@Shanny: A meal with a lot of carbs can make an insulin-resistant person drowsy, but in my case, eating a significant amount of bread surpasses all other carbohydrates in that effect. It's like taking over-the-counter sleeping pills in that it's an especially foggy kind of tiredness. For me, "dread" is a well-deserved rhyme with "bread". I still have the occasional sub-sandwich at Subway, though. Even though bread isn't my friend as a diabetic, their whole-wheat bread is pretty tasty, IMHO. Being active or taking a nice, brisk walk often seems to go a long way towards counteracting this effect, I've noticed.
@goo stewart: Are you aware of the Dawn Effect? That's where your body jacks up your blood-sugar levels in the morning hours. It sounds as though you know of this with your reference to "liver dumps". It could be that some people are more prone this effect than others. I think I mostly just got lucky with my last blood-glucose fasting reading. Had it been a typical day, it would have been somewhere between 120-140, I tend to think.
It's so easy to abuse sugar in today's society. I read in Gretchen Becker's Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year that caucasians of European descent are among the least prone to diabetes of any major ethnic grouping in the world. Might that be a reason why societies of largely European ethnic composition have such a notorious sweet-tooth? I recall from my history classes in college that one of the first agricultural commodities for which expansionist old Europe engaged in trade was none other than sugar-cane. Though it is certainly true that Europe and the USA have managed to infect the rest of the world with our sugar-addiction, with what I believe to be an array of tragic health-results, including diabetes, for our international neighbors.
ETA jwags: As for the issue of blame, I think that one is complicated. That living your life a certain way can impact how soon or even if you get diabetes is demonstrated by the fact that since the arrival of HFCS soda-pop, children and teenagers are being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Before HFCS, that generally didn't happen. My worst self-care took place in the years around the time that Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain took his own life out of his feelings of despair and worthlessness. Similar feelings caused me to abuse myself both physically and emotionally, hence I call those my "Kurt Cobain Years". Being able to drink all the soda I wanted for free at the restaurant jobs I was working at the time was certainly part of the problem, BTW. My self-care during this period was horrendous enough that it's difficult for me to avoid the conclusion that I might have triggered diabetes earlier than it might otherwise have happened. I really do have a talent for doing myself in (not to mention compulsive self-blame and self-pity; apologies for the TMI).
Also ETA: In my original post in discussing more desirable carbohydrates, I meant to say, "relatively lower-glycemic-index, whole-grain, less-processed grains and also fresh vegetables". Though I suppose frozen veggies will do in a pinch (such as having a small fridge, as I do).
@goo stewart: Are you aware of the Dawn Effect? That's where your body jacks up your blood-sugar levels in the morning hours. It sounds as though you know of this with your reference to "liver dumps". It could be that some people are more prone this effect than others. I think I mostly just got lucky with my last blood-glucose fasting reading. Had it been a typical day, it would have been somewhere between 120-140, I tend to think.
It's so easy to abuse sugar in today's society. I read in Gretchen Becker's Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year that caucasians of European descent are among the least prone to diabetes of any major ethnic grouping in the world. Might that be a reason why societies of largely European ethnic composition have such a notorious sweet-tooth? I recall from my history classes in college that one of the first agricultural commodities for which expansionist old Europe engaged in trade was none other than sugar-cane. Though it is certainly true that Europe and the USA have managed to infect the rest of the world with our sugar-addiction, with what I believe to be an array of tragic health-results, including diabetes, for our international neighbors.
ETA jwags: As for the issue of blame, I think that one is complicated. That living your life a certain way can impact how soon or even if you get diabetes is demonstrated by the fact that since the arrival of HFCS soda-pop, children and teenagers are being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Before HFCS, that generally didn't happen. My worst self-care took place in the years around the time that Nirvana's lead singer Kurt Cobain took his own life out of his feelings of despair and worthlessness. Similar feelings caused me to abuse myself both physically and emotionally, hence I call those my "Kurt Cobain Years". Being able to drink all the soda I wanted for free at the restaurant jobs I was working at the time was certainly part of the problem, BTW. My self-care during this period was horrendous enough that it's difficult for me to avoid the conclusion that I might have triggered diabetes earlier than it might otherwise have happened. I really do have a talent for doing myself in (not to mention compulsive self-blame and self-pity; apologies for the TMI).
Also ETA: In my original post in discussing more desirable carbohydrates, I meant to say, "relatively lower-glycemic-index, whole-grain, less-processed grains and also fresh vegetables". Though I suppose frozen veggies will do in a pinch (such as having a small fridge, as I do).
