We have a type two diabetic patient in the family. He was diagnosed with it about a year and half ago.
Diabetes is a controllable disease. Our body naturally has the ability to maintain the blood glucose level within a certain range. But with many reasons this function deteriorates and as the result the glucose level stays higher than normal. If you let the excess glucose in the blood stream for a long time, it starts causing serious problems. For a diabetic patient, the goal is to lower the glucose level and maintain it by healthy lifestyle with or without medication.
When you are diagnosed with diabetes, typically the medical professionals instruct you to watch your diet first of all while exercise and stress management are also important.
Because carbohydrate is the first and quick source of glucose, the extremely low to no carbohydrate diet was once the mainstream of diabetic treatment. However, it was found that the excessive limitation of carbohydrates causes harmful sequences over time, so today’s public health service dropped it and just recommends well balanced diet in moderation. Eat brown than white carbs, lots of vegetables, eat all food groups, that kind of things.
We were already eating fairly healthy but even pushed farther. There are always at least two to three vegetable dishes as well as protein rich food at each meal. Rice and flour are more often replaced with healthier alternatives such as beans and quinoa. Bakeries are homemade with half or less amount of sugar of the original recipe. What we are currently eating is an ideal healthy diet referring to the Canada’s Food Guide.
Admittedly we have an occasion with diabetic unfriendly food once in a while – fried or mashed potato, ice cream, birthday cake, etc. However, we have no intention to take all joy of life away just because of the diabetes, so he eats such things as well in moderation.
After the year and half of consistent monitoring with such a diet, we are actually quite puzzled. We don’t see a significant cause-and-effect pattern between what he eats and the glucose number. In theory if you eat white pasta with garlic bread, within an hour or two the number should go up, at least higher than when you eat brown rice and vegetables. A heap of mashed potato with gravy and a piece of pie with ice cream should result the number sky rocket high. But, we don’t see such a thing consistently. On the other hand, occasionally the number unexpectedly rises with a healthier meal of brown carbs and lots of proteins and greens. It doesn’t make sense.
I, the cook of the family, ended up taking it easy as far as there is a fairly healthy balance through the day or two. A piece of chocolate cake is fine as far as we also eat a plenty of salad and soup in the same day.
He is currently not taking any medication because he felt the side effects were more harmful than beneficial. Nevertheless, only with such a relaxing diet, his glucose number is not so much different from when he was on the medication. On the top of it, he feels much better without any medication.
The hindsight is that the glucose level is not controlled only by what you eat. It is also greatly influenced by the exercise and stress. It is impossible to measure which factor is affecting how much each time. When we don’t really know what is pushing the number up, what is the point to make a fuss about the carbohydrate count and glucose level number at each meal?
I am not saying the diet is not important for a diabetic. Actually it is very important. On the other hand, other than eating healthy in general, I quit chasing the perfect meal each time. Instead of being obsessed with what and how much to eat, I want to enjoy cooking and eating. I would like him to enjoy his food. The joy of eating will be probably more beneficial than the deduction of a table spoon of white flour or sugar with my intensive effort.
This reminds me the garden development.
It is said that the good soil is the key to grow good crops. The good soil has the perfect balance of components such as minerals, organic matter, gases and liquids. The microorganisms and of course the nutrients are well balanced, too.
It’s easy to say but hard to realize because this ‘balance’ is affected by many factors such as the original soil type, the history of land usage, climate and other environmental conditions. On the top, the ‘perfect soil’ prescription varies by plant you grow. The ideal soil for watermelon is not for sweetpotatoes.
Scientists are trying to state how much of this trace mineral is needed for this result, how much of this fertilizer to prevent such and such, and so on. I imagine each theory came from a serious amount of work and I give a credit for it. But often the theory doesn’t work in a real site because each site is under unique conditions.
To begin with, it is rare that the gardener knows the current existing soil condition – how much of each trace mineral or moisture or humus is. To make it more complicating, the condition differs depending on the spot and it keeps changing due to the ongoing physical, biological and chemical activities. We diagnose the problem based on what we see, but often surprising sequences come long time after. For instance, years ago people simply believed more fertilizing was better. Now it is the common knowledge that too much fertilizing causes more harm than benefit. Like a dysfunctional body lost the ability to control the blood sugar, a dysfunctional soil lost the ability to control the balance of elements. What is the cause of the dysfunction? How to treat and maintain it? There are many theories but there is no promise that it works on your site or it leads the good sequences in the future. What we are doing is only the best guess each time.
I have a great respect to the modern science. Science is helpful and very fascinating. On the other hand, it keeps your temper calmer if you remember that the scientific and non-scientific (pseudo scientific) information is often less useful than it sounds in a real situation. The only way to see is to try it yourself.
So I continue my journey to play with the all ‘key elements’ of the health of body and soil. It requires the long term observation. It makes me patient. I am not sure if there is any perfect answer but certainly I am enjoying this process.
It is simply amazing to learn how the thousands of elements of this world are delicately related each other.