ok, so i’m a recently diagnosed diabetic, but i really thought i could master this in a matter of months. wrooong. i must be in denial that i have a disease, because when i get my numbers even, i sabotage what i’ve accomplished by giving myself permission to eat that delicious apple pie, etc, etc, etc… then i pay for it with soaring evening numbers and up and down the next day. (btw, my body is really weak tonight, could it be from having a low of 46 while walking in the morning, and all day going up and down?)
Sorry you feel bad… You’ll get it. But stop the denial thing… this disease can kill you! I know you know that but sometimes we need a reminder. Next time you think… I can have that yummy apple pie… look at your feet. Nice aren’t they?.. You want to keep them don’t you?
Now…
Try baked apple
Core an apple, slice and place in a dish
sprinkle with sugar free sweetner like spenda, dot with butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake until apples are tender.
Top with sugar free whipped topping.
Consider this 2 servings.
I personally think you should go VERY low carb until you clean the sugar out of your system. There is a book that will help… http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Food-Counts-Fourth/dp/044022110…
It will really open your eyes to carbs and where they come from.
And this book is amazing… http://www.amazon.com/Protein-Power-High-Protein-Carbohydrate-Healt…
Ahhhhh, denial. You’ve just now met the expert in denial. ME!! Please go to my site here and read my profile. If you want motivation to do better, read it. Do you want to be scared? Go ahead and read it. And keep reading it every time you feel ready to fall over on the ceremonial suicide sword of apple pie! Because it can happen to you and, if you let it, it will happen to you.
Please let me know if I can help you in any other way.
Lois La Rose
Milwaukee, WI
Hi Dusk,
Yep, the roller coaster of up & down is exhausting physically & emotionally. Our bodies strive for balance & equilibrium. Take pride & joy when you get your numbers even. Treat yourself for this accomplishment with something other than food, or at least food that won’t send you soaring. Denial–hey my numbers are good, I must be ok therefore I can eat whatever I want. Nope. We all the know temptation. To me, it’s just not worth it. I hate seeing high numbers & have enough of these even when I’m being perfect about carb intake.
The good news is that the less junk you eat, the less you’ll crave sweets & carbs. Before being diagnosed, I was a carb junkie. I’d eat a whole loaf of bread at once, have huge bowls of pasta for dinner, ate tons of rice. If it was high carb, I ate it & lots of it. Never had a weight problem, so nothing stopped me. Once I cut out eating like this, the carb cravings went away & fast.
In addition to what Sylvia mentioned, also check Jenny’s wonderful site http://www.bloodsugar101.com. Her book is also great.
Noticed on your page that you said you don’t know what type you are. You should find this out to know the best treatments.
The only one who control this is you & you can do it!
We’re all here to support & help you. We are all help each other. And when one of us needs a swift kick in the behind, we do that, too:)
Hi Gerri,
Thanks for responding. My endo is treating me as a type 2 using lantus and novolog. He thinks I’m a 2 because I am producing insulin, and the insulin i do take is minimal. ( i want to keep it that way) It is difficult for me to realize that I am no longer going to be able to be carefree in my food or lifestyle choices. I don’t mind the choices I have to make, but the fact that I have no choice drives me batty. I went a whole year( long before being diagnosed) without eating products with white sugar or white flour after watching “supersize” me. It didn’t bother me at all because it was my choice,. I have also found that eating cookies, cakes, and pastries is a large part of the social american diet. I don’t crave those things unless I’m in a social situation where these things are present. Then I don’t want to be different, and it bothers me that I can’t eat like other people.
I went to the site you put up and downloaded the recipes. I’m looking forward to testing them. Thanks for listening
Thank you Sylvia for your response and your no nonsense attitude. I love baked apples, but when my daughter made an apple pie for her dad and brother, it looked so delicious (and it tasted even better) but the result afterwards wasn’t worth the slice I ate.
I downloaded some low carb desserts, so I think it will be fun to bake with her so she can be educated as well on cooking for a diabetic.
Hi Dusk,
Know just how you feel. So different when it’s our own choice to do or not do something. I have such a childish rebellious streak that as soon as someone tells me I can’t do something, I immediately want to! Difficult in social situations to be set apart & not partake.
I made it my choice not to eat certain things rather than having something be forbidden because the two minutes of eating it simply isn’t worth paying for it later. Mind game–yes, I can eat it, but I’d rather not. I think of myself as being allergic:) My allergic reaction is soaring BG, accompanied by a throbbing headache, guilt & then that awful roller coaster of high/low.
Lots of great recipes on the food forum here. Two sites I like: Linda’s Low Carb Menus & Recipes & The Low Carb Cafe.
Not only not being able to eat what we want & in the quantity we want, but also having to be so regimented about the whole thing. A royal pain!
Great goal to keep your insulin needs minimal.
You hit it on the head… It is a childish rebellious streak. Yikes! I’m so glad to know though that I’m not the only one who experiences the physical reaction of being on a rollercoaster. I was beginning to think it was in my head, and that I was just wimpy.
I’ll take a look at the websites and appreciate you sending them along!
I think having a low of 46 would definately make u feel weak. Ive only have diabetes for 4 weeks, but ive noticed all sorts of different feelings and emotions. In the past two weeks I have had about 4 reading which included a 40, 43, 50, and 52. When my sugar was that low I could feel the effects immediately. I ended up vommitting each of those times due to nausea, and other symptoms were blurring vision, shaking hands, and being extremely light-headed.
I would imagine that doing any kind of exercise with a BS of 46 would make u feel pretty crummy. Hope that helps
Not wimpy at all & not in your head (though does also play havoc with emotions). Really does wipe you out being on the rollercoaster. Ugh, just not worth it.
