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Type 2 How do you deal with spontaneity in food?

Have you actually checked at these lousy times to see if it’s really low blood sugars or perhaps a false hypo or perhaps anxiety about the fear of going low?

False hypos should be a lot less common than in the early days of low carb if your body has adjusted to its new lower normal. Has it actually happened recently or did the early days of low carb soon after diagnosis and change of eating scare you enough that you fear what’s no longer happening?

Maybe it’s none of these things but worth considering.

Perhaps between at least one set of lessons you deliberately build in a bigger gap ensuring you have time to pop into somewhere (even a garage/corner shop will do in a push). Personally I think it’s easier to carry in the car a packet of something non perishable though. Nuts, jerky, tin of fish, etc
 
@Cana are yiu orescribed any medication which might make your bsl go low?
Either way it appears that you are over-obsessing about food and maybe seeing a psychologist might help you.
 
kitedoc said:
@Cana are yiu orescribed any medication which might make your bsl go low?
Either way it appears that you are over-obsessing about food and maybe seeing a psychologist might help you.
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No just forxiga

At home I’m fine. It’s just being out and about. I hate that feeling of sicky and groggy you get.

I still get that in the 5s. Today I’ve got it and I’m 6.

But yes I’m obsessing. Which given I used to have eating problems probably isn’t that surprising.

I think as well I just don’t know what my body will do. I think the fear is I can’t trust it anymore.
 

No if I’m working I tend not to test that much.

It is just trying to work around work. I’m trying todo what I used to do but obviously can’t do that now. But if I have longer gaps I work linger hours which is horrible as well.

Don’t think it’s false hypos. Other than I still feel weird in the 5s. I think partly it’s because if I’m in a lesson and maybe I need to eat I struggle with concentration and talking which is both vital for my job.

The Dr has always said the job I do is hard with diabetes and she is right.

I can be fine at start of lesson but within an hour feel tired, hungry etc and then I’m a bit stuck. I tend to just aback on bits of bread at that point and water. But it’s horrible when you have to teach someone and you feel really slow and just want to sit there quiet. Sometimes I feel like talking is really hard, like I’m
Slurring etc.

At home I’m fine. Because I know if I feel funny I can just have something. There are no complications etc.

It’s not a job I can just sit and eat when my body tells me too. And I’m not in a job where I can just stop what I’m doing. And I’m in a job that is quite dangerous.
 
It takes seconds to test and I’m not suggesting you do it forever. Just a few times to see what the level is corresponding with this feeling. Or do it before a long lesson to reassure yourself your level is ok or pop a mini snack if it’s not before you start. Again a minute or two is all this takes.

If eating during the day is that essential to your well being a 5-10 min extra break in the middle might mean a 10 min longer day. But a day that feels fine not awful. Your choice.

In the 5’s is not a true hypo. Unless you’re typically much higher then it’s also not a false hypo as you say. So maybe the issue is not food at all! Maybe it’s stress, anxiety, tiredness etc and you are blaming/using food as a reason or cure. You did this last week feeling that food should overcome lack of sleep. As you say you have to concentrate a lot (tiredness) I should imagine it’s a pretty stressful job and you are also quite stressed about the diabetes. It’s worth exploring imo.

Are you eating enough to keep you full before teaching? Eat more earlier on, especially fat and or protein, and avoid the hunger. None of us NEED hourly snacks no matter how much we might be used to them or like them. Are you scared to feel hunger?

If I’m totally honest here you appear to be putting up barriers and resistant to identifying just what’s happening and to taking on board the practical solutions to the problems you raise. You are now diabetic. It means change. Either to your health if you don’t make other changes or in the way you conduct your life. There are ways to minimise these changes and build them into existing routines with minimal disruptions but something has to give somewhere or nothing changes.
 
wiflib said:
You need to stop eating bread!
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I eat tiny bits through the day, I’ve found it keeps me going fir longer.
I’m barely eating any but there wasn’t really anything else that could replace it.
It’s not spiking me when I eat tiny bits
 

I don’t think I’m being resistant to change. Although I could be wrong.
I’ve changed diet drastically to very low carb.
The only thing really I’m finding hard is eating within the job.
Having said that when I first got diagnosed I reduced my hours. I’ve now started working longer hours like I used to but that can be 13-14 hour days. So it’s getting used to adapting to those kind of hours.

