Eating Healthy AND Saving Money

Last week, I wrote about why we should feel perfectly all right applying for and spending Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (better known as SNAP) funds. One of the reasons this is on my mind is that in the summer, I don't get paid. And regardless of how much I've put away to cover my basic bills out of the salary I get from September through May, the summer months provide a challenge. Then, if my car battery dies (like it did last week), I find myself stressing not unlike I did in the bad ole days.

Then I start thinking about those who live on a fixed income because they're retired or collecting disability benefits or unemployed or unable to work for whatever reason. They have to worry every month -- not just in the summer. And at 70 years of age, I could very easily be one of them any time now. So it helps to know that SNAP exists. But I have some other things I'm doing right now to help me get the nutritious food I need and keep my glucose in check.

Managing Diabetes Is Like Managing A Business

I don't write much about my father. He had a fatal flaw. Maybe even more than one. But it occurred to me this morning that he gave me one gift that keeps on giving -- in a good way. He was a "management analyst" (whatever that means). Not that he talked about it much. When I asked him as a child what he did when he went to work, he replied with a chuckle that he "pushed papers around."

But what I saw, week after week, month after month, until I left his house at eighteen years of age, was my father sitting at a table with his checkbook, an accounting ledger, and a little red metal bucket full of bills, addressing them one after another. He didn't explain what he doing, let alone how he was doing it, but that image is burned into my mind and it has guided me through the years in ways that never let me down when I followed the guidance.

It's Complicated...

Since writing Your Life Isn't Over ~ It May Have Just Begun!, I will pretty much talk to anybody about diabetes management any time anywhere. I don't claim to be an "expert." I'm no kind of medical professional. And there are lots of folks who have been managing diabetes quite successfully for far longer than I have.

But I have learned a few things through the years since I was diagnosed in February of 2008. And the process of spending an entire summer wading through my memories and writing it all down helped me to organize what I've learned into areas I think are the most obvious (like weight loss) or easiest to implement (like taking the stairs instead of the elevator) or even more crucial to saving one's life (like not giving up as if there is no hope when your life isn't over ~ it may have just begun).

It All Hangs In The Balance

I'm no doctor or nurse. In fact, I'm not a trained health professional at all. And I know that each body is different. Some of us are older than others. We represent different genders and body types. Some of us jump out of planes for fun. And some of us can't get out of bed. It's complicated. But I hope that, if I communicate anything at all in these posts, one of the principal messages that comes across is that balance is key to managing diabetes.

When I was diagnosed with our shared condition in February of 2008, all I heard was, "Here's a list of everything you ever loved about food and drink that you can't ever eat or drink again" (a list four feet long) "and here's a list of what you can eat and drink from this point forward" (a list that fit tidily on one page of a 4" x 6" notebook). New information was coming at me so fast, I couldn't possibly catch it all, let alone understand it. So I got some of it confused. And I got some of it wrong. And I missed some of it altogether. Not to mention brushing some of it aside until later -- years later, actually -- because it was complicated and my brains were already stir-fried.

Acting Like Grown Ups Because We Are

Twice this week, I was greatly appreciated for behaving in a kind manner. In both cases, the people involved compared my actions to those of others they had recently come into contact with. And in one case, a server actually wouldn't accept my tip because he was so grateful that I had been "nice." It's sad to me that people in public places treat those who serve them badly, so I wound up making a joke about acting like a "grown-up." But later, I got to thinking that -- though all of us grow old -- not all of us grow up.

Practice Makes Progess, Not Perfect

Last week, I told you I was kicking my exercise regimen up a notch, so I'm reporting today on how that went. I don't know how things work for you, but I tend to think that if I'm not totally on top of my game, I've failed miserably. This is not the case, of course. But it's how I feel. And it's easier to drop a commitment if I think I've already let myself down. You may feel the same. So I'm going to share my week with you to encourage us both to keep going.

Lights! Camera! Action!

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was, like most people I knew, not very "active" physically. In fact, taking the stairs at work instead the elevator was pretty much the extent of it. I felt good. I looked okay. I was overweight by thirty pounds, but I saw plenty of people bigger than me. I knew I probably should be more active, but I had no motivation and, frankly, no interest.

Then came The Day, when my doctor said, "I was right. You're diabetic." And when I managed to talk my psyche down off the ceiling long enough to do some homework, it became apparent to me that things were going to have to change. All the information on managing diabetes was telling me to eat less carbs, take my medication, and exercise -- or suffer consequences I did not want to think about.

When Routines Get Broken

I'm a creature of habit, as many of us are. My life tends towards forming itself into routines and at my age, with the freedom of being a person who lives alone, those routines are not often interrupted. This works well for managing my diabetes.

My body typically wakes without an alarm at 6 a.m. after going to bed as a rule between 10 and 11 at night. As soon as I'm up, I do some stretches, make my bed, and check my blood glucose level. Then, I bring in the paper, fix my breakfast, take my insulin, eat while I read the daily news, and hit the computer for the first time of the day. Some mornings, I have to be out and about early and I often have to be in front of a classroom by 9:30, but even when I don't, the routine generally holds.

How To Get Rid Of Bad Habits

One thing I've learned after living for 69 years is that much of life seems to driven by routines. When I first started having the local daily newspaper delivered in the morning, for example, I didn't even know if I'd read it. I hit the ground running in the morning and I'm usually on the computer before I've digested my breakfast. But it didn't take long before reading the paper while I sipped my morning tea became a routine and that was two years ago. I wake up, make the bed, do some stretches, and open the door to pick up the paper. We're creatures of habit. Which can be a bad thing, but doesn't have to be.