How I Beat the Christmas Eat

Did I mention I love food?

I know we all do.  Food is awesome.  But I'm the kind of girl that pours over the Food Network website looking for cool new recipes and stuff at least three times per week.  I love flavours!  I love the feeling of being satisfied with a full (but not busting) tummy.  Don't even get me started about my Titanic sweet tooth... oh brother.

Just started to see some very encouraging numbers and then Christmas happens.  I love Christmas too, and around our house that means my mom's four layer nacho dip, fresh buns, ham, potatoes, sugared carrots, pies, cheese cake, shrimp rings, assorted pot stickers and munchies.   Sugar... sugar ... sugar.   But it's the holiday season and we get really (as Catholics) only one of these big shin digs a year.  How to enjoy eating treats without tanking all the progress I have been making with my blood sugar?

I knew that I had made a lot of responsible choices yesterday, but still... I had the cheesecake.  I had the nachos and a spoon of mashed potatoes.  I was cringing and I considered not taking my morning reading at all.  I mean, why discourage myself?  But then again if I am going to understand my body from a chemistry perspective and make these lifestyle changes, I have to look at the ugly bits too.  That's where the learning is and as the glucometer counted down... 3... 2...1...  7.8 mmol.

Normal is 6-7.   My surgery saw my glucose spike at almost 16 four weeks ago, so while 7.8 is not a perfect score by any means its less than HALF what it was a month ago.  And that's awesome.  I ran upstairs and showed my Mom the reading because I doubted she would believe it unless she saw it with her own eyes.  And I felt good.  Proud of myself and reaffirmed that the choices make a big difference.

Here is what I did:

• Drank two full glasses of water prior to the Christmas dinner.
• Small spoon of mashed potatoes.  Just a taste really. 
• Very small spoon of sugared carrots.  Brown sugar is deadly.
• A lot of shrimp and cocktail sauce.
• 1 small piece of bread/bun.  
• A lot of ham and turnip with butter
• Small juice glass of egg nog (less than 1 measured cup)
• A lot of cheese (pass on the crackers thanks)
• Dill pickles 
• Nachos and dip (ate more dip than nacho though so I filled up fast on cheese, creamed cheese, and sour cream/chives instead of the chips).  I had about eight total but heaped so I got full on the good stuff.
• Drank water before bed
• Took all my pills

I know this stuff isn't rocket science but it is about teaching myself new habits that support my health.  I choose to celebrate the small victories as steps toward permanent change that won't have nurses running in and out of my room with syringes of insulin.  That experience and memory stays with me... even when I wanted the second piece of cheesecake but passed on it instead.