Review of Type 2 Diabetes : The First Year
Apr. 8th, 2023 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWorking my way through Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year - which, sigh, is dated. Since it came out, we have Freestyle Libre Sensors that you implant in your arm and take your blood sugar continuously. All I do is pick up my phone and check the app - after plugging the thing into my arm. Right now it's 133, when it was 114 for a bit. So no finger pricks required. Also on Meds, which they weren't proscribing previously.
However, she is on target about a few things.
* There is no such thing as a diabetes diet. The exchange diet or carb counting diet isn't for everyone. And if you have a gluten-intolerance or ceiliac condition - diabetes is a lot harder to manage, because there's a bunch of gluten substitutes that are down-right dangerous for diabetics, and raise the blood sugar levels in a major way. I can already tell you what they are: rice (rice flour), corn, potatoes, chickpea flour, bean flours...
And pizza is out, as is mac and cheese, and pretty much most pancakes and baked goods of any variety. I can't ever do bread again. Can't do rice again.
Plus I have to find sources of fiber.
Nutritionists like to tell you to do the Diabetic Exchange Diet - that's not happening. Or the Mediterrean Diet - which I'm kind of on, just without the grains. I'm merging it with the Paeolo. I can't do the high fat keto - because that will end in diabetic ketosis, there go the kidneys.
* Watch out for the Diabetes Police (or the price you pay for being honest with folks about your medical issues - what happens when you tell people you are on a diet or have a medical ailment. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. I had the gluten intolerant police and the chocolate/caffeine police on my tail since roughly 05.
People are annoying when it comes to diets that aren't their own. I remember getting into a fight once with a friend I was staying with - who decided to police me on what I was eating. I'd bought myself a chocolate bar - this was back in 2019, long before I got diagnosed with diabetes. And even if I was - it was just one dark chocolate bar.
Honestly the woman was eating bagels in front of me. Also, what I eat isn't her business. She's not my mother. She's not my doctor or medical provider.
She was an friend that I saw occasionally. That's it.
MD: Should you be eating that?
Me: yeah, I bought it.
MD: Doesn't that give you heartburn or make you edgy?
Me: Not always. Sometimes it doesn't.
MD: Don't complain if you get heartburn -
ME: You don't get it.
MD: I do. I control what I eat. (Hard stare)
Basically she shamed me by trying to police what I ate. My own mother doesn't do that.
The writer uses a better example. How she'd just had sandwiches and potatoes, and a friend got upset that she went to eat one little cookie.
Didn't say a word about the sandwiches and potatoes, which are considerably higher in carbs and sugar, and more likely to result in a high blood sugar event.
People don't understand the ailment. Or diabetes. They think you need to go off all alcohol and sugar to maintain it, and can eat anything else. Uhm no. I found this out the hard way last year.
Carbs are the problem. Anything high in carbs will become sugar in the system and raise the blood sugar levels. So, say, I was making chickpea mac and cheese last fall - that caused my blood sugar level to rise to 250-300.
As did Against the Grain Pizza - which had no sugars, 0 sugar, but was high in carbs - over 33 grams per slice. Why? Cheese. And then there was pasta - rice flour pasta, chickpea pasta, garbanzo bean flour pasta, corn or quiona pasta - all high in carbs. Tomatoe Sauce? Almost 50 grams.
Stuff that doesn't have sugar - becomes sugar and I can't eat it.
It makes life difficult. It's also weird. There's less carbs in a glass of red wine than in a bowl of oatmeal. Also less in a ragnach or almond flour cookie than a bowl of oatmeal. The bowl of oatmeal has upwards to 33 grams of carbs. The cookie? 7 grams. Alcohol? 5-7 grams if that. Orange Juice? 40grams (avoid at all costs).
When it comes to preaching about diets? The two groups that drive me crazy are:
1. Weight Watchers or the Exchange Diet (basically you can eat whatever you want you just have to count it and not go over a certain amount). Folks, I can't count to save my life. And Weight Watchers is all about counting and weighing things. And portion sizes. It's too much into measurement. And I can't. I have tried. Numerous times. It's not happening. It's like me and knitting - I keep trying, and failing. Or me and dancing, I try, and fail. It's funny actually or it would be, if it weren't so humiliating. Talk about being shamed. It also doesn't work if you are ceiliac - or need to restrict various items.
2. Plant-Based Diets or Vegetarian/Vegan - kind of impossible for ceiliacs.
And anyone who has a food resistance to beans, certain nuts, nightshades, and soy. (For me - it's just beans, nightshades, soy, wheat, rye, barely and anything derived from them or in that family).
She makes a strong point about how this effects everyone differently and is genetic. I had no choice in the matter. I was born this way. That's the gist. It's an important distinction - since most people think diabetes is the result of eating too much or poor diet or lack of exercise. Sorry to break it to you - but anyone can get it - you just need the gene. Although exercise does keep it in check as does diet.
But diabetes also results in weight gain. People often gain weight as a result of diabetes, and struggle with taking it off. So not just menopause that causes weight gain, it's also diabetes.
Why? Metabolic rate. Don't burn the sugar or fat off as quickly, and retain it longer.
**
The book does explain a lot of things about the disease, but you could most like get most of this online.
***
However, she is on target about a few things.
