My OperaThe diabetic lifestyle.
Friday, January 26, 2007 6:02:23 PM
My doc told me that I had to start living the diabetic lifestyle or I'd become one. Apparently on my last eye test they spotted haemorrhages, or was haemorrhoids? Hopefully the former. Anyway, they found them behind my eyes, which is a portent of diabetes and forthcoming blindness unless...
I don't care what the 'Unless' is, I'll do it!
And it's easier than it seems. All I have to do is to cut down on sugar and get my cholesterol level down. Nothing to it. One in ten of the population is diabetic, they're bound to have made it easy by now.
No they've not.
Low-sugar jam costs more than the full sugar version, and anyway I don't know if I can even have low-sugar jam, there are sweeteners for my drinks but they leave an aftertaste, healthy eating snack bars turn out to be 50% sugar... It's weird. You'd think there'd be a whole industry out there supported by the supermarkets if 10% of their customers are diabetic, but if you mention the word most assistants look afraid and go to get the manager, who never speaks the same English as me. I recognise most of the words, but never the order that they come in. It's like being a union negotiator without the hope of a wage increase afterwards.
Then there's my cholesterol level. Mine's naturally high according a nurse who checked me out about twenty years ago (Well it seems that long anyway...) and nothing will get it below 5. So I'm trying those drinks, spreads, and cheese that guarantee to reduce your cholesterol level, but once again, they're expensive. And they contain sugar.
The conclusion I have come to is that if you're rich, living the diabetic lifestyle is a piece of cake (Low fat. Sugar free, natch), but if you're a carer earning just under 42 quid a week, it's impossible. I can pay 50% more for a product that's low in fat and sugar, only to find that it's high in salt. If my internet research so far is anything to go by then the cost of my diet is going to treble. I can see a way of making it work, but it's going to mean forgetting about my '5-a-day', and they tell me that's not a good idea either.
On top of this there's all the considerations like how much sugar is there in a tomato? How much salt finds its way into meat-substitutes? How much fat is there in one slice of bread? I've always been a 'Label reader' when shopping, but now I also have to do extensive mental arithmetical calculations both when buying, and when cooking. Honestly, it's just not fair, people in the third world don't know how lucky they are to die in childbirth.
Ah. That just put it all into perspective...
I don't care what the 'Unless' is, I'll do it!
And it's easier than it seems. All I have to do is to cut down on sugar and get my cholesterol level down. Nothing to it. One in ten of the population is diabetic, they're bound to have made it easy by now.
No they've not.
Low-sugar jam costs more than the full sugar version, and anyway I don't know if I can even have low-sugar jam, there are sweeteners for my drinks but they leave an aftertaste, healthy eating snack bars turn out to be 50% sugar... It's weird. You'd think there'd be a whole industry out there supported by the supermarkets if 10% of their customers are diabetic, but if you mention the word most assistants look afraid and go to get the manager, who never speaks the same English as me. I recognise most of the words, but never the order that they come in. It's like being a union negotiator without the hope of a wage increase afterwards.
Then there's my cholesterol level. Mine's naturally high according a nurse who checked me out about twenty years ago (Well it seems that long anyway...) and nothing will get it below 5. So I'm trying those drinks, spreads, and cheese that guarantee to reduce your cholesterol level, but once again, they're expensive. And they contain sugar.
The conclusion I have come to is that if you're rich, living the diabetic lifestyle is a piece of cake (Low fat. Sugar free, natch), but if you're a carer earning just under 42 quid a week, it's impossible. I can pay 50% more for a product that's low in fat and sugar, only to find that it's high in salt. If my internet research so far is anything to go by then the cost of my diet is going to treble. I can see a way of making it work, but it's going to mean forgetting about my '5-a-day', and they tell me that's not a good idea either.
On top of this there's all the considerations like how much sugar is there in a tomato? How much salt finds its way into meat-substitutes? How much fat is there in one slice of bread? I've always been a 'Label reader' when shopping, but now I also have to do extensive mental arithmetical calculations both when buying, and when cooking. Honestly, it's just not fair, people in the third world don't know how lucky they are to die in childbirth.
Ah. That just put it all into perspective...
