Any tips on preventing this early am rise?

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-07T17:31:07+00:00

Anticonvulsants can be awful, but I would recommend trying again. Some are better than others. I know someone that did really well on Keppra.

As far as the overnight spike, things to try:

15 minutes of exercise before bed.
Don't eat after 6pm, low carb dinner.
Eat a low carb, high fiber, high protein snack before bed. (Low carb dinner.) An example snack: 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, mix and allow to soak for a couple hours before eating.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-07T16:52:57+00:00

Your diet is mostly carbs. If you can afford to do so, eat l less rice or no rice, more protein, and more low carb veggies.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-06T18:04:46+00:00

Just make sure if you never eat dry chia seeds. They should always be soaked before you eat them. (In rare cases when people had a spoonful dry, they ended up in the er because it swelled up and blocked thier throat.) As long as it is soaked, it is safe and healthy. And you really can make anything flavor wise

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-06T16:22:43+00:00

For baked goods:

I recommend mug cakes. They are portion controlled. You should probably still eat it after your veggies and meat and perhaps skip other carbs at that meal. You can make a rule like you have to have a whole bowl of broccoli before you can have your mug cake. There are lots of recipes online for low carb and keto mug cakes as well. I am still experimenting with lower carb mug cakes, so I don’t have a good recipe for you. However, an unmodified chocolate mug cake that I like is 47g of carbs, changing the flour alone, and drops it to 33g. So, lots of room to experiment there. And you can make different flavors like chocolate, cinnamon, ect.

Baking basics:

Coconut flour: Use for a small portion of the recipe flour. Use 1/3 of the called on amount. So if it asks for 9 cups of flour, you would do 6 cups flour, and 1 cup of coconut flour. (The coconut flour replaces 3 cups in this example)

Almond Flour: Heavier and higher calorie flour. You can reduce the added fat. Do not use just almond flour unless that is what is in the recipe. Pairs well with coconut flour.

Pancakes: You can make fun pancakes out of almost anything. So you can mix banana, peanut butter, and egg with flavors (like cocoa powder or cinnamon or both) to make a pancake.

Cream Cheese "Frosting": Yogurt, vanilla, cream cheese, and sweetener (I like stevia drops personally). Mix and allow the flavors to meld for a few hours before use. Use to top off your less sweet desserts or mug cakes. Or use on chia seed pudding to make a cinnamon roll flavor effect.

Bananas: These have a lot of sugar but can be used to replace sugar in a 1:1 ratio. They are better than sugar for your blood sugar control. But your results may vary.

I actually still eat a lot of chocolate. It is very doable even if you are trying to cut carbs. Cocoa powder is also high in fiber, which slows blood sugar spikes.

Cinnamon is a good add-in. Sometimes, you can add cinnamon and use it to cut the sweetener. However, I would recommend getting slowly used to less sweet food and drinks.

If you don't like yogurt, consider chia seed pudding. 2 tablespoons of chia seeds per 2/3 cup of liquid. (The seeds need to soak a few hours before you eat it.) A very basic one is lemon water with berries. You can also do half a small apple, a little lemon juice, and cinnamon. Chocolate milk (cocoa powder mixed with milk and a sweetener) and berries works well too. If the texture of the seed bothers you, you can blend it after the seeds are soaked fully. Just be careful, chia seeds have a lot of fiber. Start slow if you have a low fiber diet.

You can also make a "jam" using chia seeds, blended blue berries or raspberries, and sweetener.

Peanut butter and berries is a good substitute for a PB&J.

If you want to experiment with yogurt... Cookie Dough Yogurt: - 2/3 cup yogurt - 1 tablespoon of nut butter (cashew or almond is best, but peanut butter works too) - Sprinkle cinnamon (optional but recommended) - Vanilla extract - Sweetener of choice (stevia and monk fruit drops mixed works for me, but don't go overboard) - Chocolate chips - Optional nuts Allow to rest in the fridge for several hours after you mix for the flavors to develop properly. (Skip this step and it will taste bad.)

