I did an 8 week course with a diabetes educator and a nutritionist about 10 years ago. At that time, they said that if we keep 90% of our readings within range, that is excellent control, and that we should not be striving for perfection. I don't know if the thinking has changed since then. But if you are only going into the 160's once or twice a week, I don't think it will have a great effect on your A1c.

i was always told the reason you get an A1C every three months is it takes that long for the blood to cycle through and get an average reading of the whole 3 months. so in your case a few slip ups shouldn't be that bad. i am not a doctor of course. just my thoughts.
as i just read in bob harpers new book "the skinny rules" is "you have to divorce yourself from the past and find a different way of living, and you can never go back". unfortunately it's true.

My thoughts on this subject is that you can't make your self feel alienated you can have meals you once loved just don't eat the whole thing enjoy a bit of it along with the salad, veg and or fruit. I could never give up all carbs, bread, pasta or even chocolate. My A1C is 5.9 as of just last week. My readings are with in normal range. I have lost 65 lbs which is great but i'm unable to stop the medication. I take Janumet 2x a day it's the only med that didn't make me sick. I have been dealing with this for 10 years only medicating and under control the last 2. I went uninsured and uncontroled for 8. The more you learn the more creative you get with meals and food.

Stay positive don't get down I promise it isn't the end of the world

I'm pretty new here, but have been type 2 for going on 10 years. Lots of good advice.
Sounds like most do a great job of keeping their glucose levels down. I'm canadian so our standard according to the diabetes clinic I attended is not to go over 10 2 hours after eating. And, it's true, exercise after a meal helps to keep the blood glucose from going too high.
It was also emphasized in the education program that generally the tighter your glucose control the fewer complications you tend to have. That is, trying to keep your blood glucose from spiking. I do eat some carb most meals but if you always include good lean protein I find it helps a lot to keep your levels down.
It certainly is true, you can't go back, but I found after I lost 45 lbs in the first year after I was diagnosed that I was able to cut back on meds. Now, after 10 years on Metformin I am having to deal with Vit B 12 deficiency, having shots monthly. It's a side effect of the met that affects about 30 per cent of people on it long term. Anyone else having this problem?
Ellen

I understand how you feel. It's not that I don't like the food I eat at restaurants now, it's just that I get bored with eating the same things off the menu while everyone else can take advantage of the full menu. It really has taken a lot of the enjoyment out of eating.

What I had to do was change the way I view food. To me, food is no longer something to eat for enjoyment, it is something to eat to fuel my body. I now view it in much the same way I view fuel for my automobiles. May be kind of a gloomy view for some, but if I view it that way it keeps me from going crazy over all the things I can't have that I once enjoyed.

To answer your question, no, I never just eat what I want knowing it's going to lead to a spike. I'm sure there is nothing wrong with doing it occasionally, but it's not the way I'm wired. I've gone into a restaurant thinking I was going to do it, and just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. One of my friends referred to me as "the man who never cheats" just last week.

Would I love to be able to share a pizza with my kids or have an ice cream when I take them to the ice cream parlor? Sure. But I love the fact that my A1C went from 14.2 to 5.1 in three months more. I look at things long-term now. Which do I want more? Temporary enjoyment of eating whatever I want off the menu for one night, or years of enjoying my health with no complications of this stupid disease. When I look at things that way, it's an easy decision.

So I put up with the boredom. I eat salad while they eat pizza. I eat grilled chicken or fish while they eat pasta. I drink a cup of coffee while they eat pie. I know diabetics, including some I'm related to, who are OK with taking a higher dose or even additional medications in order to enjoy eating. That's not me. My goal is to get completely med free and control this through diet and exercise alone. If that means being bored with eating the same things over and over again, that's what it means. And I'm OK with that.

Travis, I shared your attitude and dedication when I was first diagnosed. I think I kept at it that way for the first 3 or 4 years. Then I let it slide a little. One medication got added after the next. I have never been wildly out of control, but my A1c has crept above 7 for the first time since I was first diagnosed. And somehow, with the added medication, and lack of vigilence on diet, and age, and less and less formal exercise, I began putting on weight. And it became a visouse cycle. More weight = more medication = more weight. So now I am here.

