Our October Meeting

I was more than a little surprised when I received my email for the October meeting. Normally we have our meetings on a weekend, but this was on a Monday. Since most of the members are retired, I think in retrospect, this may have been a good call.

We had seven potential new members, but only six passed the interview and were accepted as members. Again, I received a shock at the interview, but I agree with the way it was conducted, as it told us why they wanted to join our support group and issues they might have with the philosophy of the support group. I thanked Brenda and Sue for developing a comprehensive interview for new members, as it could be used in a variety of ways to uncover potential problems.

The five that several of us had helped for foot problems and a person that

Jennifer had introduced passed. A member that Allen introduced did not pass and Allen did understand and he thanked Sue for the questions that exposed him for the problems he might have caused us.

Barry moved that Brenda and Sue be thanked for the interview they had conducted and it was seconded almost unanimously. The vote was unanimous and Brenda said thank you to us and said that having the October meeting as our membership meeting makes for a more consistent way of accepting members.

Sue added that her husband and she had researched and found the interview program and brought it to Brenda for her approval. They had adapted some of the questions to fit our needs. This brought a round of applause and a big Thank-you!

Brenda then asked for some discussion about the excluded group and how many people had been harassed in the last month. Then she explained what had happened to me and those involved. She explained that one had been arrested and would be spending at least one year in jail with most of it caused by his actions after his arrest.

She then stated she had received several harassing phone calls, as had Sue and A.J. At that point, the new members all said they had been told not to join this support group. More members admitted they had been told to leave this group and they would be welcome in their group. Ben said he seriously doubted this and felt better as member of this group.

I asked who has not been harassed and no one answered. I suggested that the police needed to be notified. Then they are can take action to stop the harassing phone calls. I told them how I was working with the police and they were monitoring my telephone numbers and had arrested several of the group harassing me. I said that to date it only involved 9 of the other group and if the rest of you would join me, they could be stopped.

Brenda asked for a show of hands and only one person felt that this was not necessary. I gave Brenda the phone number and called a second number. Shortly, there were three officers present and one addressed our group and explained what could be done. Then they moved among us obtaining phone numbers and names and dates of the last calls. Each was given a card with a phone number to call after each harassing call and told that the phone company was working with them to end this.

After they were finished and answered several more questions, they thanked the group and felt that the harassing calls would end before long and maybe still happen sporadically. They did want to catch as many as possible.

Max briefly listed the problems and costs at the financial institutions.  There would be no cost breaks below certain balances, which we would not reach.  There would be other costs, which could be a burden unless we trusted an individual.  Several said they understood and there was a short discussion.  Max asked for another month before we collected dues and asked Sue's husband for assistance.  He agreed and said he might have a partial solution. 

Brenda stated the meeting was over and cleanup needed to be done. Cleanup did not take long and as we were leaving, we noticed the police were detaining several individuals. One officer indicated we should leave the area immediately, which we did. Later the officer did contact Brenda and informed her that the fellows were some of the harassers. Brenda sent out emails to all members, which had all concerned.

Allen suggested that the potential problem was the member he had promoted and his objective was to inform the others. He said he would inform the police.

Our October Group Meeting

We normally have our meeting on Saturday, but because many would be attending a funeral for a non-diabetic friend, we held the meeting Friday evening. Because of this, we were without a program, as Beverly was to speak to us. We were just happy to have the extra time to answer questions from our members.

Jennifer started the questions by asking why so many of us used a low carb/high fat meal plan. Allen answered that by saying this helped us keep our blood glucose levels at levels we were happy with and for those of us on insulin, it meant that the lower levels of insulin were needed with less chance of hypoglycemia.

Barry added that while this was good, eating whatever we wanted and covering it with insulin, generally meant weight gain and no chance of reducing the gain. Sue said this why she had suggested asking the members as she knew they could explain it in ways she had not thought about and even tried since she was not on any medications.

Sue continued that those on oral medications could also benefit because it would mean that the level of medication could be held to lower levels and not needing to add other medications as the CDE had told them to do. At this, her brother Ben said that dietitians would give the same advice of eating more carbohydrates and then talking to the doctor about adding medications if the blood glucose levels became elevated.

Jennifer said she had tried low carb/high fat for a couple of weeks and was always hungry. Barry said that some people could try a low carb/high fat meal plan for a month before the carving for food subsided.  He asked Jennifer how many carbs she was eating per day. Jennifer said about 100 grams per day with most carbs eaten at the evening meal. Barry said that might be part of the problem. He said that either eating the same number at each meal or doing like Doctor Bernstein suggests using a ratio of 6-12-12 is more conducive to reducing hunger.

This brought more questions and some of the new members asking questions of why most of us consumed less than 80 grams of carbs. When they discovered that most of us were at 50 grams or less, many were surprised and wondered what we did when our weight reached our goal and we were still eating so few carbs. Allen said that normally when we reach our ideal weight, up to a pound or two under, we normally stop losing weight and maintain the ideal weight. He said that is what happened to him and he asked Barry and Ben and they confirmed this. Even Sue said that she and her husband had no more weight loss.

Tim said that even he had no additional weight loss after reaching his ideal weight. Now more were asking questions and saying that the dietitians they had seen were promoting a minimum of 45 grams of carbohydrates per meal up to 70 grams per meal. Tim quietly stated that is one reason we will have Suzanne in to talk to you for our next meeting as this is what we have discovered does not work for us and caused our A1c to rise. Jerry said he could confirm this and briefly told them why he is now divorced from his former wife, a dietitian.

Jerry said that Suzanne is a nutritionist and would work with the level of carbohydrates they wanted and would try to balance the meal plan for the day. Tim explained that both Beverly and Suzanne were relatives of mine and were well received by the group. Rose and Brenda confirmed this and Brenda said one of her daughters was also a nutritionist, but did not have her doctorate as my relative had. Brenda also stated that many of the dietitians do not even have a masters degree.

At the end of an hour, Tim said the meeting was over, but everyone wanted to talk longer and about an hour later cleanup was done and everyone left.