I’m always frustrated that I can’t recycle my pump supply packaging, nor can I recycle my strip vials. I know there is some sort of sterile reason for this, but knowing that doesn’t help so much on a day like today: Earth Day.
Happy Earth Day!
Earth Day is a day to focus on our impact on our environment. I was reading an article about how much of an impact eating meat and dairy has on the environment, in a substantially negative way. One of my reactions as I read was “do you want to take protein away, too?”
I think living with diabetes makes me feel like my carbohydrate choices are somewhat limited, and I’m curious if you can relate. I don’t mean to say my choices ARE limited, and I certainly cannot keep up my fitness and running without some serious carbohydrate support, but it’s more of a mental thing than literal.
I have to watch my carbs. Literally: I need to count every gram I eat! But I don’t do that with my grams of protein in the same way.
(Sure, I have counted all of my foods in various ways for various reasons, most notably counting Weight Watchers Points for a few years as I worked to get myself to a healthy weight. It’s an important skill to have, but it isn’t something I enjoy doing all the time. If I think too much about the food I’m eating and if I try to micromanage the eating experience more than I have to, I’ve noticed my life becomes generally less enjoyable.)
I appreciate having some things on my plate I don’t have to care about, or count. It used to be vegetables for a long time, until one CDE said to me once a very long time ago “I don’t recommend diabetics eat carrots on their own as a snack” and that shifted the way I see vegetables a little. (It was a sad day.)
But so far, lean protein has remained a respite from my food counting, and I appreciate it if only for that reason. I like eating a stick of low fat string cheese and not touching my pump for that. I like snagging a few almonds and not touching my pump. I like grabbing a hardboiled egg and only bolusing for the fruit or toast I have with it.
So, while I am happy to applaud efforts to minimize our carbon footprints, I’m happier still if I can minimize any counting when it comes to animal protein.
I may take this idea into consideration, though, as it isn’t like I really enjoy eating a lot of meat:
Substitute a vegetable protein source for an animal protein just one day per week, and over the course of a year, you’ll shave off the equivalent of driving 1,160 miles per year. If every American did this, we would save 1.7 billion gallons of fuel annually.*
As long as I can still have something on my plate that I don’t need to count, I’ll be happy.
What about you?
Happy Earth Day!
*Go Green Get Lean by Kate Geagan (Rodale 2009)
