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coffee and ?

Yai

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Location
Norfolk, UK
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello all,

After moving to a new county, it has taken me 6 months to nurture new friendships at the leisure centre. I have now been invited out a few times after the exercise classes.

What does anyone else do in the coffee and cake scenario? Say it defeats the object of exercise? Say you are dIeting? Diabetic? Or choose the lowest carb-looking option? At the minute I am either the only one without a plate in front of me (goody goody newcomer?) or opt for half a toasted teacake with butter and aim for damage limitation. It's hard enough resisting temptation.
 
Hi @Yai, I would first order a black filter coffee as it has the least calories and then if asked I would say I am Type 2 diabetic so I restrict carbs and sugar. You might then find you are asked about your situation and why the choices available are not suitable. Don't feel pressured to eat what you know is harmful to you. All of the usual suspect big coffee houses seem to just have bread and cakes, maybe you could go to a non brand coffee shop, where you could get scrambled eggs, mushrooms etc, or Pret which does have some healthy options.
 
My life is a continuous diet.
Black coffee, or whatever milk/cream takes your fancy.
I simply tell people that.

Sell them your personality, not your ability to hoover cakes.
It's a social event.
I actually get respect for not being a vacuum cleaner.
 
There is really no need to apologise or to wonder what they are thinking about you - if there is nothing suitable for a diabetic and you really need to eat you can take something low carb - though I find that eating too soon after exercise gives me indigestion.
I'd be inclined to enquire why they don't have anything suitable for diabetics available, though. With so many people finding out that they are diabetic every week there must be a market for foods safe for us to eat.
 
I have no problem just having a coffee anytime I meet someone.
If they ask if I want something I just say no thanks and change the subject. No need for explanations. No ones business.
I'm there to visit not to eat.
 

That's categorising all type 2s to your diet.
I'm type two, on some days I'd go for the crisps and cakes.
Other days, I'd go for black coffee.
Everything is suitable for a 'diabetic'
Sometimes the diabetic has the problem with what's on offer?
 
Just coffee is fine! I have food allergies as well so I have lots of situations in which the only thing I can have is a beverage, and you get used to it (and your dining partners do too). Good luck meeting new folks!
 

I tend to have a regular black coffee with a large dollop of double cream. It's so filling that I have no need for anything to eat, and can keep me feeling full for a few hours.
If folk want to overload their own systems with massive carbs - then that's up to them. They may not be diabetic now, but there's always that risk! Many friends now emulate my lchf diet having observed how much healthier I am now, all to different degrees I should add.
I just smile when watching someone eating a load of cake now - I no longer miss it, and know that the person eating it will be complaining again soon that they are hungry again. High carbs don't fill you up - healthy fats do
 
Thank you everyone - wise and helpful as usual. I am trying hard to change the habits of a lifetime, and not automatically ordering food in a social situation is one habit that also has to kick the bucket!
 
In those circumstances, I would just have a coffee. I don't snack between meals, and didn't do before diagnosis, so that works for me.
 
My answer is always "I don't eat c$ap like that"

There are far fewer biscuits and cakes brought into the office where I work, and far more healthy alternatives such as fruit. I've never preached to them but thankfully some are following the example.

You don't have to eat something you don't want or need to, and you shouldn't be ashamed of saying why.
 
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You don't really need to explain anything - if I was having coffee with someone and they chose not to have cake I wouldn't ask why and I expect them to question my food choices.

If anyone is rude enough to ask then just say you don't really like it and leave it at that. But I think most healthy minded people nowadays know that cake shouldn't feature in anyone's diet.

It does seem strange that they go to the gym then undo all their hard work
 

At a social event like a coffee morning?
That only works if you really are sure you're the least polite and most opinionated there person there.
If you'd have said that when offered cake where I'd worked, they'd had told you exactly what they thought of someone who told them they where eating c$ap, particularly after they had tried to share it with you.
(To be fair, on some of the docksides, it would have helped if you'd been the biggest too)
 
I regularly meet my son for 'lunch'. I eat at home before I meet him and then just have coffee while he has a meal.
 

I find a simple 'no thank you, I am not hungry' if asked, covers most situations.
 
Yai said:
Thank you everyone - wise and helpful as usual. I am trying hard to change the habits of a lifetime, and not automatically ordering food in a social situation is one habit that also has to kick the bucket!
Click to expand...
Hi, yes, habits of a lifetime indeed. Don't blame yourself. No doubt you're starting to notice the contradiction in exercising, then eating cake. It's the way of the world. I've done it myself -- walk for two hours, have a cake, then stride home again hoping to walk off the sugar. Just a coffee with double cream is fine, or black if you prefer, or fruit tea, or ... a bottle of water.
 
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