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Meh! I've had it with all this palaver

Aethalides said:
I guess, speaking rationally, food is about the only pleasurable aspect of my life and the restrictions the diabetes wants to impose just sap the last flicker of pleasure out of my life...
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Eat the wrong food laden with carbs, you will have problems with your body, your eyes and feet come to mind.

As the old saying goes "your life, your choice".
 
You have two choices, eat what you want and rot away over years from the complications of regular high sugars (yours are high) or get on top of it now and live feeling well, fit and slim.

Would you choose your eyesight or oranges?
 

Your food choices aren’t that much different to many peoples. They can be tweaked to help your health whilst still appreciated.


Ok. Sausages might be ok but check carbs. They vary a lot. Wise choices mean you keep what you like but keep carbs to a minimum. Grab a handful of packets in the supermarket and compare carbs per 100g. If your preferred spicy ones are high could you buy lower ones and add lower carb spices to them? Bacon. Gammon? Steak? as alternatives maybe with Tabasco or some similar spice?

I’d drop the toast, and if you really can’t only have one slice of the lowest carb one you can find. Tesco do a high protein one. Hovis do hi-low. Waitrose have a low carb one. There are choices out there.

I’ve no idea on the soup carbs but read the labels of your chosen one and some of the others and choose the lowest. The danger here is potatoes in real soups and bulking agents in cup a soups. Compare fresh, tinned and packets and see what flavours are best in which format.

Rice pudding isn’t good. What other desserts might work? You like cream? Try double cream, soft cheese, a sweetener that doesn’t spike you (I’d go for erythritol or xylitol) and maybe peppermint or vanilla essence. Whip it up well til nice and thick and add a few berries. Grate some very dark chocolate over it all. Or look up keto muffins which can be sweet or savoury and made in the microwave in minutes.

Oranges aren’t the worst fruits, but not the best either. Berries definitely, melon maybe are better. Fruit isn’t essential though. Look here for guidance about better and worse choices and see what works for you https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/visual-guides

Food low carb can still be pleasurable but yes it will be different. As your tastebuds get used to lower sugar they really do pick up new tastes you never noticed before. For a while shopping will take longer whilst you work out the best options but it soon speeds up as you learn the best options.

Is it worth it? Well personally speaking giving my fingers toes, feet,kidneys, heart, arteries and brain a better chance are worth a few sacrifices. Up to you entirely if yours are


And I have to say for someone worried about cholesterol if you currently eat all those sausages low carb won’t be any more fat based than you eat now!
 
Aethalides said:
I guess, speaking rationally, food is about the only pleasurable aspect of my life and the restrictions the diabetes wants to impose just sap the last flicker of pleasure out of my life...
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well I read what you wrote and I just wonder if perhaps you might try to think of this as a food adventure instead and a chance to discover other things you might like besides your usual favourites. Food is a pleasure I totally agree and just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean it has to stop being that for you. If you really do like food then there’s lots to eat and if you’re feeling adventurous there’s lots to make. Maybe you might be a secret genius in that department and will find delicious and amazing combinations of weird things that are somehow good to eat? Why be a slave to the old choices you made that made you sick in the first place? That’s like saying I love poison, but poison doesn’t love me back .
Anyhoo there really are worse things to have than T2D. At least you have a chance to recover from it and live a good life. My dad passed recently from Cancer and there was absolutely nothing anyone could do but watch him get sicker.
 
Comfort eating’s a bit of a trap providing short term gain for long term loss. The way I see it you can hope to tackle the cause before a solution works and have some deep thought about the reasons you’re resorting to food to make you happy.
It’s a tough road to take.
At the same time as looking at causes you could make everything less tough by having a few solutions, like the swimming.
I don’t know what your life was like before the proverbial hit the whirligig but you don’t need to be stuck in this particular place.
I could of course say all the usual things about the amount you’re eating, or the carb you’re eating and offer ideas such as strong spicy curry made with all the free veg and MeiChanski’s cauliflower rice to go with it but I think you need more than that. Pleasures outside your home. Activities that use energy, like swimming, or that enliven you and get you in touch with others.
 

i suggest you do a google search for diabetic complications. You might change your mind about what you can eat. Having constant high numbers puts your extremities at risk (may need amputation due to nerve damage) and it also puts your eyesight in jeopardy. Your choice. A diabetic colleague of my husband put his 'need' for carbs higher than his health. He can't feel his feet any more and is therefore unable to do his job (lorry driver) or enjoy many of the activities he used to love.
 
