What about diabetes do you do best? If you were going help teach a diabetes self-management class, what would you be most qualified to teach? Let’s share our strong points.
How are you with food? The demands of eating a healthful “diabetes diet” drive some people pretty mad. Counting carbs and measuring portions may be skills you’re good at, or you may have learned how to do without them.
How are you at reading food labels? Could you teach us the best ways to use those labels? One good way is not to eat anything with a label, but that doesn’t work for everyone.
Coping with food choices is another major issue. Linda Bacon and Judith Matz wrote here that worries about what’s OK to eat can drive people with diabetes to seriously disordered eating. How do you manage eating food that’s good for you without falling into obsession and worry?
Are you good at self-monitoring? That’s a major skill set that many of us find difficult. We don’t write things down, and then we forget them. If you’re good at self-monitoring, how did you get that way? What’s your secret?
Some of us find it easy to get out and move our bodies regularly. Others really struggle with that. I wonder what it is about the strong exercisers that we could learn.
One thing I deal with is emotional ups and downs. I can go from happy to hopeless and back in the course of a day. Since I started meditating regularly, my emotions are more stable. But I would still like to be happier. Do you have any advice for that?
Are you good at working with doctors and the medical system? Some find it better to stay away from them, but either way, I’m sure some of us are better at it than others. Which are you?
What about dealing with family and others about diabetes? That’s a whole skill set in itself, with lots of emotions mixed in.
Clearly, living with diabetes is a challenge with multiple faces. I didn’t cover all of them here, I’m sure. Which of them are your strong points? Which are your tough areas? Let’s learn from each other.
