Diabetes and travelling

[drivesafe]

Hi folks, a good 4x4 mate has just found out that he has type 2 Diabetes.

I found out about 4 years ago that I have it.

One of the biggest problems I find is when travelling, it is almost impossible to get suitable food.

Just wondering how others get on with sourcing food when travelling.

Cheers

[Vern]

Traveling where? Main thing is to try and eat things low in sugar and fat.
( i have type 1 diabetes)

[drivesafe]

Hi 6.5rangie, that’s exactly what I mean, how do you find low fat, low sugar food while travelling.

There is almost no such thing available through the road side restaurants so, besides carrying food with you, where can you get your hands on decent food.

[101RRS]

I must admit I don't have a problem - if I am eating high GI food then I am absolutely religious with my medication - however if meals will be infrequent ie - breakfast with not much chance of lunch before dinner then I cut out meds at lunch - remember for most Type 2s it is the meds that cause the problems with going gar gar and becoming unconscious - remember unlike Type 1s most Type 2s are still producing plenty of insulin and can sill a handle salad type food - the trick is testing

I don't test much these days as my routine is consistent, diabetes stable etc - however - travelling and rushing around where routine is disrupted I always take my lead from my glucose levels - as a precaution have those jelly beans ready but if you are like me you always eat the emergency stocks and have to get more.

The dangers of diabetes from the desease are long term high glucose - short term higher levels (not extremes) are acceptable as long as the long term situation is under control - the main problem in travelling is low glucose caused by the meds so have those lollies on standby.

Eat well when you can but the occassional cockup will not matter unless it happens all the time. I have been Type 2 for 12 years and never really had any problems - everything in moderation including your meds if the circumstance warrants it - afterall if you were lost in the bush with no food you would stop your meds.

Gazzz

[Yabbie]

I have been diagnosed with Type 2 for 2 1/2yrs now.

At first I was religous with testing, diet, etc. That was until I had the visit to the Diet mob.

Like many who have been I was explained the whole process of how my body has trouble processing Glucose/sugar. And how the body converts Carbs in to Sugars that the body can use. I was told that to stablise my BGL I was to use the medications along with including a food which was a Carbohydrate with each meal, doing so would result in normal levels (4 - 8) (This is the part where I was asked to sit in another room) Being the type of person that I am(Insert four letter word here), I tend to ask questions about things that aren't logical.

In this case the question I asked was:
How come if I have a problem processing the sugars that my body makes I have to eat more Carbs in order to balance out my BGL with Medication? Wouldn't I be better off lowering my Carb intake and not taking the Meds?

The first response was as expected:
If you have to eat carbs in order for the medication to work correctly!!
The medication will lower you BGL to dangerous levels if you reduce your Carb intake with each meal.
Secondly:
Can you please go with .......

My 2nd question seemed to make sence, to me atleast.
So I tried it out for myself. Each day I tested my blood and reduce the amount of Carbs in my diet along with not taking any medication. I was suprised at the result and so was my doctor. After not taking medication for over 6mths and just reducing a few carbs from my diet I had managed to achieve a daily figure that remained between 4 - 8. Normally it hovers around 5.1.
Have I been cured from Diabetes: No
I still do silly things like get drunk and eat bad food but all in all my BG levels are still good. Considering when I was first tested it was 34. I am not saying that every diabetic should race out and stop there meds. I do however think that like most illnesses these days Doctors are just alittle too keen to rip out a script for something.

As for what you can eat on the go, with my recent health problems I doubt anyone would be lining up for a copy of my cookbook if I was to release one. But here's my tip. You only live once and when your dead you aren't allowed to taste anything ever again, so eat what you want within reason and remember they are finding new cures for everything everyday.

p.s. Don't forget the funeral fund. Which reminds me........

[101RRS]

Yabbie - thats why I don't go to the diabetic education centres anymore - you ask questions which seem fair enough and they then say you are just being difficult - a lot doesn't make sense. Now I just deal with the doctors, at least they try to answer the questions and if no one knows they say so rather than the Ed Centre Nazis who pretend they know it all - I acknowledge I don't and am learning but at least I acknowledge that.