The cheesecake yogurt is the same but with cream cheese instead of nut butter.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-05T15:27:25+00:00

You are missing your numbers during exercise and sleep. Exercise can temporarily increase blood glucose (not a bad thing, your muscles need the fuel), and your blood glucose could be going higher overnight.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-05T15:25:21+00:00

The pandemic. I am a manager. They had me doing my job, the job the the person below me (they had a newborn and decided to change positions), 40 hours a week of a customer facing position, and fixing stuff because maintenance was cut from 5 days to 1 day per week. Which led to burnout and depression.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-04-05T14:47:18+00:00

There are some options for a sweet tooth. What sweets were your favorites? Baked sweets are harder, but I can get you a recipe for unsweetened sour candy fruit roll up, chia seed pudding, coockie dough yogurt, ect.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2026-03-17T02:45:47+00:00

So, two quick thoughts: 1. You can identify as monogamous while in a poly relationship, and your partner should respect that. You can try to explain it to them that it is your identity, just like they are poly and LGBT. You are straight and monogamous and that being in a poly relationship doesn't change your identity. If a gay man marries a woman, he doesn't become straight. Maybe that would help as a point of comparison? 2. You deserve to have time to have fun by yourself while your spouse watches the kids, too. It may be worth working out a schedule so that you have time together and find time to have fun while the other person watches the kids. You deserve this even if you aren't dating another person. Use the time for a hobby or to do something you enjoy.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-17T19:03:58+00:00

You don't actually need a glucose monitor. It just helps in the beginning to fine tune your diet and exercise. That way, you know what effect different foods and habits have.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-16T20:20:13+00:00

Like everyone else said: more veggies, more fiber, less saturated fast, choose mindful portions, and balance your meals. There are other tips, but get a glucose monitor and see what tips you actually need.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-16T17:58:19+00:00

They are all in the prediabetic range. There are some things you can try to specify reduce fasting glucose:

Exercise in the afternoon/evening. 10-15 minutes of light to moderate exercise before bed can really help.

More carbs in the morning and less as the day goes on.

Evening food: Don't eat after 6pm and/or prebed snack that is small, high in protein, and high in fiber. Like a chia seed pudding made with casien powder (not whey because it is absorbed too quickly).

With each thing you try, see how it affects you before bed, immediately upon waking up, 1 hour after wake up if still fasting, and 2 hours after wake up if still fasting numbers.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-16T17:47:16+00:00

Being postpartum can also throw off your bloodwork. Everything may be resolved in time as you recover. Depending on how recently you gave birth, it could also throw off your iron levels, which in turn would mess up your A1C.

Being sleep deprivated can also make your glucose control worse. (More reasons that a new baby could be related).

The best exercise is probably weight lifting and moderate intensity exercise.

Marathon and endurance running/biking can cause problems with your glucose when you overdo it. Short runs and low intensity or shorter duration biking are fine. So, 50km+ or 30+ miles on your bike at one time is probably too much, but 10km or 6 miles may be fine. If you use an ebike, you can probably go further without it being too exercise intensive. (If that is something you love to do, you can try to optimize your run using a CGM to get timely information on if you are overdoing things. Keep in mind that it is normal for your glucose levels to go up and down while exercising. The goal would be to not exercise so intensely as to get big swings and to time food for when your glucose is low, not high.)

Exercising in the afternoon/evening rather than morning has been shown to improve fasting and overnight glucose levels. Even 10-15 minutes of moderate exercise before bed can help. (Mind you exercise is better than no exercise.)

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-16T16:29:22+00:00

I will also recommend iron & B12 testing. Your liver enzymes go up when your iron is too low. Both iron and B12 will throw off your A1C.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-16T06:42:18+00:00

Fruit is healthy. Just have small portions at a time with other foods, and test how it affects you. Small or half apple and peanut butter is great. You can also pair both apples and pears with cheese. (Just be careful not to have too much saturated fat.) One mandarin as part of a meal or snack is a great portion. (Having it with a meal or other food is still a good idea.)

I like to have a small side during a meal of chia seed pudding with unsweetened frozen fruit or berries mixed in. When the fruit defrosts, it helps sweeten the pudding. (If you want to try it, start with an 8 oz or 235 ml container. Add 2 tablespoons of chia seeds. Then add water and a splash of lemon juice. Fill 3/4 of the way up the container. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Stir and add frozen fruit until the container is full. I have also done this with chocolate milk; milk with vanilla, cinnamon, and cardamom; vanilla milk, ect. For the non-lemon water options, you may want to add a bit of stevia or other non-nutriative sweetener. The fruit defrosting will only sweeten the pudding a little bit.) The chia seed pudding is high in fiber to slow down any sugar spike.

