Thank you everyone for your kindness and for understanding. Here's some photos of my beautiful Siamese boy, Saki. He was my very first rescue cat. He was a kitten from a pregnant cat I found and took care of. When I saw those blue eyes of his, I just couldn't give him up. I have a 'former' pregnant feral cat/rescue, Savannah, who is now a full-time tamed house cat. She really attached herself to Saki and he was instrumental in socializing her. She has been walking around meowing looking for him since last night. It's so sad to watch. Here's my Saki:

Janet, I found out I have Type II diabetes recently. It is overwhelming until you figure out which foods are doing what to you. Personally I think you're better off not to substitute sugar for anything sugar free. In fact, you can have a little sugar, as long as you're counting carbohydrates. I've been reading that foods with a low glycemic index (Thanks to my Cooking Forum friends) are good for diabetics...like oatmeal cookies, since the whole grain slows down the rush of glucose. I'm finding that fresh fruit helps with my sweet tooth; is it helping you at all? I've figured out (by testing) that I can eat a chocolate covered caramel with an apple as a mid-day snack, and not feel deprived. It's ok to let yourself have a little bit sugar, if it's not with every meal. I always make sure to eat a little protein first. When you start testing a lot, you'll be able to see what happens to you. That's the only way to know for sure. I'm feeling a little more confident now, even though I can't eat what I used to in the amounts I did before. I'm trying to have the attitude of ''everything in moderation'' so I won't feel deprived. Even if it's three bites! My doctor recommended a book, ''Diabetes for Dummies'' which was helpful; I am absolutely determined to manage this as best I can. I started looking for recipes with some sugar but less of it; if you can find some that will count carbs for you that's helpful. I like Recipezaar's site, since you can get a complete nutritional breakdown with each recipe. Good luck; I know just how you're feeling, since I'm walkin' in your shoes!

Yesican, Some people eat to live and some live to eat. She lives to eat so taking that into consideration she's fairly happy with her meals. She actually eats about twice as much as me and really too much for her age and activity level. I need to cut her portions down a wee bit. Her favorite breakfast is cornflakes with a half a banana but sometimes she has a poached egg with grits and bacon bits and buttered toast or oatmeal with fruit. A typical lunch or supper is a meat, potato and a vegetable and usually no bread. Our meats are usually pork chops, chicken, steak, ham or something made from hamburger meat. I don't do a lot of processed meats. Some snacks she can't eat because she can't wear her bottom denture and can't chew real hard stuff. This is a sample of her snacks; 2 cookies, half a cup fruit, a small orange, a microwaved apple with cinnamon and splenda, a 2" square of cake with icing or a 1" wedge of layer cake, a 2" wedge of pie, 3 peanut butter crackers, the fruity lite yogurt (there's so many flavors),sugar free jello with cool whip, a small scoop of ice cream. I buy very little sugar free foods because that usually only means there's no added sugar but there's still sugar and lots of carbs in them. I pay more attention to carbs than sugar because your body doesn't use all the sugar but it uses ALL the carbs. To give you an example; a small scoop of sugar free ice cream has about 19 grams of carbs and 4 grams of sugar. I don't have any at the moment to check the regular but I remember the sugar free. If you compare labels of sugar free and regular foods you'll see what I mean. Add the carbs and sugar for each one and compare. Don't forget to look for sugar alcohol. There is one food I buy different and that's low carb bread. There's quite a difference there and if I make her a sandwich or toast I use it. If you have any more questions just ask. I don't use diabetic recipes but I do season a lot with spices such as garlic powder or onion instead of salt. I use very little salt because of her blood pressure and swelling.

plllog- I'm strict with the amount of the fructose portion of "sugars" due to Fructose Malabsorption (aka fructan intolerance) and the list of foods I need to limit or avoid. As much as 30% of the population are deficient (to some degree) in fructose receptors and don't even realize they may have a problem. This has nothing to do with the "anti-fructose or high-fructose corn syrup" issues popular in the last few years. Fructose Malabsorption can be the cause of mild to severe GI issues. It can be hereditary, but more often it develops as we age. Your physician can perform a hydrogen and methane breath test in his office to determine whether you have this condition. With all sugars, the glucose portion is used for energy in your body - it's used by your muscles. I don't have a problem with that kind of "sugar". I can consume dextrose, corn syrup, and other sweeteners/sugars/syrups as long as they are low in fructose . I just don't use a lot of ANY of them as a general practice because high-sugar diets are basically --- deadly. But, this may be what you are missing, and I didn't make it clear, the fructose portion of a sugar goes to the liver to be processed, and that's where the problem with fructose/fructans begins. I need to avoid the fructose/fructans for this reason since having my gallbladder removed, which means your only "filter" remaining is your liver - so be kind to it and avoid fructose/fructans - PLUS the GI issues from the malabsorption issue (double trouble). But long before that, we have avoided high-glycemic foods AND sugars due to diabetes in hubby's family as a way to hopefully avoid diabetes. Two of his siblings died due to diabetes-related issues (age 55 and 66), and another is seriously ill and disabled due to diabetes (age 59) and another sibling is also a longtime diabetic (age 74), and another one has blood glucose issues, but not diabetes (65). That leaves one sister, one brother, and my husband, out of 8, who don't have diabetes. So we are dealing with several different issues, not one, and that may be where the confusion comes from. Sorry about that.... -Grainlady