Friday, January 09, 2009

Sweet and Low

The trouble is that I don't think of myself as a person with an illness.

I have Type 2 diabetes but I don't let it get into every bit of my life - I just take my medication and am, in general, careful with my diet - I eat lots of fruit and quite a lot of vegetables too.

But I don't always think about it at times when I really need to. This is not always good.

As I said yesterday, the doctor agreed that I should increase the dose of metformin that I'm taking, as my blood sugar was still too high. So I took an extra tablet in the evening and then forgot about the whole thing.

Then it was lunchtime yesterday and I was a bit late because it was busy in our office. I wondered what to have for lunch and decided that, while thinking about it, I'd have some raw white cabbage.

Now you may think that's weird, but I love raw cabbage - look, it's only coleslaw without the carrot and mayonnaise, isn't it? And it's a good, healthy thing to eat. So I got the cabbage out of the fridge and chopped off a piece and cut it up, ready to eat.

Then the phone rang and it was quite a long phone call. When it finally finished, the phone rang again and it was my brother, and I realised that it was now half-past one, and that really I couldn't follow what my brother was saying, because I was feeling a bit woozy.

"I'm sorry, I'll ring you back," I said, "because I need to eat something."

Yes, even I had finally worked out that my blood sugar was getting low - - I feel firstly grumpy, then woozy - - and light-headed - - anyway, off I went to the kitchen and there was my cabbage.

So I ate the cabbage and did that help? No. Is cabbage what you want when your blood sugar's low? No.

So, really not thinking very clearly at all, I looked round for something handy and quick and thought, aha! Banana on toast.

Now you'll either be thinking "oh yes, delicious, I'll go and make some now this instant, now you've put the idea into my head" OR you'll be thinking "Ewwwwwwwwww disgusting, how could she eat such a thing?" People might not care who's Prime Minister, but they have strong views about banana on toast.

So, two slices of wholemeal toast and a banana. Very nice it was too. And, okay, bananas are quite sweet - - but they still take a while to get their sugar into your blood.

So I still felt terrible. And then, without any apparent decision on my part, I looked in the cupboard, found a packet of chocolate digestive biscuits, ripped it open and ate four of them like the winner of the All-England Chocolate Digestive Speed-Eating Contest.

And then I felt a lot better.

Metformin lowers the blood sugar. That's what it's for. I must pay more attention to lunch in future.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad you have it under control.

And I LOVE raw cabbage, especially the bog-standard green ones! Love it! Just a peppery lovely taste! Glad I'm not the only one.

9:03 pm  
Blogger Debby said...

I like toast.

Sorry, just had to get that in.

I adore banana on toast. I would, however, wrestle you to the ground for the chocolate digestive biscuits! I really adore those!

Do take care of yourself. I'm kind of fond of you!

9:46 pm  
Blogger rhymeswithplague said...

Something that sounds really bad but tastes really good is a banana-and-mayonnaise sandwich.

10:29 pm  
Blogger Ailbhe said...

Peanut butter and banana on toast.

12:10 am  
Blogger Kate said...

Mashed banana and crisps in a sandwich.
Take care.

3:52 am  
Blogger Daphne said...

Debby and Milo - thank you! RWP and Katherine - -- well - - nooooo, I don't think so, not for me, but interesting, certainly. Ailbhe - - yes, that sounds a possibility, I may well give that one a try!

11:35 am  

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