Diabetes and Food

Why Are Our Obesity Campaigns So “Nanny” Like?

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Yesterday, October 11, was World Obesity Day (and if you’re in the US or the UK, then technically it’s still World Obesity Day).

Obesity is an epidemic. The World Health Organisation estimated that the prevalance of obesity worldwide increased from 11.5% of adults in 2010 to 13% of adults in 2014.

Obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes in some, but not all cases. Essentially, people could have to deal with some of the things that I write about in this blog as a consequence of being obese.

And on World Obesity Day, we are being asked to call on governments to act in order to meet our target of halting obesity to 2010 levels by the year 2025.

Here in Australia, we have had many campaigns over the years to tackle obesity. Most recently, we’ve had the Live Lighter campaign. You know, the one with that lovely visual of “the toxic fat inside your body that grows around your vital organs.”

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Behind that confronting visual that you see on the TV, there’s also a bright and well meaning website full of advice to encourage us to live healthier lifestyles.

We’ve also had the Rethink Sugary Drink campaign, which literally presents to us the amount of sugar in soft drinks, juices, energy drinks and so on. Which isn’t a bad idea either.

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One honest flaw that I find in our campaigns here in Australia is the fact that they come across too “nanny” like. In all honesty, watching those ads seemingly telling me “not to have a single sip of soft drink” makes me more inclined to do it for the sake of rebellion. Try telling your kid that he can’t have that toy he picked up off of the shelf. He’ll probably be more likely to chuck a tentrum in the checkout queue than if you hadn’t said anything.

Then there’s the scare tactics and horror stories, like the image of the toxic fat. Scaring people is not okay in my book. Blaming and shaming people is not okay in my book. And employing these tactics does nothing to motivate the people who need it the most.

At the end of the day, the decisions on what we eat and drink are ours. It’s good to have the facts, and the statistics there. But it’s up to us, the consumers, to figure out for ourselves that an excess of unhealthy lifestyle choices can harm us. And that’s what our campaigns are missing. Believeability. Patient voices. Real, first hand experiences and stories that will appeal to me, the average Australian. That will help me to come to these conclusions on my own. To seek out those helpful websites on my own. So today, I will get the ball rolling.

I’m Frank, and I am a person with diabetes. I am essentially living with a disease that in some cases is a consequence of being overweight. It’s my job to keep my blood sugar levels between 4 and 8 every day. This means pricking my finger as much as 10 times a day. This means sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to make sure that I’m not too high or too low. I need to think about every piece of food that I put into my mouth. I need to think about every activity that I plan on doing. It plays a rollercoaster on my emotions. And if not managed properly, it could impact on the quality of my life.

I wouldn’t wish diabetes on anyone. I couldn’t do anything to prevent my diabetes, but perhaps you can.

You can also read the International Diabetes Federation’s statement on World Obesity Day here.

My Week on Diabetes Autopilot

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I went to give my insulin dose after lunch. I dialled it up and stuck it where it needed to go. As I put my insulin pen away, I stopped and tried to think about what I’d done. How many units had I given myself? What did I have for lunch? Less than a minute had passed, and I couldn’t even remember.

I’ve been stuck on diabetes autopilot, and that routine has been on repeat every day in the past week. A fairly busy week, mind you. I’ve had to shake off a cold without any sick leave because of my responsibilities at work. I’ve had to wake up an hour earlier. Despite my best efforts, my body refused to fall asleep an hour earlier at night. And after imagining all the possibilities of an earlier finish, the reality has been falling asleep on the couch in the afternoons.

It was morning tea time on Friday morning. I was having my usual apple and Muesli bar. My blood sugar was 13.1, thanks to the cappuccino with 1 sugar I’d had earlier. Driven by my urge to bring it back down, I grabbed my insulin pen and quickly jabbed in 5 units. Normally, being on my feet at work would cover the apple. Meanwhile the muesli bar was a nut and seed variety, and had a lot less carbs than the ones I normally eat. I wasn’t thinking straight that morning. I’d already set myself up for a hypo, I just couldn’t see it yet.

Half an hour later, I was beginning to feel exhausted as I carried out my work. I wanted nothing more than to sit down somewhere. I was constantly sighing and loudly exhaling air from my mouth. I was nodding along when others were speaking, lacking the energy to talk back to them. I felt warmer and sweatier than normal. I didn’t have to go and check my blood sugar, I already knew that I was hypo.

I grabbed a muesli bar from the stash in my locker (this one had 24g of carbs) and walked back out into my work area. There was only one person around at the time, who knows that I have diabetes, but I still felt rude for eating in front of her. “Have you not gone for morning tea yet, Frank?” she asked me. “No, I’m just low and need some sugar,” I replied. “Oh, of course you do!”

