Hey guys !
I've had Type 1 diabetes for almost seven years now, and I haven't had that much of a good control over it. However, for the past 2-3 months i've managed to do a little bit better than before .. at least I started exercising regularly. The thing is .. I can't accept the idea of not being able to eat sweets, candy pizzas and all the WRONG fooods again .. so I end up messing things up allover again .. Can any of you tell how you've come to peace with such a fact ?! (Knowing that food has always been my thing ,, it's like the ONE thing that can make me happy)
Find something else to obsess over besides food. I once had a doctor tell me if it tastes good just spit it out. It's frustrating because many individuals tend to group food and relationships together. Food is not a big priority for me but most of my family and friends cannot do anything without food so I'm trapped, every day is a new adventure, Church and lunch, dinner and a move, food is just part of our social life it goes on and on and on. I have found that low carb meals and portion control are my best choice.
Hey Shahenda:
If you try to do anything in absolutes, you're setting yourself up for failure: "I can never eat this...or I can never do that."
Here's what works for me: I came to the realization that I can no longer eat what I want, when I want. However, that's not as restrictive as it might seem if you follow a consistent approach. What I mean by that is the following: I try to keep to three meals a day whereby I stay consistent across my mix of proteins carbs and fats. What does that mean? Lunch Monday might be chicken and broccoli, but on Tuesday it's hamburger and snap peas. The foods change, but the mix of protein/fats/carbs stays the same. I choose a low carb route, but you can really do this with any foods. The benefit of doing this is you remove as much variability as possible that the food plays in your BG. It makes it then much easier to fine-tune your insulin dosages to perfectly cover your meals.
Also important is not to have "taboo foods." Allow for them every once in a while. Test and measure what you need to cover them. You can do this if you're consistent in the portions when you do. I know, for example, that I can cover a cup of premium vanilla ice cream with 6 units of Novlolog, a Whopper with cheese with 8.5 units of Novolog, and allow myself these treats every once in a while.
You like candy and sweets. Decide on your favorites, pick consistent portions and figure out how much insulin you need to cover them. Then treat yourself every once in a while.
Hope this helps.
Christopher
I hope it would ! Thank you for commenting .. I really needed some support ! :)
and keep it up you're doing a great job !
Actually I think i should start looking for an alternative for food as away of releasing my emotions and letting them out ! I usually eat because I'm bored and I always feel bored so I say to myself since u r always bored then u are always going to overeat again .. it's about me more than it's about food i guess .. I'm a mess :D
My Family do that too .. any fun is always about food ! But the strange thing is that I always keep myself from eating when I'm around them .. and i just collapse when I'm left alone !
I don't give them up. I am pretty strict during the week, as my office is in a desolate, suburban wasteland with only utter crap garbage (Wendy's, Taco Bell, the *really* awful Chinese place...seriously, that's *it*) within striking distance at lunch so why bother. A couple of years ago, I discovered that if I ate more veggies 1) I felt better, less creaky and 2) had better BP and cholesterol numbers. Maybe it was a coincidence but what the hell. Since then (fall 2011...) I've stuck to it and it's worked pretty well, both for that stuff and for BG.
At the same time, I'm still a debauched hedonist and eat and drink uh, quite a bit during the evenings. I enjoy having a couple of drinks, reading and listening to music that goes along with what I'm reading and, my BG doesn't mind (ok, I don't test my BP nor my cholesterol during the evenings...). To me, this suggests that the bolus ratios and basal rates I come up with when I'm behaving myself are pretty correct and I think that the relatively strict control during the day helps achieve this. Then, since the ratios are calibrated accurately, I can do what I want in the evenings and my BG stays reasonably flat...
That's great that you've done better in the past couple months ! Give yourself some credit for that. There will always be steps forward and sometimes a plateau or a small slip back, don't let it get you down. Keep in mind how far you've come in total, not just the recent success or failure.
A lot has to do with what you tell yourself. Having thoughts like the 'WRONG foods' and messing things up, etc. What works for me is to think positive thoughts like 'what are the healthy choices?'. When I get tempted by sweets and things I know will raise my BG too much, I ask do I really want to 'trade' a few minutes of pleasure with hours of high BG which is slowly but surely not good for prevention of complications.
You have recognized that you have emotional eating. That's a great discovery ! Find other things that you can be passionate about as substitutes. Music, mediation, yoga, calling friends, or just hanging out here on TuD. Make an effort to find OTHER things to make you happy, rather than just accepting that it's always been food. Only YOU can make that change.