I know. Rationally thinking, of course I have read up on how diabetes can ravage your body and as an IT worker and scientist I can postulate cause and effect etc, but I kinda feel like what my mom used to say when I was young and pretended to be sick. If I don't have a fever, I'm not sick!
I know it's weird, right? To think I'm not ill because I don't have any severe symptoms like that. And I certainly value my limbs and eyesight but on the other hand perhaps my destructive side it's like I almost wish for a severe consequence to hammer things home.

Does that make sense or should I get myself sectioned?
 
As an IT worker, I was just wondering how you would do your job if it was your eye-sight that took the hammering from your bloods.....

My T2 mate in the States and I promised each other years ago that we would each die of old age with our feet on and our eyes in working order. She's an electrical engineer and I'm a book-keeper. No eyes = no job!

Your adjustments can be bit by bit - get used to one change and then ease the next into your life. Over the course of 6 months you could change your whole life! But slowly, so it doesn't hurt. As a comfort eater I get where you're coming from but measure up comparative comforts - is the pleasure of your meal worth your eyes? Is that spicy sausage worth a kidney? Have a think. Too late when the damage is done. Very sad phrase - don't let it be true for you.

Also - learn to be an adventurous cook with the herbs and spices! It's fun, rewarding and food is a huge pleasure..... don't limit it!
 
Yes that makes perfect sense to me. When you mentioned "self-destructive depression" earlier I thought yeah, I know that only too well, and not noticing any physical problems doesn't help to motivate change. I was just like this only a month ago after a period of depression which seemed to last months, not going out, eating (wonderfully tasty) junk and so on. My exercise consisted of walking to the fridge and back. And the toilet. And I got used to all the early warning signs, blurred distance vision etc. But then all in one go I got Balanitis and an infection in my mouth, and a fatty liver which I could no longer ignore. And that's what it took for me to get a grip. I went on a low-carb diet and started walking and doing a few weights. The exercise helped a LOT. I felt so much better after getting off my butt and actually doing something. In 2 weeks I went from 19 mmol/l to 7. The effect was amazing and quick.

Easy for me to say isn't it. And if you're like me I guess this post won't help much, you'll probably keep doing what you're doing until something happens, I did. But for me, when it did, I went the low-carb route and it worked. I'm keto now and it's working wonders - but who's to say I wont slip back into depression and start thinking 'to hell with it' again. I just hope I'll be able do something about it next time. And really I hope you can find a way out before symptoms kick in.
 
WuTwo said:
As a comfort eater I get where you're coming from but measure up comparative comforts - is the pleasure of your meal worth your eyes? Is that spicy sausage worth a kidney? Have a think. Too late when the damage is done.
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That's exactly how I thought of it when I started low carb 3 years ago. I would stand in the queue looking at the rows of mouthwateringly delicious cakes and I would weigh.up which I preferred - cake or eyesight and feet. The eyes and feet always won. Little did I know that I was effectively brainwashing myself because now I can hardly look at the sweet stuff without thinking YUK how horrible - how could a anyone eat that stuff.

Also pleased to report that the feeling has come back in my foot and I no longer need injections into my eyes.
 
Aethalides said:
I took them!!

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Ok I replaced my two slices of toast with 1 slice.
I had a nectarine in the morning instead of orange and strawberry with whipped cream at lunch desert to replace rice pud. I did end up putting a tablespoon. Of brown sugar in top because they were quite sharp.
I checked co-op here and they only have quote unquote normal bread.
 
Aethalides said:
I used to like going to swim. I'm building up the courage to go again but looking like the hindenburg puts me off

I signed up for free veg. Thursday I'll get the first bag which I find I'm actually looking forward to
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mate.......I've had a toe amputated and had the same trepidation......until I went for my first swimming session and discovered they weren't all golden adonis' by a long chalk.....I felt pretty good after and had a sauna too to sweat out all of the rubbish!!

Go for it
 

perhaps celeriac and carrot mash with butter and grated cheese mixed in to replace the jacket spuds.......whack it under the grill for a few minutes to crisp it up a bit and Bob's your uncle!!
 
If you get a cauli in your free veggies don't just boil the poor thing. Try it roasted drizzled with garlic olive oil - bliss!
 


Kiwi Fruit and Watermelon is a great combo.......it's even the flavour of got in my new vaping machine LOL
 

So not changing your diet at all then?
 
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