In our society, we are faced with food everywhere we go and visit. Everyone wants to feed you or give you free tastes. The next time you go into Sam’s Club or an outreach event you will notice candy, food samples or snacks on every isle. Our own families are trying to get us to eat food we should not be eating.
How do you stock your kitchen with good wholesome food that everyone will eat? We should stock our kitchens with good food and make as much of our food from scratch when we can. We can make bread easily with bread makers. They are inexpensive. Many small kitchen appliances are available for purchase so we can make better food for our families, try second hand stores. We can make our own junk food. Yes, junk food. It will be better for our bodies if we remove all the chemicals/preservatives by making them ourselves. Our body breaks food down more efficiently if it recognizes the food. When we eat fake food, our body does not know what to do with it. We should be eating small meals. A cup of water is 8 ounces and if you pour more then 8 ounces it will spill over right? Well, when you eat 2 hamburgers, fries, veggies or 8 cookies, milk or hot coco, your body can’t break all that down because you have spilled your cup. Eat small and let your body do its thing. Do you want to know if your body is doing its job? Sure you do, test your sugar before you eat and than 2 hours later. How did you do? Is your sugar high? Keep a personaI record and you will see a pattern. You will be able to see what you can eat and what you can not. I personally keep my sugar no higher then 175 during the day. It should be lower and this is something I need to work on.
How do we refuse food when we visit? We don’t want to be rude. People can sometimes get upset or offended if we don’t eat or accept their offers.
What we can do:
- Tell them you are diabetic and are trying to keep it controlled. Most people will understand but if not chose another option.
- Eat before you go
- Bring a snack with you
- visit during a non meal time for example: go visit between meals or after dinner.
- Politely say “no thank you”
What our friends can do to help us:
- if we are not getting together for a meal, please do not offer food.
- Do not get upset if we tell you no.
- Do not be upset if we bring our own snack.
There are times when diabetics like me will want to see you but don’t necessarily want to eat. Don’t feel obligated to feed us. If we are coming over for a meal then yes please feed us. Ask if there are any dietary concerns before we get there. It is not just diabetes anymore; there are many people like me with food allergies too.
I was doing outreach for my job on Saturday at the mall. I had a table with coloring sheets, bookmarks, information about the library, and yes candy. We are encouraged to have free stuff to give away and stuff to get people to stop by the table. We use the candy to get people to stop by. People of all ages stop by for candy. We all love candy. There were quite a few other tables with candy. Candy is an inexpensive way to get people to stop by the table. This event is geared toward families with children. The candy is probably the reason I met a boy who wore an insulin pump. An insulin pump is for an individual that has type 1 diabetes. This child has to worry about what he is eating and how it will effect his body. He is young and lives in a society that teaches him to eat badly. He does have a good family to help him stay on task. He is a child and children love candy, cookies, ice cream, pizza and more. They typically do not prefer to eat carrots, grapes, bananas, green beans or wheat bread. We should all be worried about what we put in our bodies. We only get one body. Diabetics are not the only ones who should watch what they eat but everybody should eat like they have diabetes.
Please keep in mind, I am not a doctor and this site is strictly my opinion. This post covers many of my daily struggles with food.
The American Diabetes Association the pump has many advantages and disadvantages. Please refer to their website for questions.