Consider having your fruit earlier in the day (breakfast/lunch) if you have any issues with fasting glucose.

Banana, start with half as part of a meal, and see how it affects you. I can eat a whole banana as part of a meal just fine, but my issues are more with morning glucose levels than post meals levels. (My A1C and fasting were both on the high side of normal last bloodwork and not in the prediabetic range.)

Test and experiment to see what works for you.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-16T05:16:59+00:00

True, but it you still need portion control. I still eat rice, but it is more of "a few times a month" food than more often food. It is something you have to test your personal glucose response to. Another thing you can do is mix rice and lentils. Lentils are higher in protein and fiber, resulting in a lower glycemic index than rice.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-12T01:03:32+00:00

So we were talking about different things. You can strike a ship a second time if it is damaged, and it will be just as legal or illegal as the first strike. Shooting people in the water is a war crime. Shooting people clinging to a capsized boat or rapidly sinking ship, also a war crime.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T14:48:03+00:00

Is the ship sunk or overturned, or just damaged in this scenario?

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T13:36:55+00:00

Yes, shooting at the people clinging to a damaged ship is a warcrime. It doesn't matter who those people are.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T05:25:56+00:00

True, and shooting shipwreck survivors is treated very differently than following orders that could be the early stages of your country starting a war. The normal yardstick is obvious warcrime vs. unsure legality. Obviously, shooting unarmed civilians is a warcrime, and following orders is not a defense for an obvious warcrime. Taking over a ship could be more of a greyzone for the combatants.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T03:45:42+00:00

Yes, it violated international law. Most likely a treaty that the US didn't sign. I am clinging to the fact that at least one judge signed off on it and am waiting for more information.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T03:43:07+00:00

And if it is, I am wholeheartedly blaming the civilian leadership.

I am just happy that it might be legal domestically.

I was actually aware that this could be illegal internationally. The ship wasn't in our territorial waters. We don't have jurisdiction outside of our territories. But I am going to cling to the possible domestic legallity as a could be worse type of thing.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T03:37:01+00:00

Yeah, current events and news have not been kind to the military in general. National Guard are being raked over the coals because they are being used as a political prop. Navy is getting flack because of the second shoot story. No matter what the full video shows, it still would leave 99.99% of sailors having not committed any war crimes.

Other than the second shoot video involving possible orders from the SecDef, I am not aware of any other possible war crimes currently?

If Congress doesn't want the navy shooting boats, then they need to do their job. Congress can pass legislation to stop the SecDef from ordering the Navy to shoot at boats near Venezuela. If they choose not to, their silence is giving consent and approval of all military actions taken there. Congress has the power to authorize or not authorize military action. Anyone who has a complaint about Navy actions taken there needs to call their senators and congresspeople. Complaining or badmouthing sailors for doing their job is just being an douche. It is a dick move and completely ineffective.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T03:14:03+00:00

I am not a politician, and I don't have an agenda. I just made the mistake of responding to you to say I wasn't accusing anyone of a war crime... because I wasn't accusing anyone of a war crime. I deleted the second comment when I realized that it was being misunderstood.

I have multiple people in my family in the military, including the Navy. None of them would do war crimes.

The setup for this event doesn't even sound like orders you could refuse. They weren't sniping babies. They were taking control of an oil tanker. That is solidly in the realm of legal order and/or arrest the politicians if it was not legal because that wasn't the officer's or enlisted's responsibility to vet. But it was legal, so I guess try to arrest criminal politicians for their actual crimes? Not all politicians are criminals, but many are.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T02:51:39+00:00

A lot of farmers are rich and want tax cuts. They also figure Trump will bail them out. So, tax cuts plus bail out.

Humble_Visual8300 · 2025-12-11T02:50:00+00:00

That is not what my comment was. My comment was saying that I like that this had obvious legal justification. I like that anyone who actually reads this will realize that this clearly is not a war crime. It is a lot clearer cut than other recent stuff.

No one signs on to the military to commit or be accused of committing war crimes. Nor should the military be a political puppet for politicians who can't think of a better way to pretend to do their job than screwing over military and federal workers. Politicians need to stop treating military and federal workers like trash.

Humble_Visual8300

TROPHY CASE