Monday, April 2, 2012

Midnight munchies

She's a special and very attractive lady, I believe. Coming down the stairs in the middle of the night, still wearing bright lipstick and her hair all shiny and glossy, she strolls through the kitchen. The goal is always the fridge, where she dives into. There are different leftovers to choose from - I accuse her of making too much food to reassure leftovers for midnight munchies - and seeing Nigella suck on that sticky chicken wing, makes me wanna go for a bite myself.

I sometimes have those midnight munchies. Mainly caused by diabetic lows. I know, I should just have a small can of regular soda or a box of juice, but unfortunately it doesn't always work that way. If you're experiencing a diabetic low, your brain lacks sugar which makes it harder for you to think straight. In a normal condition you would know that box of juice to be the best choice. But the thing is: if your sugar is low, we can no longer speak of a normal situation. So you overreact and you eat whatever you can lay your hands on: cookies, sushi, cold cuts, baked potatoes (right out of the fridge), Greek yogurt, fried onions, frozen berries.. it doesn't even need to have carbs, as long as it makes you feel better. Which it doesn't.. because overeating doesn't do anyone any good. Overeating causes high blood sugar, meaning you need insulin to bring it down again. Trying to find the right amount of insulin to cover for those extra carbs is tricky. You have to be careful not to overreact on the insulin now, or you will experience another low in no time. Finding a balance during low/high blood sugars, is a true ordeal at times. After nearly 10 years of living a diabetic lifestyle, I'm getting the hang of it. The bingeing is not that common anymore. I usually stick to my 4 Maria cookies. The thing is, we need no more than 15 grams of carbs to solve that low. Meaning I would need no more than 3 Maria cookies. For some stupid reason, I believe 3 is a bad number for cookies. So I have 4. So what? That is NOT overeating.

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