As any of you may have noticed, my blog has been terribly neglected as of late. Don’t worry, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, or taken to eating out three meals a day, or even tired of this cool new world of blogging. But I did have blood work taken in conjunction with a doctor’s appointment.
And, alas, I learned that I have developed type 2 diabetes. Funny story about that doctor’s appointment, by the way. Jack had pinkeye (for those not on facebook, see the pirate patch footnote below) and had to accompany me to the appointment. Normally, I think I would have been emotional (when am I not?) with the news, but I was conscious of Jack’s presence and didn’t want to alarm him. So I held it together and asked questions but looked like I’d seen a ghost, probably. I couldn’t tell anyone but my husband for a month, because I felt guilt and shame and fear.
I was given a prescription for one of those blood sugar monitors and encouraged to lose weight and exercise. I went on the American Diabetes website and read vague information about blood sugar rates, without knowing what else to do and not understanding why my readings were all over the place. I reminisced about my grandmother, dipping donuts into her saccharin sweetened coffee because of “her sugar.” I was totally living inside my little mind bubble. I certainly didn’t want to blog about food. Finally, the day came for me to attend the hospital’s education class as arranged by my doctor.
It was the best thing that’s happened to me in a long while! I learned so much about the disease, that it catches up to most people in their 40’s, what affects your blood sugar, why, if not treated, it erodes your health, and exactly how exercise and weight loss helps. I also received a food plan, similar to weight watchers, for my particular height and current weight. The shocker was what was a carb and how important it was to limit them in each meal. Milk and fruit are just as naughty for me when overeaten as what we typically think of as a carbohydrate. During the class, I realized that I would be seriously restricting all the things I love in the food arena, not just the anticipated sweets.
A week or so into the new food plan, I was having a bad evening. I complained to Curt about it and then had to apologize for being such a whiner. Then I realized, and admitted aloud that it would be hard to deal with emotions now, because “I didn’t have food anymore!”
And there it is. I have a great opportunity to redo things and find better ways to cope, without relying on food as an escape. But with this opportunity, I will probably be nuttier than usual. Nuttier but excited, too. So, that’s why I decided to start a new blog to just write random thoughts and stories and post a few photos of my family. I will occasionally post new recipes on this cooking blog, but I wanted a new start that is not solely based on food and cooking. We’ll see how this blogging develops, just like we’ll see what’s in the future for me!
So, here’s the link:
http://becominglisaann.blogspot.com/
Pirate Patch Footnote: The morning Jack was discovered to have pinkeye, he was desperate to attend school because he had already been home for 2 days with a cold. When I informed him that kids with pinkeye can’t attend school, he ran to find his plastic pirate patch “so they won’t know.” I had to stifle the laughs at the thought of his innocent problem-solving.
