Tuesday 18 December 2012

Resisting Temptation

For those who know me well I have always had a sweet tooth.  I love all things candy, chocolate and have never said no to a cookie.  Given the choice between a bag of chips or a chocolate chip cookie I would grab the cookie and run.  When I was young I dreamed of going to the factory in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and dunking myself in the river of chocolate (seriously folks!).  As a kid I grew up eating quite healthy and sweet stuff was definitely a treat.  I can say that I never over-indulged (except that one time my brother, sister-in-law and I shamelessly ate an entire ice-cream cake in on sitting) but each day would allow myself something sweet.  Christmas was always my favorite for the yummy goodies.  Shortbread, mince pies, butter tarts, almond rocha, boxes of chocolates and candy canes galore.  A year and a half ago my love affair with sweets came to an abrupt end.

Since being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes I can honestly say I have hardly touched any of this stuff.  For the first six months I was too scared to eat anything bad at all for fear of further damage.  It is important however that people understand that I can eat what I like with diabetes as long as I count the carbs and dose my insulin accordingly.  For me however it is not worth it.  The more insulin I take the harder it is to maintain a healthy weight and harder for me to control my blood sugars.  A lot of the stuff I used to love to eat, like my beloved chocolate chip cookies, are a no go anyway as a result of celiac disease.  A lot of people ask how I avoid the temptation to just chow down on all the goodness, particularly at this time of the year, and my response would be that I don't think about it and no longer crave it.  I never thought that would be possible but it is!  Once a week or so I will have a square of dark chocolate after a meal  or a spoonful of ice cream but that is about all.

Don't get me wrong though.  Some days I want to be able to just sit back and munch down a giant chocolate chip cookie the size of my head :)




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