A Scary Moment

Right now I'm on vacation, the first I've taken since I received my diabetes diagnosis. I'm doing the best I can to monitor my food, though it's been hard because we've been eating out for every meal, my schedule is different and I'm trying to balance my husband's needs.

My husband is one of those people who can get away with eating one meal a day. I cannot. So I often have to remind him that I NEED breakfast or lunch, or want to eat dinner before 8 p.m. However, we went to the Poconos Garlic Festival today, so our breakfast plans turned into a debate. I wanted to stop at a diner and have something substantial because I wasn't sure what kind of food would be available at the festival. He didn't understand why I wanted to eat before going to a food fest. I tried to explain how I need a balanced breakfast to keep my blood sugar even, and we finally compromised by stopping at a little general store along the way.

Unfortunately, it was slim pickings as this store was nothing like the delis back in NYC. They had cereal, but all of it was sugary -- no Total or Kashi or plain Cheerios. The only fruit they sold were bananas. I settled for ordering whole wheat toast, but the guy looked at me like I was nuts as he asked, "Is this ALL you're having?"

I ate my toast as we headed to the garlic fest and figured that they'd at least have SOMETHING I could eat -- some roasted veggies with garlic, some garlic chicken, maybe a salad with some garlic dressing. But when we arrived, I soon realized that they did not have one healthy item of food. There were garlic funnel cakes, garlic ice cream, garlic fries ... even the mushrooms and artichokes were fried. Everything sweet and salty and greasy and fried, fried, fried. Blech. I got some cheese curds because I could tell that I needed some protein and they wouldn't serve them to me unfried. I had a few and they were so gross -- I guess I'm just no longer used to the grease. I then had a garlic pickle, which wasn't bad, and a small piece of raw garlic dipped in dark chocolate (it's as bad as it sounds). My husband got the garlic funnel cake and a garlic chocolate chip cookie, so I had a small piece of each. The sweet was just too sweet for me ... I really have lost my taste for sugar.

We walked around the fair for a couple of hours, looking at the shops and then enjoyed a juggling show. It was getting pretty warm out, so I had a diet Coke, even though I've tried to cut those out. I tested my sugar and it was decent, especially considering the fact that I had samples of some not-so-great items.

The heat was getting to me, though, and I began to get irritable. Jon kept asking if I wanted to try this or that and I snapped at him that I can't. I was annoyed with him for even asking and he was annoyed with me for not being too much fun at this fair.

Finally, we headed out around 2 p.m. and began the long drive from the Poconos to Tanglewood in the Berkshires, MA. I told Jon that I'm going to need to stop along the way to get some REAL food as I hadn't had a substantial meal all day.

We drove for a while and I began to feel lightheaded, but otherwise OK. Still, we saw a sign for an IHOP, so we pulled off. I knew they have omelets, so I figured they'd be a good bet for a decent late lunch. As I got out of the car, though, I felt as if I were going to faint. I hurried into the bathroom and tested my sugar -- and it was 60! I couldn't believe that it was so low and my now, my hands were shaking so badly, I could barely zip up my purse. I hurried back to the table and told the waitress, "I'm having a low diabetic episode, I need orange juice right away." To her credit, she returned with a glass about 10 seconds later.

Finally, I had an acceptable meal: an egg white veggie omelet with cheese, a salad and some melon, and I felt loads better. My sugar was back in the 100s after, so the OJ and good food did the trick. But it freaked me out that my bs dropped so low so easily. It also pissed me off that here I was, trying to avoid overdoing the unhealthy food and my body was punishing me for it! I think Jon felt badly because he promised that we'd stop for a real breakfast tomorrow and make sure that we have plenty of snacks.

I'm still learning how to control my sugar, so I suppose I will make a few mistakes along the way, either going too high or low. I'm just glad that I caught this when I did and that it didn't end up being as bad a situation as it could've been.