Diabesity part II.

A day or two ago I wrote a post about the shame I feel for having Type 2 diabetes. At least, that was what I thought it was about. What I intended it to be about. I'm not exactly sure that's what people took away from it, though.

The next morning after I posted it, I was preparing to go to a press event at a local elementary school. It's just down the street from where I live. My colleague suggested that we meet at the nearby McDonald's for breakfast. McDonald's is actually an easy place for me to eat. From all of my years at Weight Watchers I know that the Egg McMuffin sandwich is a relatively low-fat option there and I know that it has two carb exchanges (30 grams of carbohydrate), mostly from the English muffin. Because I am supposed to eat four exchanges at breakfast, I added a hash brown (15 grams of carb). Would I call it a healthy breakfast? No, of course not. Would I call it a terrible choice? No, I wouldn't call it that either.

During our meal I checked us in on Facebook with the words, "Breakfast of Champions!" I did not think a thing about doing this. I do it all the time from all types of restaurants.

So, after we finished I went over and photographed the event and then went in to work. I went on Facebook to find several comments chiding me about my breakfast choice, especially after the blog post from the night before. What did I eat? Why did I make this public?

This most recent blog post had been very cathartic for me. I woke up reinvigorated about my fight with diabetes. I really did. I checked my sugars that morning and they were normal. I ate a very reasonable meal, administered the proper dosage of insulin and took my Metformin. Just like I do almost every day. Breakfast is one of my good meals. My issues come later in the day and when I am stressed. My breakfasts are usually a good balance of carb and protein.

As the day wore on, I pondered this response to my check-in. I was frankly kind of surprised to see this kind of scolding reaction. I wondered, how can I make a point about this without making my friends feel bad for their concern. I know that these comments were coming from a place of love. It was the delivery that was problematic.

The next day I had an idea. I realized that Facebook lets you check-in from anywhere. You don't even need to be there. Early in the morning I checked in at a local bakery. Soon after a few comments appeared -- "what are you eating"? About 10 minutes later I checked in at iHop. All day long I checked in at fast-food places, bakeries, hamburger joints, ice cream factories, Chinese and Mexican and Greek restaurants, a local chocolatier and eventually a maker of Whoopie pies in Virginia and the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas.

Out of all of those check-ins, only one was authentic. I went to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. Here is a photo of my meal, a chicken taco salad. I did not eat the shell. I did eat some chips, as I was actually a little low (The range is 80-120. I was around 74) when we arrived at the restaurant. Prior to eating the chips I had a couple of glucose tabs to bring up my sugar. The carbs in the chips are not fast-acting enough to work in that way. Mid-morning I had an apple and a piece of cheese. A carb and a protein to keep me satisfied until lunch. It did help. I didn't overeat.

I checked my sugars again an hour or so after eating. All good.

So, the point of this Facebook exercise I guess, is that even though I have diabetes, I still have a life. I will still be faced with the challenges of eating out and trying to find menu items that fit within my guidelines. I will succeed sometimes and I will fail sometimes. I hope you'll be with me along the way and have faith that I will make the right choices. If I don't I hope you'll understand and encourage me to do better next time.

I love you all, and thank you for your concern for me.