This week, I saw a Tweet from Close Concerns President Kelly Close about the idea of behavior and “behavior change,” which sparked some conversation on Twitter (and woke up the bats in my head):
Hey people w/diabetes! Doing a bit of work for an @AmDiabetesAssn talk – what do “behavior” + “behavior change” mean to people w/ #diabetes?
— kelly close (@kellyclose) May 7, 2015
Talking about diabetes in the context of behaviors makes sense to me, because it puts an appropriate balance in play between the influence of diabetes on our actions and the influence of our actions on our diabetes.
I have type 1 diabetes, so the need for synthetic insulin is something I cannot change at this point. I’ve had the c-peptide test to prove that my insulin production is undetectable after almost 29 years with diabetes. What I can change is how much insulin I take on the whole – which, for me, means choosing foods that are lower in carbohydrates and offsetting some of the higher carb meals with exercise. Diabetes influences my behaviors in that way, making food and exercise feel like an actual science experiment at times. My behaviors influence diabetes, because while there are things I can’t change about the way my body produces (read: doesn’t) insulin, the choices I make every day map how my blood sugars might play out.
I have way more control of diabetes than I think, but not nearly as much as I’d like.
It’s a strange dance. Fine and not fine. Influenced and influencing. Can you actually control diabetes, or is does it become an analogy of lemons into lemonade?
Kelly is looking for some feedback on her question. If you have opinions on behaviors, the ease/difficulty of changing behaviors, the definition of behaviors, an alternate spelling of “behaviors,” please share. The diabetes community is not short on opinions and perspectives, so please share yours.
For me, the best change was being more conscious of what/how much I am eating/drinking. I think i used to get caught up in the mentality that “D doesnt control me so I shoild be able to always eat/do whatevet I want”. But as you pointed out – lower carb is easier 🙂 I used to think that “watching my diet” was a sign of D having more control over my life but I realized recently that more mindful, lower carb eating has made lole with Dore manageable, happier, and in the end gave me a lot more control working with it than rebelling against it if that makes sense.. Check out my blog – theae are chnages induced by the burnout that led up tonit for sure 🙂
For me, the best change was being more conscious of what/how much I am eating/drinking. I think i used to get caught up in the mentality that “D doesnt control me so I should be able to always eat/do whatevet I want”. But as you pointed out – lower carb is easier 🙂 I used to think that “watching my diet” was a sign of D having more control over my life but I realized recently that more mindful, lower carb eating has made life with D more manageable, happier, and in the end gave me a lot more control working with it than rebelling against it if that makes sense.. Check out my blog – these are changes induced by the burnout leading up to them for sure 🙂
Love the card (and the others on her website)!
While I’m happy for those that find lower carb easier, it NEVER worked for me. Since I switched back to eating carbs one year ago, I lost 30 lbs and my A1c dropped from am 8.5 to a 6.0. I use a lot less insulin over the course of a day too-from an average of 34 units to 21. The thing about type 1 is everyone is different, even though we have a disease in common.
Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet;
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.
( I rarely get to quote a song from F-Troop. Couldn’t resist.
The lemon quote makes more sense to me this way:
“When life gives you lemons, I won’t tell you a story about my cousin’s friend who died of limes.”
Pesky behaviors only change when we’re freaking sick of the consequences of doing the same, unhelpful thing.
TOTALLY. I don’t subscribe to a “everyone should do it THIS WAY” sort of mentality, because it all varies from person to person. Whatever works is what I can get behind.
Diabetes is just plain hard. For me, sometimes I just want to do what I want to do. But Tim’s statement above reins me in: appreciating the disappointing results and ill feeling from continuing those behaviors. The only thing that leads to change is being sick of the insanity of doing the same thing and expecting a different result. My question is: how can people with diabetes be supported in making change? What works when you are struggling. Just like diabetes, people are not the same in their need for support. So what works for everybody out there in managing behavioral changes?
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