sunnibel7, An update that is good, I got the results back from my diabetes study Friday. I don't have diabetes and no longer considered borderline! My Dr. (which was a replacement for my now retired Dr.) Left the practice right after my last visit. He didn't seem to care much about his patients, you could hear him on the phone talking to people about non medical things for 20 or 30 minutes before he would come in and spend 2 minutes with me! He was the one that said I was borderline! They assigned me to a new Dr. and she looked over my files and called me out of the blue. Even though I have never been to see her! She asked me if I was willing to try something that she has had success with. She prescribed Micardis for me, so far my BP is good! She also listened to me when I told her about lower BP when elevating my arm. She said that a lot of Dr's. ignore that and that she wanted to do some extra tests on my circulation problems. I have an appointment for Thursday morning.

Sol, I've found through Dad's doctor that anything can be a diabetic friendly food if it's factored into their daily allowance of sugars and carbs and if portion sizes are kept realistic. That said, a jar of homemade salsa and some homemade wheat or corn tortillas, baked, is much healthier as a snack than a sweet. Dad, however, loves his sugared up, highly sweetened and super-refined food and he's not going to give it up, no matter the health ramifications. So I make things like pecan halves, tossed with a beaten egg white, then sprinkled with a mix of a teaspoonful of cinnamon and artificial sweetener to equal half a cup. I think I used about 3 cups of pecan halves, last time. A handful is a relatively healthy snack, given some other choices. He also likes carrot cake, so I make carrot cake muffins with whole wheat flour and keep the raisins to a reasonable level, no frosting. Zucchini muffins or bread are another possibility because the zucchini and spices "hide" the whole wheat a bit and the sugar can be reduced without noticing it a lot. Now, if I could get him to eat those things without a bunch of butter.... anyway, here are a couple of recipes: CHIPPETY DO DAH! 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour 1/2 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated) 6 tbsp. unsweetened applesauce 1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin 1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters) 2 1/2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 2 tbsp. brown sugar, not packed 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/8 tsp. salt Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips (flour, Splenda, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt). Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together all wet ingredients (applesauce, pumpkin, egg substitute, and vanilla extract). Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until completely blended. Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Spray a large baking pan with nonstick spray, and spoon batter into 8 evenly spaced circles. Place pan in the oven for about 10 minutes (until cookies appear done and feel firm). Remove pan from the oven and allow cookies to cool slightly. For best results, enjoy while the cookies are still warm and the chips are still melty! MAKES 8 SERVINGS Serving Size: 1 medium-sized cookie (about 1.5 oz.) Calories: 88 Fat: 1.5g Sodium: 93mg Carbs: 17g Fiber: 2g Sugars: 6g Protein: 3g Succulent Zucchini Bread (makes 2 loaves, 10 servings each) butter-flavored cooking spray 3 large eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute 1/3 cup canola oil 7 packets DiabetiSweet 1 tablespoon natural vanilla 1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, packed in natural juice, well drained 2 cups grated zucchini 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional) 1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly coat two 8-inch loaf pans with cooking spray. 2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs; add the oil, DiabetiSweet, vanilla, pineapple, and zucchini. 3. In a second large bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt (if using). If using, add the walnuts and toss. 4. Mix the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until just combined. Spoon into the prepared loaf pans. 5. Bake for 40 minutes or until a tester inserted near the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on wire racks. Note: This fantastic loaf freezes well. You can top it with frozen fat-free, sugar-free vanilla yogurt, if desired. Per serving (bread only): 118 calories (35% calories from fat), 3 g protein, 5 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat), 16 g carbohydrate, 2 g dietary fiber, 32 mg cholesterol,149 mg sodium Diabetic exchanges: 1 carbohydrate (1 bread/starch), 1 fat Hmmm, where is RobinKate? We can all say whatever we want, but she LIVES with it. I'll bet she has some good recipes. Annie

I too have dawn effect, it is a real difficult thing to try to deal with, I do the snack before bed but that does not help the only way I can avoid dawn effect is to get up at like 2 or 3 am and have a snack! Then my morning fasting number will be in the normal range. That is not going to happen though. But luckily my number even though out of norm range is not crazy high. Insurance will usually pay for as many test strips and lancets you need to do your testing as long as the doctor writes the script to cover testing that often. Mine does. And I also always use what ever brand meter and supplies my insurance tells me is their preferred brand so that it will be cheaper, and every one of the major meter companies have a program you can sign up for where they send you a prescription card to use when getting your supplies that will knock the co-pay cost down even more. I do at times have to remind the pharmacy I have that card on file so they give me my extra discount. We recently changed insurance again through my husbands work and they had a different preferred brand so they sent me a letter with the info to get the new free meter and supplies for their preferred brand. I have never paid for a meter and have quite a few now. I really do like the one I have now, it has all the test strips in a barrel container that is inside the meter so no more handling test strips at all just push the button and it sticks out the bottom of the meter and the lancet is also attached to the meter, makes it very very easy to use for me with my arthritis hands. ACCU-CHEK Compact Plus meter

Sugar is a carbohydrate, last I checked... Furthermore, beware of the commercially prepared sugar-free products. Most of them contain Sorbitol which is sugar alcohol (but doesn't contain alcohol). It is a carb and a different kind of sugar but still, it is sugar. Everything that ends with -ol is sugar alcohol and a big no-no for the diabetics. Another thing is, lactose-free milk. This thing is good for the lactose-intolerant folks. The process of getting rid of lactose is adding a special enzyme to the regular milk, so that the lactose (milk sugar) is converted into 2 simple sugars, one of them is glucose. Meaning that it's best for the diabetics to avoid lactose-free milk altogether. Someone has posted about a diet with 250 carbs a day for the diabetic; to me it sounds a bit extreme. My carbs a day are as follows: up to 4 carbs a meal and up to 2 carbs a snack. 3 meals and 3 snacks = 18 carbs, give or take. I was told I can have an occasional candy. So far so good.