Diabetes Diet #16: Better Living Through Sandwiches

Last Updated on November 18, 2019

Diabetes Recipes:

French Style Tuna Sandwich
Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich
Italian Hero
The Chock Full of Nuts Sandwich

Food Medication Exercise Attitude

Years ago, living with diabetes was like living in a cocoon. Choices were few and even a moderately free lifestyle was not an option. Life went from diagnosis to rudimentary instructions on the diet exchange list to demonstrations on how to inject an orange with insulin, if Type 1 was your destiny, or a prescription for Orinase or Diabinese if your fate was Type 2. Life was a tightly closed bag of rules, order, and timing that few questioned. Most people with diabetes were forced to live a life in the cocoon of timed meals and medication.

But time drifted, and as we floated in suspension, taking our daily shot of NPH or pills and adhering to a standard “diabetic diet”, every once in a while a flash of hope, a beacon, appeared for us to latch onto. First Testape, then Clinitest, new generation pills, disposable syringes, shorter needles, the food pyramid, the exercise factor. Some discoveries were cataloged and packed into the elusive diabetes museum archives. A few became incorporated into our daily regimen and we settled back to the same old, same old, spinning our lives in the cocoon.

Hold on! There has been an explosion! Fireworks are crackling! It is the 2002 world of diabetes. Our lifestyles are different, freer, much improved. We are enjoying the real fruits of scientific and technological discoveries and better education. We place a test strip into that little powerhouse meter we all carry in our pockets and purses, to get vital information in seconds. We wear pumps on belt loops that contain new improved insulin analogs, digest concerts of pills that play a more effective role in managing Type 2 diabetes. We carry sleek insulin cartridge pens. We try a GlucoWatch or CGMS for fine-tuning dosages. A few have even had beta-cell+kidney transplants and dispensed with needles altogether. Yes, we have embraced the broad stroke of technology as our friend. We have also witnessed a few veils of suspicious smoke and mirrors and dubious panaceas.

As a collective personality, the diabetes community is feeling more flexible, excited and hopeful for the near future. We are better equipped to manage the daily grind of diabetes. We have more choices. We can try them, use them, ignore them or discard them. It’s up to you to break through that old cocoon and jump on the new train. It’s your time to soar!!!

While pondering new ways to reach out and expand, how about a nice sandwich. One of the useful management realities that many have adopted as a good way to regulate medication, diet, and exercise is Carb Counting. We have spoken about this in the Cyber Kitchen column before. So, give yourself a little test. Try the sandwiches on the recipe page and balance them with insulin (or pills) and exercise.

Remember the daily mantra: Food, Medication, Exercise, Attitude

May your 2002 be filled with good health, great food, abundant magic and advances in diabetes care.