As a Fatter of Mact

 If you want to get just a little loopy; pop into your local retail grocery establishment that has a well-stocked “low carb”or “health food” section! Talk about ca-razy!
 

Went to my local super-market this morning and visited the “low carb”section. While not that large in comparison to the rest of the market, there was a surprising selection of items. I’d never been in this section of the market before today as there was never any real interest or need to.

 

There were sugar alternatives, flour alternatives, things I’d never seen before, brands I’d never heard of, cookies and sweets and all manner of things. Lots to see and learn. This is where reading the nutritional labels is vital for two reasons: 1) because there’s a wide range of products; each with some claim of using only the best ingredients and promoting some kind of health. -- and 2) because many of these items are several times the cost of the regular brands in the same category and you want to take the time to make sure you’re actually getting what you’re paying for in terms of the kinds of foods we have to eat as diabetics.

 

I love cookies. It’s a weakness, but there it is. I love the sandwich cookies with the creamy filling. To me, these are a little slice of heaven in my mouth. I make room for two cookies a day on my diet and unless I am dying of something that is a direct result of the cookies and have to give them up, I always will make room for two cookies a day.

 

I generally get the cheapest sandwich cookies available. You can get like 50 lemon cream cookies for about $1.99. Today however, I left the cheap ones on the shelf. My recent visit to the certified Dietician has somehow made me just a little more conscious of the foods I’m eating. Instead I picked up some higher priced cookies. The package contained fewer cookies and the ingredients were a little better. It took me about ten agonizing minutes to come to grips with the fact that I would be paying more money (about twice as much) and getting fewer cookies in the package (less than half as many), but the ingredients were just a little healthier. I kept going from one shelf to the other, reading the nutrition information and so on before finally placing the “healthier” cookies in my shopping cart and moving on. That was before I came to the “low carb” section of the market.

 

The “low carb” section had several cookie selections. The sandwich varieties claimed to have the best ingredients and so on. The packaging was upscale and so was the price. In the end, after another ten minutes of reading, I found the “low carb” cookies didn’t seem to be significantly better than the others already in my cart.

 

If you're going to make a visit to your own local “low carb” or “healthy” supermarket section, be prepared to spend time getting used to the products and reading labels. It takes time but having the nutritional facts can really pay off in buying foods that help you avoid the risk of getting fatter.

Why More People Diagnosed with Diabetes?

Diabetes is reaching epidemic levels in our society. Some of the underlying cause for Type2 Diabetes is probably tied to inactivity and obesity to be sure and certain, but I think this is really just an easy target.

In my mother and father’s day, and even when I was a child, we didn’t have video games or much television and so on. We walked a lot, spent more time outside doing things and so on. HOWEVER, as a child, and in my memories, my Grandfather, Grandmother never did any more physical exercise really than I have done in my life. They never went to a gym because there really weren’t any at that time. I never ever saw any of these people “sweating to the oldies” in any way, shape or form. They also did not have to chop wood to stay warm, carry water to the house nor really go outside to go to the bathroom. These pioneer activities had all been replaced by technology and improvements and were all being phased out.  They had automobiles and used them instead of walking whenever possible. My mother still just putts around all day doing things that she wants to do. She’s never done aerobics, nor anything like that and she’s 86 years old and Diabetes-free.

Kids are kids. What I mean is that when I was a kid, I ran around everywhere and played and jumped at school and at home. Kids today have gymnastics at school. They still go onto playgrounds and play for a period of time every day. They are not completely as active as we were when I was young. People don’t really invest in swing sets like they used to; but the kids do still run and jump.

So why are people getting more of this disease now?  Certainly we have more comfort. We do less and that’s a fact because there is less to do as far as putting around maintaining our homes. We don’t have to maintain everything all the time because we’ve developed solutions and longer lasting materials for our homes and automobiles so that we don’t really have to do that, but food has changed as well and I think that has something to do with this as well.

I continually hear things like “oh we’re all so lazy now.”  But I get to work every morning. I walk from the parking lot into the building. I then walk the entire length of the building to the cafeteria to get coffee and then back the entire length of the building to the elevators. I know that every single day I must walk at least a half a mile for sure. I put around on weekends and walk in the neighborhood. I am not doing any less than I’ve seen my parents and grandparents do for my entire lifetime and yet, I have Diabetes… 

Let me know what you think about why we’re seeing higher rates of Diabetes now.

Inescapable Diabetic Weakness and Tiredness

    This morning, I awoke and felt like maybe I should not have. I was extremely tired, weak and achy. I was more tired than I can ever remember being. I had a full night’s sleep and yet my body ached, my brain reeled with depression over this event and I just felt like I never felt before. I was tired in ways I could not have conceived months before this.

    I did an Internet search to look for “tiredness Diabetes” and got a lot of material to read. I read a number of interesting articles, watched some videos and thought about what I’m going to do when I can no longer work due to this disease. My job would be considered as a high stress job. If I am so tired and weak that I can’t think straight, then I’m not going to be effective or successful at my job.  So what options do I have? What are the right options for me? 

 Decided to do two things:

1)      Consult an attorney to determine what options I have to have myself declared “disabled”. That would allow me to get benefits which I’ve been paying into my entire life. I’m not sure what’s possible and will blog about this as things develop.

2)      Consult my doctor. I took three Ibuprofen tablets and felt somewhat better for about two hours. I know I can’t keep doing that every couple of hours for the rest of my life!  I’ll explore what the doctor has to offer and then blog about it as things develop.

If there is anyone out there with some advice about how to deal with this, I’d appreciate hearing from you. Just comment on this post. I’m pretty depressed about this because if I understand what is going on in my body, it can’t get energy out of the food I eat and so I feel tired because it is pulling energy from my muscles and fat stores. So… I almost wish I was fatter!? What happens when I run out of the accumulated energy in my body?  What does the body do then?  My head hurts.