The other day at work, a co-workers’ daughter brought in a beautiful spread of cookies. They looked delicious. My blood sugar had been running a little high all day, so I was trying to resist. Another coworker agreed to split a cookie with me. So I walked my happy ass over to the tray, picked one up, only to have a coworker behind me grab my shoulders saying, “Nooo, resist! You can’t eat that!” … (Yes, this person actually used the word resist.)

My friends know exactly how this made me feel. For those of you that have been lucky enough to avoid my rage in these type of moments, I will tell you first how I felt inside, and second how I responded. Inside – rage, fury, surprise, irritation. I (not as calmly as I wanted) informed this person, as well as everyone within a six foot radius, that people with diabetes are allowed to have sugar. 

Yes, you heard it here. We eat sugar. 

The person that made this comment is truthfully such a kind and pleasant and sweet person. She meant absolutely no harm – I know that. She is certainly not the first person to make a comment like this, so this post really has little-to-nothing to do with her.

People that have diabetes do not have to avoid sugar. Most of us/many of us choose to do so, because we understand how it impacts us. Those words are really important, because it all comes down to a choice. 

When it comes to the correlation between blood sugar and what we consume, it ultimately comes down to carbohydrates. When we bolus before a meal, it’s total carbohydrates that we consider above all. While there are many additional things we consider with our doses (type of carb, previous experience with this carb, etc, etc.), we won’t get into those details today. Sugar, sugar alcohol and fiber are all part of the total carbohydrate content. Take a peek-sy at a nutrition label. Do you see how sugars and fiber are indented underneath total carbs? That’s because they are part of the total carb count. So if you dose based off of total carbs, you’ve already accounted for the sugar (not necessarily for the fiber – we’ll discuss that in a later post). 

You may be thinking that the conclusion that I’m drawing here is that sugars don’t matter. And I’m sorry if this is confusing, because sugars do matter. We are allowed to consume them; virtually everything we eat has some sugar in it. Hell, fruit is full of sugar. Mind you, the most natural form; none the less….still sugar!

This is where sugar matters: something that is exorbitantly high in sugar content with a total carb content of 30 grams will affect us differently than something that is relatively low in sugar with an equivalent carb content. Your standard Snickers bar has 35 total grams of carbs in it, 29 of which are sugars. The Spinach, Feta, Cagefree Egg White Wrap from Starbucks has 34 grams of total carbs, 5 of which are sugars. One would theoretically take the same amount of insulin for these two items. If my blood sugar were 120 before each of these items were consumed, my lived experience is that my blood sugar after the egg wrap would be less than 120 and my sugar after the Snickers bar would be above 200. This is where the relationship between sugar and diabetes is developed; we understand that persons with diabetes tend to do better (defined by having blood sugars within certain goals ranges) with foods and drinks that have minimal or reduced sugar content. This is a generalized conclusion, and is not applicable to everyone. With the technology and medications we have now, there are many ways to enjoy these high sugar-content foods while experiencing less of an impact on blood sugar. None the less, choosing to have sugar is just that – a choice. It isn’t breaking the law. 

A few thoughts I’d like to leave you with:

This is my fight. Not yours. Unless you are my husband, my mom or one of my best friends, I respectfully ask you to back up. 

Please do not suggest that we (meaning those of us with diabetes) should or should not be eating something. Chances are, we already know if we “shouldn’t” be eating something, but we’re doing it anyway, because maybe it’s been a shit day. Believe me, we’re already beating ourselves up. 

This is a complex topic. There are many layers to understanding sugar, blood sugar and diabetes. This is my personal sound-off about individuals that do not know how to talk to someone like me. But, there are ways! Asking questions is a great start. Our language has so much power. If you have someone in your life you are concerned about, there are numerous ways to approach them that send a message of love and concern rather than guilt, shame, and condescension. I have experience working with patients that are struggling with dietary choices that their health is being negatively affected by; I’ve worked with them as well as their loved ones. If you need support or tips, I am more than happy to help. Hit me up.