Going off the rails

[mhtyler]

As someone who has the double whammy of being T2D and sugar addicted, I occasionally go off the rails. I like to describe it as squeezing too hard on one end of a balloon; it just pops out the other side. By that, I mean that if I become too restrictive I automatically revolt and go on a sugar binge. In the old days, a sugar binge would mean a box of donuts and a big bag of crisps. Nowadays a sugar binge is more likely to be a whole cocoa bar (dark chocolate) and perhaps a small bag of crisps. That's what I did a few nights ago. I estimate I had somewhere between 130 to 150 carbs. That's well over the 56 carbs that I apportion for myself, and that keeps my sugar in the normal (albeit high normal) range. The next day my morning sugar rises to perhaps 7.7 mmol/L. However, I start morning walks, and it goes back to 6.6 and in a few hours under 6. Back on 56 carbs and the next day my morning sugar will be lower, and subsequently (it takes about a week) it will fall back to just under 6 in the morning. So I tried an experiment: What if I added 10 extra carbs to my diet. Would my sugar still drop down the next morning? It did. That would seem to indicate that I've reversed enough to handle nearly 70 carbs in a day! I hope that when I lose the rest of my weight (I've 18 pounds to go) I'll be able to sustain 100 carbs per day. I think if I could do that and still have normal sugar my diet would become much easier to sustain without these sugar parties. Anyway, if you've followed this self-indulgent post this far I'm just saying that I'm tickled to see some improvement.

 

[Maz2]

Glad to hear there has been some improvement. I am not at present diabetic as far as know. I was pre-diabetic a few years back but managed to get back to the "higher side" of normal (my words not GPs). I have had another test recently and am awaiting results. Hope they are still OK.

Personally, I am lucky as, since going prediabetic and giving up sweet foods which I never ate that much of anyway, I do not crave them but I do understand that some people do feel that they need to indulge from time to time. I used to eat loads of sweet stuff in my younger days but found I had to cut down to a minimum as I got older as I had a sedentary job.

 

[mhtyler]

I was still eating very badly into my 60's, so it took me a little longer to figure out.

 

[maryjaneholland]

Similarly, trying very hard to swap out worst unhealthy foods for healthier versions over time and when posted some of the wholefoods health shop info here, it went down like lead balloon and I admit I was surprised many people with diabetes just eat lots of chocolate confectionery then take more meds to counter the spikes in blood glucose, but everyone has different goals and remission managed by lifestyle changes healthy diet and exercise is much more preferable to me than meds and diabetes nurse regime for rest of my life... Still waiting for latest blood test results delayed by bank holiday weekend but hoping it will be around 60 as I am making huge efforts to reach my goal of 40 now that it's clear that semaglutide weight loss diabetes drugs are unavailable and unsustainable, but long-term we are all responsible for what we eat every day and decisions we make as adults...

Have you tried unrefined wholefoods alternatives, such as cacao nibs and carob instead of chocolate confectionery, or golden milled flaxseed instead of refined breakfast cereals, or gram flour instead of refined wheat flour? I guess it's impossible to compete with multi billion pound food and drink industry during the four month run-up to promoting "Easter seasonal food and drink" from January onwards with so much easy profits to be made from all our food addictions ha!

 

[Vonny]

Well done on not going for the pack of donuts! 😉 Whatever you are doing to reduce your BG, it needs to be sustainable and achievable. So falling off the wagon isn't really important. It's how hard you chuck yourself off, and how quickly you get back on it again! Sounds like you managed to cling onto the reins before you fell right off . Re the daily carb intake, it's really a question of experimenting to see what works for you.

 

[mhtyler]

Have you tried unrefined wholefoods alternatives, such as cacao nibs and carob instead of chocolate confectionery, or golden milled flaxseed instead of refined breakfast cereals, or gram flour instead of refined wheat flour? I guess it's impossible to compete with multi billion pound food and drink industry during the four month run-up to promoting "Easter seasonal food and drink" from January onwards with so much easy profits to be made from all our food addictions ha!

I eat less processed food than at any time in my life, but I still do eat it. I eat 70% cocoa bars for a sweet treat, but I restrict myself to one or two squares at a time. That limits my carbs to 4/8. I don't eat anything made from wheat. That ship has sailed. However, I've found great bread and pasta substitutes thanks to Youtube. I can make my own lupin bean based pasta and a serving has only 8.2 carbs instead of 40. Bread was a real problem until a new product: unbelievabuns came out. It's a large (uncut) hamburger bun with only 9 carbs and it tastes great. Both the above are expensive substitutes though, as many keto alternatives are...even bad ones. I even have a great recipe for chips made from vital wheat gluten among other things. They taste like macdonals, but with 15 carbs instead of 65. Really, Youtube has been a tremendous resource, and if you haven't tried it I recommend, Serious Keto, Heavenly Fan, Black Tie Keto, and The Keto Twins. However there are many others worth looking at. I should point out I'm in the US. BTW, it was Youtube that taught me to hope that I could reverse or at least put my T2D in remission. NO DOCTOR has ever suggested the possibility to me. BTW on cereals. Over here we have several keto low carb versions. Magic Spoon is the best, but I almost never buy it because it's largely empty calories. I never eat the regular cereals I ate as a kid. I do wish I could. I'd sit down to a huge bowl of raisin bran. No such luck.