130 is better! White flour makes my BG go up just as much as sugar does, so it wouldn't surprise me if that were the culprit.

I've read that fasting glucose is not a good indicator -- by the time it gets bad, you're already in really bad shape. Doctors use it because it's quicker, easier, and cheaper than a glucose tolerance test, which is really the gold standard. Testing post-prandial numbers is the next best thing. So now that you have a monitor, you'll be able to test post-prandial numbers often, and you can even do a home version of a glucose tolerance test if you really want to, but it isn't fun (I've done it!). You have to eat about 60-70g worth of carbs *without* any fat or protein. So a bagel sans cream cheese, a boiled potato sans butter, or plain white rice, something like that. Then you test your BG over the next few hours. It was harder than I thought it would be to choke down that much pure carbohydrate. They just don't taste right without some fat! :D Anyway, point being, you'll get a much clearer picture with your home BG monitor than you were getting from just the fasting tests performed by your doctor. There's tons of good information at Blood Sugar 101, so I hope you'll find it helpful.

This might help: http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/16422495.php I'm no expert, but I think those numbers (if typical for you and not just a one-time thing) might indicate some degree of insulin-resistance.

My hair is just like yours! What has worked well for me is to do a layered bob instead of a blunt bob. That way it looks intentionally "messy" and loose and natural rather than just looking like it's not cooperating with my attempts at styling. Something like this: http://hairstylesweekly.com/images/2012/10/Best-Layered-Bob-Hairstyles1.jpg Also, since my hair is super thick, my stylist thins it out a bit with thinning sheers. That seems to help too. ETA: my bangs are not as long as those in the picture, because that would drive me insane. But side-swept bangs are so pretty. That might be something new you could try. ETA again: I may have misunderstood what you were asking for. I always liked sleek styles and tried to get my hair to do that, but it never worked. I gave up and went with a more messy style, and since that's what my hair wants to do naturally, I actually ended up liking it more than I would have expected. So I would personally encourage you to take "messy" and run with it. But if that's not what you want, then I hope someone else is better able to help!

I don't know much of anything about Tony Robbins, but Steve Hassan is an expert on cults (he has a fascinating book on cult mind-control techniques) so you might google a bit and see if he has anything to say about Tony Robbins. All I could find is that he does say NLP is a covert hypnosis technique, and the descriptor "covert" when applied to anything mind-altering sounds pretty darn creepy to me.

I homeschooled my daughter full-time for K through 10th grade. This year (11th) we are homeschooling three classes, and she'll be taking three dual enrollment classes at the local community college. Next year we'll only homeschool two classes, and the rest will be at the CC.

My personal triggers: If I fail to eat something fairly carby within one hour of waking up, there is precisely a 100% chance that I will get a bad migraine within the next hour. This kind of stinks because I have absolutely no appetite that early, but I've learned from experience that I have to force myself to eat whether I want food or not. Low carb dieting seemed to make it worse, which also really stinks because I loved that diet in every other way. Mine are definitely hormone related, because they appeared with puberty, disappeared during pregnancy and nursing, and became chronic and debilitating with perimenopause. Loud, high-frequency and repetitive, percussive noises are a major trigger for me. Bright flashing lights, watching disorienting rapid motion on a large screen, or experiencing disorienting rapid motion (amusement park rides) are also triggers. Drinking any kind of alcohol has also become a trigger in recent years, though it wasn't in the past. Getting dehydrated, hypoglycemic, or overheated will also trigger. Treatments that work for me: Tri-cyclic antidepressant, taken daily for prevention. I wasn't optimistic, but this stuff has saved my life! Aspirin with caffeine, or sumatriptan taken immediately at the first sign of a migraine works wonders. Minimum of four hours of aerobic exercise per week reduces frequency considerably. Treatment that did NOT work for me: blood pressure lowering meds. My blood pressure has always been on the low end of normal, but my GP tried two diffent blood pressure lowering meds for me anyway. They both made me feel AWFUL. I then saw a neurologist who said that my GP never should have tried that for me, because given what my blood pressure was before the meds, it would only make me feel worse. But if your blood pressure is high, or even high end of normal range, might be worth a shot. I hope you feel better soon!

Wow, that's really interesting! I'm going to look into that more. Fun stuff.

Thanks for the warning. I don't get motion sickness quite that easily, but I do get migraines VERY easily, and that can definitely trigger one. Disappointing, too, since I really liked the first Bourne movie a lot, and have been hoping that at least one of the subsequent ones would be as good!