Quiz - which has the worse impact on your glucose levels 100gms of Mars Bar or 100gms of raw Carrots - answer - the one that tastes the worse.
The answer is the other way around if you want to know which one cloggs the arteries.


Gazz

[Michael2]

There are a lot of Type 2 diabetics that control their diabetes with diet only. It depends on the extent to which insulin production is affected by the disease.

Things that can help are to lose excess weight and exercise moderately.

As for things to eat, I read recently that honey is an excellent sweetener. Although it is basically a sugar, there's something about some enzyme in the bees saliva or something that makes it a slow GI release. Something else about the bees saliva makes it antibiotic / antifungal too.
That means it will provide instant increase in BGL in the event of a hypo, but maintain that increase for a prolonged period, unlike sugar (lollies). Unfortunately when travelling, you must discard honey at border quarantine checks. - Now if it's for medicinal purposes, I'm not sure if you can get away with it.


Illness can greatly affect your BGL and the efficacy of medication. Before travelling it would be a good idea to visit a dentist, so you don't end up with a rotten tooth that gets infected and not only causes you pain, but throws your diabetes balance out. Getting plenty of rest, and regular meal breaks will also ensure that your health doesn't suffer and further compound your diabetes.

If you travel with a fridge, you should be able to carry most meals. To reduce prep time and effort on a recent 2 week trip we precooked and froze all the meals. Everyday we removed that nights meal from the freezer and thawed it in the esky. At the end of the day we cooked up some pasta or rice while we warmed the thawed meal in a billy. Meals for 4 blokes in 15min! Forward planning like this could mean that there will be less reliance on what you may chance upon in your travels.

[stevo68]

Interesting topic and without offending anyone ( I will explain why I ask the question) with those that have type 2, how many of you would consider yourself overweight? The reason I ask is that I recently got tested and initially thought I may have had it. I was then to come back for tests after fasting, When retested the results came up normal, however the doctor said that weight can contribute to getting diabetes ( ie lose some weight fatty boombah, meaning myself) so I am in the process of working slowly :D to lose about 10 kilos. Just wondering if anyone else had been given same advice, thanks

Regards

Stevo

[Yabbie]

3 standard replies for most Doctors:

1. Lose weight
2. Give up smoking
3. Stop drinking

My diabetes actually was triggered by a series of cortizone injections I had.
I was having regular blood tests to check for damage high pain relief medications (Morphene) may have been doing to my body whilst suffering with a cronic back injury (Pinned Nerves L3 - S1). Before the cortizone injections the blood tests had return normal BGL's for almost 2yrs after the injections my BGL had shot up to 34.
So be careful being having Cortizone Injections.

[101RRS]

Interesting topic and without offending anyone ( I will explain why I ask the question) with those that have type 2, how many of you would consider yourself overweight? The reason I ask is that I recently got tested and initially thought I may have had it. I was then to come back for tests after fasting, When retested the results came up normal, however the doctor said that weight can contribute to getting diabetes ( ie lose some weight fatty boombah, meaning myself) so I am in the process of working slowly :D to lose about 10 kilos. Just wondering if anyone else had been given same advice, thanks

Regards

Stevo

You are right us porkers are prime candidates but if this was the main reason everyone who was overweight would get diabetes and this is not the case - the main reason is genetic predisposition and the genetic programmed time for onset can be brought forward by being a porker and delayed by being all skin, bones and p$&%k.

A certainty for younger people is to loose weight and you may no longer be diabetic but a lot of older people who become diabetic may be very lean and never have been chubby.

