(edit: OK, I've finished the post and I still don't know what the purpose of the post is, but it did help with realising my plan will work just fine, foodwise, even if it will mean I'll eat some unconventional meals!
Not sure if this post will be a question, a story, a making of a plan, perhaps something of a rant, or something else altogether.
I guess it's an attempt at taming the dragon of anxiety. That stupid dragon is always trying to turn a happy looking forward to something fun into thinking of everything that can go wrong.
It does listen to reason, so I can counter most scenario's it can come up with, but I'd really rather spend my time musing about the fun parts instead of explaining an obnoxious dragon it's exaggerating and it should go play outside to catch knights or hoard gold or such, and not bother me!
My friend has a sailing ship, a new deckhand with no experience at all, and a new knee, so he isn't as fast as he used to be.
Usually those ships are sailed with 2 crew (captain and deckhand) and 15 to 25 paying guests. Having an all new deckhand is complicated enough as it is, but with the new knee my friend asked if I could come along to teach the new deckhand, a job I love!
I've worked as a deckhand for years, but that was before diabetes and before the dragon, although I have sailed the occasional short trip in the past few years.
As a rule, the paying guests take care of food (we have a good kitchen on board) and the crew are invited to share their meals. You can get very lucky, for instance when you have a family group with a family member who loves getting the chance to cook wonderful meals for a group of people, or a company outing who hire a cook to come along.
Or you can get not-so-lucky, for instance when the group consists of twenty 15 year olds and two teachers who decided it was a good idea to have the children cook without any guidance. Spaghetti with ketchup is a well-known dish among sailing crew.
I have no idea what it will be this time.
So I need a plan.
I definitely prefer eating with the guests, if possible, and I definitely do not want to cook full meals in the tiny private kitchen after or during a sailing day.
But I also need to bring enough of my own food to have an alternative if necessary.
I don't mind having wonkier BG than usual, but eating higher carb makes my diabetes very unpredictable, and therefore a lot more work and stress for me. Especially with the unusual activity thrown in, which means my basal dose will likely be slightly on the high side, and bolus doses will need to be different too, and I'll have to figure out dosing while doing stuff where a hypo can happen at a very bad moment.
So I'll try to stick to the more predictable foods.
Breakfast and lunch are easy, if it's bread, I'll just bring my own bread and have whatever they have with it.
But I'll need to bring stuff to substitute a main meal if necessary, but I don't want to bring prepared meals or other stuff that will go off if not eaten, in case I get lucky and I can eat mostly with our guests.
So far I've thought of
Eggs, some already hard boiled as a quick fix or to liven up a cheese sandwich.
Pork scratchings and aioli.
Various nuts.
Died sausage.
A cucumber, some small tomatoes and a bell pepper.
A couple of nice cheeses, either to have with bread or to simply eat as it is.
Some other things I really like a lot to eat with bread, so I can just eat that instead of a meal without feeling too deprived.
Chocolaty nut squares.
So far, it doesn't really sound like a 5 day meal plan, but it should work if complimented by whatever our guests make.
Feel free to suggest other things if you like!
Above is a picture of the ship we'll sail on!
I've just met the new deckhand too, as he was on the road with my friend who came by to pick up something and to bring me the buttons he ordered for me.
Very nice young man in his early twenties, I'm looking forward to working with him!
Communication on board will be interesting: the guests will likely be German, the captain and I are Dutch and the deckhand is from Manchester and speaks English and Croatian.
While I do speak both English and German, and I can switch between Dutch and either language pretty easy, I absolutely cannot switch between English and German! Whenever I try the wrong language always comes out to the wrong person, or I get so confused I cannot find a single word anymore in any language, including my own!
Below a picture of my upgraded diabetes bag, very happy with my new buttons!
Not sure if this post will be a question, a story, a making of a plan, perhaps something of a rant, or something else altogether.
I guess it's an attempt at taming the dragon of anxiety. That stupid dragon is always trying to turn a happy looking forward to something fun into thinking of everything that can go wrong.
It does listen to reason, so I can counter most scenario's it can come up with, but I'd really rather spend my time musing about the fun parts instead of explaining an obnoxious dragon it's exaggerating and it should go play outside to catch knights or hoard gold or such, and not bother me!
My friend has a sailing ship, a new deckhand with no experience at all, and a new knee, so he isn't as fast as he used to be.
Usually those ships are sailed with 2 crew (captain and deckhand) and 15 to 25 paying guests. Having an all new deckhand is complicated enough as it is, but with the new knee my friend asked if I could come along to teach the new deckhand, a job I love!
I've worked as a deckhand for years, but that was before diabetes and before the dragon, although I have sailed the occasional short trip in the past few years.
As a rule, the paying guests take care of food (we have a good kitchen on board) and the crew are invited to share their meals. You can get very lucky, for instance when you have a family group with a family member who loves getting the chance to cook wonderful meals for a group of people, or a company outing who hire a cook to come along.
Or you can get not-so-lucky, for instance when the group consists of twenty 15 year olds and two teachers who decided it was a good idea to have the children cook without any guidance. Spaghetti with ketchup is a well-known dish among sailing crew.
I have no idea what it will be this time.
So I need a plan.
I definitely prefer eating with the guests, if possible, and I definitely do not want to cook full meals in the tiny private kitchen after or during a sailing day.
But I also need to bring enough of my own food to have an alternative if necessary.
I don't mind having wonkier BG than usual, but eating higher carb makes my diabetes very unpredictable, and therefore a lot more work and stress for me. Especially with the unusual activity thrown in, which means my basal dose will likely be slightly on the high side, and bolus doses will need to be different too, and I'll have to figure out dosing while doing stuff where a hypo can happen at a very bad moment.
So I'll try to stick to the more predictable foods.
Breakfast and lunch are easy, if it's bread, I'll just bring my own bread and have whatever they have with it.
But I'll need to bring stuff to substitute a main meal if necessary, but I don't want to bring prepared meals or other stuff that will go off if not eaten, in case I get lucky and I can eat mostly with our guests.
So far I've thought of
Eggs, some already hard boiled as a quick fix or to liven up a cheese sandwich.
Pork scratchings and aioli.
Various nuts.
Died sausage.
A cucumber, some small tomatoes and a bell pepper.
A couple of nice cheeses, either to have with bread or to simply eat as it is.
Some other things I really like a lot to eat with bread, so I can just eat that instead of a meal without feeling too deprived.
Chocolaty nut squares.
So far, it doesn't really sound like a 5 day meal plan, but it should work if complimented by whatever our guests make.
Feel free to suggest other things if you like!
Above is a picture of the ship we'll sail on!
I've just met the new deckhand too, as he was on the road with my friend who came by to pick up something and to bring me the buttons he ordered for me.
Very nice young man in his early twenties, I'm looking forward to working with him!
Communication on board will be interesting: the guests will likely be German, the captain and I are Dutch and the deckhand is from Manchester and speaks English and Croatian.
While I do speak both English and German, and I can switch between Dutch and either language pretty easy, I absolutely cannot switch between English and German! Whenever I try the wrong language always comes out to the wrong person, or I get so confused I cannot find a single word anymore in any language, including my own!
Below a picture of my upgraded diabetes bag, very happy with my new buttons!