How to bob ‘n weave extra el-bees while battling Diabetes

May 21, 2016 Ashley 0 Comments

“…and I walk five miles every day… because I like my chocolate at night.”

I’d been in the park, trotting alongside this seventy-something year old lady (who legit didn’t look a day over fifty) when we hopped on the topic of Type 2 diabetes. Having a mom myself who’s afflicted with the illness, I was interested to hear what Joy (that was her name) did to stave off the weight gain. (Especially since she was this pixie sized, decades younger looking septuagenarian.) That was when she told me how she tweaked her diet by day… and then enjoyed a nice vice in the evening – in the form of an indulgent chocolate trophy for her hard work. Nada too large – just enough to placate the taste buds. “But, for a long time, I weighed about ten pounds more,” she admitted. Then she went on: “I could’ve quit my nightly fix, I suppose, but it’s all I have – you know?”

(Or, if you use your fork upside down like this chick, you can choose either.
’cause all the cals will fall back on the plate.)

Then she added, “So I just started exercising more instead.”

Seemed legit.

But what didn’t, to me, was the outright injustice diabetes seems to bring with it. Admittedly, I’ve been in the dark about it for a long time. I thought it was just about shooting up insulin before meals, like some liquid referee sent to circulate and restore balance in your blood’s sugar levels. And, while that’s true, that’s not the whole truth. The ugly yes-and to that is that you accrue the pound-age two-fold. Firstly, you pack on a bit of aqueous weight (via retained water). And, while that won’t loiter around in your body terribly long (’cause you’ll simply piddle it out later), the excess flesh from sugar absorption will. And the real bummer about that? That it means you can’t eat the same amount of food you did before stabbing your limbs with an insulin appetizer preceding meals.

So, what do you do?

Starve to death?

Well, if my park strutting buddy, Joy, was any indication – that’s obvi not necessary.

But that spry old bird was a great big heap of “doing it right” when it came to this vexing ingestion wrecker. She really knew what she was doing. In fact, when I dropped in on one’ve those health sites to glean a little insight, I noticed that everything I was reading was consistent with what she’d detailed during her recount of her new lifestyle, post diabetes makeover. Eating less. Exercising more. Not skipping insulin or meals. But, black ‘n white though those things may seem, they’re not. For instance – while you hafta eat fewer calories to account for that increase in absorbed sugar, that doesn’t mean you’ll be going around hungry. Girl after my own heart, Joy’d adopted a mostly fruit and veggie diet – taking care to avoid high GI, sodium, and saturated fat foods. Also (obvi), she was avoiding those starchy carbs.

The result?

Between the high fiber and high water content, she was always satiated and craving free while also losing weight.

The bonus? Less insulin was necessary. The double bonus? It made exercising easier once she’d sacked the surplus pounds because she didn’t have all that extra adipose slowly destroying her limb hinges and lower back. Triple bonus? That that exercise cycles back to making her want to keep making superlative sustenance selections. (’cause exercise releases endorphins that quash comfort eating and regulates hunger hormones so you feel fuller faster.) And, that way, Joy not only could fully revel in her Godiva prize later in the evening – but never felt like overdoing it, either.

Ultimately, diabetes had made Joy discover the quintessential fitness regimen. She’d learned that managing her affliction was less about treadmill penalties or caloric rewards – but more about adequate checks and balances. Which occurred to her after she found out the biggest secret in fitness, second only to clean eating: seek out exercise that you love, and it’ll be just as much as a “reward” as whatever dessert you dig. And, really, I suppose that’s how any of our lifestyles – diabetically haunted or not – should be.

Strike that state o’ stability and you too can counter dietary diligence with life’s little joys – just like Joy does.