This is a question that I have been thinking about a lot lately: Do you really always say no to the warm homemade roll fresh out of the oven, the gourmet chocolate chip cookie your co worker picked up from the bakery down the street, a few of the garlic truffle oil fries your friend orders at the bar?
I was diagnosed with type 1 just before last Christmas, and only know a couple other type 1 diabetics. I am grateful and lucky that I went into the diagnoses with a more or less stellar diet. I have always enjoyed whole foods, vegetables, etc. I already ate sprouted grain bread (11 grams of carbs as opposed to sometimes up to 30 for white bread) and quinoa ( 35 grams per cup as opposed to 45 or so for white rice), etc. I never drank soda and have always tended towards large salads for lunch and maple syrup and date palm sugar as a form of sweetener. In other words, I didn't feel that I needed to make drastic dietary changes to control this disease (such as cutting out soda, cookies, white bread, processed foods, cereal, hamburgers, etc).
BUT....I love food! I was raised eating gourmet and homemade meals and baked goods. I used to work as a baker, and I appreciate good food. I love to taste everything. I also love to celebrate. I have discovered that for me, white foods such as rice, flour, sugar, milk, and potatoes are terrible for controlling my blood sugar. I am sure many other have the same problem. However, I don't say "no" to the homemade dark chocolate lavender brownie someone offers me, or the lemon chiffon pie with tayberry compote that my mom makes for Christmas! I don't say no to a sample from Trader Joes, even if it has over 5 grams of carbs. I don't say "no", but I eat a lot less than I would if I didn't have diabetes.
I have read from several people on here, and through my research, I get this idea that the majority of diabetics out there just "don't risk it" or "feel too guilty" about these "indulgences". I want to be empowered and feel strong in my health, even with this disease but I am also wondering if there are others out there who are "imperfect" diabetics at times, so I don't feel so alone when I eat cake on my birthday!
Not the reply you're looking for, but I really do say no. I can turn things down, not from guilt, but because it's not worth it. I don't want to take large doses & don't want to play the waiting game of high/low. That takes all the pleasure away from eating an indulgence. If I have to taste something, than I just have a bite & savor it. For some, that would be torture. I'm ok with just a taste. Don't get me wrong, I do love good food & my father was a snooty epicure. Seems from what I've read the majority of diabetics do indulge frequently & have the eat whatever you want & cover with insulin &/or exercise approach.
Not a professional baker like you, but I bake things I can eat using flours other than high carb wheat. Some have been great & some have been disasters.
Thanks for your honest reply Gerri. I am not looking for any particular answer, simply curious as a fairly new diabetic. I want to know what those within my community consider to be normal. I have found that what works best for me, is to stick to my healthy/low carb diet because it is predictable and I feel more emotionally balanced when I go to sleep around 100-130 and wake up around 100-130. But, I also indulge 1-2 times a week and so far don't feel too bad about it. I haven't quite gotten over the inadvertent social/family pressure. There is still a part of me that looks around and sees everyone else happily and casually tasting and snacking, and convinces myself just for that moment, that surely I can do it too!
You shouldn't feel bad about what you do or don't do. Easier said than done, I know:) I think the key is setting your goals & doing what's needed to get there. What other people do really is immaterial. I said I didn't think my reply was what you were looking for because often people want validation that it's fine to eat whatever. We hear this from the ADA, doctors & just about everywhere. The prevailing sentiment is that diabetics can eat what they like since we have insulin or meds. Be normal, eat normal. Honestly, I feel this is a risky philosophy. Eating a brownie certainly isn't going to kill you, but for many it can be slippery slope. The more of that stuff you eat, the more it's craved. Food fills a lot more than merely our stomachs.
I hear you on seeing everyone munching away. If you choose to resist the social pressure, people give up pressuring. Been down the "just one piece won't hurt, surely you can cheat this one time, I made this for you, it's a holiday have fun" road. Now, friends & family realize I simply don't eat certain things. I want everyone around me to eat whatever they enjoy, but I don't join in.
I don't say no. When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I decided (with my doctors) that I would not let diabetes restrict me. So I immediately switched to a pump and now, almost 2 years later, I have great control and I can eat, drink and do almost anything I want. So, I say yes! (yesterday, I ate a piece of cake with almost 50 carbs in it..)
I don't say no on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the rest of the year I typically say no. Not because I feel guilty, but it is just easier not to have to chase my BG all day long.
I don't say no all the time. During the work week, I eat pretty low carb for breakfast and lunch and then splurge during evenings and on the weekend. I do a lot of cutting wedge shaped pizza slices in half and having smaller servings of all of the above but I will eat away. Yesterday, I ran a bit low after dinner since, as the designated driver, I wasn't drinking and perhaps overestmated the carbs in the dinner and had had both a roll and mashed potatoes trying to stave off a crash. It didn't quite catch it so I had a cake ball after dinner too.
