Yesterday Michael and I were at his parents’ house for my father-in-laws 80th birthday. It was a nice day. As well as seeing my parents-in-law and my brothers-in-law, a lot of Michael’s wider family were there too, and it is always good to catch up with them.
I am proud of how I behaved. Birthday parties, even for 80 year old men, involve cake, buns, and biscuits. The very things that I, as a diabetic, should be avoiding. I managed to eat very little, but what I ate I enjoyed. For me, anyway, diabetes management is about portion control. I can have one or two sweet treats on special occasions, but I can’t binge on them. And that is what I did. I had one Empire biscuit and one small piece of cheesecake. And they were lovely. I did not have any of the birthday cake, because I knew it would be way too sweet for me, and I would try to eat way too much.
When I was eating the Empire biscuit, I was overwhelmed by how good it tasted. When you eat sugary things every day, you get used to the sweetness. When you only eat them on special occasions, you can really taste how good they are.
I am not ashamed to admit I have a sweet tooth, and I was initially worried that it would be too difficult to cut sweet things out of my life. What I have found is kind of the opposite. I eat maybe 1% of the sweet things I used to eat, but overall I get more pleasure out of this 1%, simply because I am no longer ‘used’ to sugar.