So I don’t think I’m resisting because I’m making changes. I’m just finding certain bits tougher.

I must be doing something right if my sugars have gone from 87 to 54 since August.

To be honest food on a daily thing is fine, I’ve got a routine I eat lots of protein and I’ve done well.

It is really just when things take a turn for the different like yesterday. It throws me.

On a day to day level I’m good. It really is just when there is a surprise.
 
Hi @Cana I know exactly what you mean as my job sometimes means that my food plans go awry. I tend to carry a flask of coffee & cream around with me and a flask of hot (homemade soup). I don't always end up eating the soup but it does last a good 12 hours in the flask and remains hot. Pop it in your car boot, if you end up not eating it, so what? I also carry low carb muesli type bars around and bags of nuts. All of these can remain in your handbag or boot as an 'emergency' ration. For me, it's not so much that I need to eat (usually I don't bother if its too inconvenient), it's that IF I know they are there it helps to alleviate any stress of going low. x
 

You have done well. Sorry I didn’t mean to negotiate your achievements. I can’t see realistically though that nibbling bread is actually do anything positive for you other than mental reassurance unless you’re genuinely too low. And unless you check you won’t know. Lots of practical ideas in here about how to cope if you do feel it’s important to snack. And if you have to make a few adjustments ( a few minutes here and there) to allow you back to normal working hours then surely it’s worth it?
 

With the bread I don’t know what else to have. I’m eating so few carbs if I don’t have that (I take all day to eat a small bread roll).
I have a few grams (maybe 7 or 8) of porridge in the morning just for some carbs.

Other than what’s naturally in food anyway I’m not having carbs.

For lunch I eat a chicken thigh and couple bits of roll that is homemade, no sugar added and loads of cheese.

I don’t eat any carbs for evening meal. It’s either meat and salad or meat and veg.
 
Cana said:
I eat tiny bits through the day, I’ve found it keeps me going fir longer.
I’m barely eating any but there wasn’t really anything else that could replace it.
It’s not spiking me when I eat tiny bits
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Why do you feel the need to constantly eat?
 
I usually keep some ambient pouches of olives, tins of sardines and small bags of nuts (I'd add dried meats if I ate it) in my car glove compartment for if I get caught without food and for some reason not be able to wait until I get home - I'm a supply science teacher and a community first responder with the ambulance service, so work very erratic hours, travel for different times each day as I work in different places, and sometimes I can be on scene with a patient for several hours waiting for an ambulance to arrive. I always chuck a pack of vegan quorn slices in my bag when I leave the house for more than a couple of hours, and often some hard boiled eggs if I remembered to do some the night before (but you can buy them in so many places now). I'm type one, so obviously on insulin, so if I am dropping a little low, two dextrose tablets and a half hour suspend on my pump sorts it out. From reading up on it, forxiga shouldn't cause an actual hypo, so it might be worth testing when you do feel bad. it might sound harsh, and it isn't meant to, but I suspect this constant need to graze is through habit rather than necessity. Your bg wouldn't be dropping hard, and I'd be surprised if you were actually properly hungry. We've been sold the idea that we need to snack, graze and have something "to keep us going" by people who make snacks...
 
wiflib said:
Why do you feel the need to constantly eat?
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I’m not.
I eat if I feel like I need to. Could be couple hours can be 6-7 or more.

I don’t constantly eat.
 
Cana said:
No I’m not.

Cholesterol was in the 4s at 6 month check up
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Just wondering as I had similar symptoms when I was on statins which was one of the reasons I stopped taking them.
 
Daphne917 said:
Just wondering as I had similar symptoms when I was on statins which was one of the reasons I stopped taking them.
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No nothing.

At start Dr mentioned them but was more concerned with diabetes and said would revisit.
No need now.
 
Thanks for the help guys!
I’m obviously being a bit dense about all this.
 
Cana - Can I suggest you buy yourself a clip top box, maybe about the size of a shoebox, or a little smaller maybe, and fill it with LC grabbables. By grabbables I mean packs of nuts, maybe pepperami, pork scratchings, protein bars and so on.

On that basis, you can forget about it, but if you are caught out, you have something suitable to eat. It might not be exactly what you fancy at that moment, but you have suitable food to get you over the hump.

If you dip into the box contents, just replace them on your next routine shop.

It's just a different sort of preparation.

Perhaps folks here would have a few more ideas of things that are effectively long life and need not be refrigerated.
 
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