I knew that the hypo was fixed, but those feelings of exhaustion just wouldn’t go away. And there was just something about coming off of a bad hypo that made me crave those carbs and sugar even more. So I decided to head off for an early lunch and grabbed a Supershake, a Cheese and Bacon Roll, a block of Lindt chocolate and a Jam Donut doused in sugar (I know, not your model diabetic!).

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In that moment as I sat there in the staff room, those carbs had never tasted better. That rich cheese and salty bacon hit the savoury spot on my tongue perfectly. The sugar on top of that donut stuck to my fingers and my face, and I felt high. Drowning it down in that thick, chocolatey supershake was heaven on earth. And after a few squares of chocolate, I’d finally had enough.

I went easy on the insulin dose, because I knew I’d be on my feet for another 2 hours. By the time I got home, I was a lovely 21.3. I gave another 10 units, and then decided to play the waiting game. I was 17.4 an hour later, 14.9 after that, and 11.9 by dinnertime.

I have no explanation to offer. It was just one of those days. Thank God it was Friday, because I really needed some rest.

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Everything in Moderation Will NOT Cause Diabetes

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Okay, so I was sucked into part 2 of Sunday Night’s report on the Paleo diet again last night. If you’ve been living under a rock, reporter Mike Willessee undertook the Paleo diet for 10 weeks with the help of My Kitchen Rules judge and chef Pete Evans (I’ll call him Paleo Pete from here on in).

Admittedly watching the program last night, I was able to learn a little more about this diet. Basically, there are two sources of energy that the human body can use for fuel: carbohydrates and fat. I hear from a lot of people with diabetes who live and advocate for a Low Carb, High Fat (LHCF) diet. I completely respect that, and I’m sure that your body could be fuelled by fat. I myself have seen some merits in reducing “unnecessary” carbs and sugars in my diet, such as bread on my dinner plate and high sugar snacks such as muesli bars or breakfast cereals. But I do still eat carbs. I don’t feel that I could realistically cut them out completely and still be a happy man. But I completely respect those that do make that choice.

I just can’t fathom how Paleo Pete was quick to dismiss healthy, nutritious foods such as Dairy, Legumes and Grains. I also didn’t appreciate the way he referred to all of these carbohydrates as sugar, which is NOT true. And I can’t fathom how you could expect a human being to live without coffee!.

He went as far as suggesting that a diet of “everything in moderation” would cause type 2 diabetes among a string of other threatening diseases. Paleo Pete, you know absolutely NOTHING about diabetes. Don’t make an empty threat on the base of a common stigma. As my Twitter friend Lala brought to my attention, he even suggested that people who follow the Paleo diet are all exclusively healthy.

Paleo Pete is a chef. He is not qualified to provide nutrition or dietary advice. As one Twitter user commented, being around food doesn’t qualify you to provide nutritional advice. It would be like having a passenger fly an aeroplane. The Dieticians Association of Australia is qualified. LISTEN to them.

Paleo Pete also makes a lot of money off of Paleo. He has a series of cookbooks and other money making products that I don’t really care about. It’s a bit hard to take his claims of “speaking the truth” and “never feeling better” seriously.

As I said last week, Paleo Pete also works for the television network that aired this story. He is a judge on cooking show My Kitchen Rules. So is this story just a convenient case of networks keeping their talent happy?

At the end of his 10 week challenge, reporter Mike Willessee said that Paleo had opened his eyes to some of the his food choices. I feel exactly the same way, particularly after watching the similarly themed That Sugar Film earlier this year. What Mike Willessee neglected to mention was whether he’d stick with Paleo or not. I suspect his view would be similar to mine. There are some aspects that I’d take away from Paleo, but I won’t be rushing to clear out the cupboards and fridges of anything even remotely delicious.

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I’m Skeptical of Diets That Cut Out Food Groups

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I was sucked into a story on Sunday Night this week about the Paleo diet. The paleo, or ‘caveman’ diet, seems to be the latest fad at the moment. It’s a diet that My Kitchen Rules judge Pete Evans is well known for. And on Sunday Night this week, one of the program’s reporters took on a 10 week challenge to see if it lived up to it’s promise of ‘changing’ lives.

Paleo is a premise that sounds great on paper – fresh, natural, unprocessed foods. It might be easy if I had the whole day to spare to prepare a fresh meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it might even be fun if I had the time and the money to go shopping around for fresh, organic ingredients. And if I didn’t have to get up and go to work every day, committing to this diet might actually sound realistic.

I do try to include as much fresh foods in my diet as possible. I have a piece of fruit for morning tea every day. I’ve given up cordial and soft drinks for water ever since I’ve had diabetes. I have hard boiled eggs, tuna and nuts with my lunch regularly. And I usually have veggies or salad on the side of my dinner plate.

