Diabetic Labelled Foods: What do you think?

SunnyExpat said:

I'm sure the op will be fine without headlines, and to be fair to him, he asked if you ate diabetic labelled food.
I'm sure we don't need to charge to answer that question.

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I answered that waaaay back, on post 32. Then I answered his latest amended query a bit later on.

Post 48 actually, I never said you didn't. I said I hoped you wouldn't be sending him the billlllllllllllll.

SunnyExpat said:

Post 48 actually, I never said you didn't. I said I hoped you wouldn't be sending him the billlllllllllllll.

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It rarely pays to be so pompous when you're actually wrong. I can only assume you didn't trouble yourself to look at post 32?

Squire Fulwood said:

In my case I was sent home having been told that I was diagnosed as diabetic after a test showed that my blood glucose was high. I was also told to eat starchy carbs with every meal.

When I was issued with a meter I used it to find which meals made my blood glucose high since I thought this would please everyone and manage my diabetes more responsibly

Ergo, I have the strength and intuition to go against HCP advice since the HCP advice contains two mutually exclusive requirements which are to keep my levels low and to eat carbs with every meal.

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Hmnnn, this does bring up some interesting questions as @donnellysdogs said. My antennae are twitching - maybe the reason that BG monitoring is being actively discouraged these days is because it's too empowering for patients who then dare to disobey official recommendations as a result? We can't have that now, can we? How very dare they!

AndBreathe said:

Have you met and spent time talking with many diabetics (T1 and T2) in the lead up to this piece of work? If you did, did you encounter individuals following the NICE guidelines style of eating (EatWell Plate), and/or did you encounter anyone not following the guidelines?

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I'm assuming you're confused, so I took the liberty of finishing this exchange by quoting the question you asked in post #32.
I suggest we let this thread get back on track now.

donnellysdogs said:

So what makes us check the foods and others don't?

What makes us different to go against advice? When others just follow it?

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Now you put me to the question I think that I took the route I did because of a misunderstanding.

I was given a meter since the Glimepiride might have given me a hypo but I don't think this was adequately explained at the time. I knew that the diagnosis was based on high sugar levels and I took the logical leap that I was supposed to find what caused that and to fix it. The advice to eat carbs with every meal was quickly dismissed by me as silly. Testing blood sugar confirmed me in that opinion.

It wasn't until after my personal research that I found this forum where other people were finding out what I had found out and it was all to do with food and not pills. I was happy to continue down that route since I seemed to have some measure of control with food whereas I never got anywhere but sick with the pills. The results with food were also very much more significant than any pill ever achieved.

My only encounter with diabetic labelled foods was when a market stall trader on the forum completely failed to understand that he had not, in fact, discovered a get rich quick scheme and had to have it explained to him that no-one was going to buy his stuff even if it was sold by Harrods. He was difficult to convince and kept returning to the forum with a lost cause.

Indy51 said:

Hmnnn, this does bring up some interesting questions as @donnellysdogs said. My antennae are twitching - maybe the reason that BG monitoring is being actively discouraged these days is because it's too empowering for patients who then dare to disobey official recommendations as a result? We can't have that now, can we? How very dare they!

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Well it worked for me but it can make for tense moments when DN can't get a pill to work.

QR93 said:

But most importantly my project delves into health psychology and is about finding out the cognitive processes that lead to someone doing or not doing a certain behaviour.

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It's interesting isn't it? And as @AndBreathe says, it's remarkably simple. I suspect that your questioning would soon determine the "desire" for change within our organisation...

I asked a a facebook group of diabetics, mostly T2s, whether, if they were shown irrefutable evidence that their conditions could be put into remission by changing lifestyle and not taking medication, they would make that change... There was an interesting mix of responses and the most striking thing was the level of imagination that individuals demonstrated in their responses.

tim2000s said:

I asked a a facebook group of diabetics, mostly T2s, whether, if they were shown irrefutable evidence that their conditions could be put into remission by changing lifestyle and not taking medication, they would make that change... There was an interesting mix of responses and the most striking thing was the level of imagination that individuals demonstrated in their responses.

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Fascinating question, indeed. I think we sometimes forget that others don't share our enthusiasm - I find the mindset of people like @Molly56 's partner beyond understanding, so any chance of the cliff's notes version? Though we probably should start a new thread for it?

Indy51 said:

Fascinating question, indeed. I think we sometimes forget that others don't share our enthusiasm - I find the mindset of people like @Molly56 's partner beyond understanding, so any chance of the cliff's notes version? Though we probably should start a new thread for it?

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@Indy51 ....have not followed this thread so not sure exactly what you mean by cliff's notes version....and just to say that my partner has massively changed his eating habits from where we were a year ago...I never thought he would change but he is much more aware of what he is eating and has dropped a lot of the carbs he was consuming before.....the test will come I guess when we go away on holiday in a couple of weeks time to see if he gives in to temptation.....there are still a lot of issues about his diabetes that he is not dealing with or understands but I feel some definite progress has been made over the last few months...

