Sep 16 2008
Of Sex and Baklava
My blood sugar was 134 this morning. That’s considerably higher, like 30 points higher, than I like or than it’s been for some time. When I got over the shock and took a second test to verify that, yes, that number was real, I started to to trace back the evening like I’d been on a bender and needed to figure out why I was in a tutu.
I had a small glass of milk and a postage stamp sized piece of chocolate right before bed, but I’ve done that before and it bumps me up by 10, 15 points tops. I had a sensible dinner including some sweet potato fries, but that was at 9:00pm or so and I was up for hours after that.
Then it came to me… it had to be the baklava.
I let myself have treats now and again. I make sure to prepare for them, moderating what else I eat so that there’s space on the daily carb quota for a small indulgence. When the Greek Festival happened this past weekend, my wife and I picked up a box of 4 pieces of baklava and the plan was to share this with some friends, having a one each. The friends weren’t interested that night, so a couple of days later, we still have it. I figured the smallest piece was going to be okay. Plus, there had been a plan.
When I got diagnosed with diabetes, my doctor said to think of food as fuel. That means that if I overdue the potato chips, I have to do something to burn it off. My wife and I had agreed that when I had baklava, we’d do something together to spend all those extra carbs. Specifically we’d have sex.
And we forgot.
I’d like to say that there’s more to the story, but there’s not much of an epilogue save for me debating what meal I can cut out to get my blood sugar down. The incident will be remembered as a cautionary tale and a reinforcement to follow through on plans. Not that this one should have required any reminders.
But just to be safe, next Greek Festival I’m putting up a post-it to help remind myself.
To do: aerobic nookie. In ink.
