I want to digress a little here for a minute... I am at a healthy weight now, and have been for several years, but for most of my life I wasn't. I was obese. I still feel like my mind hasn't caught up -- years later. It's a hard thing to face that I still feel like I have an obese mind. I still look at chocolate like the devil on my shoulder. I still want dessert I know would not be a good choice. I try to be strong and a good role model to my kids and my clients, but I am still developing my own strategies to cope and deal with those situations when temptation is so strong I feel like I will fold. The longer I am at a healthy weight, the harder it is for my friends and family to understand what it is to want desperately to never be in that place again. In fact, the peer pressure (yes, at MY age) is sometimes intolerable.
I have an upcoming trip out of town with some friends and I am dreading the choices I am going to be faced with. Normally, it's not an issue. I can ignore or avoid the choices that are inconsistent with my health goals. But there has been a lot of pressure to "have just one" or that "one bite won't hurt." The problem is that, for me and my history with food, one bite sometimes leads to ten or twenty or thirty. In fact, I sometimes feel like justifying eating some treats with the hard work I have been doing. I talk myself out of those thoughts usually and that works fine.
While I told my friends that I can't do certain things or go to certain places, they brushed it off and I think that is due in part to the fact that they don't understand how hard my journey has been or that I still struggle every day to be healthy. It isn't easy for me, but I am trying to do this the best I can. This challenge is so important to me, and I am becoming better because of it. I don't want to sacrifice my health for a weekend with friends. I don't know what choices I will be faced with, but I am going to work really hard to keep those goals at the forefront of my mind to help me stay on track.
Now, back to today's challenge...
The weekly challenge this week, for week five, is to drink water. Oh, how I have been waiting for this challenge. I am a huge proponent of water, but I sometimes forget to drink it as often as I should. I can always tell when I don't get enough water. I get cranky, have cravings, feel drained, and usually get a headache. Water is the magical cure for me, though.
The daily challenge is to take control of our energy management system and control our insulin release. This is something that I am quite good at, but it took a while to get the hang of it. Our bodies naturally release insulin at certain times to help us feel balance in our appetite and even helps control physical symptoms as a result of low or high blood glucose (hunger, shakiness, light headedness, etc.).
Frankly, I always thought that managing blood glucose and insulin was for diabetics and people who developed insulin resistance. That's just not true. Everybody benefits when you have a good control over those things.
Here's a little lesson on how it works... (This assumes this person has no diseases yet, of course.) When you eat something, your blood glucose will rise. The amount that it rises is dependent on the type of food you eat. Foods that are "low glycemic" make your blood glucose rise less than "high glycemic" foods. A food's "glycemic index" is the measure of its effect on your blood glucose. Insulin's job is to keep your blood glucose at your baseline level. Without it, your blood sugar could spike and that could result in serious health effects. People who are Diabetic, type II have worn out their insulin pump (called "insulin resistance"). Type I diabetics struggle to keep a good balance in their blood glucose. They usually develop Diabetes early in life.
So, if you are eating high glycemic foods every few hours, you are causing rapid response from your insulin pump, which creates a lot of undesired effects and could lead you down a path of disease (Boo!). If you can control your blood glucose by keeping a steady, small increase in your blood glucose so that your insulin pump isn't working like crazy, you will feel much better. The best way to do that is to eat low glycemic meals every two or three hours.
If you would like help working towards a balanced glucose level (even for Type I and II Diabetics), please email me at HealthyandFitLife@gmail.com.
We are not doctors and the information contained in this post is not meant or intended to be medical advice. If you are concerned or have questions about any part of your health, please seek assistance from a licensed medical professional.
No comments:
Post a Comment