Planning between holidays to beat diabetes

’Twas the week after Thanks­giv­ing and all through the house the dec­o­ra­tions were hung and she couldn’t fit into her blouse. The stock­ings were hung and the lights turned on bright; she couldn’t believe all that she gob­bled down last night.

Aunt Ginny’s casse­role was gone long ago; she tried all the desserts because some­one said so. The pota­toes and rolls were ancient his­tory and why her blood sug­ars were high was just a mystery.

Well, if you found your­self in that short rhyme, you are not alone. Unmind­ful eat­ing over the hol­i­days is some­thing that takes many peo­ple by sur­prise when check­ing blood sug­ars or step­ping on the scale.

Here are some facts. A per­son with­out dia­betes or even pre­di­a­betes is able to han­dle fluc­tu­a­tions in the amount of sugar in the blood; please note that I said a per­son WITHOUT dia­betes. All of the body sys­tems func­tion on a del­i­cate bal­ance. Its like hav­ing a diges­tive sys­tem and pan­creas that sees 20/20 or has excel­lent hearing.

The fig­ures are clos­ing in on one in three peo­ple have a genetic trait and a cer­tain lifestyle that upsets that del­i­cate bal­ance between what is eaten and how the body uses the food or fluid. When that apple cart is wob­bling and turned on its side, all bets are off. The bal­ance is bro­ken and will need a lot of atten­tion to stay stable.

If some­one broke their leg, they would use crutches to get around. If they can’t see road signs or fine print, they need glasses. If they can’t hear well, they use hear­ing aids. With dia­betes cor­rect­ing that del­i­cate bal­ance between blood sugar and insulin in the body is not that simple.

Unmind­ful eat­ing can rock the apple cart and send blood sug­ars sky high. Not tak­ing cer­tain med­ica­tions at the cor­rect time and amount can cause those apples to shoot for the moon. The stress of the hol­i­days often tosses a per­son with dia­betes and their blood sug­ars into another universe.

If only that per­son real­ized that mov­ing their body with reg­u­lar exer­cise could keep the apple cart on a steady and sta­ble course. Just get­ting worked up and wor­ry­ing about extra pounds and ele­vated blood sug­ars can make the sit­u­a­tion worse.

Thanks­giv­ing is behind us. There are many fam­ily gath­er­ings ahead before the first of the new year. Friends and neigh­bors often show their love and appre­ci­a­tion with food and drinks. I am as guilty of this tra­di­tion as any­one else.

Now is the time for plan­ning and com­mit­ment. Between now and Jan­u­ary 1 plan to keep that del­i­cate bal­ance in check. With or with­out dia­betes plan to eat every 3 to 5 hours; a meal should not last for 3 to 5 hours. Stop swal­low­ing every­thing in sight. Make a con­scious effort to con­trol your intake with mind­ful eating.

She sprang to her scale, to her­self gave a shout, and that del­i­cate bal­ance was what she was excited about. But I heard her exclaim, ‘ere she checked on her sugar meter, “Happy Christ­mas to all, and dia­betes won’t beat her!”

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor and a reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Nov 28 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.