I had my first appointment with a nutrition specialist on Friday of last week.
It was wonderful! She is a very neat lady who did not make me feel strange about the way I have been eating. She was very energetic and very encouraging.
We talked for a while about what had brought me to her. I explained that I feel my eating habits are the last frontier or barrier to good diabetic control, and I wanted to focus some attention on that area of management. I talked a bit about my strange likes and dislikes, and the frustrations that they cause with my blood sugars.
You know what? She was excited to help me! Wow! I was blown away. I could literally see the gears turning in her head.
We talked about the typical times of day that I ate. She threw out about a zillion ideas of foods, trying to get a better feel for things that I liked/disliked, or things I was or was not willing to try. There were a pretty large number of things that I thought I might like, or at least thought I could try.
One of the biggest things we came up with for why I like/don’t like foods was the texture. She had a solution for that. “Blenderize it!!” she says! Make a smoothie. Puree the crap out of things where the texture bothers you! Try to learn the taste of it, and we can overcome the texture of it.
We came up with a schedule of times that would be best for me to eat, and estimated calories for each meal & snack.
We started a menu of sorts, where I have a handful of things that I can try for breakfast, lunch, & snacks. We ran out of time to build up anything for dinner, but she did lay out a calorie target and servings from the different nutritional groups.
Do you remember me talking about how the appointment was scheduled for 75 minutes? Well I met with her for the entire 75 minutes, and could have used another 75 minutes! Boy, the time just FLEW by!!
So I’ve got a very short menu of a few different things to try. She felt strongly about not trying to change the world in a day. She talked about trying different things and building up a menu of things to choose from.
For the past few days the appointment has been “digesting” in my head. And like much else in life, it seems that planning is the key. I have to wake up with a plan laid out for what I’m having to eat that day. If I can get that part done, I think the rest will be pretty easy.