* There is no such thing as a diabetes diet. The exchange diet or carb counting diet isn't for everyone. And if you have a gluten-intolerance or ceiliac condition - diabetes is a lot harder to manage, because there's a bunch of gluten substitutes that are down-right dangerous for diabetics, and raise the blood sugar levels in a major way. I can already tell you what they are: rice (rice flour), corn, potatoes, chickpea flour, bean flours...
And pizza is out, as is mac and cheese, and pretty much most pancakes and baked goods of any variety. I can't ever do bread again. Can't do rice again.
Plus I have to find sources of fiber.
Nutritionists like to tell you to do the Diabetic Exchange Diet - that's not happening. Or the Mediterrean Diet - which I'm kind of on, just without the grains. I'm merging it with the Paeolo. I can't do the high fat keto - because that will end in diabetic ketosis, there go the kidneys.
* Watch out for the Diabetes Police (or the price you pay for being honest with folks about your medical issues - what happens when you tell people you are on a diet or have a medical ailment. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. I had the gluten intolerant police and the chocolate/caffeine police on my tail since roughly 05.
People are annoying when it comes to diets that aren't their own. I remember getting into a fight once with a friend I was staying with - who decided to police me on what I was eating. I'd bought myself a chocolate bar - this was back in 2019, long before I got diagnosed with diabetes. And even if I was - it was just one dark chocolate bar.
Honestly the woman was eating bagels in front of me. Also, what I eat isn't her business. She's not my mother. She's not my doctor or medical provider.
She was an friend that I saw occasionally. That's it.
MD: Should you be eating that?
Me: yeah, I bought it.
MD: Doesn't that give you heartburn or make you edgy?
Me: Not always. Sometimes it doesn't.
MD: Don't complain if you get heartburn -
ME: You don't get it.
MD: I do. I control what I eat. (Hard stare)
Basically she shamed me by trying to police what I ate. My own mother doesn't do that.
The writer uses a better example. How she'd just had sandwiches and potatoes, and a friend got upset that she went to eat one little cookie.
Didn't say a word about the sandwiches and potatoes, which are considerably higher in carbs and sugar, and more likely to result in a high blood sugar event.
People don't understand the ailment. Or diabetes. They think you need to go off all alcohol and sugar to maintain it, and can eat anything else. Uhm no. I found this out the hard way last year.
Carbs are the problem. Anything high in carbs will become sugar in the system and raise the blood sugar levels. So, say, I was making chickpea mac and cheese last fall - that caused my blood sugar level to rise to 250-300.
As did Against the Grain Pizza - which had no sugars, 0 sugar, but was high in carbs - over 33 grams per slice. Why? Cheese. And then there was pasta - rice flour pasta, chickpea pasta, garbanzo bean flour pasta, corn or quiona pasta - all high in carbs. Tomatoe Sauce? Almost 50 grams.
Stuff that doesn't have sugar - becomes sugar and I can't eat it.
It makes life difficult. It's also weird. There's less carbs in a glass of red wine than in a bowl of oatmeal. Also less in a ragnach or almond flour cookie than a bowl of oatmeal. The bowl of oatmeal has upwards to 33 grams of carbs. The cookie? 7 grams. Alcohol? 5-7 grams if that. Orange Juice? 40grams (avoid at all costs).
When it comes to preaching about diets? The two groups that drive me crazy are:
1. Weight Watchers or the Exchange Diet (basically you can eat whatever you want you just have to count it and not go over a certain amount). Folks, I can't count to save my life. And Weight Watchers is all about counting and weighing things. And portion sizes. It's too much into measurement. And I can't. I have tried. Numerous times. It's not happening. It's like me and knitting - I keep trying, and failing. Or me and dancing, I try, and fail. It's funny actually or it would be, if it weren't so humiliating. Talk about being shamed. It also doesn't work if you are ceiliac - or need to restrict various items.
2. Plant-Based Diets or Vegetarian/Vegan - kind of impossible for ceiliacs.
And anyone who has a food resistance to beans, certain nuts, nightshades, and soy. (For me - it's just beans, nightshades, soy, wheat, rye, barely and anything derived from them or in that family).
She makes a strong point about how this effects everyone differently and is genetic. I had no choice in the matter. I was born this way. That's the gist. It's an important distinction - since most people think diabetes is the result of eating too much or poor diet or lack of exercise. Sorry to break it to you - but anyone can get it - you just need the gene. Although exercise does keep it in check as does diet.
But diabetes also results in weight gain. People often gain weight as a result of diabetes, and struggle with taking it off. So not just menopause that causes weight gain, it's also diabetes.
Why? Metabolic rate. Don't burn the sugar or fat off as quickly, and retain it longer.
**
The book does explain a lot of things about the disease, but you could most like get most of this online.
***
no subject
Date: 2023-04-09 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-09 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-09 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-04-09 08:06 pm (UTC)Also sensitive to caffeine. So I need to be careful with it too.
I think the difficulty with the medical community is a tendency to want to treat everyone the same? I mean K and I would have very different diets - even though we are similar in some respects. But a lot of dieticians don't get that.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-10 02:53 pm (UTC)That is challenging alright ☹ As it happens some friends and I were talking earlier today about diet plans, not so much to lose weight as to simply ensure we keep blood sugar down. There are modifications we can make but luckily none of us are struggling with yet a different digestive issue.
I hope you manage to find a menu plan that works for you over time.