I thought it would be good to tell my story of how I decided to become a Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle coach. I've been diabetic since the age of three, and I just celebrated my 40th birthday in April. That's a long, long time to live in good health with a chronic illness like diabetes.
I had not struggled at all with diabetes control until giving birth to my sweet daughter, Annie, in early 2017. During my pregnancy, which was a VERY difficult pregnancy that has left me with on-going eye issue due to being diabetic and pregnant, I had such tight control my HB A1Cs were like that of a non-diabetic person--6.1, 5.6, and 5.3 right before delivery. After giving birth,
however, my thyroid decided to start giving up the ghost and my blood sugars had me climbing aboard that diabetic roller coaster of over correcting lows which lead to highs and
overtreating those highs which became lows.
Over and over and over and over. It was exhausting.
A friend from high school had told me about THM while I was pregnant, and I went ahead about bought the original huge, 700+ page book. I read it, but by that time I was starting my 10 weeks of total bedrest so implementing the THM principles was not an option at that time. I picked it up again to give it a try in the late summer after giving birth in the spring, but it was still too soon and I gave up after about two weeks. It felt like too much to do at that stage. Then, in the late winter of 2018 I was so exhausted from being on the diabetic rollercoaster that I was desperate and would try anything. I had been a member of the THM Diabetic Facebook group for a little while, but hadn't really jumped in whole hog.
I took it slow at first--changing only my breakfasts. After I felt like I had those down I took on lunches. And then dinners. And then desserts and snacks. The transition took about a month to get fully on plan, but I started noticing a difference in my blood sugars almost immediately. Mind you, I hadn't been stuffing my face with sugary junk and things diabetics shouldn't be eating. It would have said we ate pretty healthy most of the time. But goodness, this way of eating was like a magic pill. It just leveled things out and helped me not to have to get on that diabetic roller coaster because I wasn't spiking which meant I didn't need to over correct and then over treat. Ad nauseam.
So, I can hear you asking yourself what are these magical THM principles? They are this in a nutshell: each meal or snack is based on protein. That protein can be paired either with fat for a Satiating (S) meal or with up to 45 grams of carbohydrates for an Energizing (E) meal. Pack your meals out with lots of low glycemic index vege (like zucchini/courgette, eggplant/aubergine, yellow quash, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce of all varieties, etc).
There are three ways that meals can be classed.
E stands for energizing and that involved up to 45 grams of carbs. A good example of an E-meal is roast chicken breast with a sweet potato and a large serving of yellow squash topped with nutritional yeast. Keys to note here: <45 grams of carbs, up to 5 grams of fat
S stands for satiating and can have endless, glorious fat grams (just don't get too crazy!). The key here is to keep carbs less than 10g. A good example of an S meal is roasted chicken thighs with roasted broccoli and asparagus roasted in avocado or coconut oil with salt and pepper.
Then we come to FP which stands for fuel pull. In fuel pull, you are aiming to keep carbs under10g and fats under 5g. I reserve these for snacks mostly, but they are also great if you've made some bad choices or had a few too many crossovers while still trying to lose weight..
Finally, we come to the last meal type and that is the XO which stands for Crossover. An XO is when you eat fats and carbs together. Aims are to keep it at a max of 45g of carbs and unlimited fat grams, These definitely have their place in the THM way of eating especially as you get closer to goal weight. These also have a GREAT place in the first few days of your monthly cycle. This will help with cravings and not losing your ever lovin' mind.
If you are interested in learning more about the plan I offer a variety of types of coaching plans. Do you have a group you want to get together for a group coaching? That's great! Feel like you'd do better with individual coaching? That's great too! Do you feel like you understand the plan, but you fall apart trying to plan meals? Got you covered there too--the world is your oyster! Check out my services and plans and pricing pages for all the details. I have lived this diabetic THM life and have faith that this is a helpful, healthy, quality way of living. Let me help you live life to the fullest!
Click over to my coaching page to see what's coming up!
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