The month of April will make 1 whole year since I decided to eat low carb, no grains, no starch, no real sugar, limited fruit. While I say no to all of those things I will admit that I do have a bite of off the limited food sometimes. Keeping in mind I have pretty good will power (let's not even discuss the holidays) and I can almost always limit it to a few bites, but then the repurcussions always ALWAYS follow with a blood sugar spike.
When you go low carb and not eat the things that spike your blood sugar, when you do eat them it makes the reaction MUCH much worse for me and I read online that is the case with a lot of other people as well.
My breakfasts almost always consist of eggs with cream cheeese, heavy whipping cream and cheddar cheese and of course coffee with heavy whipping cream and a sugar free torani syrup. Once you stop eating real sugar, you can actually stop craving it, no joke. Otherwise I have one of those quick microwave english muffins (
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342414377897691500/) or french toast (
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342414377895830030/) or when I make and freeze these on the weekend (
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342414377895695876/)
Lunch is always a salad. I buy the premade bags from my local hyvee along with the premade bag of chopped up cabbage. I just don't have time to chop up lettuce, this saves me a ton of time. I also try to bring something else along with it for protein, like cheese sticks, or a home made protein bar, greek yogurt with sugar free torani syrup in it and some erythritol, or whatever is left over in my fridge.
Dinner is almost always whatever I make on the fly. I typically cook something off my pinterest page:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/342414377895695876/ or I wing something low carb. I have tried cooking and freezing on the weekends and with our current home reno project I just don't have a minute to spare let alone several hours to bake.
The benefits of eating this way are unending. First and foremost my blood sugar is much more stable, I can get up and do things and move around without worrying about my blood sugar dropping like a rock like it use to. I feel better, my mood is better, my arthritis pain is better if not gone most days, my daily headaches are gone, my ability to sleep all night is better, and I feel better about the outcome of my life with type 1 Diabetes. I still dont have my blood sugar nailed down to the level I want it to be at but its a work in progress. It has been hard to undo all that has been ingrained in my brain for 15 years, its hard to look at my Dexcom and be ok hovering at 100, Im still dealing with that aspect but I am getting there.
Type 1 Diabetes is a moving target. My Diabetes is never the same throughout the month thanks to awesome female hormones and its never the same month to month. Its a target that moves around and it's hard to hit it just perfect every month and I don't hit it perfect I just aim for it and sometimes hit bumps on the way. The bumps are what sometimes are hard for me to accept but I try to learn from them and go forward.
Changing the way you eat entirely is scary and can be maddening because it felt like to me in some ways that I was giving into Diabetes. Life with type 1 Diabetes is anything but simple, or cut and paste. It's complex, each one of us is different, each one of us has to live our own way with type 1 diabetes. Fast acting insulin that is available to us today just isn't fast enough, it just isn't. I have taken the personal choice with my t1d care to eliminate the stuff that makes my blood sugar spike and then crash. I have chosen to step off the roller coaster until they can cure me. I have chosen to eliminate the high level of inflammation in my body that can lead to t1d complications like, heart disease, hardened arteries and kidney failure all caused by my previous and constant up and down battle with my blood sugar. One article explains that just for example: (
http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/put-out-the-fire-of-diabetes-inflammation/)
Take that first step off the roller coaster, start researching recipes and ingredients. The first step the the hardest by far and the most expensive for your grocery bill. After that the carb withdrawal sets in and then the criticism from everyone around you because your will power is better than theirs and you are taking your life with diabetes into your control not the food's control. High sugar, high carb content food isn't good for anyone, just take a look at the increasing waist size of many Americans. You can thank the sugar and the corn industry for making their way into almost ALL of the food you buy at the grocery store.
You can do it, there are support groups that can help!
Dont forget to like my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/diabeticwarrior/
AND join the group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/diabeticwarriors/
Please leave me your comments, it helps keep me motivated!
After my friend told me about Bio Oil and finally trying it, I was sold. I really like it, it absorbs quickly with no oily residue. For me it helps heal my site faster with less scaring. As far as scaring goes, I know all about it. Everything leaves a scar on my skin, including every single pump site. I have a map on my skin of previous sites. The bio oil helps them heal much faster and the scars fade quicker.
I also use shea butter. I just use the Keri brand mostly but Bath and Body Works has or had great scents in their body butter lines which has shea butter in it. The keri brand is a bit greasy so I only wear it at night but the Bath and Body Works one could be worn anytime for me anyway, maybe not hot summer days though. Itll make you sweat and then your slimy. Yuck.
So my transmitter I ordered in July and opened 1 month ago is starting to lose big gaps in coverage, like hours of saying it it out of range when it is clearly attached to my ankle. (yeah I carry it on my ankle in cold months when I am wearing long pants) I have one week left of warranty and we are getting new health insurance. I wont have the new health insurance information/ID card for probably another 10 days. So you know what that means!? FREAK OUT time!
Yeah, right, I will wait to freak out about the high cost of living with Type 1 Diabetes, I will try anyway.