Diabetics Can Still Have Treats, but You Must Account for Them

Dear Diary,
Sometimes it gets really hard when you're diabetic and your spouse isn't. I can only imagine how hard this would be if I was the only household member suffering from diabetes in a large family.

It all started out innocent enough, a trip to Walmart to pick up a digital bathroom scale and to replenish our supply of fruits and vegetables. A stroll down the produce isle was about all we needed because in one week of dieting we have discovered that a gallon of milk lasts forever now, and our freezer full of meat could carry us through 2-3 natural disasters with ease.

Damn those scientific store layout specialist. There's no way to get to the checkout without going through the bakery section.

My wife has been supportive of my efforts, but she isn't diabetic. Sure she could easily stand to lose the same 50lbs I'm working on, but it isn't an immediate matter of good health. She is happily reducing her intake, and following the same restraint I must follow during meal time. Sadly she is as addicted to junk food as I am, and to some degree she is more addicted.

While I look at this whole "lose weight or die" situation as a challenge, and I tend to be rather competitive, she looks at restricting her sweet tooth as a punishment.

At least she is trying. We went down the isle, turning every tasty looking cake or pastry treat upside down to read the nutritional label. Pecan pie, 520 calories for a narrow sliver, just put the pie down and walk away. We did settle on a container of a dozen donut holes. She likes plain or powder sugar coated, I was drawn to the cinnamon coated.

Of course the container made it home empty, and I was feeling a bit guilty until I headed for my computer to enter the damage into my nutritional tracker program. Surprise, my daily calorie total wasn't set back that bad. Sure I had to cut back a little for supper, but by having a nice red leaf lettuce salad with a can of kipper snacks for lunch I still had plenty of calories available for the rest of the day.

The key to keeping on track when the urge to wander is overpowering is to be absolutely truthful with yourself. Document as accurately as possible what you ate. Account for those extra empty calories so you can see in print how they affected your daily totals.

It helps to relieve the guilt, and you will see that an occasional treat is ok, you just have to adjust for the rest of the day.

Todays Status:

Morning B/G 85 (See the donut holes didn't mess up things)
Weight 238.2 (yes, the new scale actually does break it down to 10ths of a lb)
Blood Pressure 128/75
Walking 3/4 mile (I stepped it up a little)