Diabetic Recipes
Over the weekend, I met up with Nicole to see Blithe Spirit at the Trinity Rep, in Providence, RI. If you have a chance to see this, go. It's wickedly funny. I loved it.
After the show, we went out to a late lunch/early supper (lupper?) and the talk turned, as it so often does, to diabetes. We talked about food choices that Nicole made as a child and what Olivia makes for food choices now. Nicole was telling me that her mother doled out cookies to her, 2 at a sitting, which made her feel as though she had to horde them and hide them in her room, to have whenever she wanted.
I don't go thru that with Olivia, but she does tend to plow thru food. I've pretty much eliminated junk food from our house. I still get it once in a while, but it's not always here. What is here are good-for-you snacks, like fresh fruit and yoghurt and whole grain crackers.
Because Olivia is 13-1/2, I am not always watching when she's eating. She does her homework in her room and will grab a snack to take upstairs with her. She very rarely tells me when she's getting a snack and I often only see it if I happen to catch it when I'm not otherwise occupied with the little girls or some endless form of housework (seriously. Why are there so many dirty dishes all. the. time? I wash them and as soon as I turn around, bam, there they are again.) So it's not until I review her pump and meter that I see just how many carbs she's had for the day. Some days it's a lot.
I don't mind if she's hungry and she's eating. I do mind if she's eating because she's bored. I used to do that and it's a bad, bad habit. Packs on the pounds really quickly, without you really noticing.
I'm hoping that talking to her about it will help. I've been doing it, without trying to nag (too much) and I have noticed a small improvement. Since I've banned eating at the computer, I've noticed a lot less snacking, too. Maybe tightening up just a little more on the foods coming into the house will help, too. I just don't want her to have a big weight issue. She's not fat, but she's not skinny, either.
I know how big an issue food is for people with diabetes. I hear it all the time. If I can do anything to help with that, I will. I want her to eat well, to eat healthily without feeling deprived. Hopefully I can reach that delicate balance without falling off on one side or the other.
Make it a rule to only eat at the kitchen table. I've done that with the kids because the snacking was out of control...and like you, they'd do it while I was busy with something. I found that if they don't have "comfort" to look forward to while eating, then the snacks aren't so appealing anymore. On the flip side, if Brendon didn't have diabetes, I'd still be strict about their food choices and the amount of food/snacks they get. I don't think it'll lead to eating disorders or issues. Brendon told me he'd rather have fruit than the cookies his friends bring to school for snack. I feel if anything, they'll develop good habits rather than rogue eating habits. At least that's where I see it leading for my own kids based on how they react with food choices.
I think what you're doing is right. When I was growing up anything not deemed "healthy" was banned from the house. If sugar was the first, second or third ingredient in cereal we couldn't buy it. There were never chips, junk food or desserts. So I found those things elsewhere and hoarded them. I still do. I seriously have a hard time "sharing" junk food with my kids and my husband.
I find it's hard, even now, to manage my eating patterns. Growing up, I always felt like everyone was watching me eat, which made me very self-conscious. But it's hard for me to figure whether that self-consciousness was because I was diabetic or because I was an adolescent girl.
Now it seems easier to eat healthier, because I'm (slightly) more mature. Chris doesn't watch me critically when I eat, which makes a huge difference. But my mother still does. And I can't blame her - she feels as responsible for my health as I do.
Tricky situation indeed, J. But I think keeping healthy food in the house and setting some ground rules (like you said, no food at the computer) helps a ton.