Tag: diet

Life with Diabetes

It’s World Diabetes Day today. I had the displeasure of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2016. It is what it is though and what choice does one have but to accept it and learn to work around it. I am determined however to get it into remission and I will succeed. For now, I will share what seems to work for me at the moment, however do bear in my mind that this is based on my personal experience and is not an sort of medical or dietary advice.

My Diet

There is no doubt that controlling your blood sugar takes more than just diet but what you eat does play the biggest role. The following has worked for me based on trial and error:

  • Refined carbs are not my friend. I will still enjoy a piece of cake here and there but I don’t make a habit of it
  • Sweeteners, and this includes natural sweeteners like Xylitol, cause a spike in my blood sugar so I just don’t bother with them
  • I stick to drinking water, and unsweetened black coffee. I have started drinking unsweetened black tea as well.
  • Intermittent fasting (IF) really helps as well. I stick to the 16:8 fast but I have learnt that fasting alone is not enough. Discipline is required in that 8 hr eating window. I have worked from home since lockdown started and found myself constantly “grazing”. I slowly gained 4 of the 6 kg’s I had lost in the first 3 months of following IF. Of course it wasn’t just the constant nibbling, it was also the lack of movement every day that caused the weight gain. I have a timer so that I ensure I don’t eat for 2,5hrs at a time for now. I plan on getting myself to two meals a day before year end.
  • My blood sugar readings also appear to be affected by my weight. When I lose weight, I have lower readings. When I gain weight then my average reading rises as well. It seems to take as little as a 2-3kg change in weight to make a difference. Clearly it is in my best interest to keep the number on the scale moving in a downward direction.

The Power of Exercise

I am not exercise’s greatest fan but I have finally accepted it’s importance in maintaining good overall health and in keeping my blood sugar levels within a normal range. Diabetes is known to take a toll on one’s heart so it is important to maintain good heart health and that is where exercise comes in. Since self-discipline is not my strength when it comes to this topic, I have signed up with a personal trainer to make exercise a habit in my life. I have to admit that after 2 weeks, I look forward to our sessions and feel fantastic after them. My circulation has clearly improved and I appear less prone to retaining water. My average blood sugar reading has also lowered over the last 2 weeks so this was clearly a great decision on my part. 😜

Stress Management

I was blown away when I saw the difference stress makes to my readings. I immediately know when I have underlying stress. It’s right there in my blood sugar readings. It is actually quite scary how much stress affects my body. On the flip side, I have also noticed how spending time with certain people in my life results in lower levels regardless of what I eat when I am with them. These people are good for my body, mind and soul. It’s important to never underestimate the damage stress can do so I try to keep my stress levels as low as possible. Some of the techniques I use to de-stress are:

  • Dancing at the end of the day to my favourite music. It as has the added benefit of getting the circulation going burning off excess sugar in my blood.
  • Reading. I can happily spend an entire weekend reading.
  • Focusing on a conversation with my son or cooking/baking with him. It requires me to live in the moment. It is an amazing feeling and I love doing it (When he allows me to)
  • Connecting with friends, although, it is mostly via whatsapp these days
  • Meditating every morning for 10 minutes. I am so thrilled that I have kept this up for over a month now. I am well on my way to making this a habit! (Whoop whoop)
  • Saying my morning mantras in the shower. I say mantras to keep myself aligned with my purpose. It is so calming to say these at the start of the day
  • My morning prayer. I find it so peaceful to start the day giving thanks for what is and what will be and just handing the day over to God.
  • Journal writing. I love writing. I have a normal journal as well as a special gratitude journal. The one thing I have noticed is that when I am consistent about writing in my gratitude journal, I get wonderful surprises ever so often. How cool is that!
  • A candle-lit bubble bath, especially on a exercise day. I also use this as my visualisation time.

I don’t view diabetes as a life long disease. I choose to view it as something that can be overcome and that is what I plan on doing. My first milestone is to start 2021 free of meds.😁 It is to be respected at all times though or it will do some serious damage. If you have been diagnosed with it and don’t take it seriously, then I invite you to reconsider this choice, to start monitoring what causes your spikes and to work around them. You have everything to gain from doing so. If you are prediabetic do what ever you can to turn that diagnosis around.

I wish you all the success in keeping a diabetes diagnosis under control. It can be done. 😉

Intermittent fasting: 3 weeks in

It’s almost 3 weeks since I started Intermittent Fasting. It’s been an interesting ride this far and I am still going strong. A change in routine last week and a change in weather this week appear to have brought their challenges though.

Last Thursday marked the end of my leave and the beginning of yet another year. Let me just say, it might as well have been a year ago because that’s the way it feels after one week! Mentally I was ready for this or so I thought. I had my 3 words that are to help me shape this year and, well, I walked in the door and immediately got sucked into the usual daily dramas. I was so exhausted at the end of the day but I was thrilled that I stuck to my fasting times and managed to resist the desire to snack as I normally would in the afternoons. My focus now is to ensure that any carbs I consume are low GI and I am quickly learning that some of the foods that I consumed daily do not have the desired effect on my blood sugar especially the “low gi” bread at the sandwich bar at work. So today I took my own lunch. I was so proud of myself but then I snacked on a packet of Lays. 😔 Let me say though that I absolutely enjoyed those chips and somehow my blood sugar was normal afterwards so I refuse to feel guilty about it.

