... & to be fair. This is in essence a thread about an "expat" with T2 managing it "his way".
It's not a true representation of the nation he's located in as a whole. Many might live on herring & cheese??
Incidentally, I've been to Sweden. The veriaty of food on offer where I stayed was healthy & extensive, (including the usual culprits.)
But the LC options were also good quality & in veriaty too! Better than any other European country for choice at the breakfast table...
When going through this thread I wondered if the British still consider themselves as a colonial power since they dare to talk about another country and it's citizen in
that way ... I was shocked! I'm not Swedish,, so no hurt feelings. (I am from Scandinavia, though
).
Thank you for your post, Jaylee!!
Back to the man mentioned in the first post who was at a funeral in Great Britain: He didn't care for his Diabetes in other ways then by using Metformin. No food restriction. People diagnosed with Diabetes are just as different as the general population. You will find people who pull a bag over their head when they don't want to understand the seriousness of something. The man can be one of them ...
Who knows?
I have met such people too. They gamble with their health (probably unconscious). Where I live we are given a two days study for free to learn to live with our Diabetes after being diagnosed. At that study we learn about symptoms, - how to live well, - what to eat,- about bad and OK artificial sugar replacement, - how important it is to take care of feet and teeth, - about physical activity, - about psychological disorders that can occur as a result of getting a chronic disease, - about possible development of the illness over time and about the seriousness of long term consequences of having an unstable blood sugar over time.
In spite of all this information, some people go on with their lives as if nothing has happened, as if they don't understand how serious it is to have T2.
It is frustrating when one meet such people at a party. One says NO to sugar and then somebody else tell that they have Diabetes and then eat everything. It might happen that the one who take care of her health will be seen as the strange one, while the other one as normal and not so preoccupied with details about if there is sugar or not in the food.
Such people (who don't bother to take their Diabetes serious) are to be found everywhere regardless of nationality.
When it comes to food the recommendation (where I live), it is based on general European and some American norms (little starch in food, lots of vegetables and fibers, not so much fruit, fish and chicken). Many chose to use food inspired by the Mediterranean kitchen (which science has shown gives a general good health). Some chose LCHF, called "low carb". The "low carb" diet has been known and used for years in Scandinavia, but I think that
that diet is not so popular as it once was.
Well my post was only meant to tell how alarming it is to mark a nation after meeting one of it's inhabitants. That is to generalize without reliability.
Thanks again for your input, Jaylee!