[Diabetes-Talk] new member

Wed Jan 23 22:04:37 UTC 2019

Sandy,

Was hoping you would chime in, grin. Well said.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of sandi via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 3:17 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: sandi <sjryan2 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] new member

Hi Ryan,

First, get help, whatever you need, and stop smoking! You can do everything else right, but if you smoke you up your heart attack risk by more than double. I have been around many people who smoked and quit. I don’t have clinical data to tell the story, but my experience with them has, in all cases, been that their moods and attitudes improved. That will help a lot. In one case, a blind friend who quit smoking “cold turkey” had been looking for a job for nearly three years. Soon after quitting, she landed a job, which she is still doing more than five years later. It truly matters!

Physical activity (known widely as exercise) helps a lot with mood and attitude as well. As you gain strength and stamina, you will feel much better physically, and your mental outlook will improve, too. You don’t have to do anything strenuous or difficult—in fact, you shouldn’t at first if you’ve mostly been sitting. But go for a walk every day. Start off with a block, or a couple of minutes around the house. Increase the distance and your speed as you go along. I own a treadmill, because it snows quite a bit here during some winters, and we have blasting winds sometimes, so walking outside is just not my cup of tea! On the treadmill I bought, I can use all the functions I care about (though I can’t read the screen, being totally blind). But everything on the machine is controlled with a real push-button! 

I am a type 2 diabetic and a former registered dietitian, so I play around with food quite a bit. I like food from both the crockpot and Instant Pot, one of which is accessible with the iPhone. Here are just a couple of guidelines to use to improve your eating plan:

1.  The container is not a serving. Have someone help you know the number of servings in a container, and the number of grams of carbohydrate in a serving. If you eat more than one serving, that isn’t a problem, but if you do, you have to count the carbs for each serving. That adds up fast! If you eat the whole container and it’s four servings, you’re getting way too much.
2. You can choose prepared meals that are lower in carbs and salt, but you need to figure out which ones those are and which ones you like. Healthy Choice is one brand of these meals; Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine is another—but I’m not endorsing either of these, and there are also other brands. These are examples.
3. Eating to feel less sad does not work. Quitting smoking and exercise help that. Eat when you’re hungry, and not all the time. Having said that, eat what you like that fits in your healthier diet. People who give up this and give up that never succeed long-term, and long-term is what matters here.
4. Eating foods lower in carbohydrates will cut your cravings for those foods. Keep servings of starchy vegetables, refined grains, and especially sugar and other sweeteners, small. In most restaurants, a good tip is to cut the baked potato at least in half! Not everyone can do what I’m doing, but I skip sugar and sweeteners altogether, also white flour and other refined grains, and I can now eat a piece of chocolate without eating the whole bag. I don’t know if you can do it, and quit smoking first—don’t do these things together. But it will help.

Just one other comment: Many of us on this list are totally blind and have cooked for years, from scratch. To improve your mood, stop blaming what you can’t do on the blindness, and start looking for the support group someone mentioned, or help from your state agency. Get some training. You can learn to take care of yourself, including feeding yourself, without help—or with very little. But only you can make the decision to increase confidence in your abilities by tossing the “I’m blind” trap and getting help to believe that blindness doesn’t have to hold you back from anything you want to do. 

Please accept this in the spirit of a “you-can-do-it” pep talk, not judgment of your life so far. Your new life can start today—and it can be a happy one!

Sandi

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: ryan mcmanomy via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 9:26 AM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: ryan mcmanomy
Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] new member

Hello my name is Ryan I am type two diabetes.
I have been blind sence age 5 I can see light colors and shadows.
I have a meter that talks but I have not mastered it yet I have a person that comes three times a week and a nerse that comes one time a week.
I was on meds for my diabetes  but it was affecting my kidneys  witch are getting bad.
I am trying not to bee sad all the time am I am on meds for that too but I smoke cigs and eat a lot to help it.
Beening blind I am not good at making a good mille to eat that is not from the freezer wich has a lot of salt or just grabbing the first thing I find.
Thank for any and all help and feel free to ask more if you want!

t
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