I think that all of my questions were legitimate questions. In case it was not apparent in my original reply, I am an atheist, and claim no level of understanding concerning most religious rituals and practices; by this, I mean that while I am familiar with the description and purpose of the customs (I know how to read books and use wikipedia), I cannot profess to understand why people would participate in a religious custom that could potentially harm them when, it seems to me, the rules are arbitrary.
I was trying to ask you an open, honest question in the hopes that you would be able to educate me on what you, personally, are trying to accomplish. I wanted to know what made you choose to feed your need for spirituality or some sort of supernatural relationship over real medical condition.
Instead of answering my questions, you attacked me and then just said “[y]ou can read up on it if you choose to.” Very informative.
Within the first five sentences of your reply you referred to me as “stupid,” “uninformed,” “closed-minded,” judgmental, and in need of “help.” I did not judge you in any way, and I am sorry if you took some sort of offense to my questions. However, you clearly felt threatened and reacted by lashing out. The animosity in your post was palpable, and, quite frankly, you seem like you are not a completely nice person.
I hope that you enjoy your fast, and that you emerge with no lasting ill-effects. May Peace be upon you.
I think the big problem was… that your whole comment, veiled under the guise of “I don’t get it,” was very patronizing in tone and nature. You could have simply asked “Why do you want to do this fast, when you have other, more healthful alternatives, and you could seriously hurt yourself?” and just left it at that… There was NO need to bring your personal spiritual bias into the discussion. To press someone about their faith, in a public Diabetic forum that has nothing to do with faith… Well, it’s just bullish, and very inappropriate… Not to mention extremely disrespectful.
You seem to miss the point I made about choosing the audience to discuss religious matters. How you approached me didn’t make me feel you were really interested in knowing. I have encountered plenty of people that have questioned about Ramadan before. I chose to answer them based on their approach and questions. If you are then again I suggest you read on the subject matter. Being that we both are scientists we both share the love of learning and research. Enlightenment in any form should come from within and the desire for knowledge. Have you read up on the subject matter?
I never called you personally stupid or uninformed. I don’t feel threatened by your questions. Again I did not want this to be a religious discussion. I was only soliciting tips and experiences from other people. In either case it is all good to me.
Again thank you for the well wishes and being concerned by my well being.
I was going to incorporate egg whites in my diet. I have had success with egg whites. well, I will be blogging my experiences during the fast at my blog sexydiabetic.com.
I am sure I won’t last the whole season but I want to try.
Thank you very much… I really do appreciate this Lizmari…
i am so happy you understand. I didn’t want to discuss religion in this forum. As you know it is a polarizing subject. I sent this person a friend invite to further discuss this in private.
These are quite interesting discussions. I am a Christian and during the Lenten season, my church undergoes a “Daniel Fast” which is basically a very healthy Mediterranian diet, lots of Legumes, no fried foods, nor beef or pork. We eat fish and poultry, whole wheat , multi-grains and ( no bleached flours),. On Wednesdays of these weeks, there is a fast from sun-up to sundown. I do not fast on those days ;but I do "give up " a carnal preoccupation for me, which is telephone, tv, and intenet for that day., which is quite hard to do at work, but I can work around it. I do such work ahead of time, or put my messages ( unless emergencies) “on hold” on Wednesdays during the Lenten season.
I find what some would call “unscientific rituals,” as cleansing, affirming and restful. Not trying to proselytize, but that’s what works for me. Do what you need to do Christalyn.
God Bless,
Brunetta
Healthy, happy type 1 42 years
I am not a Muslim and generally do not do well with skipping meals so I typically don’t fast for personal or religious reasons so take my comments with a grain of salt in that I’m just brainstorming here and don’t understand all the specifics for Ramadan.
Most definately my thoughts are if this is important to you go for it. Diabetes and health is just one aspect of who we are and we should be able to have some balance in our lives. Spiritual and emotional health is just as important as our blood sugars, cholesterol, BP and all that comes with diabetes.
