When I was diagnosed, I was taught the basics of carbohydrate (carb) counting. The nurses showed my family and I how to read nutrition labels to find the serving size and amount of carbs. I also saw a dietitian who created a food plan for me. I was supposed to eat a certain amount of carbs for meals and snacks at specific times of the day. I also needed to have a certain amount of fat and meat servings. I was given multiple pamphlets about food exchanges, serving sizes, and nutrition facts. It was all so new and very overwhelming.
The food plan created by the dietitian
After discharge from the hospital, I tried my best to stick to the food plan. It was so difficult. For starters, I am a very picky eater, so finding a variety of foods that exchanged for the meats and fats I needed was challenging. I was in 8th grade so eating a snack at 9:30 am was a pain because I had to miss part of class to go to the nurse’s office to take insulin. Eating 60 carbs at a meal wasn’t enough, and I would be starving by the next meal. After discussing it with my doctor, we changed my meal carb goal to 75 and allowed more leniency in meal times.
I will admit that I don’t have the most nutritious diet. I love pizza and pastas and will always splurge for my biggest weakness, a cinnamon roll. I don’t do the food exchanges or eat a certain amount of carbs per meal. I eat meals whenever I want. This isn’t to say that I don’t find the food plan and the dietitian’s recommendations valuable. I do and think it would be beneficial for people who can stick to it. It just wasn’t right for me. I do limit the amount of sugary sweets and high carb foods that I eat and watch my portion sizes of all foods. My latest A1C result was 7.2%, the lowest it has ever been, so I must be doing something right!
