Diet (carb) compliance and the diabetics you know IRL (in real life; a.k.a. not just online)
I am consistently impressed with the efforts made by the TuD community as a whole in terms of taking this beast seriously and working hard to maintain control of their health. There is no question that it is hard even for the most compliant of us.
However...!
When I look at the diabetics I know at work, family, school, and everywhere I go in the "real world" I find that I am an island of control in a sea of folks significantly out of control. I am amazed that many of those people know the details well. They know the underlying metabolic functions and what can be done to address them. They know the complications and the statistics. Yet they persist in having 5 slices of pizza, or saying "I'll have the diet soda, but I can't give up my evening ice cream or my pasta for lunch."
There is a broad spectrum of control of course. Not everyone is going to be in the "5" or even the "6" club (referring to groups on TuD based on A1c #s), but everyone here is here because they care and are trying. I seem to keep finding a lack of that effort and dedication in the people I know and meet and that freaks me out a bit. How do you not take this beast seriously.
So my question to you all (finally!) is: do you know/meet people in the real world that take their diabetes seriously and work hard at controlling it, or do you find those people few and far between?
I do not in any way mean to come off condescending on this issue. Getting my own diet and bg under control has been a monumental task (and remains a day to day challenge). I am simply astounded by the situations I keep finding people in and am sincerely concerned by it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on -
Speaking of 3.2 beer, a journalist interviewed F. Scott Fitzgerald in an Asheville, NC hotel room and, after Scott passed out, noted he'd put away 43 cans of 3.2 beer.
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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on -
Where there's a will there's a way, 43 is a rather impressive total.
In my younger days I decided to try making home made beer. I figured I might as well boost the alcohol content, I think I made it 8% or better. I had several buddies, who were dedicated beer drinkers, and they just couldn't wait to taste my new product. The day arrived when I deemed it ready to drink. It was a Saturday and unexpectedly I had to work. Early in the day my wife calls and says my buddies had showed up and wanted to "taste" my beer. I told her go ahead and let them have some. I arrived home later that afternoon to be greeted by a very frazzled wife. My buddies had poured down my high test beer like it was the regular beer they were used to. They were soon rip roaring drunk and the afternoon went down hill from there. I decided I would call my new brand "Thrill Seekers" there would be a picture of a biplane flying into a mountain on the label. Upon further reflection I decided to make all further batches standard strength:)
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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on -
Truth in advertising!
My chubby chocoholic/sugarholic plane probably couldn't take off no matter how long the runway, but if it did take off I guarantee I would fly it into a mountain, no question. It's what I do when I'm "sugar fueled": get weirdly high and then crash and burn.
I'm with you 100%, BadMoonT2 -- staying away from sugar altogether is the only way that I can manage my cravings. I can't speak for others, but that's what I have to do. After I decide to go cold-turkey, I suffer through three to five days of "detox" and then I have to stay clear of it or the nearly uncontrollable rocket-ride of cravings come right back.
To borrow a saying from alcoholics: one is too many and a thousand are not enough. That's how I am with all simple carbs, but especially sugar.
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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on
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The analogy with alcholism may be a useful one. Most people can stop at one drink and there are many who can stop at say a single bite of cake. I wonder if carb addiction is often associated with insulin resistance? I'm sure it's never been studied, in fact I doubt science even recognizes such a thing as carb addiction.
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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on
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I've been telling doctors for decades, but only one or two have even listened to me: "My body isn't hungry, my BRAIN is hungry." If it's not an actual addiction (like cocaine or alcohol) it mimics it very well. I have had the exact same feelings when addicted to tobacco, and the addiction follows a very similar trajectory when I quit smoking: feeling awful for a few days, craving it more or less relentlessly for a few weeks, eventually getting clear of it, but going RIGHT back to my previous level of addiction if I dare to indulge even a little bit. Some people can smoke two cigarettes per month, take them or leave them. If I started smoking again today I'd be right back up to three pack per day within a week.
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Permalink Reply by Zoe on -
Very interesting post, Bad Moon. My own personal belief is that carb addiction and more specifically sugar addiction is not as universal as it appears. I think that there is definitely a cultural component to the way Americans eat in the 21st century and that is a pretty strong determinant. But given motivation, I do believe most people can cut down/cut back. On this board alone there are people who have limited their carbs to very varied extent, from just quitting sugar, to picking healthier whole grain choices, to various reductions of carb intake.
I myself, as I've mentioned on here was a sugar addict, an addiction I believe to be stronger than just carbs in general (though that's strong too!). Like most addictions, my own was physiological, psychological, emotional and spiritual (if you believe that sort of thing). For me, I would watch people who ate one small disciplined piece of candy or cake and decided they were another species from me! I could not cut down and it took me several false starts to cut out. It's been 17 years now and I don't crave sugar at all. I never had a problem with carbs in general, and though I ate pretty high carb as a vegetarian, I have cut some things, eliminated others without much problem.Could I now, after 17 years, eat one piece of cake and not have cravings? I don't know, but I don't plan on testing that theory.
But for many people who don't have the physiological component of sugar or carb addiction, they can limit it. That's just my opinion and my experience with working with others with addictions and seeing others make food changes.
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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on
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I crave potato chips.
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Permalink Reply by earthling on -
Me too. My husband got me into it. We are low carbing just now. Every evening we look at each other and say, "Potato Chips." Sigh.
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Permalink Reply by drsoosie on -
Would Kale chips work as a substitute for you guys? They crunch and are salty and taste good...not like Ruffles but....
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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on
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I would eat them but I've found it doesn't exactly remove the potato chip fantasies from my head
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Permalink Reply by drsoosie on
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That's funny...and I have to agree...potato chips rock. Those and the ooey gooey frosting on a cake and red vines are the things I miss most!
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