

My replacement consisted of 2 tablespoons of Formula 1 shake, 1 tablespoon of protein powder and 2 tablespoons of powdered milk. Add all the powders together and mix with water. After drinking the mixture, I drank 3 capsules of fiber and herb and washed it down with water.

My wife ate some chocolate cake leftover from my son's birthday. I know I need to stick to my diet but I just really wanted a taste. So I asked for a very small portion of the cake. About the size of the two fork tines. First replacement meal for the day done at 10am. No problems there. No hunger pangs.

Then came 12 noon. My family's dish for today was fried chiken and fried shrimps. Yum! Right....I need to do meal replacements. So I maid my mixture drank it, swallowed the capsules and drank water. I was still salivating at the sight of the food on our table. I finally asked my wife to give me one piece of shrimp to satisfy my craving. So far so good.

Now off to work at 3pm. By 4pm I went to my Herbalife coach to get my measurements. I want to record everything. Got my picture taken

and stepped on the electronic weighing scale and got these results:

Weight: 193 lbs.
Body Fat: 30.9
Body Water: 50.6
Muscle Mass: 1064
BMI: 1719
Physique rating: 3
Metabolic Age: 62
Bone Mass: 6.8
Visceral Fat 16

Now the important thing to look at is the weight of course and the BMI. BMI means body mass index. This is the measurement of how many caloried your body burns while at rest. To lose weight you should only consume calories lower than your BMI. So for me, I should consume less than 1,719 calories. The UK Doctor recommends to eat only and equivalent of 800 calories per day. Each meal replacement equals to 200 calories.

At 5pm, I felt hunger. I decided to go buy some nuts that is equivalent to 150 calories. I ate dinner at 8pm. I ordered one rice (206 calories), an order of squid ink soup (around 200 calories) and one chorizo (around 130 calories).

Let's compute how many calories I consumed today:

2 Meal Replacements: 400 calories
Nuts: 150 calories
1 cup of rice: 206 calories
1 squid ink soup: 200 calories
1 chorizo: 130 calories

Total of  1086 calories. All right! First day of the Reverse Diabetes Challenge is successful. I just need to drink lotsa lotsa water to stave off my hunger and sleep it off later when I get home at 1am.

Why I ended up doing a reverse diabetes challenge

First off, I was diagnosed as a pre-diabetec 2 years ago. I was working at a call center and drank lots and lots of coffee, my eyesight which was perfect before became a little blurry. I thought maybe because I was working night shifts. So I decided to look for a day job and applied at Coke. So I got the interview and I needed to take a medical exam. The next day I found out that I have a really high blood sugar count which was beyond normal limits. The doctor said that it was very alarming and that I have pre-diabetes. If I did not lower my blood sugar, I will have Type 2 diabetes in the long run. My results two years ago says: FBS = 11. I can't find my actual results but that's what I remember.

My wife's cousin is a doctor and she looked at my results and confirmed that I am pre-diabetec. She said that I needed to change my diet in order to prevent being a type 2 diabetic. So I did my research and decided what food to eat and not to eat. Changed my staple from rice to corn. Ate fish for a month. Sometimes I eat veggies instead of fish. Only ate crackers for snacks. My blood sugar went down from 11 to 7. But I was not able to stick to my diet. I cheated a little at first eating more food than my allowed diet. Eventually ditching out my diet and went back to my old eating habits.

A year passed, I'm back in a BPO working nights and my eyesight really grew worse. I chalked it up to my getting older. Still stuck to my old eating habits. Avoiding blood sugar checks. Then my eldest son's birthday came up. I ate a lot and drank some. Waking up, my eyesight was much dimmer than before. I was a little concerned but brushed it off as a symptom of little sleep. However at the back of my mind I was thinking that this could be an effect of high blood sugar.

So the next day, I decided to lessen my rice and food intake to half. In just one day my eyesight became normal. Uh-oh. I think that it was a confirmation that it was because of my pre-diabetes. I'm not even sure if it is still pre-diabetes. Maybe I graduated to type 2 diabetes now. I still do not want to go to the doctor to confirm. I don't want to be subjected to a life long prescription of drugs.

I remembered reading an article before when I was researching about diabetes. This article talks about a professor in the UK that reversed his diabetes. His name is Roy Taylor. Please refer to the links below.

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/documents/Diabetes-Reversaloftype2studyJune15.pdf

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2385179/I-reversed-diabetes-just-11-days--going-starvation-diet.html

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/documents/StudyRecipes.pdf

His theory says that diabetes can be reversed by eliminating the fat that is surrounding the liver and pancreas. A person can do this by loosing weight and sticking to a low calorie diet for eight weeks. He mentioned that you need to replace your meals with protein shakes and ate veggies.

So that made me think. I am a Herbalife member and we have a protein shake that I can use to replace my meals. I can actually do this diet. Replace 2 meals with a protein shake and eat one normal meal. Professor Taylor actually recommends 3 meals being replaced but I thought that I can't do it immediately. So I will start with 2 meal replacements and eventually will increase to 3 between 2 weeks to a month.

I decided to create this blog in order to monitor myself and monitor what I eat daily. This will force me to stick to my diet and achieve my reverse diabetes challenge.