Focus on 1 or 2 things at a time. Do you mostly eat well, and know what is healthy and how to match your insulin to your meals ? If not, get educated on healthy food choices, carb counting, and how to calculate insulin doses. Are you testing your BG frequently ? If not, just start doing that more often, to see where your higher BGs are, and what to tackle. There are many good books to help with the basics if that's what you need.
I think some of this is how you look at the world. I have to admit, I am kinda a glass half full guy. Yes, I never had a really bad sweet tooth, but I don't look at all the things I can't eat with abandon. Instead I look at all the wonderful things that I should eat which I can now totally justify cause I gots the D! Filet Mignon, here I come! Too bad the others can't have it for dinner, cause they don't have D.
I don't think you can give them up entirely or else you will fail. You can either do portion control and cover for it or pick a day out of the week, say on Sundays you can have a sort of "treat out" day. Buy the mini sized Hershey nuggets if you must have chocolate. I buy them for my daughter the dark choco w/nuts and give her 2 after dinner. They aren't many carbs each so its not bad at all and they are not as bad as straight sugary candy since the chocolate has a bit of fat in it. That is both of our after dinner snacks. Plus it prevents a full blown pig out later on if you deprive yourself. Try to eat balanced food like the above poster mentioned and once you do you likely wont crave certain foods.
You need to find a reasonable and satisfactory base line of living standards, then with that as your norm, you can stray from it within reason.
Only you will know how much is reasonable.
The giant dinner plate-size eating challenge hamburger I ate on bank holiday Monday with my kids was about as low carb for my diet as a bag of sugar, and I still did it.
Would I do that every day? Nope. And honestly it made it rather more enjoyable as a result.
I have found that I don't have as much self control as some. I go through phases, but I have also noticed that my general benchmark line of living is so much stricter than it used to be.
I think it might continuously improve with time, and unfortunately with disorders and progression into diabetes related problems.
I feel like many, my A1c, as imperfect as that rating is, is still the balance bar I use to determine how I'm doing, and the visits to the endo keep me in line to a degree.
I agree that if you ask too much of yourself you're setting yourself up to fail.
I am a type 1 and I enjoy incredibly good levels when low carbing...I still veer from it at times. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes I'm bulletproof.
I think the key here is that I have the strict line to keep referring back to. If you are undecided where you're at or want to be, you will continue to meander around and cheat continuously.
Why can't you eat what you want? I'm sorry but I've had type 1 diabetes for almost 32 years. I was diagnosed before fast-acting insulin and even on the cusp of glucose monitoring. Of my memories of childhood - hunger is first and foremost. We couldn't eat anything we wanted because we didn't have the knowledge about insulin to carbohydrate ratios and more advanced insulin to support that knowledge anyway. When I was truly starving and craving a snack, I ate carrots or pickles.
Now I eat whatever I want. My A1C is consistently between 6.5 and 7. Could it be better? Absolutely. But I don't live a life of restriction so I'm content with that. Everything in moderation is my mantra for myself and my family. I'm not going to go out and eat McDonald's every night because I know it's not the right thing to do. But once or twice a year I do. Because their fries are the best - just saying. ;)
All joking aside, we live in a world of knowledge now. There are insulin pumps, CGMSs, fast-acting insulin, symlin, and so much more on the horizon. Why can't you eat what you want in moderation? It doesn't matter if it's a small chocolate chip cookie or a medium sized apple. A carb is a carb is a carb and your body is going to treat it the same. Just pick up the apple more often than the cookie - I'd tell anyone that, type 1 or not.
As with EVERYTHING you read here - Your Diabetes May Vary. But this has worked for me (Knocking on wood now.)
Kelsey
I think you are right .. alot of times I feel like I'm lucky to have such a lifestyle !! I just need to find a way to make this feeling stick for a longer time :)
Thank You !
yes my mum keeps buing me mini sweets to try to eat one everyday but I usually end up eating a whole bunch at a atime .. For me it's either all or nothing !
Thanks for your help ! :)
Thank you soo much for your help ! :)
You aare making me feel much more optimistic .. Thank You !!
I've had diabetes for 7 years .. do you think II still have chance to regain control and become mmore like you .. can I stiill avoid the complications ???
Thank You soo much !