It was with great trepidation on January 8 2015 that I signed up for the half marathon in Coventry scheduled on March 1.
My type 1 diabetes aside, I’ve never been the fittest of chaps, or the leanest, and the prospect of chronologically running, walking and crawling 13.1 miles was daunting.
On the verge of collapse, Matt Brown tried to order a burger from McDonald’s to address his blood sugar levels. It was Christmas Eve, and Mr. Brown, a 38-year-old teacher from Coventry, had run out of the Lucozade he carries for emergencies. He approached the McDonald’s drive-thru on foot fearing he was about to slip into a coma.
For people with diabetes, Christmas, for all its fun and jollity, can feel like a bit of an obstacle course. Calorific Christmas dinners can trip you up, and it’s often hard to know exactly how to navigate the festive season without disastrous consequences for your blood sugar. Here are a few ways you can have a healthy Christmas dinner without missing out on the festive fun:
This week there was news from a small study that showed that Novo Nordisk’s Victoza could serve as a viable treatment for type 1 diabetes, as a supplement to insulin.
People with type 1 diabetes can often find themselves dealing with large swings in blood sugar on a near-to daily basis which can be particularly difficult to control. The study on Victoza indicated that the drug helps to reduce the swings in blood sugar and improved overall blood glucose control.
Until recently I’ve regarded the microwave as a saviour of modern life. I’ve felt that if it couldn’t be microwaved, it probably isn’t worth my while cooking it.
A microwave offers much convenience: stick a meal in, 2 or 3 minutes -enough to boil a kettle for a complimentary cup of tea- and *ping*, your meal is ready to eat.
Recently though, I moved into a new little flat and if going by the above, one of the first things on my shopping list should be a microwave. However, having lately been reading about good nutrition, the thought of buying a microwave somehow seems almost sacrilegious -if you’ll excuse the hyperbole.
I can quite see why new year resolutions exist; a clean slate and the fact that the Christmas period sometimes allows a little extra time for reflection seem to be the main ones. Then with diabetes there can be an extra reason if Christmas means that blood sugars and control has wavered.
I’ve noticed two ways in which a resolution can be made:
In most cases, the second seems to be by far the most effective.
Christmas when younger …
I would relish Christmas dinner and each follow up dinner for much of the next week. After having tucked into roast potatoes and plenty of stuffing I’d then look forward to my favourite part, the puddings*, which usually consisted of 2 or 3 of the following; Christmas pudding with plenty of brandy butter, trifle, Christmas cake, mince pies and Christmas ice cream -a home made speciality of my father and probably my favourite.
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