The first week back at home.

After a very long journey back from the States, I was still very motivated to continue. I managed on the flight with the food I had with me, thanks to Kim who we had stayed with by a lake! I knew I had a lot of people behind me and Chris knew the importance of me succeeding. I started to focus on foods I could eat and while Chris went for a lie down I went shopping for meat!! I felt energised and wanted to prepare for my meals.

I made beef jerky, got lots of bacon and bought some chickens to cook. I stayed basic because I knew I would be tired this week and wanted quick and easy food to keep me going. I knew the only way to stay on track was to always be prepared. I had to start each day knowing exactly what I would be taking with me to eat. I work with a lady with Autism and spend my day away from home and often away from cooking facilities, so I try to make sure I have everything I need for the day.

We arrived back on the Sunday and I was back at work the following day. Thankfully it was only for a few hours. I decided that I need to take some time each day just for me, my main problem with my blood sugars is stress. My life is always busy and I often start work at 7:30am and I am running around all day I sometimes work 12 hours straight and the nature of my job is I do not get a break, then when I come home I am busy like most mums are. My husband Chris is a mechanic and he too comes home from a full days work then friends turn up at the house with car trouble wanting their cars fixed. This for me is often really frustrating as I am usually making tea or coffee. I sometimes get so stressed I feel like screaming, as one person leaves another one arrives. So I spoke to Chris and told him that every day I will be coming home from work and going upstairs to be alone for half an hour or so.

I have been doing this every day now and I feel so much better for it. Just laying down and closing my eyes, I sometimes fall asleep, but I set an alarm so I just have a power nap. This has made such a difference to my mood. I don’t snap at the kids nearly as much, and I feel happier within myself.

I have recorded my BG 4/5 times each day and due to jet lag they have been quite high. One day it even rose to 374mg/dl 20.8mmol/l, now that day I was really worried but I emailed Dr Eric Westman of Heal Clinics and he advised I do a sliding scale of Insulin so when my BG goes above 250mg/dl 14mmol/l I can implement it. This really eased my mind and made me feel in control again. Its great knowing even though Eric and I are thousands of miles apart, I know he is at the end of an email. I also am in contact with other members of his team too. This alone gives me great reassurance.

The one thing this did prove however is that stress is my main enemy with my diabetes, not the food I eat. I stuck 100% to zero carb, I even cut out coffee and drank just water. Looking back though I’m thinking I was stressing my body cutting everything out while trying to deal with Jet Lag. I also returned to bootcamp which I have noticed gives me a spike in BG just after, which is a normal stress response. So I put coffee back in my daily routine, I only ever have 1-2 cups in the morning, and I have cream. Once my BG stabilises I will withdraw it again. People have often said to me, “you must be eating the wrong foods if your BG is so high”. It can be frustrating but I know what I eat, after all, if I ate the wrong foods I would only be cheating myself wouldn’t I?

The amazing thing is I was on a combined total of 170iu of insulin a day, on the sliding scale I have had at the most 10iu and that was enough to bring my BG back to normal. This has only happened once so far but at least I know I have a back up plan if needed. So although my bloods for this last week look bad, I am not worried as my body needs time to adjust back to bein in the UK. I have seen this before, and I am always worse when we come back home. My body is recovering and my continued blood monitoring is showing that.

I have learned to be patient and give my body time. I have also learned to be kinder to myself and try to combat stress. I am finding my energy levels are improving, but if I’m tired through the day I try take a power nap when I get home from work.

Even though my glucose levels were high last week, I have still followed this 100% and I still trust 100% that I will continue to improve and this way of eating is right for me.