Although it’s an easy scapegoat, I can not really quarantine my complicated relationship with food. Since my teens, I’ve actually been toggling between a low-carb lifestyle, scoring points with Weight Watchers, or generally just trying to watch what I eat to varying degrees of success. When my doctor diagnosed me for six months in the pandemic with type 2 diabetes, there was a lot of internal fat scanning in my head.
Even considering it was a genetic condition in which several members of my family were diagnosed, it still felt like something I had caused by not caring for me properly. The truth is, after years of dieting by cutting out certain foods and then falling off the wagon, I forgot somewhere how to create a proper meal. Are you ready for the turn? My doctor recommended that I go on a ketogenic diet to lose weight and lower my glucose levels and A1C.
On the same day as my diagnosis, a friend connected me to her sister Lauren Dorman, who (fortunately for me) is a dietitian certified to work with diabetic patients. In my first session with Lauren, it became very clear how lost I was and how I would go down that familiar wrong path again. It gave me a loop when my dietitian gave me the opposite advice as the doctor who diagnosed me: cutting out carbs would be a quick fix to a much bigger problem, but what I really needed has, was a course to eat.
Here’s what I learned.
It sat heavy on me and tried to listen to my doctor or my dietitian. The medical doctor seemed to be intent on losing weight as quickly as possible, while Lauren presented me with a wealth of evidence (in the form of research-supported articles on diabetes and data from health organizations) that outlined the virtues of carbohydrates in to keep the mixture. .
What it boils down to was this: despite the years in which I learned the following fad diets, carbohydrates and sugar are not harmful to my health, not even on my quest to stop my diabetes. The right amount of carbohydrates is needed for my body to function normally and, yes, even lose weight. The key to making this work work is controlling portions and trial and error. My doctor supported this decision when she saw that my glucose levels were under control after I incorporated the right amount of carbohydrates into my meals. When I was first diagnosed, and in the days that followed, I rose above 200 after meals. With the following adjustments to my diet (and a prescription from Metformin), I am usually between 110 and 120. Less than 100 mg / DL in the morning after fasting is considered normal.
The basic idea of portion control seems simple enough: Limit how much food you put on your plate. It’s a bit embarrassing to think about how much it eluded me. Because I have relied heavily on picking up most of my adult life, I considered one appetizer as one serving. When I would order something like chicken marsala, I never thought that three chicken breasts were more than one serving. I have always been cleaning my plate and rarely had a fridge full of leftovers.
Meals I have prepared do not differ much. A bowl of cereal for breakfast was not determined by looking at the label that a single serving entails; i just grab a bowl and fill it without thinking about the size of the bowl and sometimes throw me half a box without realizing it. Looking at the nutrition label was a surprising new concept for me: Did you know that the bags of small rice are four servings per bag? It was completely new information to me. I was so used to looking at food from the diet perspective of “can eat” or “can not eat” that it was never about how much I could have.
I work with my dietitian and learn that it is not only the size of the portion, but that it also earns the best money. For example, my snacks should consume about 15 to 20 grams of carbohydrates. Technically, I could “spend” those carbs on one of my favorite sweets, Bubbies Hawaii Cookie Dough Ice Cream Bites (trust me, it’s delicious!), Or I could opt for something more substantial. That range of carbohydrates can go in many directions. I may crave my ice cream or toss a little cheese and charcuterie plate along, which will give me more protein and fiber while still falling into the right carb range. I still focus on single servings, but it’s like feeding a game of Tetris trying to fit the pieces together to create a balanced meal. It’s a minute ago that I had such freedom while trying to lose weight.
As for the trial and error part of this? After my diagnosis, I kept a nutrition diary for months that tracked everything I ate and my glucose levels after meals. It turns out that my Taco Tuesdays from now on should be celebrated without corn tortillas. My blood sugar numbers became bonkers after that meal! Nut butter is also a no-go. On the other hand, I now know that after dinner I have an apple for dessert, I tend to have a very good ‘fasting level’ when I wake up in the morning. If I want something more decadent than an apple, digging into one of my Sweet Nothings spoons of smoothies is in place without giving my glucose levels a dizzy.
The documentation of my food choices gave me insight and, more importantly, accountability. I stopped keeping the journal because I tend to eat very much the same and already know how most of the food I eat affects my body, but if I eat something extraordinary, I still keep the habit of taking note of what it does to my glucose levels.
It’s only been a few months since I got my diagnosis, and although I did not go so far as to say that it was a good thing, it gave me a lot of perspective. Once I stopped blaming myself and accepting that this was just one of my family’s traits being passed on generationally, the only thing to take over was to take action. My numbers are under control and my quest to stop this disease is well under way. After years of dieting and promising me to take my health seriously, it is no longer a choice. Living in quarantine may not have caused me bad food choices, but it forced me to confront it and learn again how to create a proper meal.
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