Why Do Some People Not Care?

[Fencer]

As an example, there are very sweet GÜ biscuits sitting on a counter at work. Just watched a colleague who was diagnosed T2 have more than one. I wouldn't even consider going near these... although I'd bl**dy love to

This is just one example of loads I could give you, such as my friend's Dad who thinks nothing of having cakes with his tea and is T2.

Please assure me that I am not the only one going without. I'm seeing this kind of thing so often, that I could almost argue (I wouldn't) that it would be OK.

 

[louiseb]

well I follow a reduced carb diet and dont eat cakes or biscuits very often, but I must say I have one as an occassional treat. I think its madness to ignore diabetes and eat whatever you want, but I think there needs to be a balance and 1 biscuit or cake as occasional treat I think is ok but thats just my opionion.
its my birthday on thursday and i will be having a nice big slice of birthday cake :lol:
I only well to aware of the complications diabetes can cause which is why a slice is only ever a treat.
the last time I had a slice of cake was christmas :shock:

 

[catherinecherub]

Lots of people with Type 2 bury their heads in the sand and think they will never suffer complications.
The same could be said for excess alcohol that some diabetics consume and all the possible health complications. At least you have a fighting chance if you try your best to manage it. An occasional treat is not a worry for me. It is not something I do all day every day.

 

[viviennem]

That's one of the reasons I think it's so essential to test. I could very easily think - oh, one won't do any harm - and quickly end up with two or three, or one every day! A higher than usual meter reading will pull me up short and make me behave!

Having said that - I've had a bad 3 weeks (for me!) what with alcohol and going out to eat and those d**n Belgian chocolates! (Can't we have a breast-beating or sackcloth-and-ashes emoticon, someone?) but on the whole I haven't done too badly and it's back on the straight and narrow from next Monday!

My meter readings have all been within the Type 2 target range, but just a sneaky bit higher - and I dread to think what my weight will have done! Mea culpa!

But you are so right, Fencer - I've known some Type 2s who will eat anything they like, cakes and biscuits and chocolate - even meringues! - and not bat an eyelid. They give the rest of us a bad name :lol:

Viv 8)

 

[Patch]

You're not alone, Fencer. Believe it or not, I encounter this most at the Diabetic Ward at my local hospital!!! People usually sat there drinking Hot Chocolate and and eating cakes n' biscuits (off the hospital trolley) while waiting to go in and see the Diabetic Specialist!

True story.

 

[Daibell]

Yes, you are not alone but the occasional treat with a gap between meals is sort of OK. I was amused at our local NHS PCT organised Diabetes group meeting when they provided biscuits and sugar (no sweetener). I did suggest some sweeteners next time might be nice! They just hadn't thought about it although some attendees were Type 1 and might be OK with it.

 

[anniep]

But you are so right, Fencer - I've known some Type 2s who will eat anything they like, cakes and biscuits and chocolate - even meringues! - and not bat an eyelid. They give the rest of us a bad name :lol:

Actually when I need a treat I eat a meringue with fresh cream, one nest has 12gm carb - I have seen yogurts with higher amounts. Meringue may be just sugar and egg white but it is whisked until it spread a long way. And it has no other carbs in it such as flour.

I have been 'told off' by a fellow diabetic for eating meringue, as he was eating sandwiches and a a apcket of crisps- on investigation the crips alone had more carb than my meringue.

My brother in law's attitude is and I quote 'i eat what i want and just keep taking the tablets'

 

[Etty]

.. at the Diabetic Ward at my local hospital!!! ..... eating cakes n' biscuits (off the hospital trolley) while waiting to go in and see the Diabetic Specialist!

How can people get their head straight about this when Diabetes Specialists allow these mixed messages. Some people are just not going to believe how dangerous this sort of food is if they are offered it in a Diabetes ward.

 

[Etty]

Viv -- I think they should bring in the sackcloth-and-ashes emoticon especially for Easter and Christmas!

 

[JUSTFOCUS]

The true answer my friend
is some people dont care about themselves because no one else cares about them .It's not a diabetic thing it's a train of thought . They don't know why they should care !
JF.

 

[TheSparkyPony]

*Hides mega bag of Monster Munch under couch* :shock:

Seriously though, I'm a well rehearsed culprit of this. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and I used to find no objection in stuffing my face knowing that all I needed to do was shoot up some insulin.

I now realise it's ever so slightly more complex than that, but perhaps these people have a similar mindframe - 'if my levels are ok, I'm ok!'
Maybe T2's have a slightly harder job in that most are diagnosed later in life, and therefore more established in lifestyle/eating choices that are hard to break out of.


ETA - Whenever I've stayed in hospital, I get offered Hot Chocolate (the server always asks 'Any sugar with that?!' :roll: ), have the option to pick sticky toffee pudding as a dessert on the menus and if ordering cereal for breakfast, it automatically comes with 2 sugar packets to sprinkle on top.

