I've given up on being an actual grown-up:) I've come to the conclusion that we're all kids, just in aging bodies. Glad you enjoyed buttered popcorn to celebrate! You earned it.
Almost every day I have a low-carb homemade dessert and/or a piece of 90% dark chocolate. I have a history of overindulging, which can get triggered when I deprive myself altogether so I walk a fine line between carefully monitoring what I eat and maintaining the belief that I keep no hard and fast rules.
As for "real" treats, I occasionally have a small serving of something delicious made from good quality ingredients. This is pretty much always ice cream or pizza! For some reason, ice cream doesn't give me trouble, but I'm still figuring out the correct dose/timing for pizza. I will be experimenting with this tonight!
Gerri, I can relate to your comments about good bread! I never turn down freshly-baked, well-made bread, I will eat a piece or two, though I won't bring a loaf home. I drink wine fairly regularly and fortunately have no BG issues with that! It does seem to help my numbers when I have higher carb foods.
I think small treats are essential to taking the edge off the feeling of deprivation.
When I go to an Asian restaurant, I have spring rolls; about once a month I'll have a McDonald's soft-serve cone (although now they are serving them dipped in chocolate - bad news!)A friend and I used to meet every few weeks at Chipotle, but after doing some research I found that the typical meal has about two days worth of the recommended levels of sodium consumption! So now we go to Subway and have a 6" tuna.
It all depends on what you like, portion size, and frequency. There are certainly wiser choices to be made.
When I was dx'd 38 years ago, we were on the exchange system, which allowed for no treats except diet jello. Now, with carb counting, indulgences are much easier to deal with. Yippy for progress!!!
Great role model to quote!
Excellent! I'm going to try splitting my dose for pizza and then correcting, if necessary. A glass of wine should help the insulin along, too. I've tried taking a jumbo dose beforehand and I always seem to go high then low. I really don't care how many shots it takes to avoid the rollercoaster!
treats are essential as long as they are covered for and done in moderation, i'm hoping someday jacob will stumble along a low carb book and want to joint the "party" but for now he eats what he wants within reason, with me and dad ( oh goodness) as master chefs he cant be too off track! and as adults i think the best approach is balance and incorporating the healthiest versions of the foods we love, thinking of things we can add in like nuts, healthy oils, whole grain, vegetables, red wine! rather than the things we should omit and the occasional treat eaten mindfully and with gratitude. best wishes, amy
I do a bi weekly friday night feast night ha, whereby I go up to 70 grams of carbs with one meal ha.
Manage to cover it with bolus well enough, helps keep me on the straight and narrow. :)
you guys are making me second guess my sons choice of eat everything within reason and cover! he is 14 and i feel bad restricting him in a significant way, we generally eat healthy but his avg. meals even breakfast are between 70-90 carbs! his control is fairly good considering his age. i think prebolusing and adding in protein helps him handle the carbs. do you all really think low carb is the only answer for good diab control? obviously when he is an adult his goals and diet will be different we and his endo are setting a goal of under 8 for his A1c. he usually sits in the mid to high 7's.
i appreciate your two cents! plus he is on an independence streak that i am working with, trying to change his diet would not go over so well with him!
I understand that kids have different nutritional needs, though the average U.S.. diet is certainly way carb laden. But I'm not sure I would consider "under 8" "good control", as 8.0 is an average of 183, and studies show damage begins to form at prolonged time over 140. I would be concerned about the decades ahead he could be accumulating damage. At any rate, one thing to consider is that there is a vast distance between a diet of 250+ carbs a day and Bernstein low carb which is 30 a day! So perhaps some compromise that might make A1C closer to 7.0 or under is possible? But what do I know about kids and how hard or easy it is to get them to do things?
and i suspect it is going to get worse, growth hormones wreak havoc on blood sugars so one day at a time picking our battles, unfortunately the choices i would make for myself are unrealistic for a teen, compromise is the key to making him feel in control of his D without him feeling powerless. sometime soon i may suggest lower carb and see if it makes a difference but the older he gets the more decisions he will be making alone i am trying to win the long battle of compliance with him.
Maybe think about trying P90X? One of my friends has been *extremely* successful w/ that and is also incredibly strict with his diet. Some of his "before" pics he had a couple of bottles of Malibu Rum on top of his fridge but these days, he's like "I'm going to increase to 1900 calories today to get bigger...". I'm not nearly in his "ballpark" but when I eat healthy, I'm usually thinking "fuel run" or "fuel pushups" or whatever rather than "fuel CGM.". It helps the diabetes stuff to be on top of it but I also feel a lot beetter running since I've cut back on some of the crazy stuff in the past. I am not involved in that, as it seems like it would be challenging to do it at the same time as running a marathon but his mom has done it and gotten good results and he's pulled a lot of other guys I know into it and they're all pretty much getting good results. I don't have the "set" but I understand that a lot of it involves timing carbs, which seems like it would be very helpful to people with diabetes. Lance's page is here: http://teamdetermination.com/. I'm not posting it as a "business" and I'm not involved with it but as a suggestion for something somebody who's younger could probably rip up and destroy, help themselves, eat better and make their mom feel better? His results are pretty stunning. Oh wait, don't tell him that! LOL
we have the P90X series! jacob loves two of the muscle building ones i like the more cardio ones, tony is a great instructor, jacob tries to do a workout 2-3 X a week ( it is amazing to see my boy getting muscles!) but he could use more cardio i know hiking really gets him down but i cant always be there to say lets go for a hike! he bagged on the cross country thing because his knees were bothering him plus the commitment was going to compete with his honors class load, saterday practices too, yikes. but anyways you should try P90X to if you are interested like i said he is a great instructor the best i have ever seen. josephine i hope you dont think i'm hijacking your post, the ideas and comments just keep flowing! amy
that's great Zoe, you seem to have it figured out well and it's good that you recovered from that... I miss eating the way I did because food is such a comfort too, and I was able to snack here and there when I needed it and eat more when I felt more hungry-the loss of the freedom to eat whatever whenever is difficult... I like your sign idea. Shopping is great exercise as well as being entertaining.
Thanks, meee (that sounds funny..lol). It's definitely a loss, but I'm sure in time you'll come to terms with it and find the way that works for you!
That's not a treat - that's a BANQUET!
Dear Josephine, i havent had any alcohol since 1987. i quit smoking 8 yrs ago. i excersize regularly (i live in NYC so i walk everywhere). i work sooo hard on maintaining good BSs that on certain occations, such as holidays, i treat myself w/ a little indulgence. HOWEVER, once i get a taste of the sweet stuff, all i crave is more. i am like an alcoholic who cannot stop drinking after one drink. once i taste that pie or piece of chocolate, OMG, i can B off to the races. BUT, i have finally found a middleground, so here it is: KozyShak chocolate pudding. every nite at about 8pm, i indulge in the 24grams of carbs (low sugars, too) of delicious pudding. i am in heaven for about 15 minutes.and, when i go to bed, i feel satisfied, rather than deprived.
best wishes, Daisy Mae