Sugar Turned On Me

Times are tough all over in America, it appears. Money is tight and there seems to be little relief ahead. It’s hard not to be pessimistic and even harder not to be nervous.

One thing that people do when they feel threatened or unsure is start looking for things that comfort them. When funds are scarce, people look to get the maxium economy out of the minimum of expenditure. These impulses often combine and result in people seeking out cheap, non-threatening meals. We’re talking about fast food.

The media, in it’s endless quest to seek out new buzzwords, asks if America will put on “recession pounds “. I think it’s a legitimate question, maybe even a legitimate concern. Diabetes is on the rise and fast food isn’t getting any healthier but is staying cheap.

I think if you’re trying to improve your health right now it’s important not to panic. Yes, prices on good vegtables and lean meats might rise. But if you’ve made eating right a priority, then now is not the time to flinch.

Consider the recent studies that have shown that the majority of medical spending in 2008 was on chronic illness . Money woes may make you look at the short term, but the long term effects could be more devistating.

I’m not suggesting anyone live outside their means; first things first, do the best with what you have. But when you head to the grocery store, don’t panic. Eat what you need to eat.

During my recent vacation, I decided to try something I’d not done for a few months: drink booze. I’ve never been a huge barfly. I usually get a bit tipsy about once a year. Keeping in mind that I’m diabetic and that alcohol is sugar, I decided I needed to see how it affected me.

The first night was okay. I had a couple of rum drinks and I felt alright. I was sober again in a couple of hours. My blood sugar was just a few points off.

I skipped a night, but then had a lot of drinks the next one. I stopped about the time I noticed that the potables were not agreeing with my tummy.

The next morning, my blood sugar was about fifteen points higher than it needed to be and about ten than I was used to.

I’d love to say that this experience gave me a lot of keen insight on the interaction of diabetes and liquor, but in truth I can’t say it did. For one, I was drinking cranberry juice as a mixer. This was likely to have some effect on my numbers. Also, my drinking was kind of sporadic. I had a couple, then paused, had one more, then sampled stuff that my friends had.

I’d already been of a mind to try an experiment with some form of booze. Now I think I know what not to do. When I do it, I’ll post about it here.

To be continued….

One of the things that helped me gain my type 2 diabetes was soda. When I was a teenager, I drank about a 2 liter a day. I’d gotten down to 2 20 oz. sodas a day just before my diagnosis. I had no problem going cold turkey on soda, but I did have one minor complication: I liked caffeine. And now, I didn’t have any.

I’ve looked up what coffee and tea are supposed to do to diabetics. The good news is that there is something in coffee and tea that helps diabetes. The more you consume, the better off you are. The bad thing is that it’s not the caffeine and the amount of caffeine you’d have to take in to get the effects of whatever it is that does help, well… that amount of caffeine might cause it’s own problems.

This is in addition to the fact that diabetes usually comes with hypertension, which caffeine is no good for.

On the better side of things, my preferred non-sugar sweetener, Stevia, works well in both coffee and tea. Stevia has a hint of a bitter aftertaste that gets completely masked by the slight bitterness in the beverage. I take coffee and tea with a little milk or cream, and I try to remember that those carbs count towards what I consume. Moderation is still the key for safe caffeine consumption.

And besides all that, if I don’t take in as much caffeine as I used to, then when I do drink a few cups… caffeine becomes fun again.

Here’s a discussion of the effects of coffee/tea on diabetics with some more specifics.