I’ve been posting my low carb blood sugar results recently on Instagram because I firmly believe low carb is the best option for controlling diabetes and maintaining normalized numbers. One response I received has had me thinking for quite a few days and it will not leave me alone, so I want to address it.
An anonymous person wrote me, “When I would try and get as good of results as you, I would have to sacrifice my entire everyday life”.
What?
Let me get one thing straight. By maintaining a healthy diet, and normalizing your blood sugars, you are NOT sacrificing your life.
Since when did eating pizza, bread, noodles, cake, ice cream, etc become more important than health?
Since when is it a sacrifice to eat healthy and to control diabetes?
Since when is life about eating unnecessary, nutrient-lacking foods?
I am still baffled as I think about this comment. By taking care of what foods I put in my body so that I ensure my blood sugars react happily, I am not sacrificing anything. By NOT doing this, I would be, however, sacrificing my life.
Without controlled blood sugars, complications WILL happen. Maybe not today, but in the future. Complications can begin to happen even with an A1C as low as 6%. Read more about why your A1C matters, here.
So my point is, no one is sacrificing their life to achieve normalized blood sugars. It’s the other way around.
theinsulintype.com 
I think it’s important to recognize that for many people, the daily struggle of managing type 1 diabetes takes a serious mental toll. Extremely strict management is not worth the added mental stress for some people. Physical health is nothing if your mental wellbeing isn’t there. Sometimes it’s more important to eat a slice of pizza than to be shamed and guilted into obsessively trying to control numbers day after day after day. Especially since those numbers often don’t do what you expect. I’m glad a keto diet works for you, but I also think it’s important to not judge other people if it doesn’t work for them. I would personally 100% say that I have to sacrifice part of my life to achieve healthier blood sugars. Of course that’s to avoid health complications, like you say, but it’s still a significant sacrifice, and while it may delay long term issues, which is a positive, it also negatively impacts my life in the short term.
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I wholeheartedly agree with this. For me, it’s more important to be able to eat foods I enjoy than have perfect readings. If I ate nothing but grilled chicken and salad everyday I’m fairly sure I’d go insane.
It is also important to note that a lot of people don’t have the money to eat healthy/keto/whatever fad diet is popular today. Pizza is cheap and filling. Being judgy isn’t the right response at all.
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Hi Loucke, I’m sorry that you thought I was being judgy. I definitely did not mean to come off that way. I am only trying to point out that putting food in front of overall health is a sad outlook. I still eat DELICIOUS foods that are from REAL sources. I do not buy anything processed and I do not cook with outrageous ingredients that are hard to come by or are expensive. In the end, we all need to manage our diabetes in the best way we feel possible. That’s all. And I fully believe we all do try our best!
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Hi Ann,
I am not trying to shame anyone. And I completely understand what you’ve expressed above. However, I have come to a point in my life where eating certain things are just not worth the BG fluctuations and stress. By taking care of my BG now and doing whats best, my mental health is actually BETTER. I do not have significant mood swings that accompany rollercoaster blood sugars. I am stable and healthy.
And I do want to point out that I do not eat Keto. I eat normal, fresh foods. I choose to reduce my carb intake to make the guessing game easier. I still eat pizza, but with low carb dough and it is AMAZING.
There is no need to give up certain foods that we all love, but finding low carb alternatives is definitely worth it, for me.
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Couldn’t agree more!!
Some people just don’t know what sacrifices are 🙂
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So true. Thanks Tim! 🙂
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