 

[ebony321]

Lets not forget alot of people are mis-informed and have been told high BG reading are fine, and are told not to test. Maybe instead of watching in despair you should offer advice. Then if they still reach for the biscuits then you can say they don't care

 

[RussG]

I think one of the major factors is that you can have something bad for you but not suffer any immediate ill effects, particularly if you don't monitor your blood sugars. If I had a chocolate biscuit now, I'd go up, but I'd either correct or I'd come down with time and literally nothing would happen to me. It's not a huge step to go from there to 'well, I'll have a couple - that can't hurt' and then to 'look, it's only a kilo of chocolate'. Added to that, the complicated nature of what you can and can't have, the fact that people vary, the sheer depressing nature of permanent lifestyle changes for a chronic disease and frankly I'm impressed so many people manage it so well. If you vomited or had explosive diarrhoea everytime your blood sugars went over 13, I guess there would be a lot of very well controlled diabetics.

Also, I'm sure not everyone feels the same, but for me caramel shortbread tastes much nicer than okra or prunes.

I watched a documentary about young diabetics in Southampton. The consultant said that he was asking young people to fingerprick themselves, inject, avoid drinking too much, stop smoking, take more exercise, live a restricted lifestyle that their mates didn't have to, all so that their 35-40 year old self didn't die of a heart attack. It is, as he put it, a big ask.

 

[Patch]

Also - IT'S HARD TO DO THE RIGHT THING ALL OF THE TIME!

 

[carty]

I agree with Patch especialy if you have spent the last 60 odd years thinking you were doing the right thing (healthy eating healthy lifestyle) :?
CAROL

 

[jaykay]

I sing in a choir with another T2 who was diagnosed 15 years ago. She has gone from diet only, to tablets, to insulin. At last choir rehearsal somebody had laid a spread on but knowing the usual type of food ( sandwiches, crisps and cake! ), I took a beautiful, colourful salad. The other lady said to me ' You don't know what you are missing!' I think she would rather eat the things she perceives to be 'nice' and cover it with insulin. Just 2 different attitudes. Don't know who's right but I know I'm comfortable with my choices.

 

[phoenix]

I know I have very mixed feelings.
Sometimes I have an immediate reaction, and mentally become judgemental, thinking why doesn't the person control their eating? I sat opposite a very, very large gentleman yesterday . He had been describing the problems he had with his knees and then ate several pieces of homemade shortbread with his coffee. I'll admit to having rather ungenorous thoughts at the time but then later thought that maybe he has other problems I'm not aware of, certainly his body would require a lot more energy than mine to fuel .
I don't like to judge, I certainly know how upset and annoyed I was when a member of the diabetes police made negative (nasty) comments about a blog post of mine referring to a dessert I ate. I had had a meal in a French restaurant , following a day's backpacking . I wrote that I finished the meal with a thin slice of chocolate gateau.( As I had walked many miles and was about to do the same the next day, I still used a reduced insulin dose with that meal and woke up next day to a level in the 4s! )

I did a search on GU biscuits to find out what they were. The ones I found (don't know if they are the ones mentioned) if so, they work out at less than 4g carb each.

 

[Ali H]

Because it is extremely hard to exist on a very restricted diet and not want something nice occasionally.

There has to be a balance, my GP doesn't want me to get an HBA1C lower than 6.5 because he says new articles in his magazines are showing an increase in cardiac problems where people keep their levels very low.

Like everything in life, there has to be some give or take or else for me at least, I might as well jump off Clifton bridge right now.

Ali

 

[the_anticarb]

If you vomited or had explosive diarrhoea everytime your blood sugars went over 13, I guess there would be a lot of very well controlled diabetics.



That's the problem with this illness - the consequences are too far away from the actions causing them, and by the time the consequences arrive (ie complications) then it's often too late as irrepairable damage has been done to the body.

Its like smoking, it's really hard to change behaviour based on something which may or may not happen a long way into the future. Particularly for teens - ok so not all teens are like this, but a lot only see as far as the next few weeks. I was diagnosed as a teen and as soon as I found out that I could get away with eating the bad stuff (ie, nothing bad happened to me) then that was it, sneaking off to the choccy shop (my parents tried to stop me but short of chaining me to the house there was not a lot they could do) and never testing myself.

How I wish that I had got vomiting or explosive diarrhea every time my blood sugars got high then - now I am that 35-40 year old self and only recently have I got my head around how to motivate myself to manage this illness on a long term basis

 

[the_anticarb]

PS on the eat what you want and cover it with insulin technique, I've found personally that this can work for a while as I did this whilst pregnant and had a hba1c of 5.5 throughout, but the hassle caused by going hypo all the time, plus the weight gain and resulting insulin resistance, was not worth it. But it did control my diabetes during my pregnancy,which was my aim (I had a horizon only as far as getting the baby out!)
My view now is it's ok to do this occasionally, or on high days and holidays, but it is likely to exacerbate diabetes (particularly if weight is an issue) if done consistently, in the longer term.
but isn't DAFNE all about doing that (to a certain extent?) after all it stands for dose adjustment for NORMAL eating, and the normal diet in this country for the majority of people is full of fat, sugar and junk food.