Something I just learned, thanks to my husband having recently been diagnosed diabetic, is that I’m somewhat glucose intolerant as well. I feel I’ve made major strides in the past year in how I eat, but not consistently enough, and I can’t handle the carbs I like to bindge on occasionally. I know this now because I’m using a home glucose meter to test myself various times of the day including before and after typical meals and selected indulgences. Also, the numbers now mean something to me. Because I have maintained a chart of hubby’s bloodwork for several years, it’s clear to me now that hubby was undiagnosed diabetic for at least a year and prediabetic for a long time before them. None of his several doctors including his cardiologist ever bothered to mention anything. Elevated blood glucose is inflammatory and a risk factor for many serious conditions I’d just as soon avoid.

Anyone can afford to get a basic handle on this because there are cheap meters out there which offer a full refund for the price of a stamp (at least the CVS model) and that include a number of starter lancets and test strips. Going forward, it’s the test strips that are so expensive. More affordable if your doctor will write you a prescription, but there is no prohibition on home testing if you’re willing to absorb the cost. Fasting glucose numbers aren’t enough. Neither is glycated hemoglobin (A1c), which your doctor may have tested you for. You can’t really know how your body handles carbs without testing yourself under different conditions. I still have a lot of flexibility in what I eat but hubby doesn’t and he’s really bemoaning the necessary changes in diet and lifestyle. I’m not ready to go severely low carb and I don’t have to. Yet. Hubby probably does but I doubt he’ll ever agree to. It would have been nice to have discovered his glucose intolerance/insulin resistance long before this.