Chronic Compromises – “A Large Mocha Iced Capp No Whip, Please!”

I spent several years cooking for my Dad and his diabetes, so I knew the basics from the outside when my diagnosis came. What surprised, even shocked me, was the internal turmoil of sugar highs and lows.

I have had a binging disorder most of my life. I don’t purge; I gorge on foods behind “closed doors.” If I get one bite of a chocolate chip cookie, for example, I want to eat half a dozen cookies.

Whenever I was on a diet, I would put up a good front, but behind the scenes, I ate anything I wanted – the worse, the better!

Naturally, this was the first thing I had to deal with before committing to a diabetes diet.

• I removed the Costco-sized supply of Chocolate chips from my baking pantry and put them in the freezer. I then asked my husband to bury them, so they were there if I needed them but not for eating a handful.
• I stocked the fridge and pantry with healthy snacks, including fruits and veggies, nuts, seeds, etc.
• For now, I am allowing myself two things – pretzels and veggie dip – which I can control the amounts and still feel satisfied.
• I am, for now, not doing any “regular” baking. I will continue with the gluten and other free loaves, muffins, etc., that both my hubby and I can eat, making sure they are within the guidelines of diabetes cooking.

What does this have to do with the title?

Last week we went on a drive to get out of the house. It was a beautiful day, and being a Covid shut-in, I could use some fresh air. When we started to head back, I needed some food. I asked if we could stop at Tim Horton’s so I could have my last Iced Capp. They were one of my go-to’s when I needed a sugar fix.

I agreed to have a sausage and egg wrap for some protein to go with the frosty sweet drink. The wrap was good; however, the drink was most satisfying.

Oh, I started to take prednisone that morning because my asthma, cough, and breathing were not getting any better. After nine years, I forgot that we needed to be extra careful with Dad’s sugar intake when on prednisone.

When we got home, I was starting to shake inside and out. My head was racing, and I felt weak. It wasn’t like anything I had felt before. It took us a few minutes to figure out it could be my blood sugar level. I have a few strips for my Dad’s old glucose monitor, so I checked and got a reading of 18.9, about double what a random high should be.

Instantly we realized it was the Iced Capp. It took a little longer to factor in the prednisone. I had to stop that for a couple of days anyway as I had a breathing test.

In the next few days, I had another high level and a low.  I don’t have many blood test strips left, and my meter doesn’t want to hold a charge, so I have to learn to watch my intake and symptoms manually until I can get my GP to authorize a new one. I take this as a good thing because I have had to listen to my body for years with my other chronic illnesses.

I will be on prednisone for another ten days and at intervals for the rest of my life. I need to be able to find the right balance between these two conditions and all my others. My specialist increased my metformin for at least until I am done the prednisone. The doctor and my husband both said they were proud of the effort I am making to deal with these new health challenges. I am proud of me too…and the 7 pounds I have lost in two weeks!

The one thing I know for sure, that was definitely my last Iced Capp.

Lydia!