Molly56 said:

@Indy51 ....have not followed this thread so not sure exactly what you mean by cliff's notes version....and just to say that my partner has massively changed his eating habits from where we were a year ago...I never thought he would change but he is much more aware of what he is eating and has dropped a lot of the carbs he was consuming before.....the test will come I guess when we go away on holiday in a couple of weeks time to see if he gives in to temptation.....there are still a lot of issues about his diabetes that he is not dealing with or understands but I feel some definite progress has been made over the last few months...

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Molly - I think Cliffs Notes are the US variant on our ".... for Dummies" books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Dummies

I'm sure @Indy51 will pip up in due course, if that's incorrect. As Indy is one of our down under friends, she may have retired for her night now.

AndBreathe said:

Molly - I think Cliffs Notes are the US variant on our ".... for Dummies" books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Dummies

I'm sure @Indy51 will pip up in due course, if that's incorrect. As Indy is one of our down under friends, she may have retired for her night now.

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You're right - we pick up slang from both countries with all the US and British TV shows we get over here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes

Molly56 said:

@Indy51 ....have not followed this thread so not sure exactly what you mean by cliff's notes version....and just to say that my partner has massively changed his eating habits from where we were a year ago...I never thought he would change but he is much more aware of what he is eating and has dropped a lot of the carbs he was consuming before.....the test will come I guess when we go away on holiday in a couple of weeks time to see if he gives in to temptation.....there are still a lot of issues about his diabetes that he is not dealing with or understands but I feel some definite progress has been made over the last few months...

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Glad to hear it re the diet but it was more his ongoing head-buried-in-sand approach and unwillingness to educate himself that I was referencing. I was hoping @tim2000s topic might have some insights for us.

I find it incredible how many people really expect HCPs that they see for maybe 10 minutes max each time could possibly care about their health as much as they do and amazed by how much control they are willing to hand over to others without appearing to give it a second thought.

Indy51 said:

I find the mindset of people like @Molly56 's partner beyond understanding, so any chance of the cliff's notes version?

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Amongst those who responded, there are essentially pessimistic and optimistic imaginations with varying levels of imagination.

Essentially the picture below sums it up.

tim2000s said:

Amongst those who responded, there are essentially pessimistic and optimistic imaginations with varying levels of imagination.

Essentially the picture below sums it up.

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I think it's even more basic than that. I'd say at the highest level there are those
- who don't want to change; period
- who want change, but want others to make the changes for them (e.g. just give me the meds, and let me get on with my life.)
- who just want good enough (e.g. want the symptoms to go away)
- who want to achieve the absolutely best they can

For T2s, I think it's easier for those diagnosed with symptoms they recognise themselves (i.e. the fatigue, visual interference or frequent urination) as there is frank evidence of the condition impacting their day-to-day lives. Those diagnosed asymptomatically (as I was) can have a harder trip, with denial etc.

For the avoidance doubt, I'm not including myself in the last statement. I did have a period of disbelief up until the moment I had carried out my first half dozen finger prick tests, then I had all the evidence I needed to understand action was required.

tim2000s said:

Amongst those who responded, there are essentially pessimistic and optimistic imaginations with varying levels of imagination.

Essentially the picture below sums it up.

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I don't belong in any of those four, but maybe closest to the top right.

'Complications' weren't my driver. It would be nice to avoid them, admittedly, but I am where I am.
My driver was realising just how much I was being driven by the wrong goals, and realising the last 30 years hadn't gone the way I planned 30 years ago.
So I took a look at life, and changed it.
Admittedly, the last 30 years meant I could afford to.

Are we perhaps driven a little by the "feeders" of the households?

My hubby was the "feeder" - still is. I hate shopping, but we started doing shopping lists together only 3 years ago. Since then he changed to my diet of low carbs etc wheras before he added the crisps, cakes etc to his own list that he made.

Is there perhaps a partner that influences more with shopping and influences the food purchases more? When we act in tune on equals to the "feeders" we empower ourselves more as well? I think @Molly56 had a huge impact on her partner adjusting his eating habits...ok, she can't force testing, and partner still go by the nurses for his reliance on meds but perhapspartners do also have an influence.

I stayed to my way of eating except once - but that was influence from others...i know if I was totally left to my own devices that food would be the last thing I would ever think of. Its only my hubby that has actually influenced me to eat and you good folk on here pointing me to adding more fat etc...

I also was a real dunce at school and hated it. I've done my learning from life and rhink I challenged myself to keep well and to help others from experiences rather than education...

Locus of control is far more than just the belief about what outcomes are contingent on. It's also about understanding fully what you can control, what you can influence and what you can ignore as there is nothing you can do about it.

I took control by giving up buzzwords.
Locus was up there with vectors for me.