Welcome to My Life

I get it.  Your life will never be the same.  Gone are the days of wild abandon and eating without thought to consequence.  Gone are the giant ice cream sundaes, the sweet coffees and morning bagels with cream cheese, no more slices of pizza or Chinese food without a thought.  Take a little time to grieve and feel sorry for yourself…you have every right to.  

It’s like you’ve been sentenced to a bland diet of deprivation that will never end…lots and lots of “no” foods, weight watchers calls them “red light” foods.  Maybe you’ll even have to eat from the punishment racks of sugar-free baked goods.  As a bonus for being entitled to those products you also have the stares and compassion/pity/judgment of all who pass by and see you.  Alright…maybe add a little anger to grieving and feeling sorry for yourself.    

Having diabetes sucks.

Now get over it.

When someone loses a sense – goes blind, they don’t ever drive again.

Ever.

No negotiating.  No being in denial.  No putting it off…

And so it HAS to be with Diabetes.

No negotiating.  No being in denial.  No putting if off…

I’ve lost a type of “sense” in a way.  And I can’t pretend and somehow make it different.  My choice is slow, terrible decline and painful illness, or actually getting HEALTHIER than I am right now.  I choose healthier.  No question.  Read my back story if you wonder about that.

One of the most important things I do to stretch for health in my life requires that I always be vigilant about portion size, timing and type of food.   Yep.  Your life too.

HOWEVER.  I refuse to accept a bland, punishment diet – even if I have diabetes – even if I have to lose weight.  I can’t cope with knowing that any single food is off limits to me.  I have to be able to taste and enjoy food today.  Enjoy, delight in and even anticipate!  I may have to limit myself to one homemade chocolate chip cookie…but I’m going to get it at the perfect temperature when it’s at its gooey best and I’m going to savor every morsel.  Become one with the cookie.

Because here’s the deal.  If I can’t just stick to one, then I really can’t ever have chocolate chip cookies again – because they would be dangerous to my health – like beautiful berries in the wild that entice and then turn out to be toxic.  But as long as I can enjoy just one…then they are on my menu of life forever after.  It’s a deal I’m willing to make.  Oh, and I’ll make it for pizza too.  Don’t eat it often – maybe once a month or so?  One big, gooey, cheesy slice of pizza – hot and crispy on the bottom, well…I don’t have to say more, do I?  And so it goes.  If a food is worth eating, it is worth limiting.

That’s my philosophy and I’m sticking to it.