My husband has been concerned in recent months about his weight gain, exhaustion and overall drop in fitness over the past 5 years. The reasons for all 3 problems are rather obvious: he is built like his mother's side of the family with a middle aged paunch, he is in his 60's but trying to work the same hours and with the same stresses as a man half his age, he has been sitting at a desk in front of a computer, or visiting people in their homes and doing other sedentary tasks required by his job as a priest and only gets any real exercise when he goes hiking or canoeing a couple of times a year because he has not developed the discipline to work an exercise routine into his daily schedule.
BUT since my diagnosis a year and a half ago, he has been growing more and more convinced that he too has diabetes. His food sensitivity morning "hangovers" experienced occasionally if he has too much starch at bedtime, have been taking on additional symptoms of diabetes, at least in his own mind. It isn't like him to be any sort of hypochondriac, so I have been somewhat amused at his inability to put the blame on the real source of his problems: lack of discipline to exercise, refusal to watch his diet more closely in the past year and his habit of not being able to take the blame for anything that is wrong with him. In other words, he is simply a normal middle aged man living in denial about his own health.
Yesterday we decided to put his diabetes theory to the test. We went out to a pasta house for dinner. Between his pasta dish with sweet rose sauce, a pint of beer and 1.5 small white bread loaves that he consumed with great relish, we counted a minimum of 10 carbohydrate units in his meal. As I diabetic I can't have more than 3 at suppertime, maybe 4 if I am able to do an intense workout after the meal. Last night I had no more than 2.5 carbohydrate units, then came home and did my regular exercise routine. My husband chose deliberately to have a sleep instead and not exercise at all, so he could continue this deliberate "worst case scenario" for his blood sugar.
We each tested our blood right before we started our meal. I knew mine was getting too low because we were eating too late into the evening for me after a very busy day unpacking and putting furniture together. My pre-prandial count: 3.8. My husband's count: 5.1 2 hours later we tested again. My post-prandial count: 6.1. My husband's count: 5.3!!! He will do a full day of testing tomorrow just to convince him, but my husband is about as diabetic as the broad side of a barn! I am happy for him but also happy that he is going to have to stop blaming a disease he doesn't have for the condition he is in. hahahaha
But, oooh it was tempting to be jealous of his blood sugar count. WOW! I am delighted for him, that is for sure. However, as of today there will be no more high carb meals like he has been poking down faster than imagineable over the past few months!
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