It is not fun looking for gifts for a
person with diabetes. Most gifts are food oriented and while many
claim to be sugar free, they say nothing about the number of
carbohydrates the food contains. Even a present I received last
Christmas loudly proclaimed it was sugar free. According to the
label, the container said there were sixteen servings in the
container. The nutrition label showed zero for sugar. Then the bomb
was the sugar alcohols was 15 grams of sugar alcohol per serving.
Then the carbohydrates listed about floored me. There were 55 grams
of carbohydrates per serving. Not very appetizing! This was not
something I would eat. The combination of sugar alcohol and
carbohydrates made this like eating heavy sugar.
Then the ingredients listed wheat, and
several other foods that I don't eat. When the person giving me the
gift could see that I was not enthused about the gift, and stated
that it was sugar free. Fortunately, this was someone that does not
understand diabetes and I could overlook the bad gift, until he said
it will not affect your diabetes. Then he opened the bag and handed
me one insisting that I eat it and it would not affect my diabetes.
I could not let this teaching moment pass. I got my meter and asked
my wife when I had last had food. She said almost four hours prior.
I tested my blood glucose and it was
106 mg/dl. I said that I would eat the serving and at about 90 to
120 minutes, later the reading would be about 165 mg/dl. He said it
should not go up at all. I had my opening and said you will take the
gift back if it goes up. After some thought, he finally agreed.
Since there were three other support group members present, I could
see them give thumbs up.
An hour later, Tim asked me to test. I
said okay, got my meter, and tested. I had washed my hands
thoroughly earlier. I was still surprised when the meter showed a
reading of 158 mg/dl. Allen asked to see and he pointed this out to
the fellow. I said the agreement was for 90 minutes or 120 minutes
and Allen said okay.
At 90 minutes, I tested again. The
reading was 163 mg/dl. Then at 120 minutes, the reading was 168
mg/dl. Since he had been near me the whole time, I said I have not
had anything else to eat or drink, so the meter could be off by up to
20 percent, but this still proved that his gift was bad for my
diabetes. He agreed and asked how something that was sugar free
could affect my blood glucose that much.
Jason asked if he could try to answer
the question. I said sure and Jason asked him to look at the
nutrition label and asked what the sugar alcohol was listed. He
answered 15 grams. Jason said a sugar alcohol is a kind of alcohol
prepared from sugar and these organic compounds are a class of
polyols. They normally have little effect on blood glucose, but
there is some debate. Polyols are used in foods that are claiming to
be sugar free.
Next, Jason asked him to read the number
of grams of carbohydrates. He read the same 55 grams. Jason said
this is what the body converts to glucose and causes the levels to
rise. He then had him read the first ingredient. His answer was
wheat and Jason said this is what causes those of us with diabetes to
have elevated blood glucose. This is what those of us with diabetes
do not want and why we have to use oral medications or insulin.
Jason's wife, Tim, and Allen had been
working their way closer to us and Jason's wife spoke up, said Jason
is right, and she had seen this happen when he tested. She said
after Jason's diagnosis, the dietitian had stressed the whole grains
very hard, but when this hadn't helped his blood glucose levels, they
had tried eliminating different whole grains and most caused spikes
in blood glucose levels. Once they stopped the whole grains, she
said Jason's blood glucose levels had improved significantly.
The fellow said that by adding some
sugar, he would be happy to take back the gift and he had not
realized that diabetes involved more than sugar.
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