Temptation and Willpower
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Temptation and Willpower are difficult issues when it comes to food. As a Diabetic I know the problem well. You see my wife and 2 boys are not as concerned about what goes in my mouth as they are with what they eat. Since they can eat anything they want it’s really up to me to take control.
Taking control is a more difficult issue than you might think. It has taken me 13 years being diabetic to finally not allow the guilt of NOT eating what my wife makes for dinner to impact my decision to NOT eat her meal. This issue has been huge for me. It’s also been a critical factor in my ability to see meals appear at the table that more diabetic friendly.
I like to cook and don’t shy away from cooking my own meals. In fact I’ll cook for the whole family periodically. When I cook there is a lack of bread or other starch with our meal. I don’t stop there though, I simply won’t eat the carb dish that my wife prepares when she makes dinner. This used to be a problem but my wife is sympathetic to my problem and through her education she now understands what the impact is to me.
One of the biggest obstacles we overcame was guilt. Have you heard the infamous question from the person that made the meal “aren’t you going to eat my dish?” I’ve learned to say very simply “I can’t. It will make my blood sugar skyrocket and I need to be more careful.” It is hard to avoid my wife’s special carb loaded dishes. She goes to such an effort to make them, but I find that in the last 2 years since I’ve stood up and said no and used my willpower she does not push them in my direction any longer AND she no longer tries to guilt me into trying them.
It’s true that I am often tempted by her cooking (ask anyone we know and they will agree that she is a great cook, no chef). But I’m not the first one with diabetes and a problem overcoming my temptations. I’ve just looked deeper for solutions.
Deserts are another weakness I have. Believe me, I’ve tried so many options but none seem to work for me because they just don’t taste good or are not satisfying. Take jello for example. They make many kinds of sugar free jello. I like jello, but to be satisfied I need to eat at least half the batch and then I’m hungry again in a short while.
My wife and kids will have ice cream or other yummy sugary treats and every time I participate ZING…my sugar goes way over 200. Now that we make Granola Gourmet Bars (/), life has been much easier on me. I attribute this to the fact that everyone in the family loves the bars. We have fewer sugary snacks in the house and we all get to have a low Glycemic treat. The secret is Agave. By replacing the sugar with Agave we eliminated the most caustic ingredient and replaced it with an extremely low Glycemic product that TASTES GREAT!
We now use Agave on other recipes and even as a syrup for pancakes (which I now can have in very small amounts). It’s a way for me to sweeten my foods without getting the sugar rush. I’ve successfully converted my family to be open minded about Agave but it took over a year to do this. Perseverance, that and doing what you need to do in spite of what your friends and family want you to do. After all, they aren’t trying to kill me they want me around. They now realize that having me around includes yielding to my dietary needs. Now they are eating more like I do than they probably thought they would.