Diabetic Rant

So this holiday I met with my sisters. I have eight of them. I’ve left the nest so long ago, it is a shock when I return.

We ate at Friendly’s. For those not from the Midwest, Friendly’s is a “friendly” ice cream store that also sells crappy meals -- whom those in the know on sparkpeople.com would know better than to eat. It’s a greasy-sandwiches-with-sides-o
f-fries kind of place. My niece (who is not a kid) got extra cheese macaroni (-heart-attack-waiting-to-happ
en meal) from the kid’s menu followed by a triple scoop sundae with syrup topping and crunched up candy. I drank coffee. Black.

When I was a kid, I was rural poor. Rural poor is not a bad thing. Mom canned and the kids helped. I was not introduced to fast foods as a child because it was unaffordable. I only had “pop” at church functions when it was provided by the church, and Mom never bought chips or nutrient wasteful food. We from immigrant background. We NEVER took “handouts”. Mom knew how to cook one chicken breast and some veggies to create a meal for twelve. Amazing woman.

Friendly’s was a treat that the oldest sister introduced me to when I was ten and she was 22. She was a good big sister. She gave us her time and generosity. She wanted to share what she could finally afford so her younger sisters could relish a rare indulgence. We could feel middle class for a moment. It is with this history that we took my oldest sister back to Friendly’s. She is nearly blind. She is diabetic. Two other sisters announced to me they too were diagnosed diabetic and two other sisters were as well. ?WTF? The nurse sister who is diabetic blames it on diabetic genes and NOT behavioral accountability. I know better. It is diabetic behavior. She even told the other sisters that my mom’s history of diabetes was ‘because she had so many babies.’ This is false. These 3 women—all with known diagnoses of diabetes—sat there and ATE at FRIENDLY’s!!! I have known them my whole life and know how they eat at. I am stunned. They are stuck in a time warp. They CAN change. I’ve shared information about sparkpeople but none of them have checked it out. Today, one of the sisters (again) said she might.

This problem is not unique to my family. It is all of our families. It is very important for each of us on spark people to keep committed to our journey, keep talking about sparkpeople, keep living the lifestyle so those around us witness the transformation. I know no better way to get our nation out of the obesity mess it is in.

Let’s do it!