You haven’t heard from me in a while for several reasons – primarily because my dance with diabetes fell out of my awareness as other priorities demanded my attention. I was busy doing the thing I am now forced to realize I cannot do – which is ignore my diabetes. I’d like to pretend that I can eat what I want, what’s convenient and easy in my busy life – and that I can exercise as much or as little as I want, again according to what is convenient. I was only occasionally checking my blood sugar (even though I KNOW better!). I noticed that my morning sugars were sometimes hitting into the 140’s and 150’s. I was a little concerned, but not alarmed. I had days where I was more careful, then days when I slipped back into carelessness.
My big wake up call came one night a little over a week ago when I wasn’t feeling so great, took my blood sugar – and saw a number that was incomprehensible to me: 314. I’d been concerned whenever my sugar had gone over 200. Going over 300 was a five-alarm call that I had to get back on track STAT! So, back to basics for me. I immediately went back on Mark Hymans’ program, which I talked about in my first post. I committed to being active every day – making exercise the priority it absolutely MUST BE in order for me to stay healthy. I cannot afford to keep screwing around, no matter what else is going on in my life!
In one week of consistent effort, I was able to get my morning blood sugar down from between 147-157 to between 110-122, and I’ve kept it under 200 throughout the days. I’m not done! That’s just a start! I know from experience that I can get it down to between 100-110 and keep it there – and that’s my goal! Yesterday I hit 105 and today, 112. I’m not worried about the little fluctuations because I know that the testing strips aren’t always very consistent (as I wrote about previously). What I am focused on is that I’m in the neighborhood of where I want to be on a regular basis. Under 120 feels a whole lot different than over 150, no matter how much the test strips vary.
I am laser-focused now. I know I can do it! I’m a little irritated with myself that I was so careless these past many months, taking my body and my health more or less for granted again (I know better!). It’s easy to do, though – especially when I’m busy and don’t feel like I have time to plan things out like I need to do in order to stay on track. Funny how quickly my priorities can change! Managing my blood sugar just rose to the top of my priority list once again – and this time, it’s going to stay there. No more screwing around!
I’ve started keeping a food and exercise journal again, tracking my blood sugar throughout the day as desired, definitely every morning. I’m also writing how I feel – because that plays a big part in my food choices. What foods do I notice make me feel like I need a nap as soon as I eat them? What foods feel like fuel in my body that keep me going? What emotions come up for me when I’m not eating my “comfort foods” – and how do I deal with them? (This will get its own separate post sometime soon.) Tracking my progress helps me to stay on target for my healthiest self. I’m not tracking my weight, because that is irrelevant. My A1C is my concern. It’ll take another 3 months, but I’m going to rock my A1C then. I’m on track again now – and I intend to stay there!
I’d just been keeping track of everything in regular spiral notebooks, but I decided to make myself a diabetes management journal that would make it easier and more organized for me. They have easy to fill in charts and some encouragement along the way. They will last for six months if you do them daily, which I absolutely will! I like to think I can just manage it in my head, but that truly doesn’t work for me. I’d rather make the little extra effort to keep on keeping track rather than to go through this again. It’s so much easier to stay healthy than to have to try to fight to get back my health and energy!
If anyone is interested, I made a bunch of different covers for my journals and they are now available on Amazon. If that link happens to fail, do a search for “Kat Barron, Diabetes Management Journal” and they should all come up. Below are a few samples. Please share with friends and family who may benefit!
Disclaimer: Please be advised that I am not a medical professional nor a dietician. This site is not in any way, shape, or form providing any sort of diagnosis, advice, cures, or recommendations for medical or dietary treatments. I am simply sharing my own journey and experiences. Nothing I say is intended to replace proper medical care.
My Dance With Diabetes 
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