testing and hunger

R-E-L-A-X. Eat three small meals and two teeny snacks every day, making sure to get your protein, a bit of carbs, veggies and a couple of small servings of fruit each day. Take a daily multi-vitamin with minerals. Drink lots of water and other no-cal beverages. Do your testing, keep your glucose log to show your doc, and just live your life.

R-E-L-A-X. In time, you'll meet with your doctor, you'll explain to him what you've been eating (no starving! it's important to give your body some fuel, just no refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup) and then you and he will decide where to go next to meet your glucose goals.

When you're new at the game, you have to remember that coming into control takes time-- you didn't get into the high glucose wasteland in a week or two, and you're not going to get out of it fast either. Many newly diagnosed folks take literally months to gain some semblance of control.

If you need to test away from home, tuck your meter in your purse, and just go. Testing takes less than a minute-- no biggie. It can be done discretely almost anywhere, after all.

Judy D.

I agree, all of this can be frustrating and overwhelming. However, this is one disease in which your direct efforts can make a huge difference. I find that empowering not restricting and certainly not confining.

Do you exercise? I find exercising really makes a difference. I use exercise to reduce blood glucose after high carb meals. For example. breakfast is usually cereal and fruit (relatively high carb). After b'fast I wait 20 minutes then I exercise for 30 min. This dramatically reduces both readings (1 hr and 2 hr after eating).

I do eat every 2-3 hours – mostly low glycemic foods. If I am "out and about" I take my food with me, in a cooler if necessary. I used to test 1&2 hrs after every meal, taking my minitor with me. Now I do random testing and I test if I have anything unusual.

In my experience a feeling of helplessness only made me depressed and craving high carb comfort foods (mac `n cheese comes to mind). By changing my attitude and "taking charge" I eliminated the cravings and developed alternate strategies to help me deal with stressful situations. (And as Judy says R-E-L-A-X)

I hope this helps

John