10 Degrees South

Last night the Mr. and I went to 10 Degrees South for a belated South African birthday dinner. The food was quite delicious and diabetic-friendly and even brought back some fond memories of our trip to Cape Town many moons ago. We had the crab pastries (seasoned with peri-peri, a perfect spicy something I intend to look up and pursue for use in my own kitchen) and Boerewors to start, then Ostrich and Lamb for main courses. G. had a dinner roll then sent back the remaining bread, and I skipped the mashed potatoes and ate around the carrots in my vegetable side. The meat portions were large but not over-sized, and I left stuffed but not comatose. My blood sugar was 131 an hour after dinner, and probably would have been lower had I not had a two tiny bites of G’s chocolate dessert.

My mother just emailed me to “brag” that her BG after her breakfast of oatmeal and toast, which I suspected was too carb-y and have been nagging her to test after for at least two weeks now, was 90. I’m excited for her and maybe even a teeny bit jealous that her Januvia is allowing her to eat carbohydrates, but not too jealous because I think I’m adjusting to low-carb life just fine, thanks in a large part to G’s constant support. He reminds me to check my blood sugar, helps police what I eat without being overbearing, sends away bread at dinner, buys me tomes full of low-carb recipes, handles more than his share of errands so I’ll have time to exercise, and accepts huge changes his own diet without a single complaint. I feel incredibly lucky to have him. The first few days without carbohydrates were hard but once that scary “constantly hungry” feeling subsided (and the head cold passed), things started looking up.

Oh, and a special thanks to my friend out there who encouraged me to get some light cardio WHILE I was sick. It felt like torture for the first few minutes but afterwards I felt human again. My lungs especially are thanking me today – this is the first cold I’ve had in years that I haven’t been coughing up junk for days afterwards. Thanks E!