[michelby]

OK, so I just need to vent...I'm new to this whole type 1 junk, and I am STARVING!!!!! I'm 26 years old, and all I want to do is eat halloween candy and pizza like my friends!

We went to Olive Garden today, and I'm still freakin' starving because I had the Chicken Parmesan, but couldn't eat the pasta, so I had this little piece of chicken and one bowl of salad, and everyone else hounded down on all kinds of pasta. I'm so mad that I can't eat anything!!!

I know I can eat these things "in moderation" but what's the point?!?!?! What's the point of having one piece of pizza? That's not fun, and it only makes the temptation worse!

I'm so fed up that I can't do the same things as my friends because I have this stupid disease, and everyone asks "Are you sure you can have that?" Ugh! So frustrating! I just want to gorge on Snickers bars and pepperoni pizza, just in spite of the disease...but I can't because then I'll feel like garbage in an hour.

Sorry, I don't mean to be so negative, but this is soooo hard, and I haven't mastered it, and my sugar is high because I'm always hungry and probably don't make the best food choices because who wants to eat celery and apples for the rest of their life?!?!?!

[princesslinda]

It is hard to deny ourselves foods we enjoyed prior to diagnosis.

I don't go to restaurants such as Olive Garden, as it's hard for me to enjoy it not having the pasta. Perhaps you could suggest a restaurant that would have things that you could easily eat w/o feeling left out.

Most restaurants have steak or grilled chicken entree and a big salad...also a sweet potato is a good potato alternative, as are the steamed veggies.

When you want pasta, try the Dreamfield's brand, it's good and for many of us is quite blood sugar friendly.

[jer.lawrence]

That sounds harsh, I haven't gone anywhere like Olive Garden either just for fear of that same craving.

I do eat lots of veggies and such though, and I will have the occasional food that I shouldn't.. just not much of it.

[Granny Shanny]

There are times I feel a lot the same way, and since I'm not on insulin, I don't have much wiggle room either. But you shouldn't be starving all the time. Your diet can be very filling if you're taking decent portions of protein, sensible carbs and a little fat which helps greatly with satiety.

You can often check online menus before a restaurant visit. Just having some idea of your choices before you get there might help, and I agree with Linda & Jeremy . . . avoiding the more tempting venues is wise, at least until you get a little better handle on this.

Without knowing sic 'em about using insulin, I still want to ask if you've been able to work out your needs for lantus & humalog so that you can gain greater control over the highs with the correct bolus for your meals?

As for the snickers bars & halloween candy . . . try the Atkins Endulge bars. I haven't tried all of them, but the chocolate coconut bars, peanut butter cups & peanut caramel clusters are awesome! As for pizza, just eat the toppings. It's the crust that wrecks us.

[notme]

I think it must be really tough to be young and want to have the things your friends have. However, think of it this way.......

In a few years your friends who have had a heart attack, high cholesterol, and all the other things that can happen to you by eating badly, they will wish they were you and that they had learned long ago to eat healthy like you did!

What other disease or health problem can you get that can be helped by eating the proper foods and getting exercise??? You will look fabulous and your friends will be looking to you for advice!

[Maddogg]

Just because your Type 1 doesn't mean you can't eat all that ****! You just have to be much more careful and methodical about it. If you want to eat a lot of pasta, or a second helping of desert or some halloween candy... sure, you can do it, don't deprive yourself of all the things you love or used to love just because your diabetic.
If your gonna eat more than usual or eat something really sweet, or do anything that goes outside your limits/boundaries determined between you and your doctor/endo; you simply need to adjust your insulin intake accordingly.
If you usually take 10 units of fast acting insuling w/ your dinner and you wanna have that really good looking piece of cheesecake or apple pie w/ ice cream or anything like that... You'll probably be fine if you do it, most of the time; you just have to make sure to increase your dose accordingly, maybe you'll need 15 units instead of 10, these guidelines should have been established by your endo but over time you'll learn to adjust them yourself. Just be careful not to give yourself too much insulin.

Don't let a disease have too much control over your life and lifestyle. Just be careful, especially when your new and you start making your own adjustments, if your not sure, call your doctor and over time you'll get to know your body, your insulin and you'll be able to have a lifestyle or diet similar (but unfortunately never identical) to the one you had before. Sometimes life or your body will throw a curve ball at you and you'll have to deal w/ it. But we gotta make the most of it... make everyday count! Even people who are 100% healthy should live their lives with that philosophy

...oh and welcome to the forums

[belyro]

In time you'll figure out what different foods do to your bloodsugar and how to bolus for them and you shouldn't feel as restricted (unless you choose to follow a low-carb diet anyway).

For me, "in moderation" does mean not regluarly eating too much of anything that's going to make my bloodsugar skyrocket, but it also means letting myself eat what I want to from time to time. If I want to indulge from time to time I do! I just make sure I do it "smartly" - do my best to match my bolus to my carbs (both in amount and in timing - greasy food may need a few smaller boluses rather than one big one), and then I check my bloodsugar a few times after eating to make sure I correct any mis-calculations quickly. I don't recommend doing that every day, but IMO there's nothing wrong with doing it carefully from time to time once you get the hang of the whole "balancing act". Personally, I find that letting myself eat that pizza or ice cream from time to time makes the "in-moderation" times in between much less painful! And, really, nobody should be indulging unhealthy cravings everyday anyway - diabetes or not! Right?

I'm sure it seems overwhelming and frustrating right now, but it'll get easier! Good luck!

[belyro]

Originally Posted by Maddogg

Don't let a disease have too much control over your life and lifestyle. Just be careful, especially when your new and you start making your own adjustments, if your not sure, call your doctor and over time you'll get to know your body, your insulin and you'll be able to have a lifestyle or diet similar (but unfortunately never identical) to the one you had before. Sometimes life or your body will throw a curve ball at you and you'll have to deal w/ it. But we gotta make the most of it... make everyday count! Even people who are 100% healthy should live their lives with that philosophy

And what he said too. I agree wholeheartedly!