That being said I do think there are steps you can take to help go into Ramadan safely. Or at least with less impact on your sugars. Your profile says orals and shots, type 2 diabetes. Do you mind sharing your medication regimen? Are you on insulin or Byetta/Victoza? It’s possible that with some medication adjustments you would find it easier to fast. That’s something you would need to talk to your dr about. I know if I was in your shoes I’d ask my doctor if I could have some Humalog or Novolog to try. Those are fast acting insulins that people take for food or high blood sugar. There’s different ways to take it but even a sliding scale (where you take a dose based on your blood sugars) would be easy to learn and could really help if the problem is from intermittent high blood sugars. The advantage of a short acting insulin as opposed to diabetes pills or the long acting insulins is that you can make your insulin match your life and it’s more adjustable to your circumstances. The disadvantage to a change in regimen is that there’s a learning curve involved and also a period of titration to figure out the doses you’d need. If you’re having a lot of highs it would mean more shots. Not sure if it’s something you’d want to tackle this close to Ramadan. Kind of six of one half a dozen of another.
Or if you’re not comfortable with insulin it’s possible that your dr might be able to make adjustments to your current medication timing or dosage so that your blood sugars would be more likely to be stable during Ramadan.
For me also glucose tabs aren’t food they’re medicine. I would feel less like I was breaking a fast if I used those for lows rather than juice. I’m on an insulin pump now so would also want to make sure I had a current RX for glucagon.
Again none of this is based on personal experience with fasting just personal experience with my diabetes and oral meds and now insulin. I’m also a nurse so even before I went on insulin I was very familiar with insulin and how to use it. I’m also very comfortable with going to my dr and asking for stuff and they provide great phone support between appointments so I would have help for anything I couldn’t handle myself.
I am very apprehensive about replying to this comment because I know that Christalyn didn’t set out to turn this into a discussion about religion. But what I think was missing from the tone of your comment was mutual respect. You are obviously confounded by her defensive response, but I can totally see why she responded the way she did and had every right to do so.
Examine your comments:
“That doesn’t sound like someone that I would like to know…”
“but I fail to see how in this age such dangerous (and arguably pointless) practices are encouraged and supported.”
“I wanted to know what made you choose to feed your need for spirituality or some sort of supernatural relationship over real medical condition.”
They are riddled with judgements. You are entitled to your beliefs as she is hers. But she is also entitled to seek advice here without having to pacify your need for understanding them especially when you already have preconceived notions about them.
I’d like to add that religious beliefs or any sort of spirituality is about a connection. Even yoga is about connection and balance. It is hard for me to understand why people have to go around poo pooing religion like it is some kind of backwards tradition. I do believe that it is possible to be progressive and religious at the same time and for people to just accept each other for who they are.
Christalyn was brave to open herself up here and we should be respectful enough to appreciate her for who she is and not expect her to justify who she is.
I would be interested in following your experiences. I don’t know another diabetic that has to go through these decisions and would like to see your journey through them.
Don’t sell yourself short…maybe this will be the month you make it through.
Christalyn
I am Catholic and we observe Lent (a different time of the year) also. My personal advice to you is not to fast if it affects your health. There are other ways to practice self-restraint and focus on the worship of God. I am sure he understands!
believe me if I start having difficulty I will stop!! I had to last year because the food binging and super high BS levels was not good in the morning.
I am familiar with Lent and most Christain religious beliefs.
I plan to blog my day to day experiences on my own blog…sexydiabetic.com
I really like what your church does with the “Daniel Fast”, Brunetta! Really goes along with the idea of “the body as a temple” and of cleansing. Since my understanding of Lent is that it usually includes giving up a favorite thing or treat, I like this idea more because, in keeping with what we know works better for diabetics, it encourages looking for healthy as well as tasty alternatives rather than “depriving” oneself of “goodies”.
