Sttruggling with Diabetes

I am struggling with my diabetes. You see I live with two roommates and they eat a lot of carbs in their meals and since we eat our meals together my blood sugar has been climbing. How do I control the carbs I take in. I find it hard to just take a small amount and am getting scared that I may end up on insulin if my numbers keep climbing. I am scared and not sure what to do.

womanofcourage48

Here is what I think you need to do:

1. Change your mind set. Take responsibility for what and how you are eating.

2. Buy and keep easy to fix alternatives in the house. That way if your roomates make a carb heavy meal you can easily choose not to eat it, or eat a small portion of it and round out your meal with things that are healthy for you.

3. Educate yourself about carbs. Learn which carbs are good, which are bad and which are in the middle. Then try to stay mostly with the good ones, enjoy the ones in the middle within reason, and avoid the really bad ones all together. Also learn about how fats, fiber and overall calories play a role in how your body processes food, especially carbs. Each of those can have a big impact on how you digest food, how long it takes for it to work through your system and so forth. In short though the more calories and/fat you eat the longer it takes for your body to process everything. The more fiber the faster your body handles things and the more nutrients you will actually gain from what you eat.

4. Get yourself a food scale and a set of measuring cups and/or spoons so you can accurately portion out your servings at each meal.

5. Learn how to make carb smart/healthy meals. Get some diabetic cookbooks, search for diabetic recipes online. Talk with your roommates about your needs and involve them in choosing healthy meals. You all might have some fun doing it and finding out that eating healthy does not mean bland and boring. I am not saying they have to give up any of their favorite foods but that maybe 1 or 2 days a week do totally healthy meals and then the rest of the week make one dish that is carb friendly.

At the end of the day though, regardless what those around you do, it is still your choice and your responsibility about what you do and do not eat. It is not easy, and no one here will say it is.

Start a food journal. Keep track of your sugars two hours after each meal. Measure your foods. Once they see the numbers on paper they can't help but understand your dilemma. It might help to tell them you are scared of going blind or losing a limb like our friend Wheelchair Bound. They may be unaware of how insidious this disease can be.

Well put Bea G

I just had blood taken to test for possible insulin resistance. I'm type 1 though. I take hefty doses of insulin and the dose keeps steadily increasing, but my food intake is not nor is my weight, too much. Go figure. So yes, I am struggling too right now.

I'm feeling hunger, so I eat a snack, and then suddenly I end up in the 20's. Christmas is the worst, but I guess this time around I'll stay off the chocolates even if my parents were foolish enough give me one as a present. However, sometimes it feels my blood glucose goes up even from seeing the chocolates. :(

I got the test results, but I could use some enlightenment on what this means, and how to get the results lower. Apparently blood can be tested for insulin resistance, and this one test has a target between 0 and 10, but I don't know the name of the test or the unit the result is in - percentage maybe? Well, my test result came back at 39, which means that some of the insulin I inject has little to no effect. That's all I know. I'm taking about 50 units of Humalog and 70 units of Levemir a day, and with this increased doseage I have now pushed my hba1c down to 8.1 (65) from around 9.5 last year.

Okay so here is what I have finally done about my diabetes. I went to my doctor and got a newer meter that I can understand. Then I ask her about a diabetic menu and she gave me some information booklets and a 1500 calorie menu. Today I set down with my computer and found some ideas for meals to eat . My doctor told me I should be eating at least every three hours so my room mate and I are going on this diet together even though she is not diabetic. There will be somethings she can have and I can't have and I have to learn to accept this. I also am going to start keeping track of my weight which means not being afraid to get on the scale at the doctors office. I usually refuse to get on the scale but i figure now once a month is not bad for me to see  my weight. As for exercise right now I am nursing a very bad sprained ankel with a tear in it.  OUCH!   I am learning that it takes longer for a diabetic to heal then it does a person who doesn't have diabetes. So , I can honestly say I am proud of myself.

womanofcourage48

Thanks for the advice on everything. I will try the exercise idea out also.
womanofcourage