Today I thought I would take a break from recounting my story at diabetes education class to tell you some of the mistakes I made. I'm not bragging, but if there is a mistake to be made, I'll make it. Possibly you will benefit from my mistakes, and not make them yourself.
Mistake #1:
I love food. All kinds of food. But I'm not a sweets kind of guy. Well, not really anyway. I couldn't tell you when I ate my last candy bar, but I'm a big fan of dessert. Cake, pie, cookies, ice cream, I love them all. Ok, maybe I am a sweets kind of guy. So I had to figure out a way around this carbohydrate thingy, because I really didn't want to give up dessert.
As we learned in my earlier post, "Continuing Education", you are permitted 225 grams of carbohydrates per day. HMMMM, 225 grams. How can I... EUREKA! As usual, if I think about a problem long enough, I can figure out a way around it. It all seemed very simple really. If I didn't eat any carbs for lunch, and I didn't eat any, carbs for my afternoon snack, I could save them up and have dessert after dinner! C'mon now. You have to admit it. That makes perfect sense, right? After all 225 grams is 225 grams.
WRONG! Although you can eat 225 grams of carbs per day, you CAN'T eat them all at once. This causes a spike in your blood sugar, and the goal is to keep your blood sugar at the appropriate levels, with the least amount of spikes possible. You need to eat carbs and protein together throughout the day to achieve this. Post dinner BG - 290. What a moron.
Mistake #2:
People who write instructional pamphlets or textbooks should bear in mind that there are people like me in the world. When I started my diabetes class, we were told that it was very important to check and record our blood sugar levels regularly. We were given a very nice sheet to fill in the results. The instructions were as follows: "In the space provided below, list all foods, drinks, portions sizes and exercise. Be sure to also record the time of each blood glucose (BG) reading and meal or snack." There were spots to fill in you BG levels for fist thing in the morning, two hrs. after breakfast, pre-lunch, two hours after lunch, pre-dinner, two hours after dinner, pre-exercise, post-exercise, and bedtime. That's nine blanks per day.
At the end of week one I had pricked my fingers 63 times. Over the top as usual. I had used up an entire month's worth of test strips in one week. No one explained to me they were looking for an overview of my BG during the week. You need to test at different times during the day. Today you might want to test first thing in the morning, after lunch, and at bedtime. Tomorrow you might want to test after breakfast, before dinner, and after exercise. But you do not, and I repeat - DO NOT have to test yourself 63 times a week.
Look - there were 63 blanks - what would you do? I had to type with a pencil the whole next week.
Mistake #3:
As we have discussed, carbohydrates are the enemy. As diabetics, we need to limit the amount of carbs we eat. Well, if some carbs are acceptable, no carbs must be better, right? Rather than ask, I decided to run my own experiment. Week three - no carbs.
Since I wasn't eating any carbs at all, my liver decided to help me out by dumping it's sugar reserves at night. Thoughtful little booger. My BG was actually higher when I didn't eat any carbs than when I ate the recommended allowances! Imagine that. These folks really do know what they are talking about. Don't deprive yourself. Everything in moderation.
I'm not trying to insinuate that you are as anal-retentive, over-the top, or hard headed as I am, but I hope that sharing these tips will keep you from making the same mistakes I made. And please don't get me wrong, this is just a sampling of the things I have done wrong so far. I'll keep you posted...
Have you made any mistakes in treating your diabetes? Let me know. God knows I need all the help I can get!