I am not sure if it's "the majority of diabetics out there" who would avoid stuff like that or "the majority of people responding to food threads on Tu" that are following the low carb plan more strictly than I do. I have read Gary Taubes' book "Why We Get Fat" and about 1/2 of "Good Calories Bad Calories" and find them pretty compelling reads about the health advantages, which go way beyond the endocrine concerns I focus on most of the time. At the same time, managing diabetes seems to work out decently for me doing what I do. I attribute my ability to "splurge" regularly and reasonably effectively to getting very good data eating conservatively during the work week. The good data allows me to adjust rates and ratios regularly and with precision which, in turn, means that when I blast off at 115G of carbs for an Italian Beef and french fry type of splurge, that I will still probably not run much above 120-130.
A lot of my cutting carbs out has as much to do with my scale as my BG meter
I say no but not on my birthday. I take a piece, figure it's 20 g for the cake without the frosting; then bolus for the 20 g and cut around the frosting so it's "out". I eat the cake. On Christmas it wasn't the cake, it was the turtle pie. I figured 46 g for the pie. It was right on. The biggest amount of Humalog I took all year. 46g is more than I eat in a day all year. I had to put the 14 units into two sites, 7 in ea so it could get used.
I dont follow low carb TOO strictly, but 90% of the time, except with those lovely hormone fluctuations I tend to be very insulin sensitive, and spend a good majority of the day on the low side. BUT if I tend to cut back TOO much then I run higher than I want to be. I don't really complain because I for me personally I don't have to much of a problem handeling carbs and it causing huge spikes...(minus the potatoe chips). I dont go crazy and splurge everyday, and like all Christmas long I've bought the little mini cupcakes. I cupcake is like 16 grams/carbs. For some that MIGHT be a lot, but it worked out great for me, and still allowed me to enjoy the carby goodness of the holidays. Yesterday worked great. One significant spike, but that was less food related than I was unhooked from my pump for about an hour to shower and for a site change. Took small correction and I came right back down. Over all I was in mid 80's to low 100's most of the day with one spike about an hour and half after eating to 144, ate an extra garlic cheese bisquit, lol. Ended day at 85.
I do a lot of the eat and excersise thing. Since I was diagnosed later in life as T1 I find it hard to give up everything I used to eat. I try to eat alot more responsibly. Instead of eating a whole pizza or pie; I now only have a slice.
nope..i don't say no...i figure out my I:CR, maybe wait a bit longer to make sure the insulin is working and eat it. I eat very healthy too, always have and could afford to gain about 10 lbs..so I eat it and seem to do OK. Most type 1's I know do indeed eat desserts and treats, children, especially young eat normal food too.
I had a fudge brownie yesterday...was 106 before, 86 afterwards...thought I even took too much bolus and drank a little milk to make sure I didn't crash TOO low.
I agree that eating certain high sugar or processed carb foods can affect the body in such a way that the aftermath is a blood sugar roller coaster. I have met some diabetics who I see eating a bagel that is near to 76 grams of carbs. I never say anything of course, because I do believe we are all entitled to our beliefs. Inwardly though, I feel shocked-I could never do that!
Social pressure is a big constituent of course, and after having diabetes for a year, I am still trying to teach my family and friends about what I can and can't eat.
I have yet to use a pump, but I feel that the chemistry of my body as someone who needs to artificially pump insulin (as opposed to my body's innate ability to do so), makes it too much of a roller coaster, were I to eat whatever I want whenever I want. So, I save it for special occasions. I have met couple type 1 diabetics with pumps though, who I see eating nachos and mochas and the like.
Yes, for me too, it is also about maintaining my ideal weight. I have found (as many others have too) that it is difficult to do so with diabetes. I fear if I were to eat whatever I want and cover it with insulin, I would balloon up!
We made a delicious chocolate stout cake. It had 4 layers and a rich ganache frosting. I cut the tops off of all the layers and cut one cup of sugar out of the cake, so by default it was lower carb. But, I was shocked when I looked up the nutritional info online and saw that 1/16th of the cake had nearly 70 carbs per serving! Sometimes I think my blood sugar roller coasters because I am simply not taking enough insulin.
Yes, I will often pointedly not take insulin before certain meals, knowing that I will be exercising later. I don't use it as an excuse to eat high carb or processed meals, but I am active on general principal, so I almost have to be careful to insure that my blood sugar doesn't go too low. I was also diagnosed later in life, and though I eat extremely healthy, as I said, I am a big baker so it has been hard to cut sweets out!
