Here is a new question I recieved this week from Foodpicker.org. A website to help people with diabetes.
I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. During the day at work I eat very little, but in the evenings and weekends, I can’t seem to stay out of the kitchen. Do you have any suggestions to control my snacking in the evenings and weekends?
Evening and weekend kitchen food cravings can be due to a variety of reasons. However, have faith that you are not the only one fighting the battle to find ways to stay out of the cupboards in your free time. From the teenage boy to the work free weekend adult, everyone finds themselves milling through the drawers for a sweet snack and sometimes don’t even know why they are there. However, before getting down on ourselves about having another candy bar or late night bowl of cereal, lets brainstorm a few possibilities for our uncontrollable munchies and see if we can find solutions.
In the case of a person with type 2 diabetes, it is beneficial to eat at steady states throughout your day. Blood sugars can spike and drop when you eat large amounts or go long periods without eating. So you want to start off right by beginning your day with a breakfast. Make sure you get something into your stomach, even if it is peanut butter and toast or oatmeal with nuts. It will help set the tone of your day. Next try to eat something at least every 4 hours. Carrots, crackers and cheese, a small sandwich, or an orange are all great snacks. Also, by combining some carbohydrate and a little protein to your snack will help keep you feeling full and stabilize your blood sugars. If you are not a person who sits down to eat meals you need to find what works best. It may be small snacks or a small lunch with something to munch on in between. When you go home, hopefully you won’t find it hard to resist the cupboards. If you go home hungry, it makes it easier to eat whatever you have in the kitchen with no regard to what you might be doing to yourself. Remember the old saying, don’t go grocery shopping hungry otherwise you will come home with more than you budgeted for. Well the same can apply when you walk into your kitchen, a haven full of food and an empty belly, tell me about temptation. However, if you really do need a snack after work to help tide you through the rest of your day, remember, it is recommended to eat every 4 hours.
If you eat at regular intervals throughout the day (every 4 hours) and still find you have problems with your evenings and weekends, it might be time to assess if there is something else going on. You may be eating due to stress, frustrations, reward, or even boredom. When you are stressed, find some form of meditation or other stress relief activities to keep you from going straight to food. It might be a good time to look into a local yoga class or gym. Then, you will be able to get your mind off your stress and help control your diabetes through exercise. If you are bored, again, going to the gym, movie, or walk will help keep your mind active. A good rule of thumb when you are hungry out of boredom is to wait 10 minutes, find an activity to do, and if you are still hungry, than you can get something to eat. Some people may feel that when they get home after a good presentation they should reward themselves with a piece of cake which turns into two or three!!! Well, think of other ways of rewarding yourself, like a massage, movie, or tickets to a theater. You deserve some pampering; however, don’t let it affect your health in an adverse way.
Lastly, your blood sugar will not rise as quickly if you are snacking on celery or beets, so try to stock your kitchen with healthy foods that are easily accessible and you do not feel guilty about eating. You can’t starve yourself at night anymore than you do during the day, so let’s do an assessment of your kitchen and see what we have to work with. You can keep some sweets around, but just don’t put the cookie jar on the counter. Place it in the back of the pantry where it takes a little more work to retrieve. Have a fruit basket or cut vegetables sitting on the table with a small handful of salt-free almonds. Ultimately, we must understand food is not our enemy. It is our job to find a healthy relationship with food so that we can enjoy or snacks without sacrificing our health.
jschapman
