Update on Eric’s Health and Sharing New Recipes

Eric was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes on July 31. Earlier this month when I shared the news on our blog, we were still trying to get his blood sugar in the normal range of 80-130. Thank you for the outpouring of encouragement and advice. The least we can do is give you an update on how things are going here.

Medical Stuff on the Road

Though we don’t recommend doing this, Eric waited a few days to start taking his medication, Metformin. Our reasoning was that we wouldn’t know what impact diet changes were really having if he was starting a new medication at the same time.

While his blood sugar did get down to the 200-range, diet wasn’t quite enough. After friends gave us a nudge, Eric started taking the recommended dose of Metformin, twice a day. We were fortunate to have Kolan (family friend and physician) review Eric’s charts from his hospital visit, and prescribe the pills Eric needs until he gets back to his doctor in Austin. Otherwise, I’m not sure what hoops we’d have to jump through to get into a doctor on the road.

I’m happy to announce that Eric hit the target glucose range of 80-130 for the first time on August 11. In fact, he’s stayed consistently in the zone ever since then! We cut the Metformin dose in half last week. All this, and it hasn’t even been one month since Eric learned he has Diabetes.

Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

A lot of our friends have been asking how Eric is feeling. Well, better. There have been some side effects from the medication, but his fatigue is gone and he has actually had a lot of energy. One Sunday shortly after his diagnosis, we went to church and out to eat, and he was exhausted by the time we got home. One week later, he was touring the largest single family dwelling in the United States (Biltmore House). He’s back into daily walks, too.

Our New Favorite Recipes

It’s one thing to pop a pill every day, but we believe the diet changes should get the credit for the drastic turnaround in such a short time! I’m thinking of sharing our favorite recipes as we find them. Who’s in?

As a reminder, Eric is on the keto diet: high fat, moderate protein, and no to low carbs. No sugar. No bread. No processed foods at all.

We flew by the seat of our pants for a while. We weren’t exactly sure what Eric was supposed to eat, and what he wasn’t. I never knew what was for dinner, and I was going to the grocery store every day. That was pretty exhausting.

Last week, I made a meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and went shopping for the entire week. Talk about cost savings. I think the math works out to about $20/day, or less than $7/meal. And we are really enjoying these new recipes we’ve found.

Here are our favorites so far. Click on the name of the dish for the recipe.

• Chicharrones con huevos - Hearty breakfast. Be aware that the serving sizes from the recipes are on the big side. I’m going to make half a serving for Eric next time. Each serving is 348.33 calories, 22.71 g fat, 3.74 g net carbs, and 23.79 g protein.
• BLT lettuce wraps - Easy lunch. We’re still playing with this one, but we’ve found the bacon really makes the wrap with its saltiness. So don’t scrimp on the bacon, people. I like to use rotisserie chicken, which I can also use for the chicken enchilada casserole recipe (see below). If you follow the recipe, it’s 570 calories, 42 g fat, 12 g carbs, and 36 g protein.

• Egg roll in a bowl - I think this is my favorite keto meal so far. We used to eat a lot of Chinese and Thai food, and that’s probably what I miss the most. This super healthy dish satisfies my cravings. We don’t have a wok, so I have to halve the recipe for it to fit in my 12-inch frying pan. 264 calories per serving, 18.6 g fat, 9.4 g carbs, and 15.5 g protein.

• Chicken enchilada casserole - Seriously tastes just like chicken enchiladas, but without the tortillas. You can play around with it by using different enchilada sauces. I found a delicious Hatch chile sauce. Be aware that it turned out crazy soupy for us. Maybe it’s because I used rotisserie chicken, so I skipped the first step of cooking the chicken in the sauce.
• Fish sticks - More delicious than any fish sticks you’ve ever had! This is such an easy dinner. I usually steam some broccoli or roast some asparagus to go with it. You can get the nutrition facts through the My Fitness Pal app. Actually, you can search My Fitness Pal for almost all the recipes on this list.
• Taco salad - You really don’t need a recipe for this one…it’s taco salad without the tortilla chips. But you can look at the recipe if you need to know the nutrition facts. 570 calories, 42 g fat, 12 g carbs, 36 g protein.
• Burgers - No recipe here, unless it’s the secret Highland Family recipe. Eric has pretty much perfected his burger seasoning and grilling. Except now, we substitute big leaves of romaine lettuce for buns.
• Loaded baked “potatoes” - There is no way we should be allowed to eat something this good. I wanted to eat all six servings. The hilarious thing is that the whole huge thing is basically the same amount of calories in one combo meal at a fast food burger place. I don’t have a food processor, so I couldn’t get the mashed potato consistency. But that didn’t matter for taste. Before this recipe, Eric didn’t care for cauliflower and never ate it. But he gave the dish an honest try, and I was surprised and excited to find out how much he liked it.

Let me know whether you’d like to see more recipes! This is all new for us, but we are taking our health seriously and finally learning how our diet really impacts our bodies.

Thanks for tuning in. I owe you a couple of travel logs-for our last leg in Kentucky, as well as the rest of our time in Asheville as we wrap up here.

-B