Beat- iT

In 2015 I started also a blog.  I never shared it, for several reasons, mainly it costs time and I was really busy with other things.  Now that my working career is (almost) over,  I have time to "work" on a blog.  This story is from the 2015 blog that was called "Beat-iT.  As I think it some good back ground information I still like to publish it.  Things have changed as you read in the  post "from 2 to 1", but in a way, I try to "Beat"  the Diabetes again. 

Blog of 2015: 

Why  have I chosen the name Beat-iT?  Of course Bea is obvious and the capital T stands for  my last name.  But the main reason behind it is the fact that I hope that I finally beat the fight with my weight.  My struggle for life. And I like to keep winning this fight. 

Before August 2011

After August 2014

The first time that I  remember that I put myself on a diet was when I was around 16 years old.  That is quite a while ago.  Since than my weight went up & down.  I think there is hardly a diet in the world that I did not follow and the opposite about this is, that I think I have eaten all the good things that are on the market as well.  The situation at the moment,  I still love food, but I am not dieting anymore.  I just am very careful about what I eat and I exercise quite a lot.

I won the “battle”  in September 2011.  Or better, I started my last “weight war”.   I had to because I was told I had Diabetes 2.  My weight was around 112 KG’s at that time.   It took me approximately a year to lose 40 KG.  Now I have lost 10 more KG’s and for quite a while now I am pretty steady on this weight.

Unfortunately the Diabetes has not reversed.   First I took only medications, now I am on insulin and medication.  However, I feel good and I know that my life has improved enormously.  Even better, the amount of clothes I can put in my suitcase, what a difference a couple of dress sizes make.

Through this website, I will tell you stories about my experiences in the past years,  I will advise you about recent small battles that I still have,  there will be some advice and some of my favourite recipes.   Let me know what you think and please if you like some more information about something, just let me know.  I might be able to write a new chapter about this.

2020: 

On this website "Diabeatic" I will tell you stories about my experiences in the past years and about my day to day life.   I will update you about the small battles I still fight. And I like to share some of my favourite recipes.  Please leave your comments, this will motivate me and give me ideas for more blogs.  

                                                2017, I looked pretty good 

My " coffee"

If you have been reading my Dutch beatourne.waarbenjij.nu  website  or if you are one of my (Facebook) friends, you will have a good feeling that I enjoy having a cup of coffee.  In  this blog,  I like to explain why.   I did write this blog while I was in my diabetes 2 stage of life. I was trying to loose weight and of course I managed the blood sugar levels as good as possible. 

               

                                                         

When I was diagnosed with diabetes and knew that I had to lose a lot of weight, I knew one thing, I did not want to give up "my coffee".  I love coffee, but not only the taste, it is more.  For me, having a coffee is always a special moment of the day.  A time to relax, either at home, in a nice cafe or somewhere on a nice outdoor spot. And to be honest, it is also about what  comes with the coffee, a  nice slice,  an enormous muffin,  great home baking,  or when we were in Holland for example, a "tompouce" ( vanilla/custard slice ).  

Drinking  coffee  influences two things.  Firstly it adds calories to the daily  total and secondly it will bring the blood sugar levels ( BGL,s ) up.  With a coffee I  mean,  a nice cup of coffee like a latte or cappuccio and a sweet treat.  I first investigated what coffee is doing to the blood sugars and although there are opposite theories about the effects of drinking coffee, in general, it is OK to have a coffee, as long it is in moderation.   Than there is the lactose in the milk, this has also an effect on the BGL,s.  The thing that would spike the BGL's the most is of course the sweet treat, because, as you understand, for instance  a caramel slice is full of sugar.

Coffee makes me smile
 

Calorie wise a regular milk latte or cappuccino adds quite some calories to the daily total, but a trim/skim version or an homemade filter coffee with frothed milk is not to bad.  Luckily there are thousands of low calorie, low sugar or sugar free baking recipes to be found.  Naturally when you try to lose weight or don't want to gain weight, a black coffee without anything or maybe just a dry biscuit is the best way,  but we also want to enjoy life, don't we!! 

In my weight lose journey, enjoying life is/was certainly one of the main important things.  Because I am an emotional eater as well, so feeling down would mean automatically that I would eat more. So my coffee  became a reward, a feel good moment, a looking forward moment, well I can actually say, it became "my moment of the day" 

Coffee in China

A latte or cappuccino with a healthy treat has become the substitute for all the bars of chocolate, bags of crisps, packs of biscuits and all the other large amounts of food I ate before I was diagnosed with diabetes.  

In 2014 and 2017 my husband and I made a trip of half a year around the world.  If you travel you are tempted to go for a big breakfast, some fancy lunch and/or a nice restaurant meal.   For me this would have big consequences.  I really had to take care that I would not gain to much weight during the trips and of course I had to manage my BGL's.  So breakfast was in general just as at "home", a oats porridge and lunch was a sandwich.  We traveled with a campervan, so at night I  did the cooking.  But as it was a holiday, I made it my  goal to find the best spot for our daily coffee.  While preparing the trip I not only looked for the "most sees"  but  also what the locals thought was the best "coffee in town".

Making coffees, I love this too

Furthermore I am also a certified barista.  In 2012 I did a 5 day course and I learned I to make coffees professionally.  So I know how a coffee should be made.   

I hope this gives you a feeling of why coffee is so important to me. 

From two to one

This is a quick first story about my "road" from being diagnosed with Diabetes 2 in 2011 to

being re-diagnosed with Diabetes 1 in 2020.  There is so much to explain and I can not do this in just one blog.  You will have questions about some terms and abbreviations I am using.  I will explain this in future blogs.  This is just the beginning. 

