I am a 45 year veteran of type 1. Even after all this time I still have trouble with the food choices I make, including binging and "closet" eating. I pay the price by feeling crummy and at age 60 I am really frightened by what I am doing to my body. Can any one relate? There is more to control than hitting the bolus button the correct number of times! I need a friend who can relate.
Hi Barbara.....I make horrible food choices.....and often snack without checking my blood sugar or taking an injection to cover what I am eating....then I feel like crap.....I don't know why I do this.....I am 35 and have had type 1 for 25 years. I didn't really care as a teen what I ate....didn't really take care of myself...now I have a wonderful husband and two stepdaughters and I still cannot break my bad habits. I eat my stress......I am a teacher and I often bring my stress from teaching home.....Have you found anything that helps to break the habit? I hate exercise......but I really need to get control of myself! I have no will power either. Am I relating to what you are going through???
Hi, Angela. It's nice to meet you. `This is my first conversation on Juvenation and I am happy that someone answered. It sounds like you know exactly what I am talking about! The biggest mystery for me is that even when I make a plan, i.e. 1,500 calories, 17 weight watcher points, zero snacks, or whatever, when I get a craving it all goes out the window! I try to plan to wait out the craving, come back in 5 minutes, etc.but that doesn't work either. I see, I want, I eat. I am on the pump so I can easily, maybe too easily, just push a button to compensate. Sometimes I think I would be better off if I had to go to more trouble to cover my indulgences. My weight is creeping up and I am miserable when I look in the mirror or try on clothes. I went to a psychologist once. She was nice and had a teenage son who is type 1. I thought that would be great, but she told me I need a long term commitment ($$) and that we would have to start exploring my childhood and my relationship with my long-gone mother! It felt like a life long commitment and I did not go back. But today is Monday and I am again trying for a fresh start. I am off from work today (I am a banker) and I will try to get the motivation pumped up. Getting your message is a good start! Maybe together we will make some progress!
PS: I live in South Florida. 1 husband, one parrot, no kids.
HI Barbara.....just wondering how you are doing with your food choices??? I have been trying to stick to a weight watchers type thing...just trying to control my portions...when I want a snack, I try to go for some raw veggies or fruit.......some days are really hard still. I haven't seen you on lately.....just wondering how you are doing! :D
It is so comforting to hear someone else admit to "closet" eating. I have admitted more times than I can count that if I only ate every meal at work or church, and kept no food at home, I would eat better. There are times when I really wonder if I can ever change.
Are you just hungry all the time??? I swear I eat little snacks here and there and I am still hungry at supper time. Then after supper about an hour later, I am hungry again...what is that? I do better during the school year....when I am home over the summer I can't stay out of the pantry!!! I hate it!
I think i found some people i can totally relate to! Im new to this forum but i eat all the time and always feel hungry. I have been out of control with my t1 for a while now and i know that my food choices need to change but its so hard!! Maybe we can help each other with motivation for eating better?
In our defense, I've heard having t1 can increase your hunger, causing you to eat more. At least, that's the excuse I'm using. (:
I always had a hard time sticking to a diet or complying with anything a dietician suggested. Then I find out I have a family history of gluten allergies and othe food issues. So all that stuff I didn't like to eat because it made me feel bad even though it was healthy? Well I shouldn't have been eating it anyway.
Now I'm not advocating you scrap your diet or throw caution to the wind, just that you need to try and listen to what your body is telling you. If I feel awful after eating something, I choose not to eat that any more. No matter how good it tasted or made me feel at the time, the aftermath just isn't worth it.
If you're craving something, check your blood sugar. I didn't know until recently that high blood sugars can make you feel crazy hungry, because your cells are starving without insulin to make that blood sugar available to them. If your blood sugar is fine, then try a little of whatever it is you crave. Just one taste or one serving and bolus for it. Don't feel guilty about it; you're a human being not a lab rat. The binge/guilt thing is a vicious cycle which you really have to purposely try to break.
I do not stick to a strict diet, but I do count carbs and i do try to avoid foods that make blood sugar control difficult, like ramen noodles and pizza. I am married into a Chinese family, so I can't give up Chinese food anytime soon. I occasionally enjoy some ice cream or a candy bar, but I always bolus for it and remind myself that I could be eating something better for me, but this is one indulgence I can allow myself now and then.
Hope this helps. Oh and I'm 33 and I've been diabetic for twenty-eight years last February and I have a healthy happy little two-year old girl who has no problem helping me eat my meals and snacks and burn off calories chasing her around.
Good luck with getting back on track.
-Tamara
Good points Tamara. Since I first wrote, I had dental/gum surgery which forced me onto a soft bland diet for about a month. I have used the opportunity to change some bad habits and hope to maintain some good habits I was forced to adapt to. Good luck and I hope to chat with you again!
I can definitely relate to that. I didn't look after my diabetes for years and am scared what I might have done to my body. Part of it was rebellion. Part was ignorance - I was never told how to adjust my insulin or count carbs. I was told to take standard insulin doses and adjust my food intake to match. I got myself onto an education course after more than a decade of diabetes, which helped. At the moment I am struggling by, not as bad as before but not as good as when I had just done the course. My eating is far from ideal and I don't exercise. I am still rebelling against this and it doesn't help that most doctors treat me like a child, either patronising or scolding me.
Sounds like you are on the right track, Lizzie. Keep up the trend and remember that it is all up to YOU, not the docs.
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I have been struggling with my eating for years. Last fall I started seeing a dietitian and signed up with a trainer at the YMCA. I lost around 15 pounds but then the holidays came and I "fell off the wagon" but also injured myself so I stopped going to the Y. Now I have gained almost all the weight back :( I told the dietitian and my doctor that I felt I had a food addiction but they said if I really tried I could do it...now I am looking for a new doctor and hope to get some counceling. I know my biggest problem is portion control...when I was dieting I was using a scale and weighing almost everything I ate but by the time I weighed everything my family was done eating and had left the table so I ate by myself. I also hate exercising when it is hot & humid! It has been so bad lately. I was getting up early and walking my dogs then going into work and walking with some co-workers. I hope to start again when it cools down some.
Hi Diane
Have you explained to your family why you are doing this? If they won't wait for you before they start eating, can you get your food weighed earlier, while they do the table setting etc, so you all start at the same time? Or what if you weigh all the portions not just your own so they all have to wait?
I know what you mean about counselling, I am also unable to get it.