Mental Health & Type 2 Diabetes
Hi! I don't know if anyone can help or not, but here's hoping. I've been diagnosed with T2D for about 3 years now. This past doctor's appt. did not go very well. My A1C jumped almost a full point. So I need to get serious about my diet and such but my mental health is a HUGE energy sucker.
I have 6 diagnosed mental illnesses. They range from more common things like ADHD, depression, and anxiety to more complicated illnesses like chronic PTSD and a few others. I'm continuously fighting my brain 24/7 to just do the basics of getting up, going to work, coming home, eating, sleeping. I take my meds every day. I go to talk therapy every week. I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do to manage my mental health.
My problem is that my mental health takes so much of my energy every day, that I'm not as good as I could be at taking care of my T2D.
Positives: I do drink a lot of water every day. I've switched from carb-heavy snacks to more lower-carb snacks like almonds and olives.
Negatives: I don't usually have the energy to cook for myself so lots of processed foods go into my body. I eat out a lot. I look for the quick, easy things to fill me up. I'm only so-so about my sweets intake. Some days I do well. Some days not so much. I don't move much.
Does anyone have any advice at easy, low-carb things I could maybe cook on the weekend for the week ahead? Or easy to grab low-carb meal options? Or short (like 10 min or less) exercises that can be done anywhere? I'm frustrated with myself on my T2D care. I'm doing the best I can right now, but that best just really isn't good enough and yet I use almost all my energy every day and collapse at night.
Hi
, we appreciate you taking the time to share about what you experience, and the challenges you are working through. Managing T2D, alongside other conditions and mental illnesses, can feel like a full-time job, I'm sure. We commend your efforts, and it sounds like you've incorporated some healthy habits into your life! 😀 We are so happy to have you in our community. You've certainly come to the right place to ask your question; we have a lot of easy-to-make, low-carb recipes on our site (https://type2diabetes.com/recipes). Our recipe section is actually divided into breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, and desserts, and you can also use the search bar to look for specific recipes. Here are two articles that discuss meal prep as well: https://type2diabetes.com/living/meal-prep-ideas & https://type2diabetes.com/nutrition/meal-prep-tips . Please let us know if we can answer any other questions! -Ashlen, community moderator 
I can so relate to you, I have anxiety, my mental health has affected my diabetes management to, I’ve been under tremendous stress to, for the excercise, go for a walk around your area where you live, go for about 20 minute walk for a week or so then increase it to about 30 minutes. Or get an exercise bike. I go walking at the mall about 5 times a week. And on your phone you can keep track of your steps there’s lots of apps. They say to get 10,000 steps in a day but to be fair I would say 5,000 is a more reasonable amount. Not everyone who has diabetes can get 10,000, a day for many reasons, if you work, or have other issues like me back problems. So just do the best you can. For fast easy dinners cook some chicken up in bulk, and freeze it and take out chicken breast out to thaw , have some frozen veggies, and some brown rice. Or make up a veggie stir fry, you can put this in the fridge for a few days and have it with your chicken. Cook it with olive oil. I know there’s a lot of cooking involve with diabetes because there’s no where to eat out that’s healthy, that part really sucks. Unless you have salad all the time which gets really boring after a while. I know the struggle really well. Thank you for the suggestions! I don't cook much mostly because I can't get the kitchen clean enough for the roommates. I always miss something which they ALWAYS comment on. Makes the desire to cook go right out the window. But I will take these suggestions to heart! Thank you!
