DIABETES

Having Diabetes is no fun, the fundamental rule behind managing diabetes is one’s ability to lower blood sugar and keep it at a safe level. Obviously a type 1 diabetic has a completely different way of doing this, namely the intravenous use of insulin via daily injections but the type 2 diabetic should be concerned with more natural ways to lower blood sugar.

How is this accomplished? There are three main aspects to controlling blood sugar levels for type 2 diabetics, unfortunately, these rules do not apply to the type 1 in quite the same way since the nature of their condition is hinged upon a different set of rules.

The 3 natural ways of lowering blood sugar are as follows.

1. Controlling the level of carbohydrates eaten on a daily basis. When we talk about carbs, we mean all carbs, not just biscuits and cakes. Pasta, rice, grains, pulses, fruit and fruit juice, sugar in your coffee, flavoured yogurt, ready made soups, wholemeal bread, root vegetables, cereals. The list is nearly infinite and once you start to read the back of every pack of food you purchase, you will realize just how many foods contain carbs. They are everywhere. The carbs you do eat should only be from the low glycemic end of the scale. There is plenty of free information the glycemic index available online, read as much as you can.

Arming yourself with this knowledge and cutting back severely on the level of carb intake is fundamental to maintaining better sugar levels. Don;t worry about feeling washed out or strange if you don’t have your morning double helping of cereal and orange juice. Your body is quite capable of supplying you with is own energy source. It has done for the thousands of years before doughnut stores were invented and man’s food supply was limited to pretty much meat, berries and, well more meat really.

2. Start your day either by skipping breakfast or having one based more around protein, fat, low carbohydrate nuts and vegetables. Keeping those so called sugar cravings at bay starts with never enticing your system with them in the first place. Much like when a smoker lights up his first cigarette early in the morning and from then on kicks the nicotine cycle into play. So it is with the carb/sugar craving cycle. Once your body has had sugar and carbohydrate. It releases insulin to combat the rising glucose levels. You body shuts down its natural (fat metabolism) cycle and converts over to carbohydrate metabolism. From then on throughout the day, as your sugar levels dip every few hours and you start to experience that shaky, foggy, irritable washed out feeling. Your body will automatically crave and seek out the nearest available source of carbohydrate. Be that bread, pastry or lump of sugar. Since the body temporarily shuts down fat metabolism, it seeks to keep the carbohydrate burning cousin going in its place. And will do so unless you foregoe the sugary snack and spend a few more hours climbing the walls until your body rights itself and balance is restored.It is no coincidence that most people are snacking every couple of hours.Try not starting the day with carbs. You will be surprised.

3. Another golden natural way to lower blood sugar is to eat absolutely no carbs after about 5 in the evening or more to the point, after you finish work, this may be a little different if you work nights but you get the point. Since your body burns carbs far better when you are active, namely working, it will keep levels down so much better during the day. Come the night time and your second helping of pasta carbonara later, things wont be quite so dynamic from your metabolisms point of view.

QUIET ONE

This is one story that I would like to share to you all. A simple kindness means a lot to others. I got this nice story in the book Ripple of Joy. I hope you like it.

The girls on the tenth floor were a rowdy bunch. We worked the afternoon shift at the bank, from 3:00 P.M. until midnight. All the checks bank customers had written during the day passed through our processing machines during those evening hours. It was my job to supervise the little crew and make sure, through all the horseplay and rough girl talk, which work actually got done. Most of the time I was able to balance being good old girl and trying to keep the lid on things so the work was done correctly.

Jan was hired about a year after I started my supervisory job. She was very frail-looking girl with light red hair and pale blue eyes, and she was extremely quiet. Her first night on the job she asked me if she could use the bathroom. I told her she didn’t need permission.

I noticed that the “Previous Experience” section on her job application was sparse. One of my big complaints about my job was that, although I supervised, someone else did the hiring. Here we go again, I thought. This shrinking violet will never fit in here. They’ve given me a problem.

During the first month Jan was absent three days, and I decided to have a chat with her. She looks crestfallen when I called her into my cubicle. She explained to me in hushed and halting tones that she had been diabetic since early childhood, and health was sometimes an issue. She apologized for her absences and swore she could promise better attendance in the future. I was skeptical, but she looked so sincere that I couldn’t doubt she meant to keep her promise.

I noticed that the older girls gave Jan a wide berth, pretty much ignoring her, even at lunchtime when they were all busy talking about boys and hair and clothes and movies. Jan, at her age twenty-two, still lived at home and didn’t have much of a social life. Her mom dropped her off at work, and her dad pick her up. She never contributed to the conversation except to offer to help clean the lunchroom or to help out another girl who had gotten behind her work.

Wanting to encourage her, I offered her tips on how to win the monthly employee contest. When I could, I ate lunch with her. She told me about her luck growing plants and invited me over to her house to see her sunroom, crowded with exotic specimens she had successfully nurtured. One Monday she brought some pictures of an orchid that had bloomed over the weekend. I regret to say that, with my busy life, I never saw the actual flower.

One Friday night about six months after Jan started, we heard shouting down the hallway. Fire!

I ran to take a look. A corner of our paper supply room had burst into flames. I called 911, and the fire department responded right away. The brisk blaze was contained successfully, but not before we had evacuated the tenth floor. With almost two hours lost, our productivity had suffered. I asked for volunteers to work late, but most of the girls had reasons they couldn’t help out. Only Jan quietly said she would be glad to stay.

We worked together until almost 4 A.M. to finish up. She chatted cheerfully about her family and pets. By this time she was comfortable with me and was opening up a lot more. She even talked about a young man at church that she had her eye on. I remember being a bit overtired and telling silly jokes to pass the time. She giggled happily. I noticed she looked pale, but my focus was on getting the work done and getting home. “Thanks so much for staying,” I told her when we were finished. “See ya Monday.”

But I didn’t. I never saw her alive again.

Jan’s mom called Monday afternoon to tell me that Jan passed away Monday morning after we worked together. Her diabetes had taken its final toll on her heart. She had gone to sleep and never awakened.

I was stunned. I had never occurred to me that she was that delicate. She was so young that her death seemed impossible. I forgot to ask her mother about funeral arrangements, but her sister called a few hours later and gave me the information, asking me if I could attend. I said I would.

I felt very odd the morning of the funeral. I hadn’t really known Jan very well and thought I would feel awkward at the service. But I had accepted the invitation and was determined to see it through.

Jan’s father greeted me with warm smile and handshake at the door of the church. “You’re Kim, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. I’m sorry about your loss.”

He nodded. “We are so pleased that Jan’s best friend could be here today,” he said. “She spoke about you often and told us you were the closest friend she had ever had. Thank you so much for what you meant to my daughter.”

The words had barely sunk in when Jan’s sister and mother surrounded me and voiced the same sentiment. They gave me a place of honor at the front of the church, reserved for those closest to the deceased, and I was the guest of honor at the little reception at the family home after the funeral. I had been important to Jan, and now I was important to her family as well.

Whenever I question whether I truly can have an impact on others, I remembered Jan. I’m grateful I was able to make a little room for her in my busy life back then. Yes, I wish I had done more. But Jan thought me that it’s never too late: Opportunity for small kindness surrounds me everyday.

Next time, I’ll make sure to go see the orchid.