Diabetes Blog Week: Day Four - Carbonating

This week I am being very disciplined amidst getting ready and packed for five weeks to the States. Well, not really. But I am contributing each day to the blog as part of Diabetes Blog Week, run by a woman named Karen and involving over 130 diabetic bloggers from around the globe as we share insights on set topics for each day this week.

Today is all about carbs.

I am not a real good person to be talking about food. Having said that, one of my pet hates is the assumption by sooooo many people that because a food is sweet I am therefore restricted from consuming it. It it worse when the judgement is added to this misconception: that sweet foods contain carbs, which I cannot eat. So I will use today to vent on this.

Justifying my choice of food to consume is one of the most common speeches I HAVE to give. But I gotta admit it is in a clear second place to the answer to: what is that on your arm?

Carbs are necessary for people to survive.

Carbs with a high glycaemic index are not bad for me. When my blood sugar is low, they are the best thing I can eat. They are EXTREMELY good for me. They can save my life. They are all good.

Saying they are bad for me is wrong and annoying.

But, for pure laziness, we choose not to eat them when our blood sugar is NOT low. Because of their fast actingness, and the inadequate response time of our insulin action, it is bloody hard to match the insulin to quick acting carbs. So we tend to be lazy and not bother. That is why you see us drinking diet coke. We also drink diet coke and not coke zero because we were diagnosed before coke zero was released and have totally overcome the fact that diet coke is marketed to women and couldn't give a rats arse about the taste of coke zero as we never drink normal coke for reasons just stated.

Food that are 'sweet' and which prompt dumb statements and questions about my sanity in consuming often relate to dessert type foods: a cake at work for a colleague's birthday for eg, or just chocolate in general.

These foods contain a reasonable amount of sugar, but also contain a shitload of fat. The fat content in the food slows down the digestion rate of the product, meaning it takes much longer for the carbs to be absorbed into the blood stream. Hence, most of these type of products have a low glycaemic index.

Foods with a low glycaemic index are much much easier for a person with type one diabetes to have matched with the appropriate amount of insulin. Therefore, they are a much easier food choice. Especially if they taste good.

The exception to this is muffins. Muffins contain a shitload of carbs as well as the fat, and have a higher glycaemic index. It is scary how many carbs they can contain - 60g for one muffin (or more). Knowing this information (numbers of carbs and the expected rate of absorption into the bloodstream) is essential

Of course, everything should be consumed in moderation, including moderation. So I always love it when others feel they have a right to judge how much food I should consume. I never say that to anyone and don't know why someone should feel they have the right to say it to me. In all situations, no one has ever been my personal dietician.

No one ever questons my choice of breakfast at work (when I eat at work, that is): a cheese and tomato toasted sandwhich, which sometimes is on white bread. Why the hell not? Thanks to the white bread, it sends my levels through the roof and for some reason the cheese is not enough to negate the high glycaemic efffect (which as you would deduce from above that due to its high fat content would influence the overall glycaemic index of the meal).

Anyhoo, the whole need for this speech makes me grrrrrrr. Perhaps I can use this post as my response to the next person who passses judgement on my food.

M