IDIOTIC EATING TRICKS: Striving for IMPERFECTION

Hi t2drs! Here's some eating tricks, painfully learned by me, not always followed by me though I try (I'm imperfect):

1. Don't eat food your favourite/usual way. If you like hot food hot, eat it lukewarm.

2. Slow down to a crawl: I eat too fast. When I slow down, I eat far less. Take a sip of water/red wine w/EVERY BITE! or,put down the tools after each bite. 100% works.

3. Don't pig out on vegetables or any "free" or "safe" food. It stretches your stomach. Eat small portions. Yeah, I know, that's the whole problem. Read on.

4. Eat 5 meals a day, but treat as a meal, not grazing. Gather food, get plate & sit down and eat it properly.

5. Spice up your food w/foods that keep on giving - like garlic, onion.

6. Deliberately pick foods for meals that you're not that keen about. Really. YOU MUST START EATING JUST TO LIVE, NOT LIVING TO EAT. FOOD IS JUST NUTRITION. I don't follow this one very often, I just love all kinds of food.

7. If you can't follow #6, then buy only excellent quality of whatever it is: steak, chocolate, wine, whatever - but eat it in small amounts!

8. Try high protein bars, low in carbs, for snacks, they work for me.

9. Don't snack before any meal. Wait for proper meal. Be tough.

10. There is no #10. It's such a cliche to have 10 tricks or tips.

11. Never wash chewed food down w/drinks of anything. Eat dry, fully swallow before taking a sip.

12. No second helpings if you can help it. Bad habit and stretches stomach.

OK, admit it, no one in the diabetic industry told you these tricks, well maybe #'s 2 & 9. T2drs are expected to exercise perfect willpower and eating habits, notwithstanding what they've been doing for the last decades.

I reject that approach. We're imperfect beings, even the obnoxious skinny, muscular trainers and nutritionists, etc. We should strive for a degree of imperfection we can live with, and get better at a pace. We need to break out now and then. We need to shut out the din of "eat well and exercise and cure your diabetes" that inundates us.

I believe in small improvements and not feeling guilty for lapses or distractions. Don't try all of the above tricks - try a few or a couple. Small steps but in right direction, right? Good luck friends.