Garry

[George130]

I am predisposed to get it as most seniors in my family get type 2 in the end. Weight can only help as I usually get the lecture of stop smoking, exercise more and for god's sake eat something youve lost weight again!
For those of you who have met me I am a porker compared to how I used to be and I won't upset anyone by telling how light I am. I actually have to work at gaining weight. That is eat lots of bad food or I stay the same or loose weight. Makes it hard trying to teach the kids good eating habits if they see some of the stuff I eat.
As for travel avoid the fast food outlets or as sujested prepack and yes carry the emergency boosting food but stash it so you don't just eat them.

[drivesafe]

Don’t smoke ( not for the last 25 years ), alcohol consumption would be the equivalent to about two dozen cans of beer a year BUT as I’m 20 stone, do you think this might be a contributing factor?

I have change my food types from crap to decent food over the last few years but I still like FOOD and when travelling, I now use the need for a snack as an excuse to take a break from driving.

I use to like to get to where I was going as quickly as possible, and this does NOT mean speeding or the likes, I just like to drive.

The last trip I did from the Gold Coast to Sydney, I drove non stop to Taree then to Sydney. Only stopped in Taree for the call of nature otherwise it would have been straight through.

This, as I have been told, is a no no and I should now take a break, more so to get out of the RR and stretch than to actually rest.

Apparently bad circulation is a major problem with Diabetes, so getting some periodical exercise is paramount, hence the food stop excuse.

And this is the reason for my question in the first place. There are very few places that you can get decent food at unless you go off the beaten track, which I find myself doing more and more these days, but I was just wondering if anybody had solved the problem.

Cheers.

[Yabbie]

Drivesafe!!
Finding out what actual causes diabetes is the same as the quest for the holy grail, never ending.

You can buy suitable food just about any where with exception to the major fast food outlets. But if you pick and chose what you get from their menus you can still eat there if you have too reasonably safe.
Most have a break down of whats in the item, with regards to sugars Kilojoules etc. Try to stick with the Low Gi options. They have less impact on your sugar levels and make you feel full for longer.

I can't seem to work out exactly what type of food you need help with i.e. where you are buying it from etc. Different shops obviously are going to have different menus but you can almost always find something that doesn't play up with your sugars if you try.

[drivesafe]

I’m lucky so far, I don’t need medication but it’s still an up hill battle to get, and this what I should have put in the previous posts, interesting food.

Macers and the likes would be OK for a small snack but everything is chock a block full of sugar but I still occasionally have a muffin while driving in the early morning hours as there is usually nothing else open.

Road side cafe’s at servos very rarely have anything more than salad sandwiches or the likes as all the cooked food is usually fried and dripping with fat.

Again, getting off the beaten track can be very rewarding as there are now some good restaurants in out of the way places and you can get some good quality food but this is usually literally only during business hours.

Now WARM cooked food during winter is what i would like to be able to get but as above,what hot food that is available is not the best and me cooking something, well all I can say to that is , as a cook, I make a good fence painter.

Anyway, so far some very interesting posts and it seems that there is a lot of us out there.

Cheers and keep it coming.

[Vern]

It seems you all are type 2 diabetics, lucky you, but if you don't looka after yourself i.e. lose weight and excercise more you will end up insulin dependant which sucks, trust me 4 needles a day ain't fun. From what i've read i think type one diabetes is more managable and can be regulated better with insulin depending on what i eat, as said it is hard to eat on the run as every where you look is fast food of some kind.
After my last checkup, my doctor told me i have to lose 25 kg (i'm 6'4" and around 115kg, wouldn't say over weight but solid) which i'm finding hard due to working on the run (electrician) and sometimes finding the time or place to grab a decent feed.
My son (12 months old) is doing diabetes research, whilst he does not have it (i do) he is part of a program thats research believes diabetes is linked to protien in cows milk, also Finland has the highest numbers of type 1 diabetics and is believed that those of Nordick decent are at the greatest risk of having it. (just some info for you all)
The old wives tail of diabetes being bought on by shock, who knows could be true, i was diagnosed with it about 4 months after my old man died and there is no history of it in my family, a bit of a mistery.
Thats my rant, Thanks Damien