[Gangrel]

Co-sign to the last 3 posts. (man, aren't I trying to be hip?!?)

As belyro says, you can do it all, just do it carefully. contrary to what some people may lead you to believe, if you decide to have a piece of cake, and guess everything wrong and end up at 20.0 afterwards, then so what? Take a correction, drink lots of water, and prepare to feel crummy for an hour or two.

Then, just remember that the next time you want cake, and guess more carbs!

What I find helpful is that if i know the restuarant I'm going to, i search online first, as lots of places are listing nutrition information. Then I figure out what I am going to eat (along with dessert!) so that I can bolus when I'm there.

I know it is all scary right now, i was lucky as I was 7 when i got it 26 years ago.... so my parents did all the thinking.

But over time it will come. And don't be afraid. To rip a quote from my favourite band, "why search for perfection when you are making succesfull mistakes?"

[It Ain't Over]

Originally Posted by michelby

Sorry, I don't mean to be so negative, but this is soooo hard, and I haven't mastered it, and my sugar is high because I'm always hungry and probably don't make the best food choices because who wants to eat celery and apples for the rest of their life?!?!?!

There is why you feel such strong hunger, high blood sugars are a clue.
The process is that you are undoubtably being prescribed high levels of insulin to combat the high sugars. This level of insulin forces the glucose in your bloodstream to be converted and sent to your fat cells very quickly. So while your sugars read high, your brain is getting underfed, because the glucose that the insulin has attached itself to goes into the fat cells so quickly it leaves a shortage of the same attached glucose for the brain to use. Therefore the brain tells the body 'I am starved feed me more sugar now!'
Brains always win is these situations. The cure is to lower your food intake and in turn lower your dosage as you can.
Does that mean eating celery and apples the rest of your life? No, you should not eat the apples, too much sugar there.

[xMenace]

Living a full life is a goal for all of us.

Keep working on your education. Really get to know your own sugar behavior. Knowledge is power. I know I can, and I occaisionally do, really pig out. I've had full chinese buffets, whole large pizzas, gobs of Dairy Queens, and whatever else while still staying in control.

I don't eat like this. After years of struggling with choices I've come to terms with food, I think. I eat very low carb and very real, healthy food. I do it by choice, not because I can't eat those other things. I just don't want to anymore.

Go out and enjoy half a pizza and practice your bolusing. Make sure you test, correct, and test some more until your sure you are stable.

[belyro]

Me again...

Just to add to Gangrel's comment about restaurants. It's important to also note the FAT content of restaurant meals. It's sometimes shocking how much fat is in restaurant food - even the meals you wouldn't suspect of being high-fat. Remember that fat will slow down the rise in bloodsugar - instead of getting a spike right after the meal, you will likely get it a few hours later. How many hours later is a bit of a guessing game (unless you've really got your body's response to fatty foods figured out). When this happens, if you give yourself one big bolus for your meal, you may end up going low first and then high later....so, again, be sure to keep an eye on your bloodsugars for a while afterwards!

You may get a lot of different opinions on all this carb stuff. There are a lot of eat-what-you-want-to Type 1s here, a lot of low-carbing Type 1s here, and a lot of us who fall somewhere in the middle. I encourage you to learn about what carbs do to you personally, listen to other people's experiences, and then decide what's best for YOU!

[lexdfox]

yea it sucks at first, before i was diagnosed i was into sodas and energy drinks like you wouldnt believe!

But there are some great options out there for snacks and meals that i have come to love in the 3 months ive had type 1.

When going out and getting food, stick with proteins. For example when I went to Olive garden I got the lemon herb half chicken and a greek salad (yum!). I will admit I will have a couple slices of pizza every so often since my roommates seem to live off the stuff, but its just a matter of keeping limits.

And its not like you have to simply eat nothing but veggies all day, there are loads of great snack food out there. Some good ones i will have are crackers, beef jurkey, and fiber bars. veggies are good too, they dont have to be nasty, things like celery and peanut butter, salted edemame (sp?), and carrots with ranch are things i will enjoy on a regular basis.

It seems super tough right now and thats normal, i hated life when i was diagnosed. its just a matter of taking this thing head on and doing something about it so your diabetes doesnt control your life. keep it up man, i know you can get through it!

[HollyB]

I second and third the "knowledge is power" advice. You can't learn everything all at once, but know that as you learn to match your insulin, food, and personal metabolism better, as a Type 1 you can eat pretty normally.

But you do need to know what you're doing -- so get some good books, figure out your insulin to carb ratios (ask the dietitian or CDE at your clinic to help you), and test often so you know what's going on with your body. The book "Think like a Pancreas" is a great place to start -- very readable, and not as dense and technical as "Using Insulin" which is kind of a bible book.

My son is 17, been diabetic for 4 years. His A1c has always been under 6.5 -- so that's pretty darn good for a teenager. He eats good food, and avoids total pig-outs, but he definitely does not limit himself to one piece of pizza. He eats pasta (usually a one-cup serving), rice, Thai noodles, potato chips. Down the road when his metabolism slows down he may need/want to go lower carb, but for now he enjoys all the food groups and definitely does not go hungry.

Hang in there -- you'll get it figured out!

[DannyK]

Instead of giving any advise, I would like to know (from T 1's), how many of you think that it's OK to eat anything, or whatever you want, just because you can bolus for it?

NEVER have I thought that way, or was told (by Dr.'s) that it was an alright thing to do.....

It seems to me, that this only confuses the different thinking between the two types.