After taking an A1C test that according to one scale was normal and according to another was high normal, I went to an endocrinologist, Dr. Mahmood Mohamadi, who gave me a FreeStyle kit of a lancet holder and lancets for finger sticks and glucose test strips. Medicare requires patients to return a log of glucose scores to the pharmacy where the supplies are obtained, and I'm fine with that. I returned the first weeks' log to Dr. Mohamadi, who said my glucose looks okay, to occasionally test the levels and see him in 4-5 months for another average test, the A1C.

He recommended following a diabetes management diet: vegetables, fruit except for melons (too sweet), no sweets, whole grains (no white bread, white rice, pasta) protein balancing all. He'd given me pamplets to read on good foods. Nicky a few years ago recommended The Sugar Solution Cookbook, which I got, but haven't gotten into.  My daughter, the chef, suggested zucchini cut in noodle size in place of pasta, and I thought of kale steamed a little as another substitute.

The question is, can I get with the program? I don't do too badly, but I'm not fully in synch yet. I do know the payoff is in feeling good instead of loggy, tired -- and courting diseases like heart problems and microvascular breakdowns.

Our sugared society...one of my heroes, former FDA  commissioner David Kessler, went dumpster diving to find the ingredients of restaurant food sold in interstate commerce and documented the sugar, fat and salt addicting contents of a lot of our processed foods in The End of Overeating.  We can't afford this roller coaster, and our kids and grandkids are suffering with it. We need to change.