Diabetic Eating: Eating Poorly, Eating Wisely

Today I felt what it would be like if I were an uncontrolled diabetic.  As if I did not eat every 3 to 4 fours that I normally eat and also eating too many sweets in one day. 

We held our annual patient parties for Christmas the last two days.  They are very long, exhausting days of preparing and packing meals for people all day long.  We also give out treats, pass out punch, coffee and gifts.  We start at about 7:00 in the morning and clean up for the day about 5:00 pm. 

I enjoy giving everything out.  It's just a lot to do in two days.  I wish we could break it up over several weeks!  We stand for long periods of time and do a lot of walking and lifting.  I start to get very tired by mid day, especially the second day.

I forgot to eat a healthy snack this morning.  I ate breakfast and got to work a 7:00 am and started getting things ready after I took my coat off.  Someone brought in bakery cookies for us.  I ate some and kept working, packing up the meals.  I think that might have been about 10:00am.  I started to feel a little funky; that is the best way to describe it.  I took a quick break and ate a couple of handfuls of the nuts I mentioned in my last post.  I went back to business packing food into the containers.  Awhile later, I ate some chocolate covered nuts that one of my friends gave to me. 

It wasn't too long before I started to feel odd again.  I wasn't hungry, but I took a small plate of mostacolli and then ate some more nuts.  Later on in the day as we were passing out the gifts, I started to feel weird.  I had to stop passing out gifts and excuse myself.  I went and ate some more nuts and felt better very quickly.  I went back out and finished helping with the gifts.  However, the pasta was made of white flour.  I forgot that when I ate it, because I am so used to making multi grain or wheat pasta for myself.  I was too busy to notice.  I thought about it later.

I realized that I had waited too long to eat, and that I needed to eat some protein too.  When we got a chance to take another break, I got some meatballs too this time, because of the protein.  I ate them and we finished the day, cleaned up and put everything away.  Luckily, I had remembered to stay hydrated all day, as I took mini breaks to drink water.  I filled a water bottle and kept it nearby.  I wasn't hungry when I got home, but I did eat a light meal. 

I am a tightly controlled diabetic.  I can cheat.  But when I cheat, I usually don't eat much in the way of sweets in one sitting, go without eating for more than four hours, or eat them without having protein or some kind of vegetable with it.  I can eat a lot more fruit in a day, than I can sugary things. 

But today I was very busy buzzing around doing things.  Being active brings the blood sugar down more quickly than just sitting and standing.  I was so busy, that I wasn't paying attention to eating on schedule, or eating well.  Occasionally I forget, because I am doing so well, that I still can have a problem.  I am not on medication, so I need to be more vigilant. 

Don't be concerned, I wasn't doing so badly that I would need medical treatment.   I just needed to sit down and eat correctly.  When you have such tight control, forgetting a regular schedule and eating too many of the wrong things tends to show up faster.   One day wasn't so bad, but two in a row is not good.

After I ate better; with a protein, carb, vegetable mix and then I rested, I felt good.  When I got home, the exhaustion from the day was quickly gone.   And that my friends, is the result of taking good care of yourself.