Thought I might update...
Friday, August 26th, 2016 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanAs we approach August Bank Holiday, I thought it might be nice to update for the first time in a couple of months.
I had planned – and half written a piece about THAT VOTE back in June, but as I refined and developed it, I realised that everything I was saying, or trying to say had already been said by other people and probably better expressed. And then I just sort of stopped writing anywhere except for the odd thing over on FarceBørk.
Anyway.
When the Referendum was on, we were, ironically, in Germany; Konstanz, to be precise, for a long weekend. Happily we’d bought our Euros before the pound tanked on the announcement of the result.
My God, it was hot, and my knee was still playing up from the torn ligament I’d suffered at the beginning of May. I think the heat took some of the enjoyment out of the trip for me, but we did get to the garden island of Mainau again and this time it was late enough in the year for the rose gardens to be in full bloom. This part of Germany remains one of my favourite places in the world and we shall go there again, but not for a while, I think. There are other places to explore.
In July, the sister-in-law got married to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jfs. That was a good day, but again, so hot. Anyone who thinks we’ve not had a summer should bear in mid the fact that the end of June, nearly every day of July and most of August (with a few blessed days of relief) have been melters.
In further exciting, though unwelcome news, I have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I guess it’s ben on the cards for some time, but still, you never quite believe it will happen to you personally. I’ve never had any symptoms – or rather I didn’t know I had symptoms. Apparently getting up most nights for a pee is a symptom, whereas I thought it was a side effect of my habit of having a large cup of tea at bed time. If I missed the cuppa, I didn’t get up for a pee at about 3 am. That said, only once in the two months since I’ve been on diabetes medication, have I had to get up in the night, and I still have that cup of tea.
Changing the diet hasn’t been quite the chore that I thought it might be, though I think I need to give it more thought. There is still room to cut back on the carbs and up the protein. I have been eating more fruit and veggies on the basis that if you can’t escape the sugars, you may as well go for the minerals and roughage. Trouble is, I might have over done it slightly. The sudden influx of apples, bananas and green veggies has really turned my digestion on its head. I have had to compensate by eating eggs. Let’s just say that if my broadband gave the same download speeds, well…
I’ll leave that hanging, actually. I’m wavering on the edge of too much information.
Beyond that, though, the main change is that I have sworn off the cider. When I go to the pub it’s back to the real ale or – as in times like this, when it’s bloody baking – lager. I feel fine and other than having to take more bloody pills and it being harder to avoid the quack, life rolls on as usual.
The garden is coming along nicely. We had a small barbecue a couple of weeks back, when we welcomedmathcathy and her fiancé, Patrick along with the newly double-barrelled Scott-Roe family. It all went rather well, I think and everyone seemed to have a good time. We should do more of that sort of thing in the summer, after all, what is the point of a garden otherwise?
I had planned – and half written a piece about THAT VOTE back in June, but as I refined and developed it, I realised that everything I was saying, or trying to say had already been said by other people and probably better expressed. And then I just sort of stopped writing anywhere except for the odd thing over on FarceBørk.
Anyway.
When the Referendum was on, we were, ironically, in Germany; Konstanz, to be precise, for a long weekend. Happily we’d bought our Euros before the pound tanked on the announcement of the result.
My God, it was hot, and my knee was still playing up from the torn ligament I’d suffered at the beginning of May. I think the heat took some of the enjoyment out of the trip for me, but we did get to the garden island of Mainau again and this time it was late enough in the year for the rose gardens to be in full bloom. This part of Germany remains one of my favourite places in the world and we shall go there again, but not for a while, I think. There are other places to explore.
In July, the sister-in-law got married to
jfs. That was a good day, but again, so hot. Anyone who thinks we’ve not had a summer should bear in mid the fact that the end of June, nearly every day of July and most of August (with a few blessed days of relief) have been melters.In further exciting, though unwelcome news, I have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I guess it’s ben on the cards for some time, but still, you never quite believe it will happen to you personally. I’ve never had any symptoms – or rather I didn’t know I had symptoms. Apparently getting up most nights for a pee is a symptom, whereas I thought it was a side effect of my habit of having a large cup of tea at bed time. If I missed the cuppa, I didn’t get up for a pee at about 3 am. That said, only once in the two months since I’ve been on diabetes medication, have I had to get up in the night, and I still have that cup of tea.
Changing the diet hasn’t been quite the chore that I thought it might be, though I think I need to give it more thought. There is still room to cut back on the carbs and up the protein. I have been eating more fruit and veggies on the basis that if you can’t escape the sugars, you may as well go for the minerals and roughage. Trouble is, I might have over done it slightly. The sudden influx of apples, bananas and green veggies has really turned my digestion on its head. I have had to compensate by eating eggs. Let’s just say that if my broadband gave the same download speeds, well…
I’ll leave that hanging, actually. I’m wavering on the edge of too much information.
Beyond that, though, the main change is that I have sworn off the cider. When I go to the pub it’s back to the real ale or – as in times like this, when it’s bloody baking – lager. I feel fine and other than having to take more bloody pills and it being harder to avoid the quack, life rolls on as usual.
The garden is coming along nicely. We had a small barbecue a couple of weeks back, when we welcomed
mathcathy and her fiancé, Patrick along with the newly double-barrelled Scott-Roe family. It all went rather well, I think and everyone seemed to have a good time. We should do more of that sort of thing in the summer, after all, what is the point of a garden otherwise?![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-28 11:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 03:42 pm (UTC)Just adjusting to more protein. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-30 09:40 am (UTC)Also, we've been cutting sugar out of our diet as a precaution against Type 2 diabetes which my Dad and Grandmother had, as well as P's mother. We've found all sorts of amazing recipes, including a fruit crumble with no added sugar (just dates for sweetness and whatever fruit - Patrick prefers pears, I like berries) and some flapjacks with just a small hint of maple syrup. Our sweet potato cocoa brownies were pretty cool, too.... We should arrange a "next time" and Patch and I will bring the dessert.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 03:44 pm (UTC)Sadly, it's rather more than just avoiding sugar. Pretty much EVERYTHING has sugar and or carbs in it and when all is said and done, they're still necessary.
I'll adjust!
(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 03:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 03:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 05:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-31 07:47 pm (UTC)I shall avoid any comments about broadband.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 01:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-09-05 03:47 pm (UTC)Still, on the bright side, I no longer have to pay for my prescriptions!
(no subject)
Date: 2016-10-19 10:28 am (UTC)I suspect you look very cool and refined (in a non-sugar way) walking with your cane. It's a right bugger that you are suffering from gammy knee.
Apart from 3 months earlier this year of brilliant control of my DT2 with amazing results, I'm crap at managing mine. I think this is partly because I'm still not 100% convinced that I'm not from another planet; partly because I have a very stubborn attitude to any form of testing and being assessed according to numbers and targets (one of the reasons I left teaching and why I suspect that Drs are under similar pressure re results) and I really resent being told what to choose, because to me, that's not really a choice. Food has been my flawed coping mechanism for over 4 decades.
Sigh.
Hence the Type 2.
Hence the poor control.
It reads like you've a much healthier (pun wasn't intended but it works) relationship with food which, speaking as someone who doesn't have a healthy relationship with the stuff, is a very positive foundation to build on.
All the best to you and the awesome Furtle :) xx
(no subject)
Date: 2016-10-26 05:32 pm (UTC)They call to me! They call!
You take care, too!