Sneaky little carbs…I gotcha!
When people ask what my “diet” is in reference to my diabetes management, I often respond “low-carb” without missing a beat. But in an effort to really get back to tight control and a lower A1c, I’ve been looking at my diet a little more closely, and I’ve realized I allow a lot more “cheating” that I generally think I do. You know what I mean – you have a salad for lunch with virtually no carbs, but then decide that one cookie won’t hurt. After all, you had almost no carbs with your salad – it’s easy to justify the 35 grams of cookie carbohydrate!
There’s no real issue eating that way if you’re a person that looks at total overall carbs each day and stays within a limit. The trouble with me though, is that my low carb dishes are often high in fat – cheese and eggs in the morning, salads with avocado and higher calorie (lower carb) dressings for lunch, steak and greens for dinner. So when my diet is already high in fat, the “cheats” that contain a lot of sugar mean I’m getting fat and carbs – and there’s nothing healthy about a diet with both of those. So the choice becomes either sticking to a low-carb diet better, or eating less fat and more whole grain carbs.
I’m a big believer in the idea that small amounts of insulin result in small mistakes, while large amounts of insulin result in, well, large mistakes. That is to say that it’s much easier to make a mistake taking 10 units as wild guess for birthday cake versus one for a few ounces of cheese. Since I tend to see better overall numbers when I’m taking smaller boluses, the answer to me here is clear – I need to stick to my low-carb guns a little better. That means resisting the feeling that I need something sweet after meals, and planning ahead so I don’t get stuck with high-carb fare and no other choices. Planning ahead? With diabetes? You don’t say.
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I had that same problem with eating a great lunch then wanting to get a treat from the cafeteria and blowing it all with calories and carbs. Now I like to pack two hershey kisses in my lunch and it solves that problem and gives me something to look forward to!