I think I am like your husband. Certain flavors taste very strong to me. I couldn't eat anything with celery or green chile in it when I was growing up, because if one of those were in the dish, it was all that I could taste, and I did not like the taste at all. It took me years of living in New Mexico before I learned to appreciate green chile, and it was a gradual process. I can also tolerate celery better now, but it's not something I ever crave. But with a lot of other foods, I feel like other people can taste things that I can't. Some spices have to be at a level where other people say they are "strong" before I can even pick them out. Not only would I not be able to taste the difference between Dr. Pepper and Coca Cola, I can't even taste the difference between diet and regular sodas. On the rare occasion that I order a soda at a restaurant, I always ask my daughter to taste it first and make sure it's diet (can't do real sugars because of hypoglycemia). They all just taste syrupy sweet to me, and that's really all that I taste. I taste enough to enjoy good food! But sometimes I do get the impression that others are enjoying nuances to the flavors that I don't perceive.

That sounds good!

Not a big fan of celery personally, unless it is properly served. ;)

Yeah, I was afraid of that regarding the housing. :(

I would love to participate as well. I'm going out of town on Monday, and I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but probably about ten days. So I think I'll just plan to start once I get back.

I had no idea either, until after I'd lived here for awhile! NM doesn't have a reputation for high crime, which is really strange because the state as a whole has the second highest crime rate in the nation. There are some very localized areas in other states that are far worse, like those cities that we all think of when we think of crime. It's not that bad. But it's pretty bad. Yeah, UNM campus is not safe. :( It's a shame too, because it's cheap, and the program that my daughter would want to study actually has a very good reputation. ETA: I'm sorry - I shouldn't be derailing the thread, should I? :blush:

:D I have a love/hate relationship with Albuquerque. It IS beautiful! I love the desert landscapes and the even more stunning "skyscapes" (the sky here is just so big, so beautiful, so blue, the clouds are so pretty, the night skies are so pretty, the sunsets are breathtaking). Love all the sunshine. Love the cacti and yuccas and roadrunners. Love all of that so much, and I will miss it dearly if/when we move. But the culture. Ugh. The crime here is just awful. I want to live in a place where I can go to a play or a musical performance, or go for a run in a park or an open space area without having to worry so much about my safety. I want my daughter to go a college where I wouldn't have to be worried sick all day about what might happen to her on campus. I'm really sick of that part of living here. I know I probably sound ungrateful - I do realize there are far worse places to live. But I always lived in low-crime areas before this, so this was a bit of a shock to me.

I'm so jealous!!!!! I despise car-based living with a passion, and it's my life dream to live in a place where I can walk and use public transit! :D Recently my dental hygienist was telling me that she had lived in Vancouver and she really loved it. The way she described it, it sounded so nice that I wanted to ask "why on earth did you move here (Albuquerque :thumbdown: )when you could have stayed there?" :lol: But I didn't feel it was actually appropriate to ask, so I restrained myself. So, you wouldn't happen to know if there's much demand for physicists in Vancouver, would you? :001_smile:

If you're unfamiliar with traumatic and dangerous situations generally, or sexual predators more specifically, it's natural that you wouldn't understand. I could never have begun to imagine the things that predators will say to intimidate and threaten their victims into silence if I hadn't had friends share their stories with me. And while it's hard to imagine freezing up if you've never been through it, it is a common response to fear for a lot of different people in a lot of different circumstances. It seems reasonable to think that in her situation, with so many people around, she would feel that she could cry out for help. But the thing is, when you're terrified, you don't act on reason. Quite literally - the adrenaline rush and accompanying physiological changes disrupt the higher thinking capabilities of the brain. (Or so I've read - I'm not an expert.) I've never been through anything comparable, but I've been in a couple of situations where for just a few brief moments I was very afraid, and it was almost like I was watching it from somewhere else, and couldn't make my body move.

Yes, I've had the same basic experience!

I like that - that's a better way to express it than what I said!

I think many Americans have become "addicted" (this word is too strong, but I'm not sure what else to use) to both the convenience and the taste of packaged foods. I've noticed that if I eat junk food, I just want more junk food. But when I eat a wholesome, nutritious diet, my taste buds "readjust" and I crave even more fruits and veggies. There could be many other dynamics at work here, that's just the one that I've noticed in my own life.

That would bug me too.

Sloppy Joes??? Okay, now I would never mock someone for saying Sloppy Joes are barbecue, but I would politely offer you some real barbecue. :lol:

I grew up in Oklahoma, and barbecue there *usually* means beef brisket or ribs, but pulled pork, pork ribs, sausage, and chicken are not uncommon. Now I'm hungry.

To me barbecue simply means smoked meat, so I would have asked as well. I'm sorry that you were mocked for asking a perfectly reasonable question.