Need Help - Diabetic in the Family

Spaztic115 · 10-17-2004, 09:28 PM

ok guys, ive been reading around, and im really trying to get serious about losing weight (meanwhile I am the biggest procrastinator in the world) but there is a bit of a problem...my father is a diabetic. Now, I never fully understood what each type of Diabeties is, but all I know is that he has to inject a syringe full of insulin into his stomach before every meal. Now, because of this, whenever we go shopping, we end up buying a bunch of junk food, so in case his sugar is ever really low, he can get something that is like, pure sugar right into him. Also, in case he ever goes into diabetic shock, his doctor has told us that it is good to have some junk food around to basically shove down his throat, or else he could die - which would NOT be good.

Now...I think my family has a really skewed vision of "some junk food"...they buy enough to feed an elephant. And then they buy like...three banana's. Everytime i approach them about what we buy and try to explain that we should start getting better stuff (i once read here that on a cutting diet, eat no potatoes..yea, seeing as my family is like 90% irish..that did not go over too well), its always countered with "but we get it for dad." And then that always shoots me down, because then I get all the thoughts that if he went into diabetic shock and died, i would feel like I was the cause of it because I wanted to limit the amount of junk food we get. It's kinda a catch-22...buy the junk food and get fat, or dont buy it and have the chance of your father dying.

Do any of you have any idea of what type of foods are good to get that are good for you if you wanna lose weight, but also are good for diabetics?

This is another reason for me to get REALLY motivated about getting fit..my doctor says it could reduce my risk of getting diabetes, as I have a 50/50 chance of getting it. He also said that because my dad has the type where you have to inject insulin with a needle, if I were to get it, there is a good chance I would get the same type..and with me, I see a needle, and pass out.

So any ideas would be of mucho help! Thanks!

Mike272 · 10-18-2004, 01:25 AM

Sounds like Type 1 diabetes to me mate as type 2 means your body becomes insulin resistant predominately due to obesity.

The main thing type 1 diabetics need to do every day is inject insulin and have a consistant carbohydrate sources for energy, i dont think he should be binging on junk though.

Diabetics may need a source of glucose (lollies) if their blood glucose severely drops (hypoglycemic) but if it goes too high thats also deadly (hyperglycemic)

Exercise with type 1 diabetics is not recommended without a qualified physicians guidelines though dude. So do some research on the web and check it out.