I love end of year festivities. Particularly after being away from home for three weeks, I have a renewed sense of appreciation for the holiday season and the simple pleasure of being with family. Typically, there’s lots of last minute gift shopping, fighting crowds at markets for the freshest seafood, road raging, awesome meals, and laughter that happens. Diabetes definitely takes a back seat this time of the year and hasn’t caused any dramas until now.
It’s most likely that my body is still adjusting to random Melbourne weather. We’ve had a few days with the mercury rising over 35 degrees celsius. Like many other people with diabetes, the heat likes to drive my sugars below target range. Coming from Vancouver where we got mostly single digits and rain, this took a whole of lot of getting used to.
Couple that with all the extra shopping we’ve been doing (including a late dash to Chadstone last night on their insane 34 hour trading period for a last minute gift), my body just about had enough. It’s also extra frustrating and stressful trying to pick out gifts when you’re constantly low. I apologise if anyone in my partner’s family gets weird presents – it made sense at the time.
I’ve finally gone back to using my mySugr logbook to keep track of things, which also keeps me honest with my carb counting. The unpredictability of diabetes is annoying at the best of times. But I refuse to let it be the focus of my festive season.
Here’s how I’m planning to kick diabetes butt over the festive season:
- Trying to keep hydrated (also helps for a more accurate CGM reading if you’re using it)
- Remembering to eat regular meals
- Making sure I have hypo food on me when I’m out
- Enjoying my food mindfully and in moderation (leftovers are not a bad thing)
- Asking for help if I need to (even if it’s just calling a timeout from shopping to sit down and recover from a hypo)
No matter how you choose to tackle your diabetes over big celebrations, never let it bring you down. You’ve got this!
HangryPancreas 