What I've Learned About Food

I have always had an addiction to food. In high school, I was put in a hospital and diagnosed with "binge eating disorder". I mean, yeah I ate a lot back then. I was a depressed teenager who always turned to food. 

Fast forward to my adult years and my food addiction got worse. I would eat 3 meals a day, with multiple snacks, then eat a 4th meal at night if friends wanted to go for dinner. My second dinner. It just got really bad. I've weighed the most I've ever weighed and even though I carry my weight well, I was about 40 pounds away from 300 pounds. 

If you've read my blog post about my life update in April (which you can read here: X), I now have diabetes. My mom's side of the family has it and with all my bad eating, it was kind of inevitable. I was a constant snacker to the point of having a fatty liver. It was a whirlwind month. I went to the ER, I had so many blood tests taken, and I found out my liver enzymes were so high my doctor told me "there's so much wrong with you" with a sigh.  

So when I got an email of a woman named Julie, I was ticked. Julie said she was a dietitian that my doctor ordered for me. Which I forgot he said to me and I felt even worse than I was already feeling. A dietitian? I can't even last a week on a diet! I was already having this whole lifestyle change and now I needed appointments about what to EAT?! 

As it turned out, Julie was a godsend. As of right now, it's only an over the phone appointment but I take notes every time and give updates on my health and ask questions to her. She has taught me so much about reading food labels, keeping my blood sugar down, and not totally judging me when I say I haven't exercised in a week. 

For this post, I wanted to share what I've learned from Julie because I think some people will get some use out of it like I did! Now, I'm no expert on food and every person is different, but I'm going to put down some things I've learned and things I've found on my own!

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* Diabetes is all about carbs, not sugar. I, MYSELF, can only have 185 carbs per day: 50 carbs for meals and 35 carbs total for a snack. READ THOSE LABELS, PEOPLE. 

* Gluten-free does not mean healthy. Carbs in gluten free are so high. I looked at gluten free pasta and gluten free bread and SHESH. I don't remember the exact number but it was so much more than I expected. 

* Finding low carb pasta sucks. Red lentil pasta? 34g of carbs PER SERVING! I don't even like lentils but I was willing to try it because I miss pasta. But not after seeing that carb count. I asked Julie if I can have mac and cheese and she said I can only have a cup of it. Sooooo.....I won't even try to have it, I guess. 

* Eating nothing after 8 pm has done amazing things to lower my blood sugar. It'll be much harder for me once lockdown is over because I go out after 8 sometimes to a bar or out to eat. But so far, it's working!

* 64 oz of water! I have to fill up my water bottle 3 times a day in order to get 68 oz and it can be hard some days, especially when I'm hard at work, but you're body will say "hey thanks!"

* Don't eat nuts that are in chocolate bars. Apparently, those have more fat than people realize. Who knew?!

* I used to love juice but it's not really that good for you. SO much sugar. I switched to MIO, those flavor drops that go in your water. Zero sugar, zero carbs, and it tastes so flavorful. I always use it when I need a juice fix. 

* NO WHITE BREAD!! AHHHHHHHH! The hardest thing of my LIFE. So, white bread will make your blood sugar skyrocket then crash and hour later. It's so bad for you. I have switched to no carb bread that I found at Aldi. It's by the brand Loven Fresh. It really has no taste and you have to get used to it. 

* MIO has something called MIO Energy. It's just the same drops but with caffeine. I asked Julie if it was okay to drink. It's not. It has something called Guarana, which is an off brand sugar of a regular sugar that was taken off the shelves because it was giving people heart attacks and killing them. So, NO MIO ENERGY, GUYS! Just regular MIO, please. 

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Now, I have to lose 6 pounds by October for my insurance to pay for my dietitian. I've already lost 7 pounds and it's only May! So I'm hoping to keep losing weight. I need to exercise more, to be honest, but I'm on the right track.