Health Update

 I did an at home A1c test a few days ago and it was 5.8.  Color me happy! That is pretty good!

Many months ago, I said that I had gained some weight and was going to try to maintain 165 lbs.  Since I am 5 ft. 9 inches tall, that isn't exceptionally heavy, but I was like 140 lbs until I went on Lexapro. Apparently anxiety kept me from eating, or from resting, or something. I will gladly take 25 healthy pounds and not be anxious.

Anyway, I was at 165 for months and then about a month ago, maybe 6 weeks, I decided to start exercising more.  I've been consistently punching the punching bag in our basement, and doing the elliptical machine, and even lifting weights.

And...I promptly put on 5 more pounds. I don't think I'm eating more!  Maybe it is muscle?  Anyway, I am not going to worry about it but it does show how lame "weight" is for analyzing one's fitness. I am certainly in better shape but now weight 170 lbs!

I have been messing around with low carb fudge.  I made some that was pretty good, made up of cocoa, no sugar peanut butter, butter substitute, vanilla, and low carb sweetener.

It was quite tasty, but there was always a nasty aftertaste.  I kept messing with the recipe, trying different sweeteners, but the after taste remained.

A couple of days ago, I tried agave nectar, which isn't as low carb as I usually go for.  That fudge tasted pretty bad for some reason. Ugh.  I ate quite a few bites before deciding forget it -- I am not going to worry about wasting food when this tastes so bad.

At some point, my Ph.D. level brain thought -- hmmm, maybe it is not the sweetener?

I think it is the butter substitute.  I took a tiny bite of straight butter substitute and YUCK!

So next time I will try coconut oil.

In the middle of all this experimentation, I didn't think to google agave nectar and whether it is high fructan, because I do have a fructan intolerance...

Yes, agave nectar is very high fructan.

So yesterday, after eating some of the fudge, I got pretty unhappy digestively.

Sigh.

The older I get, the less I can eat.

But I am doing pretty well all in all.  My doctor is always thrilled at my A1c levels and my blood pressure is low and my cholesterol is high but not too high...

So I am grateful that I am as healthy as I am.  And also vaguely annoyed that my body has decided that no dairy, no wheat, no high fructan anything, is my future in life.

Oh well. There is always dark chocolate!  Thankfully.