Question:
I have a problem in my house that I'm not sure how to deal with...
I'm the only person in my family with diabetes (extended family too, so
everyone was really surprised when I was diagnosed). Well, my problem is the
food my mom, dad, and brother keeps in the house... it is NOT diabetes
compatable. Even little things, such as buying skim milk instead of 2% they
won't do because they "hate the taste of it." Now, my brother is a skinny
little 17 y/o with no health problems what-so-ever (sometimes it's not fair,
because of all the junk he eats), but neither my mom or dad are considered
thin, and they have health problems of their own (such as high cholesterol and
high blood pressure). The other night, for example, my mom made a real high
carb meal for dinner. When I mentioned something about it, she just looked at
me and said "It's not for you. Go find something else," while the rest of my
family continued to dig in. When they finished their meal, they proceeded to
have dessert... a chocolate cake. My mom again, looked at me and said "Go
inside. None of this is for you," while the rest of my family proceeded to dig
in. My problem is, my family a.) teases me, and b.) doesn't take my disease
seriously. It's difficult to be a diabetic living in a house where there's no
support what-so-ever and you're completely on your own. What can I do? Does
anyone have any suggestions?
HELP!!!!
Thanks,
Heather
P.S. The good thing is, as I had mentioned, I am in an EMS program at my local
community college, training to be a paramedic. My teachers and fellow
classmates realize the importance of have diabetes, and are all very supportive
of me. For example, my teacher brought in a bowl full of candy for halloween,
but didn't want to leave me out... so she brought in a bag of an assortment of
sugar free candy just for me! My classmates, instructors, and I often go out
for lunch together. Although I'm pretty responsible about checking my sugar and
using a sliding scale, the first thing my classmates will ask me whenever we
sit down at the table is "Have you checked your sugar? What is it?" I am also
the youngest (and smallest) in my entire curriculum, so I am "looked out for" a
lot.
Answer:
It sounds to me as though you will have to be totally self-responsible for
your diabetes, since your family is not showing signs that they want to
change their way of eating to accommodate your needs.
We all have to do that anyway, and it is a bit of a shame that your mom
doesn't prepare you a low carb meal alternative when the rest of the family
eats high carb dinners. But that doesn't mean that you can't stock some
things in the freezer you can quickly microwave for yourself when they are
eating things you would rather avoid. I keep frozen ground lamb patties
and chopped beef patties and steaks individually wrapped in my freezer, and
can throw together a healthy alternative meal for myself almost anytime no
matter what the rest of the family is eating.
I cook for my family and have managed to accommodate everyone even though
their meal requirements are different than mine. An extra vegetable, a
tossed salad, a piece of poached salmon or some such doesn't take a lot of
extra time.
As for the milk, they may find it is inconvenient to stock another kind of
milk as well as the kind they like, but there is nothing to stop you from
picking up a quart of your kind from time to time on your own, and you know
nobody is going to drink it up behind your back! Barring that, you can
keep some diet soda on hand. It stores well and is always good in a pinch.
Nobody really owes anyone else anything, and we have to take responsibility
for our own health early on. Remember nobody else will benefit more than
you from taking care of yourself. So if they don't seem to understand or
support your health and lifestyle then just do what you need to do for
yourself.
Being angry about it won't help, but if they see you are serious about
taking care of yourself you might even be surprised to see they make an
effort to help in some way.
People misunderstand this illness so much, and we ourselves even go into
denial at times. Maybe that is the real problem, they don't quite know how
to handle it. Show them what you can do and how strong you can be about
taking good care of yourself and they may come around more to your way of
thinking.
--
Evelyn
