Rebounding From a Bad Day

In my opinion, diabetes is one of the biggest pain in the butt diseases to manage. You have to worry about your daily sugar, your A1c, carbohydrate intake, and so on. Sometimes, it feels like a never-ending battle that isn’t worth the fight. Of course, deep down inside, we know it’s worth it, but getting discouraged is normal and happens. I get discouraged, and I’m assuming like many people, I have days where I just don’t care. Naturally, at the end of those days, I feel terrible about my choices and have a hard reset in my thinking. I’m not proud of it, but I can admit it and use it to help myself and hopefully help others.

A bad day with type 2 diabetes

When I have a bad day, it's not bad as in a day of binging on candy, but I don’t worry about carbs or calories. I generally make healthier choices than before my diagnosis, but my choices are not diabetic-friendly. Like I said, after this happens I feel terrible about it. The first thing I have to do is keep myself from getting upset or depressed about my decision. Yes, it was a bad day with some bad decisions, but allowing my emotions to get the better of me won’t help. I make sure to realize what I did wrong and use it like a mental reset, and get right back on track.

A mental reset

Once I give myself a little internal pep talk and mentally reset to where I need to be, I get my sugar levels back on track. My finger sticks are in the toilet, and it is something I expect. At this point, I have to do whatever I need to, to get my numbers back to a safe level. This usually means low carb foods and meals, typically consisting of a lot of veggies. Seasoning helps with making sure I am satisfied after eating all those terrible foods. I recommend using a lot of seasonings to help the same foods have different flavors. This helps keeps the same foods more exciting and different for your taste buds, and helps you rebound from a bad day and resume your normal routine much easier. You may even get lucky and seasonings will help reduce bad days.

Holding yourself accountable

I also do not think of these days as cheat days. Cheat days are generally thought of as a positive thing we do for ourselves. I used to think of these as cheat days, but they aren’t. I am not rewarding myself. I am making a mistake and I don’t want to make it sound better than it is. To me, that’s like looking at a candy bar and justify eating it because it has some protein or a few peanuts sprinkled in it. This is a way to hold myself accountable for my actions and not justify something I do that is wrong.

These are ways that I help rebound from a bad day. I hope this gives you some insight into how I think, and maybe new or helpful ways to help you rebound from any bad meal or day you have in the future. Don’t beat yourself up. Hold yourself accountable and move forward with positive actions and you will feel much better about yourself.