That’s a key part. We deal with a T2. Lots of good advice that others have posted. The dietician told us (in the mandatory classes shortly after diagnosis) that it’s not total avoidance of all carbs and sugars, but more of a budgeting. You can still have a SMALL amount of something to enjoy the taste, just be smart about how much. And how many times you do that each day. It’s not like you are allergic to carbs.
But, different strokes for different folks. Early on, she needs to understand how her body responds to carbs, and whether she has to be very strict on avoiding them or not. Some people need to be able to have wee tastes of the fun things (within their guidelines) to keep following their diet. Others like to just do almost total avoidance to keep it simple and safe.
But I’m sick to death of protein, and vegetables are bunny food. All those foods you gave up, friend, that was what brought happiness!
Diets like those are only not diets if you like that kind of food. If I had a choice of a 20 oz porterhouse or a Hawaiian roll, the roll wins e.ver.y.time!
I told my DMom, when you’d rather eat the Styrofoam than the chicken breast that sat on it, you know it’s bad. I now know what is meant by eat to live. I hate mealtime, and snacking is worse. But as I said before, what I have to do to be there for the Hoods!
I can relate to the needle phobia. When I was first diagnosed I was so scared to give myself a shot in the stomach my daughter did it for me for a week. Putting a needle into a piece of fruit is much difference than sticking a needle in your own stomach (my endocrinologist training). It does become second nature after a while.I now think the adjusting to the eating is much harder. I completely understand where your friend is coming from when it come to the Disney trip. Taking small steps together on this trip will go long way to her adjusting. I hope you have magical and healthy vacation!!
Me too as I am a type 2 Diabetic. insulin is sometimes prescribed as a first solution and it can be so depending on ones weight. If that is indeed what she needs then I guess it’s insulin. Drug such as this plus the many drugs advertised on TV are highly expensive so make sure that there is no better way to control your blood sugar before going this route.
Yes one can have a taste here and there realizing that these items are the ones that will bring their blood sugar up. Now having your blood sugar up depending on how high were talking can be OK. The problems with tastes I find is that a taste leads to more and more and makes it hard to stay on a life style. They were talking insulin here not metformin, which tells me her blood sugar stays quite high and must be regulated with insulin. A type 1 diabetic doesn’t product insulin so it has to come from somewhere to regulate the sugar usage in the blood. A type 2 diabetic has plenty of insulin made but the body can’t use it because the blood stream has too much sugar and can’t enter the cells for use. If one can then control the amount of sugar in your blood keeping your carbs way down for this is what simple sugar is and most comes from starches. Of coarse always do what your doctor advises but find out what is the least invasive way to do such.
When you have diabetes, the choice is NO longer yours. I am no different than you, as I love all those things and more. Now here’s the deal. You stay with high blood sugar you will have very little energy because that sugar cannot get in to your cells that need it. You get an infection, it will take twice as long to heal and you will start developing nerve pain here and their. After a while you will destroy those nerves and with them the blood supply going to different parts of your body. First generally is your feet and as they lose their blood supply they turn black and must be removed. This will continues to other parts of your body until you die. You may think I am joking here but I am not. a number of friends have died just this way. All is not lost however. Take steps now to prevent high blood sugar and control your diet and you can live a long and happy life. The choice is yours. Eat what you love and start losing parts and energy. Eventually you will die from diabetes if you don’t control it. I live with it and have made these changes and I don’t like it anymore than you but I already feel the difference and so does my doctor. BTW My A1c got as high as 9.7. I have changed my lifestyle and my last A1c is now 5.3 which is normal blood sugar and not even prediabetic. Does that mean I am no long diabetic. Hardly. I will be a diabetic the rest of my life and I intend to keep all my parts as long as I can. How about you?
OK, first, please, relax. I’m not advocating for not following the advice of a physician. You said “I love meats and seafoods of all types as well a vegetables.” I was just saying it’s harder if a person does not enjoy eating those things.
Secondly, I know oh so well that my choices are now (1) eat protein and vegetables only, or (2) die. I have avoided every yummy thing for six months, because my beloved Hoodlums are much more important to me than food!
Finally, since you asked, my A1C was 12.something on March 25 (when I was diagnosed). As of September 10, it is 5.0. With my doc’s blessing, I have just this week started to add miniscule amounts of carb into one meal each day.
I’m healthier than I’ve been in decades. But I miss eating with my family, eating at the parks, eating with friends. Aw heck, I just miss food. But we’re off the post topic, and my only suggestion was that new T2Ds might be “inexplicably” grumpy or sad at WDW, and to be prepared for that possibility. I could be wrong, too.
Good for you. A1c of 5 is greatttt! My wife is so sick of always eating at Chinese restaurants and Pizza Ranch where no I don’t eat pizza or at least don’t eat the crust, but do eat salad and fried chicken. I guess my point at WDW is you can eat a lot of items there and not feel left out from family and friends. Good luck in the future and it does indeed look bright for you as you have accomplished so much already.
