Angie’s Journey

I was diagnosed in 2009. But, my own diabetes absolutely did not start there. I truly believe it started way back in my teen years when I was addicted to white bread, white carbs, etc.

Growing up our meals weren’t protein friendly. Money was never plentiful in our household, so Mom made do with what she had. Meat was more of a flavor, it made the carbs taste much better. Potatoes, macaroni and spaghetti noodles, Ramen noodles, and so on were the main dishes. Mom’s favorite things were mashed or fried potato. She knew how to make a potato into just about any dish you could imagine. Later on she learned how to make Rice-A-Roni, and that introduced a whole new carb load. I don’t blame her, she did the best she could with the resources she had. She fed us on a meager budget.

Both Mom and Dad were diagnosed T2 back in the 1980’s. Let me tell you, the diet from the Registered Dietician, as well as the testing methods, were pretty primitive compared to today. Neither parent had a glucose monitor. They had a lancet (tiny needle) and the strips. On the strip bottle was a color coded label, and you matched up the color on the strip once the blood was applied, and that determined the range of your blood glucose. Continuous glucose monitoring like we have now was not on their radar.