Know Thyself

By Scott Coulter Explaining diabetes to other people is tricky sometimes. It's a complicated thing to manage, and for those who don't live with diabetes day-to-day, it's easy to oversimplify. So many times at dinner parties, gatherings, or other festivities someone might catch me having some dessert and inform me that, "you shouldn't be eating that, you're diabetic!" I usually take that opportunity to explain insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios, how sugar can be part of that ratio as long as it's not the majority, and other facets of the disease. If nothing else, they walk away a little more informed, and it's one less person who will worry the next time they see me with a piece of pie next Thanksgiving. The point is, diabetes is not a simple, concrete, "A plus B equals C" kind of thing. I was thinking about this a little more in depth the other day. You see, last night I had Mexican food. Mexican food ALWAYS requires a slightly higher carbohydrate ratio than other foods containing equivalent carbohydrate counts. My body has always been this way with Mexican food — maybe it's the sodium. But regardless of the reason, it's one of those little "quirks" of my system that I have always had to be aware of. And there are others. I know that after certain meals, a bit of dessert will work just fine — my numbers won't spike, and everything will run smoothly. But other times, I know I should avoid adding in dessert. Pizza is one of those foods. The "pizza effect" was explained...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs