GUY’S GOTTA TALK ABOUT…TYPE 2 DIABETES #30: DIABETIC SUMMER EATING WITH RECIPES!

For the first time since I started this blog eleven years ago, it’s going to be about me. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes two weeks ago. While people are happy to talk about their experiences with diabetes, I WASN’T comfortable with talking about diabetes. My wife is Type 2, as are several friends of ours. The “other Type” of diabetes was what caused the death of my Best Man a year after my wife and I got married. He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid. It was called Juvenile Diabetes then. Today it’s Type 1. Since then, I haven’t WANTED to talk about diabetes at all. But…for my own education and maybe helping someone else, and not one to shut up for any known reason, I’m reopening my blog rather than starting a new one. I MAY take a pause and write about Breast Cancer or Alzheimer’s as medical headlines dictate; but this time I’m going to drag anyone along who wants to join my HIGHLY RELUCTANT journey toward better understanding of my life with Type 2 Diabetes. You’re Welcome to join me! The recipes you see here we either HAVE tried or we WILL try!

Summer eating is ALL ABOUT THE CARBS, right?

Who cares if my blood sugar spikes the next day (or ever try eating several handfuls on real jellybeans on Easter Day? MAN! I felt like was gonna pass out – and my blood sugars weren’t even that high…)

How come as soon as I say the words “Type 2 diabetes”, I AUTOMATICALLY feel deprived and that I should feel sorry for myself? Of course, it’s a head game to try and let force my LOGICAL brain – which knows that I’m going to be in a battle against a rebellious body who constantly tries to tell me that “IT’S NOT THAT BAD!!!” and a body that I abuse with my eyes closed, knowing that when I go get that Peanut Buster Parfait (which is ABSOLUTELY ALLOWABLE and I’m NOT punishing myself for “getting diabetes”) I am absolutely going to pay for it – and if I end up having to pay for all the stuff I eat that don’t go with DIABETES OF ANY TYPE – it will speed up an already certain death – only I might keep my feet and hands and kidneys and liver…

So: I’m going to TRY and eat for my BLOOD SUGAR!

Here’s one that’s not necessarily JUST for the grill, and it’s NOT an entire fancy meal…but IS better for me than the alternative!

Grilled hamburgers, buns, ketchup, mayo, corn-on-the-cob, brats, and oh, let’s say, cookies and ice cream with chocolate sauce?

THE ALTERNATIVE

Grilled chicken breast on Brownberry Ovens WHOLE WHEAT Sandwich thins; salsa; low fat “mayo”, grilled spaghetti squash (or, more easily, spaghetti squash MOSTLY heated to “noodles” in the microwave, then grilled up on a baking dish and mixed with a dash of butter, olive oil, and some fancy combination of a salt and mild garlic, (you CAN have brats, but make them TURKEY brats and cut them so they fit on the Sandwich thins); and lastly, there are COUNTLESS chocolate chip (DARK CHOCOLATE!) cookies that are diabetic friendly (though you’ll need to EXPERIMENT so that you can fool your grandkids!); and finally something I discovered a few days ago! Take a container of your favorite lowfat/1%/2% or whatever level you want that’s NOT FULL FAT!; yogurt, pop it into the freezer for a bit, then scoop it out, sprinkle with Splenda or Monk Fruit or any other artificial sweetener (NO, DON’T USE TEN TEASPOONS!!!) but to taste, THEN add a MODERATE amount of chocolate syrup. Stir it in, and voila! You have summer grill out food that WON’T DESTROY you blood sugars – AND you can have fun with the rest of the family!

Source: It’s What We Do!
Image: https://www.hcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/living-well-with-diabetes.jpg