In September 2011 I got diagnosed with Diabetes 2.  Was this a surprise?  Maybe at the time, but in hindsight,  not really.  I was overweight and as you might know,  this is something that might cause Diabetes 2.  Of course being overweight is not the only cause as it is genetic as well, but being over 100 kilograms really does not help of course.   As I was also quite active,  the Diabetes did not reveal it self until I was in a period that I was not so active.  This was the New Zealand winter of 2011.  It was too cold to go for walks. In April 2011 I walked the Hollyford track.  In the months before I walked this 3 days  track, I trained a lot to get the stamina to be able to finish this track.   In the months afterwards, I did not exercise a lot and "there it was" 

I started to read a lot about Diabetes 2 and I read that it was possible to reverse it.  I was determined to reverse the diabetes.  I was sure that by losing the weight  and eating the right things,  I would be Diabetes free again.  In the beginning it looked like this.  The three monthly  HbA1c tests were good and the average readings came down to almost normal.  Normal results have to be below 40.  I started on 98 and came down in two years to 48.  I thought I was on the right track.  Unfortunately my body responded differently and slowly the readings went up again.  Up to 85 even.  I was really frustrated and upset about this. 

                                               Walking the Hollyford Track in 2011 

                                                     just before I was diagnosed 

                                               Walking the Milford Track in 2014

                                    I lost 40 kg's and still hoping to be diabetes free

                                                              
This meant that every time I had to increase the medication I took, up to the maximum possible and finally I had to inject insulin.  It was very hard to accept that I did not win the battle with the diabetes and never would be able to win this. Yes,  I did win the struggle with my weight but it was very difficult to be positive about this.  I really did not understand why the diabetes did not go away.  

I started with the long term (background ) insulin in 2015.  Soon enough I also had to inject myself with short acting insulin.  A side affect of  injection insulin is weight gain and although I tried to avoid this, I saw the numbers on the scales creeping up again.  Another, even worse side affect, is getting " hypos" (Blood Sugar Levels too low ).  To correct a "hypo" means that I had to take extra food.  So actually I got in a catch 22 situation.  As you can understand, this was very frustrating and unfortunately for me, being frustrated means extra food again.  

I also started to doubt my self.  I had done so well.  Everyone kept telling me this.  I lost so much weight,  I was very active,  I kept food diaries, I knew exactly the number of carbs I was eating, so I injected the correct units of insulin.  But the Diabetes became more and more progressive.  I needed more and more insulin but still I was not able to bring the HbA1c back to acceptable levels.   Of course I visited my medical team on a regular basis.   They kept telling me, don't worry,  you have done so well and I should not worry to much, as the numbers were still not too bad, but I was worried and in times very stressed about it.   

                                            Walking the Routeburn track in 2016

                                       Trying to manage my weight and Diabetes

Finally in 2019 I met with a Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist of the Wellington Hospital and he initiated a special blood test, as he suspected that maybe I was a Diabetes 1 patient.  He was right.  I was re-diagnosed with Diabetes 1 in February 2020.  This was actually a relief for me.  It explained the doubts I had,  it confirmed that I had done well and it feels like a new start.  

It is now July 2020, 5 months after being diagnosed with Diabetes 1.  A week ago I got an insulin pump.  A new learning process, but I can use everything I learned and experienced when I was Diabetes 2 patient.  A new chance to win the "battle" with Diabetes although  I know now that I will never be Diabetes free again, but together with my "new best friend" (the pump) I will take care that being  Diabetic will not have any influences on having a good life.   "Diabeatic" will proof and share this with you. 

                                                   My new "best friend" 

Why "Diabeatic"

Welcome to Dia-BEA-tic

Welcome to my blog about living with Diabetes 

I don't think the name of this blog needs a lot of explanation.  It is simple,  My name is Bea and have Diabetes.  The main goal of this blog is to write a kind of diary, so I don't forget all the things I experience or that I have experienced in the past.  The second goal is to share this information with my friends and other interested people, to show them what it is really like to live with this illness.  Another goal might be, in the future, to help other people who will be diagnosed with Diabetes and who might need some practical information.  

In no way this will be a medical blog.  It will be a blog to show that life certainly does not stop when you are diagnosed with Diabetes.  When I was diagnosed in 2011, I bought a  "Diabetic Living" Magazine.  One of the first posts I read was from someone who advised that being diagnosed with Diabetes was one of the best things that happened to her.  Well, meeting my husband and traveling around the world with him was certainly a better thing that happened to me, but since I have been diagnosed with Diabetes my life has certainly changed and in a lot of things indeed for the better. 

For one thing, and this might sound ridiculous, it made me a healthier person.  I lost a lot of weight and I started to exercise more.  I make healthier food choices and I enjoy little things more.  Of course, I have my moments and I can be really stressed about it all, but yes, after all, I am only human. 

There is a lot to tell, but before I start the first story, a bit of an insight of who I am:   

I consider myself a "woman of the world".  I am born in the Netherlands and I have moved to New Zealand.  I had a lot of different jobs, although I still consider myself an "airline girl".   I am recently retired which will give me even more time to enjoy life.  My main hobbies are baking, drinking coffee and travel.  In general I am a positive and optimistic person, although as I said before, I am only human and I can be also pretty emotional about things.  I am happily married and also pleased with a lot of good friends.  I consider myself as really fortunate.  

I hope you enjoy ready my stories. If you like to be informed about the new posts, please add your email address.  And remember: 

 "Happiness is a journey, not a destination"