But I am pretty skeptical of diets that cut out entire food groups. I try not to overload on carbs with my meals, but I honestly don’t know where my energy would come from without them. Whenever I go without carbs at breakfast, my stomach ends up growling all morning. I love that Burgen bread exists, and that I can still pack a quick, diabetes friendly sandwich for lunch in the morning. I’d hate to think of all the extra time I’d have to spend making something extravagent to fit in with this diet. And as for dairy, I love my cheese. I love my milky coffees. I love my desserts. And I don’t know where my calcium and strong bones would be without it.

I also have diabetes. Diabetes means that my diet choices are already restricted. It means that I do need to think carefully about every food choice that I make. It means that I do need to have particular foods in moderation for the sake of my blood sugar levels. And I’ll be damned if I want to begin cutting out food groups and making my life even more miserable. I’ll be damned if I want to give up that piece of chocolate or slice of cake. Being able to have those treats makes me feel human. It motivates me to go keep going with my diabetes management.

Another thing I found interesting about this Paleo story was that the reporter undertaking this challenge had a fairly unhealthy diet to start with. He had a few health scares earlier this year, and lived off of Coca Cola and junk food at home. So of course a major diet overhaul would produce extremely impressive results on him, compared to say, a reasonably healthy person like me.

And don’t forget that people like Pete Evans, who was involved in this report, are making money off of this Paleo fad. Through things like cookbooks, guides and 10 week transformations. Coincidentally, he also works for the network who aired this report. So take it with a grain of salt. I, on the other hand, am giving you my honest, unqualified opinion that I wasn’t paid to write about.

You can read more about the Sunday Night report on the Paleo diet here.

Throwing Away all the Rules in Sydney

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I spend most days doing my best to resist all those foods that I know are bad for my blood sugar levels. Like the goodies my work Mums pull out of their pockets without fail. Like the birthday morning teas at work where pink donuts are mandatory. Like the packet of Tim Tams or slice of leftover cake with my cuppa in the afternoon. And then having to fight the urge to open a packet of chips afterwards for my something savoury.

Over time, I’ve gotten better at it, and I am more resilient. I’m proud to say that I no longer need to have that afternoon snack that’s been a part of my daily routine for my whole life. I still do allow myself these things on occasions, and Friday is still my I-can’t-be-bothered-I’ll-buy-my-lunch-at-work kind of a day. But it’s a hard job. So when I go on holidays, I tend to throw away all the rules.

I don’t go on holidays too often, and it will probably be a long time until I go back to Sydney again. And so, I get that feeling of needing to stock up. Moreso when you come from a tiny city like Perth. Of needing to get my fill, while I can. Before it all goes away again. And boy oh boy, did I find some good spots.

Like a cake and cappuccino at the best Pasticceria in Sydney, Via Del Corso. I think I stopped by there almost every day. I’m not even ashamed to admit that I went there one afternoon after I’d already had a coffee and cannoli elsewhere. The Choc Panna Cotta, the Baked Ricotta Cheesecake, the Tiramisu or the Snickers, there was no shortage of choices there to aid my difficult decision making!

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Then there’s the best Cannoli in Sydney, at Rossini Cafe on the harbour. If it wasn’t such a trek to walk, you would have seen me there every day for sure. When I finished my climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the dark last week, my blood sugar level had rebounded to a lovely 17 after my Hypo on the Harbour. It was dark and I was ridiculously high. But all I wanted to do was trek over to Rossini’s for one of their massive, freshly filled Cannoli served on a pile of thick, creamy custard. Public apology to my Mum, I had forgotten just how awesome these were since last time.

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Then there’s the Lindt Cafe. You know, the one in Martin Place that was the setting of the tragic Sydney Siege last year. Going by the crowds inside, it’s hard to believe that something so terrible could have happened here. The hot chocolate was SO worth the trek. Again, I came here one afternoon shortly after a coffee and cake at Via Del Corso. And I guess it serves me right that I went most of the trip not realising there was another Lindt Cafe closer to where I was staying!

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And finally, Darling Harbour. I think we ate here all but one night. The best thing here is the three-course-meal-and-a-glass-of-wine-for-$30 thing. Almost every restaurant here has some sort of tempting not-so-diabetes-friendly offer like it.

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The most suprising thing was how well my blood sugar levels managed all this food on the trip. Most days I went without breakfast or lunch simply because I was full from all the other crap I was eating. But I honestly don’t recall having half as many hypers or hypos as my last holiday. There were even some mornings where I woke up in disbelief seeing numbers below 10.

I CAN travel with diabetes. I CAN eat crap. And I CAN still produce decent blood sugar levels afterwards.

Bring on the next one.