Humans beings vary widely w.r.t what is easier to deal with between ‘total abstinence’ and ‘well thought moderation’.
Imagine (hypothetically) having a health condition in which you can’t eat chocolate. The most you can healthily eat is one small piece per month. For some people, that small piece is something they will look forward to and it is what will make them able to stick with not eating chocolate. For other people, it is much much easier to just never eat chocolate than stop eating after that small monthly piece.
For people in one camp it can be hard to understand that for different people the other way can be actually easier to maintain.
Diabetes is a condition in which people have to figure out what is easier for them to stick with, and as a friend you can help by understanding what works for her.
I have rarely seen “trigger foods” so well illustrated. Beautiful comparison! I’m in the “never again” camp for the purposes of survival, but it surely makes for a miserable lifestyle. I want my sugar free Mickey bars and carbless pretzels!
Apologies to the OP. We’re way off topic. But I enjoyed the discussion!
It is a bit old-school, and inaccurate to suggest carbs are the trouble with Type 2 diabetes. The trouble is insulin resistance, which makes it difficult for your body to process/digest carbs for energy.
So the recommendation to reduce carb intake is not really solving the problem, but avoiding it. If you eat fewer carbs, then there is less insulin needed overall for the resistance to impact. But eating fewer carbs doesn’t really help reduce insulin resistance.
That isn’t to say we all shouldn’t limit our refined carb/sugar instake. But for a Type 2 diabetic, one of the MORE important factors is watching your FAT intake. And specifically, certain TYPES of fats, not all fats. Some fats play no role in insulin resistance. Unhealthy fats do. Healthy fats (particularly mono-/poly-unsaturated) can actually be beneficial.
Putting someone on insulin if they are diagnosed with type 2 is probably not the best FIRST solution. Why? because all it does is artificially increase insulin levels to accommodate the carbs you’re eating without doing anything to address the resistance that is ACTUALLY the problem. In fact, putting someone on insulin who hasn’t first adjust activity levels and fat type intake (in addition to reducing REFINED sugars/carbs) means you could be making the insulin resistance worse over time, not better.
Sorry. Still trying to type without my pinky here, so I will cut it short there. Lots more that could be said on this.
I don’t mean to be rude here, but you are wrong when it comes to carbs in a type 2 diabetic. Fats have little effect on your blood sugar but carbs do. I know the sayings about fats but that has to do with colestrol. Dr. Akins, who was a cardiologist proved that high fat does not even do that on a low carb diet. That aside you are right when talking about what type 2 diabetes does. You are not low on insulin but insulin resistant. Here’s the way to prove it. If someone you know is diabetic and tests their blood sugar, ask to use their test equipment to check you blood sugar. Eat a lot of carbs then take the test. Eat a lot of fat with very few carbs and take the test. You will find that your blood sugar is higher when eating carbs rather than fats. Obviously if your system is working normally, the variation will be much less than a diabetic because your body is producing insulin and being able to use it normally without resistance.
I also want to apologise for going off subject here but it does have to do with eating at WDW. Because I am diabetic and because of the importance of understanding what a type 2 diabetic is in order to know what you can and cannot eat a WDW I have posted a little more often than I probably should have on the subject. Sorry. Enough said. JCD
But the cause of type 2 is insulin resistance. Eating carbs should trigger production of insulin, which is then used by the body to convert carbs to energy. But carbs do not cause insulin resistance. (Or, probably better said, are not the primary cause.)
Certain fats DO cause insulin resistance. You can eat a ton of fat and not have your BGLs go up. But if you eat a lot of high fat foods and eat the same amount of carbs, you’ll find it takes much longer and much more insulin to bring down the BGLs.
ETA: Trying to not go into all the details about this because of difficulty typing, BTW, so there are nuances.
I will not argue with you on this subject. I gave you a way to check out your facts. I am a type 2 diabetic and have been for quite some time. I live the life. You haven’t stated that you are type 2 diabetic so I am thinking that you have gotten your information elsewhere. Enough said on the subject from my end. Right or wrong it’s been an interesting discussion and you have brought up some good points. Thanks .
I’m type 1 diabetic since nine, have type 2 family members whom I’ve helped, and my wife had gestational diabetes. I’ve studied the topic ad nauseum and even had many email exchanges with my former endocrinologist on the topic as new research comes to light. I’m constantly looking at the latest research on diabetes, both type 1 and type 2.
Now going completely OT. Did your wife’s GD go away immediately after giving birth? I am 3 weeks postpartum with baby #5. First time with GD that I was able to control well with good meals and exercise. But now my sugars seem a bit high 2 hours after a high carb meal and dessert (friends have been bringing us meals). Close to 160 a couple times. Just curious what others have experienced! I am normal weight (140), age 39 and exercise constantly, although my dad is/was T2.
, LOL 
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