Healthy Actions Breed Healthy Habits

The more I fast, the more I get used to it and discover what works for me, which makes perfect sense. 

Diabetes, on the other hand, doesn't make perfect sense. 

I'd been having my usual basal insulin on fast days, now that my body is more used to it. I might go a little low by mid-afternoon if I've been more active than usual, but generally have few problems. Today, though, I'm hypo at 10:45am... Not feeling at all hungry and, being slightly under the weather, not really wanting to eat anyway, it was very annoying having to have food. I chose to have a cup of tea with sugar, and half a cereal bar (at 42 cals). I keep in mind the calories I've consumed to treat hypos, and might have a few cals less for tea, but generally don't count them into my fasting allowance because it just makes things far too hard as a diabetic.

Generally speaking, though, I've been enjoying fasting. It opens your eyes to the extra snacking and picking you may do, too. As a mum, I'm always having to go into the kitchen for things, which means that it's frightfully easy to pick - a piece of chocolate here, some blueberries there, even a sliver of butter... fasting reminds me that today I can't do this (and shouldn't too frequently on other days either), and means that even on non-fasting days I'm much more aware of this. 

Fasting also enables me to make positive changes, so for example I will more often evaluate whether I really am hungry - and if not, I don't eat (at least, try not to). I'm also finding it much easier to choose fruit or other healthy snacks for when I am hungry. The more healthy food I eat, the more healthy food I want to eat, which is great. Cakes and other sweet treats are far less appealing nowadays. I still have a weakness for chocolate, though!

Another tip for anyone trying fasting is that, while drinking a lot is essential, I would discourage, for example, drinking loads of coffee to fill you up. If you're hungry, wait for it to pass. Yes, have some water. Yes enjoy hot drinks throughout the day. But I was drinking far too much, and my stomach wasn't getting used to being empty because I was constantly putting liquid into it. It's good to drink, but don't go over the top like I did! Your stomach will get used to being emptier, and this will help you with your portion control on non-fasting days too.

Eat Well

It's interesting to see how my body responds to new regimes or diet changes. It always takes a little while, but sooner or later, it seems to get used to it. This is really good news for me, because I have often been quite despondent about feeling as though I am fighting diabetes. The truth, it seems, is that I can 'train' my body to get along with the changes I make, as long as I do it regularly enough. Two or three times a week is a good schedule for exercising - just often enough that it recognises something and remembers how to cope with it (for want of a better description).

I have also felt very good about eating my normal amount of food today. Sometimes, a day or two after fasting, I have felt like I'm eternally hungry, or just want to eat loads even when I'm not. But today is probably the first time I really did just want my usual salad lunch with yoghurt afterwards. (Not forgetting the vital one piece of dark chocolate with my cup of tea.) I'd been eating extra healthily for quite a while, though, and so it didn't surprise me that after first starting the 5:2 I wanted to eat more calorific foods, simply because my calorie intake was already fairly good - according to NHS guidelines, anyway, which stated that I should be consuming between 1492 and 1918 calories per day. My usual intake is somewhere between 1600-1900. Nice.

Eugh, it's raining very heavily outside. I need to go collect my son from nursery soon. Usually I look forward to the exercise - not today!!