LOL Oh there will always be temptations… that’s something we all have to get used to. But honestly the ultimate responsiblity of control is in your hands alone. I have a box of chocolate cherries my darling husband brought me for Valentines Day, 2 months after I found out I have diabetes. Insert icon of me fainting dead away
I put them in the freezer so they would be “out of sight, out of mind” and I’ll admit I’ve had maybe 3 in the month since… but they are 1 at a time several days apart. Of course being frozen they take a lot longer to eat and I try to have one when my BG is especially low (80s) then I drink lots of water and pray an hour later it’s not at 200!! (I’m not on meds) Luckily so far it has not been a problem…however I find that when I eat high carb or sugar… I crave more sugar. So it’s best for me to leave it alone!
I’ve recently ordered from Ebay an old fashioned Popcicle maker and I’ll be experimenting with sugarfree jello, pudding, yogurt as soon as it gets here. Jello has been a great desert for me. I soft set then add fruit then yeah baby… desert!
Anyway… I’m on my own, with no meds nor medical help. I have to be super savvy to get the strips I need for FREE or cheap. And I’m doing okay, my meter currently reads a 14 day avg of 112. :o) and my first ever A1C test was 6.6 3 months after finding out. That A1C is a little high, but I’m getting there. As a bonus, I’ve lost loads of weight… but now my clothes are falling off! LOL.
Actually, I think your whole family should be living off the types of food you eat! It’s much better for them and your kids especially will benefit from learning to choose the right foods… They do now have a family history of diabetes and are more likely to develope it themselves.
Ok, I’m stepping down from my soap box.
Anytime your blood sugars go up and down, you tend to feel pretty awful. And, if you have a low, and you’re not used to it, you can feel awful the rest of the day. If it makes you feel better, if you have them more often, you’ll get used to them and not feel so bad. (Doesn’t mean you won’t realize you’re low, but you won’t feel like you’re going to die. Unless you’re really, really low (like, single digits)).
I have been even all day after a bumpy start to the day…woke up at 158. I’ve had a low carb day, and not out and about. Can doing too much cause high blood sugars? If my number is on target for me, what kind of snack should I have before walking. I’m actually afraid to exercise now, not only because of going too low, but after the low, trying to bring it up, and then going too high. (don’t want another rollercoaster experience)
Glad you’ve had a good day–yay!
Don’t know what you mean by “doing too much” causing highs.
Afraid there are no hard & fast rules–sorry! Only by experimenting & testing will you know how exercise & food effect you. Has your doctor told you how to correct a low? For me, & everyone is different, 1 gram carbs
raises my BG 10 pts every time. I use jelly beans because they’re cheaper than glucose tabs & easy. One jelly bean is 1 carb of pure sugar–easy to eat, easy to count, easy not to overdo. People use different things. Most glucose tabs are 5 carbs & sometimes that’s too much for me. You don’t want to use anything to correct that has fats because that slows down the effect. For most people eating something that’s pretty much pure glucose or fructose (soda, juice, sugary candy, jelly, honey, glucose tabs, cake icing), starts raising BG in about 10-15 minutes, but you don’t know the full effect for about 1 hour, so test after 15 minutes & keep testing if you’re low so you know how something effects you. The trick is to use something with a small exact amount of carbs & measure so you know for sure. Too easy to gulp too much soda,or juice for me. Once you’ve got this part down, it’s easy to correct a low without going too high.
Likewise, has your doctor given you recommendations to correct a high, so you don’t go too low? Again, this is a very individualized thing.
by “doing to much” I meant activity of the day. Yesterday I was busy from morning 'til late afternoon, and by then I was weak. Don’t know if it was because of all the activity or being on a rollercoaster. So if I go low on a walk, and it takes 10-15 min to raise, does that mean I need to rest for that long before I continue to walk? My doctor hasn’t given me any recommendations to correct highs or lows. He basically told me to drink some juice if i feel myself go too low.
When I’m on the run like that, it lowers my BG not raises it. Of course, if it was one of the days where you were racing around stressed, stress sure does raise it. My guess is that it was the roller coaster than left you feeling weak.
If you go low on a walk, stop, eat & wait for your BG to come up some–yes. The rise will continue. Low is technically under 70. For me, low is under 60–that’s when I start to feel light headed & shaky.
Arrgh! Call your endo & ask him about correcting highs & lows. Drinking “some” juice isn’t helpful!
Hi Sylvia,
Thanks for the input! I recently made a no flour no sugar PB cookie, sweetened with Stevia. They are my favorite guilt free treat, and they taste sweet to me. (my kids and their friends have a different opinion)
I also have no med insurance, so how do you get the test strips free. I’ve been able to order aviva accu check strips for about .50 a piece. Are you able to get lower than that?
Congrats on the weight loss! That has to feel so good. I’d like to know how you enjoy your experimental popsicles. It is fun to try new things especially if they’re delicious!
We have 4 sons in the military: 2 in the Airforce, and 2 Marines. They are all really health conscious, and have expressed concern about their susceptibility to this disease. Fortunately they have taken it to heart. My twins at home have a little more difficulty since they are still in highschool, and social activities seem to revolve around pizza, pop, and all kinds of sweets. But they are aware, and everyday they are getting some kind of nutrition lesson.
I love chocolate covered cherries, and I’m not sure I would have had the same willpower that you possess. Now that I know what can happen to my body it would be less of a temptation, but right after being diagnosed I think I would have eaten the whole box. ( and learn a big frustrating lesson)
Hope you’re having a great day!