Nicole T
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 334
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I think these are two separate issues: do we feel we are to blame? And do other people feel we are to blame?But it is crazy how the press love to blame people eating habits, yet fast food is every where, Junk food is cheaper than healthy food. I can go to Iceland stock up on a week supply of Junk food for 20 quid and to eat healthy I am looking at 60 quid minimal.
I've covered the first of those in previous posts, but the second one is interesting. Fuelled with the ignorance of not having diabetes or obesity, people (and the press) often put both down to bad lifestyle choices. It's only when you experience either condition and look into them in a bit more depth that you realise obesity isn't necessarily "who ate all the pies and did none of the exercise?" and diabetes isn't necessarily "who ate all the sugar?"
As a (funnily enough, normal weight) friend pointed out to me: eating disorders are the most difficult addiction to get over, because you can't simply quit food. Tobacco? Alcohol? Illegal drugs? It might be safest to wean yourself off them, but ultimately, going completely without is a realistic goal. Trying to get a food addict to regulate their eating is like telling an alcoholic "You must have two double whiskys every day. But no more, and no less." Yet smokers and alcoholics (and even other drug users) get so much better treated, because they aren't so offensive on the eye.
So society fat shames on the basis that it can get away with passing off "You're disgusting, and I don't think I should have to look at you" as "I'm only concerned for your health" (or for the burden on the NHS, if they're not feeling so benevolent.) Society has created a health hierarchy, and in many people, a system of envy towards the younger, fitter and more beautiful, counterbalanced by contempt for the older, less fit and not so attractive.
I believe there's a hereditary/genetic element to both obesity and diabetes, and often the people criticising aren't dealing with the rubbish DNA that makes it more difficult to maintain an ideal weight and non-diabetic blood sugar. I don't believe either is a simple on/off gene, either. It seems quite clear from an HbA1c of 76, after 3 months of pigging out on chocolate during lockdown, that I don't have Type 2 to the same degree as someone who's getting higher figures while taking meds and sticking to a low carb diet.
There's definitely a cost to going down the carnivorous low carb route. Of course you can bulk up with cheaper non-carby vegetables and eggs. And some cases, the cost excess is minimal. I can make 8 'naked' Scotch eggs for around £3 (though I prefer to make 6 and give them a thicker meat layer) whereas regular ones from the supermarket shelf would cost me £1 for 4, and are nowhere near as nice.