Breakup with Diabetes
The Holiday Season is here, which usually means we mess with our blood sugar. Hopefully, this timely read reminds you to eat fewer sweets and enjoy healthier treats.
Several years ago, I was diagnosed with borderline type 2 diabetes which came as no surprise considering I spent 37 years in the bakery/cafe business. I love to eat, and I love my sweets, but my body feels otherwise. I have spent several years managing my blood sugar, and I feel much better when I do, and I know you do too.
So many delicious things are good for us, so why do we go for the stuff that makes us sick? Please listen to a recent interview I did with Dr. Joan Ifland, an expert on processed food addiction. I also wrote an article on this topic that will help you get through the holidays without gaining a pound.
Healthy eating, the right mindset, and enjoyable exercise
are your recipe for managing diabetes.
According to the CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 37 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it.
If you've recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, like me and so many others, you are probably thinking quite a bit about more about your health. Maybe you feel lost or don't feel like there's much you can do about your health. Or, perhaps this has encouraged you to monitor your diet and exercise more closely. Either way, with some of these healthy tips, you can do what's best for your Type 2 Diabetes without it taking up too much of your attention.
A Note On Diabetes
Before we get into the article, it's important to clear something up quickly. Type 1 Diabetes is similar in many ways to Type 2 Diabetes. The big difference is that Type 2 Diabetes is usually caused by poor diet and exercise, so in most cases, it can go away with hard work. While most of the information in this article will also be helpful to people with Type 1 Diabetes, there's no known cure for it.
Know Where The Carbs Are
Managing diabetes is mainly about monitoring your carbohydrate intake. If you are just now starting to watch out for carbs, it can seem like carbs are everywhere. Knowing more about carbohydrates and where they come from can mean that you don't always need to read the label or even that you can find something to eat when there isn't any packaging, like at holiday parties, buffets, and restaurants.
Some foods, including eggs, meats, most cheeses, and vegetables, have virtually no carbs. As for drinks, you're basically limited to water, coffee, tea, and diet sodas. Milk, regular soda, fruit juices, and alcoholic beverages have carbs. I am not recommending diet soda, which has even more bad stuff than carbs.
Know How To Find Them
You should also know carbohydrate information isn't only on the nutrition label. There are other ways to find that information as well. For the last couple of years, Allen Borushek has been compiling The Calorie Fat and Carbohydrate Counter. The book works like an encyclopedia that tells you all about the nutritional content of food, including things that don't usually have nutrition labels, like fruits and vegetables. Your doctor might have told you about it or given you a copy. If you don't feel like hauling the book around, a lot of the information and a handy calculator is available online. You can even look up food from fast food places.
Regarding fast food places, which I recommend forgetting that they exist, you should know they must have the nutrition information available to consumers. Some places provide the info printed on a placemat, but at others, you just need to ask while ordering or picking up your food. If you find yourself at a fast food joint, ask what the nutritional content is before you eat.
Monitor Your Activity
Of course, food isn't the only part of managing your diabetes. Exercise plays an integral role in managing your diabetes. If you have Type 2, exercise can even help to make your diabetes go away.
Diabetes affects how your body processes carbohydrates, which changes the amount of sugar in your blood. Different activities consume different amounts of carbohydrates and can change your blood sugar levels.
If you have trouble with high blood sugar, staying active will cause your body to use more energy and bring your blood sugar down, while not doing so much might lead to your body not using as much energy and leaving your blood sugar levels high.
Know Your Signs
Understanding how activity affects your blood sugar and how that makes you feel is essential. There are some general symptoms of high and low blood sugar, but everyone is different, so keep track of how you feel at different levels so that you won't need to check your blood sugar to know when something is off.
Knowing the symptoms, causes, and prevention of high and low blood sugar and what to do and eat will improve the quality of your life. The Mayo Clinic spells it out pretty clearly, but I suggest you dive deep into this disease and do your research, and you will find there is much good information.
Diabetes requires close management to stay under control, but that doesn't mean it has to be complicated. It may seem hard now, but as you navigate the balance of carbohydrates and activity, it can become second Nature.
Throughout the year, remember that you're in charge of what you eat and when you eat. Stick with what works best for you to control your eating habits. No matter what kind of modified diet you're on, your mindset is the determining factor. Find healthy food choices that rock your world, a fun exercise routine you will do, and hang with positive people, and you can add many healthy years to your life. Being positive and around others supporting your health will prioritize staying healthy.
Making healthy food choices is also more beneficial for the planet. Nothing else in Nature eats processed food ladened with chemicals, sugar, salt, and artificial ingredients.
Enjoy a healthy holiday season. Choose foods and activities that support living like the future matters.
🥰 A Dose of Positivity
See you all this Thursday for another supreme Dose of Positivity with my special guest Dr. Jelina Shah who will offer her years of wisdom to help us break up with diabetes and get through the holiday season without stuffing our faces.
Need some Mama Donna love? 🥰
