This is not an advice column. It is the opposite. If you, like the DiabetesDailyGrind, want to make the most of your Thanksgiving with friends and family, avoid the following seven diabetes-related behaviors:
1) Be the high school hero during the annual family football game.
After scoring every touchdown, making every tackle, and breaking your niece’s collarbone, your family will most likely say “See you next year” and you’ll be low.
2) Join spirited conversations over the Middle East or Donald Trump.
3) Flip a family member the bird, storm out of the house, and peel out of the driveway, after losing a third game of Uno in a row. Two hours later, your blood sugar has spiked because of the stressful exit.
Last week was a busy one with tours of the new gallery and the Oklahoma Arts Conference in town. Blood sugars and stress levels were all over the map, making my attention span and ability to rally each day rather tough. For the first time, I actually took a mental health day midweek, but more so to get my diabetes under control by focusing on my mind and my body.
Final day of the conference kicks off at 8am and the first session is an important one so I’m sure to be up extra early, eat a hearty breakfast and pack plenty of snacks so I don’t crash while engaging in conversation. Two sessions later and my stomach is growling, I’ve consumed as much coffee as humanly possible and head into lunch. I scarf down the spinach salad and eagerly await the main course before a fellow arts friend warns me of the vegetarian options. She is a fan of the DDG and knows that I constantly bitch about the lack of low carb options in a buffet or conference setting. Word on the street, the lunch option for vegetarians was pasta and grilled potatoes. NO THANK YOU! (more…)