This week has also been cooler. Usually I will eat more on cooler days because I do feel hungry more often so this week has been a challenge on that front. I find that I am hungry by 10am and 12pm just cannot come fast enough. I don’t want to drink too much coffee and have reduced my water consumption a bit because I hate running up and down to the toilet. Today I felt like I was absolutely starving! The plus side was that those first few mouthfuls of lunch were absolutely divine. It was a reminder of how mindlessly I eat all the time. I am really hoping that my body settles into this routine by next week. The hunger pangs can be quite distracting. Today I even heard my tummy growling 🤣. I have lost 1.5kg in total so the going is slow but it’s definitely going in the right direction so I have no regrets. The inflammation comes and goes depending on the types of carbs I eat.

This week also saw me join a new team part time for a few months. I get to spend more time on the things I am really passionate about and it has been so energising in the moment. Of course, being the introvert that I am, I am completely drained when I get home but it I feel good anyway and that’s all I can ask for.

I also received all my study material for this semester on Monday. Oh My Hat! These are the last four subjects that I need to complete to earn my BA degree in psychology and anthropology but boy oh boy, what a combination of subjects that I left for last🤦🏽‍♀️. So…on top of juggling single motherhood, womanhood, my day job and making an impact in this new team, focusing on my health (and I have a career goal as well), I know also have to add these 4 interesting but time consuming subjects to the mix. I am usually a very lazy student and only do the assignments on the day they are due and “study” for exams the night before. There is no way I will get away with that this semester. My assignments are due on the same day for at least 2 subjects and all my exams are set in the same week. 😭 I will fly through it all I’m sure though. It’s the only way I roll.

Well that’s it from me for now. Hope you have a great start to the year thus far! It’s Chinese New Year on the 25th in case you feel need to start over. To my fellow Rats, this is our destiny year on the Chinese calendar! My Chinese colleague tells me that we should wear red underwear this year to enhance our luck! I don’t know about you but I will be taking advantage of any the Valentine’s sales to boost my red underwear collection for the coming year.😜😁 To my Chinese readers…Happy New Year!

Image: Freepik.com

Enjoy the rest of your week! Please like and/or share if you enjoyed my post.

Intermittent fasting – Day 7

Day 7 of my new reality. Let me tell you, it’s a not a bad reality by any means. While I had no doubt that I was going to make this work when I started on Monday, I didn’t expect it to feel so easy and so natural. I really didn’t expect to enjoy it so much either. I have also learnt a bit thus far.

Eating all the time is stressful

Do you realise how much time you spend thinking of food when you are eating all the time? Mornings are a breeze because I only break my fast after 11am. Then I generally eat again between 5 and 6 pm and that is it. What a pleasure! Essentially I fast for a minimum of 16hrs and a max of 18. In between I drink ice water or black coffee. I am so thrilled that my response when asked “how do you take your coffee?” is now: “Black. No sugar.” Makes me feel hard core and like I am in a movie! Hahaha! I used to snack a lot in the afternoons and I do still get the urge. Water and coffee are my go to’s when the urge strikes. I think that if I wasn’t allowed coffee, I would never have coped. It’s my drug of choice, my crutch, my friend. It keeps me sane. Back when I was still a stick figure, I used to happily live on coffee and toast for most of the day and then have a decent meal for supper. So yes, at least I still get to drink coffee.

Photo by Nese Dolan on Pexels.com

I feel great (mostly)!

My head feels very clear. I haven’t reduced the carbs at each meal as much as I had planned as yet but perhaps, since I am taking in less overall over the course of the day, it has an impact. I wonder if, now that my body is spending less energy digesting food, there is more for my brain to use? I have also being doing better than normal on my scrabble games. (Yay!) It could also just be that I am rested since I am still on leave. Who knows. Time will tell I guess. I have been crabby though and this is not usually a crabby week for me from a hormonal perspective. (I have very distinct periods in my cycle where I am grouchy AF so I try to stay in my corner on those days). I am really hoping this is just a minor adjustment period I am going through.

I see a reduction in inflammation

My face is often quite puffy and it drives me insane. I had noticed a while ago that it is related to the amount of carbs I eat. Clearly just the reduction from removing a meal is enough to make a visible difference to the puffiness. This thrills me to no end. 😁 I also see an 800g loss on the scale which I am very happy with so so far so good! (doing the dance of joy…whoop whoop) Even my blood sugar levels are looking pretty decent over the course of the day. I think once I am fully low carb than the readings will be pretty steady all the time. 🤞

All in all this new reality has been a pleasant surprise. This is great because it means it will be that much easier to stick to. As I mentioned in a previous post, back in the day I ate to live and I did not live to eat and it feels good to go back to living that way. It feels right for me. I would definitely recommend giving it a chance if your doc says it’s ok for you to try. My bestie is also doing it so now I have 2 buddies to keep me motivated.

Let me know if you got a chance to read the book and if you have started intermittent fasting as well and you are finding it. Thanks for reading.