When I first got started, I was excited and ready for the challege. As time marched on I stopped caring. I know my health is in danger. I am only 25 with no kids and about to be married. I fear that because of my diabetes I will not be able to birth healthy children. But I still can not get back on track. Sometime I think it is not far, this is an old persons problem. I am young. I dont want to have to plan meals. I want to enjoy what I eat. I want to eat ice cream and cookies and sweets. I dont want to have to plan ahead for everything to make sure what I need is avaiable. It really suck. I am tired of plan baked chicken with 1/3 cup rice and veg. So, I am asking for some encouragement. Maybe something that helped you make it throught the hard time. Also meal plan ideas, that tast good and are fun to enjoy. Please help, I dont know what else to do!!!
Brittaney,
I have been there, and know I’ll be there again. This is called diabetes fatigue.
It happens to all of us at one point or another. If you don’t need insulin to manage your condition, it gets harder, as you really can’t eat “whatever you want” and be healthy. If you’ve got T2, that’s one thing you’ll have to come to respect and accept. But you dont’ have to respect and accept it now, or even 24/7. Just enough so that you know what you’re eating will do to you.
One thing to know: you can almost erase one “bad” meal with one “good” meal. This happens on a cellular/molecular level. Your organs, tissues, muscles, brain, etc. know when they’ve received good nutrition and bad. so if you get off the wagon on one meal, get right back on with the next.
There are soooo many cookbooks out there with nutritious and good tasting dishes in them, go to amazon.com and search for diabetes cookboks and you’ll see.
If you struggle with eating well (family and friends can be well meaning but still attempt sabotage), make an effort to figure out how to remake your favorite dishes so that they’re healthier – not to the point of being tasteless sawdust, but better.
Here are some suggestions:
-
Breathe! I can tell you’re holding your breath because you’re afraid you’re doing something wrong. You’re not. You’re just unhappy.
-
What’s an activity you LOVE to do? Schedule that in weekly, so that activity is something you do for yourself to feed your soul. You’re not hungry for food…really.
-
Baked chicken doesn’t have to be awful. Get a solid cookbook and use it! Cooking Light has a whole bunch that are easy and provide really tasty food. You don’t have to eat “diabetic cuisine” to eat healthfully! you also don’t have to stick to chicken. Eat from all that the universe provides. There is taste and satisfaction in many many many things!
-
Start eating less. Simple to do – if you normally take 2 heaps of something, take 1.5 heaps and eat mindfully. That means to eat for fulfillment, not because you need x number of calories at that meal. You’ll find that there are foods you hate, love, and are neutral about. Don’t eat the foods you hate. never consume a calorie because you are SUPPOSED to; eat because you are hungry, and when you are hungry, eat what you truly enjoy.
(I have more tips than this, but, I’ll stop here for now)
Reality check – ice cream and other foods with simple sugars do things to your body that are not helpful if you are T2, like causing inflammation, causing a rush of insulin from your pancreas, if you still make insulin. If you do, then there’s an excess of insulin swimming around your body (not good), not doing what it is supposed to do (not good), also making you hungrier than you were before (REALLY not good). Make a plan that you will have a small serving of what you really love (and let me emphasize again, you must really love it), NO MORE THAN 2-3 times per week. That means just 2-3 small servings, on 2-3 different days, not the whole day for 2-3 days!! 
If find you’re eating because it is giving you an emotional satifaction, think about some counseling to find out what you’re eating for – especially if you’re eating a calorie load or calorie content that isn’t the best choice for you.
Write back and let us know how you’re doing. Lots of us here know where you are in this journey and know for certain there is light at end of this tunnel. The light is a beautiful…(you fill this in!)
I’m on a weight loss journey myself, and am finding it much easier now that it has been…
Cheryl that was very beautiful and very moving. I am sure none of us could have done that better no matter how long we have been diabetic.
Brittaney, i understand. You are not alone. All of us are with you. I am humbled by what Cheryl wrote and am not going to add more to here right now. But there are so many of us who have excellent food ideas and i know a lot of us will add these ideas here for you. Hold on. There is a whole world open for you and having diabetes just makes you have to treat yourself as the valuable treasure you are. I know it takes more time to do things and to prepare some special things for you. But you are worth it. All of us are. I wish you well.
Blessings be to you.
That sucks, I feel your pain. This is what I think - you gotta learn to enjoy what you’re eating, or else you’re going to be thinking about food all the time. I’ve gotten really into stir fries, big salads, lots of nuts, etc, and I started cooking with a bunch of new spices. If I eat until I’m stuffed on healthy food, I don’t care about what I’m not eating. I usually don’t even bother eating that little bit of rice or whatever at all, and I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself. I feel better eating healthier, I’ve got more energy and stuff like that. Good luck.
Wow, Cheryl, that was a wonderful post. Very inspiring! Thanks.
I was there diagnosed at 25, found a great girl and got married. 12 years later still married have two occassionally cute kids and still have diabetes. It’s hard not to freak out occassionaly when your life is controlled by numbers but you can;t let this diesase control you. you can eat great food that is heaalthy and tastes fantastic and even the occasional ‘sinful’ one but you have to be prepared to pay for it - by limiting the amount you eat of it, working out to lower your sugars, or taking extra meds. one good thing about the Big D is you can do a lot to control it by choosing the right foods and taking good care of yourself by working out, ect… You can control this and live a long, wonderful life.