sleepie

Hi all, happy recovery. Hope you are all doing well and staying strong. I am barely into another attempt at staying off alcohol. Day 24. I finally gathered my nerve and went to the dr. Everything came back ok- except for being prediabetic.

I was shocked. I was a beer drinker, not overweight and I bike everywhere. I was obese for two years while on antidepressants. But not anymore.

The nurse said that I could see things go back to normal with continued abstinence from alcohol.

But I am very worried. As many of you likely know, sobriety comes with that lovely habit of obsessive thinking and worst case scenario. So my mind has been everywhere you can imagine and I am trying really hard not to spend hours on the internet.

But I am afraid to eat! Food was my solace during the first few weeks of not drinking- but now it looks like I can't have that unless I want to further sacrifice my health. I even went on a 30 minute walk in below zero weather today to exercise as I understand that can be helpful.

I was only one point into the prediabetic range, but one point over is too many for me!

And, of course- that little voice I am ignoring that says to drink one or two (which I cannot, there's no such thing) and forget the troubles for today (yes I know they will be waiting for me later) and that after over three weeks, one time of drinking won't be so bad (yes it will, I became physically addicted. VERY scary).

I am also filling out paperwork for a new job, which I am stressed about because my brain is tired from years of drinking. I hope I can handle a new job... Plus, it came to my attention I am highly, highly likely living with an unrecognized and undiagnosed learning disorder for which there is no help and no treatment. So, stress, stress and stress. I know that recovery involves a lot of anxiety, which has been an overwhelming problem all my life anyway as I imagine it is for many alcoholics.

So there's my story for now.

Thanks for listening.

zjw

I can relate all too well. what helps me is to sort of step away from all the thoughts of what if and worry about this and that etc.. step away from all of that and worry about whats going on right this minute or moment and concern yourself with that. Make the proper choices for right now and the rest will fall into place for you as it needs to.

I read in a book dont try to improve the already perfect just allow life to play. Point is try not to stress yourself out to much just allow things to be and go with the flow of life.

Its all easier said then done. its very easy to get wrapped up into our thoughts and concerns and worries and stresses and allow this all to pull us around like a bull with a bull ring in its nose. Rather then focusing on what is and just being happy with that.

Prediabetic? all you can do is eat properly and exercise It will either come or it wont but if you make the good choices you greatly up your chances of avoiding it.

all we can do is our best in life.

I've had to learn that sometimes my best might not be the best but its all I got sometimes and I had to learn how to be ok with that. Other times you gotta reach a little deeper just all depends.

Sotiredofitall

Do some research on lower carb diets. Thats what I use. There are many, many ways to approach it. I take out most grains (bread, rice, pasta) or limit them greatly. Lots of meat, veggies, good fats. I also limit my fruits as they tend to increase my blood sugar. Its not the end of the world. If you can afford to do daily blood tests it really helps you to know what will spike your blood sugar. These days I usually keep my carb level between 50-100 per DAY, not per meal as the ADA would have you do. Its what works for me. Just become aware of where the carbs are in your diet and you can rearrange what and how you eat.

Sasha4

Food could still be your solace.

Why not concentrate on making amazing meals that are healthy but taste fabulous? Perhaps use foods you have never used before. Use spices, seasonings, combinations that are really healthy but really taste good.

I'm not sure where you are in the world but on the internet there are some fantastic idea's for replacing take aways with healthy options that taste just as good.

Recently I have done a beef burger recipe with cream crackers in it. It was great.
Chicken that is like KFC but you use mashed potato flakes, the dried one's.
My friend makes a curry out of mushy pea's.
Another friend makes a flan/quiche out of a dried pasta packet mix.
If you microwave really, really thin slices of raw potato, for a few seconds, they taste like crisps/fries.

Its like comfort food without the bad bits!

If one point over was too much for you, and it would have been for me too, I would put the energy and thoughts and obsessing into a mission to see how many pints you can get it under by your next check.

At least thats a productive way to use that time instead of catastrophising about the worst possible outcome that probably won't happen.

Perhaps think of ways too of how you could exercise without resorting to walking outside in the extreme cold.

Could you do an exercise dvd in your home?

A DIY job that needs doing that will burn calories too and get your heart rate up?

Swimming maybe?

How about buying some ankle weights and wrist weights and where them during the day. Every time you climb the stairs whilst wearing them you will burn more calories.

For me, turning some of the down time or thinking time you get with sobriety into busy times, with tasks or activities I need to do, where I can set goals or aim to accomplish something, stops the negative thinking I can be prone to.

I wish you the best xx

Soberpotamus

Why not join our Healthy Eaters thread and work on finding a diabetic friendly diet that works for you? Lots of us are eating paleo or mostly paleo, and from what I understand, it's good for diabetics.

sleepie

I was wondering about the Paleo thing. So, I am in a bit of a state of overdrive about this. I can definitely look up recipes and do the hyperfocus on health, as addicts are prone to obsessing over one thing if not another. Paleo appeals. I was hoping to transition to vegetarian though,and one of my favorite dishes was beans and brown rice. No more rice. No more Thai food! A lot of my favorite things are gone, gone, gone. No more sugarfree coffee creamer- another staple while not drinking was my daily cups of decaf with sugarfree creamer. but I read that dairy has carbs...? I don't want to have to have a spread sheet and do equations to eat a meal! LOL

Oh well. I guess I had my fun and now I've got the tab.

Exercise for sure- problem is I am kind of a dud when it comes to creative solutions, so walking in severe weather seemed like my only option. I get locked into very rigid ways of thinking, I put it down to the learning disorder. Like it just occurred to me I can walk up and down the stairs indoors at my BF's cause he has a longer stairwell. I had a mini stepper from Wal Mart that was fifty bucks that I liked, I'll probably get another. Thank you for the suggestions, I really find them useful as i am not so quick at coming up with alternatives on my own.

Thanks for your input everyone I really appreciate it, you are helping me get my mind out of the obsessive spiral.

I don't want to get my hopes up but I'd like to turn this around and leave it in the past, just like drinking. My pink cloud is tainted with gray!

Soberpotamus

The mini stepper sounds like a good indoors exercise. I'm really picky about my environment too, and so I don't like walking in our neighborhood much anymore. It's not the best for my dogs. Too many cars. So until we move, I'm going to plan to do most of my workouts indoors or at the park.

I have a little stationary bike that I've been using. It's not great fun, but it gets the job done

Sotiredofitall

Heavy cream is totally good on a low carb diet. Its really yummy in coffee! Be aware that many of the low sugar *diabetic* foods are full of carbs and really aren't your friend. :-(