I guess my point is that its never too late to improve. So even if you fall off the wagon for a meal, or for a week or a month or a few years, preserve what health you have by giving it another try.

I eat fish every time I eat out. I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD. So we order fajitas. My hubbie gets the tortillas. I make a sort of salad with my food. It sucks. I want tortillas. I usually let myself have one corn tortilla. but I spent the first 10 years of my diagnosis ignoring it. I will probably pay dearly for that. I no longer want to abuse myself.

Eating out is a challenge. But I love fish and shrimp and rarely cook them at home, so eating out is a treat.

Try to get your pasta at home. I don't work fo Miracle Noodle but they should pay me for my support. Order the noodles or look at an asian market. They are called shirake noodles. No carbs. No carbs. No carbs. Need I say more? they stink when you open the package. Just rinse A LOT and add to your heated sauce or soup. No need to cook them....only warm for a few seconds or use the hot topping to heat them. Don't freak about the smell. It goes away after you rinse and add to your sauce.

They have saved my pasta cravings.

Dessert on your birthday. Like someone said....it aint worth the price. My neighbor stepped on a twig in her yard. A year later, after never healing, the FOOT was REMOVED.

When I want cake, I think of her going to the mailbox on her little riding cart. That ususally stops the crave.

Gave up bread. I just try to remember that flour and water makes FREAKING GLUE. Who wants to EAT GLUE? Gave up Red Lobster. They are too expensive anyway.....and the CRACK they put in their biscuits not worth losing my foot....

and yeah, I'm angry too. My hubbie weighs 160 at 6 foot. He eats like an army. Life aint fair. Beling diabetic aint fair. But it is what it is. Food is fuel. Food is not joy. Food is not happiness. Food is not love. We let FOOD replace too many good things in our lives and that is what got most of us to the lovely Type 2 diagnosis. So I am doing my best to turn my anger into exercise and weight loss. I am trying to turn my anger TOWARD THE FOOD that got me here. It's harder to eat something you are FURIOUS AT....

I just needed to read some of your posts today, a good reminder to 'stick to it, girl'. It's true, food is not love, there is sooo much more to life than eating. Enjoy the summer, the flowers, the friends etc, etc, etc.
Ellen

Someone once told me that some people LIVE for food and some people use food to LIVE. I wish I could get to the point where I didn't live for food..........

I want to want to make this work but I REALLY just don't want to.

Guess I'm going to have to get over this. I'm just venting.

BTW I love this board. Thank you everyone who posts.

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I think I'm a little younger than some people here so you all might know more than me. I've been a diabetic over 10 years now. I'm 28 and finally in a healthy weight range (I was 220 lbs when I got diagnosed).

For me, the most life changing advice I have ever gotten was from an article I read in some random dr's office one day a few years ago:

If all you eat are healthy foods, eventually you start craving the healthy foods.

I try to live by that everyday and though recently I went from Type 2 to "borderline Type 1" and had to go back on meds and insulin (I was completely in control with just diet and exercise for 8 years), I taught myself how good a salad and steak taste and how that one buttery roll makes me feel worse than it feels good.

I go out to eat all the time. My boyfriend gets his baked potato, his pizza, etc. and I get something lower carb and am pretty satisfied most of the time.

There ARE days when I allow myself carbs because thankfully, even with about 50-60 grams of carbs everyday, I still manage to spike to 130 at the most.

No one's going to be in control 100% of the time.

However, teaching yourself and conditioning yourself so that eventually you crave the salad and not the burger or you find yourself going for the fruit instead of the cake--that was the key for me. I'm good 80% of the week but I slip up (sugar is my weakness!).

Stick to it. When you go out to eat or go to the movies, learn to be there for the conversation and company. Don't make it about the food. And be good as much as possible and don't get sad about the time you ate a few fries--just get back on the horse.

:-)

Good luck!