A Time for Traditions
It’s that time of year again – the Jewish High Holy Days – Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (feast), Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (fast), and Succot, the Feast of Tabernacles (feast). It’s a plethora of festivals and Holy Days like no other – all at the same time of year. Not that I’m particularly religious – in fact, I’d say I’m not at all religious. Christopher Hitchens is a hero of sorts, so an easy conclusion follows about my beliefs. Nevertheless, I definitely didn’t say I don’t like traditions. I love them! I have no rational explanation yet these High Holy Days are part of my heritage and ones I still like to partake in, in some way, every year.
Tonight was the start of Rosh Hashanah.
The same dilemma faces me every year. Food has special significance in Judaism – traditional food at traditional times of the year. Symbolic food for a sweet year is eaten on Rosh Hashanah. Sweet Challah – a yeast-risen, eggy bread that is usually eaten on Friday nights, and made sweeter for Rosh Hashanah. Apples are also traditional. Both are dipped in honey, and plenty of it!
The nightmare for someone with diabetes continues with, for Europeans, something called gefilte fish. Yup, sweet fish mixture (don’t ask) with chren, horseradish mixed with beetroot. Don’t ask! I love it but I guess it’s like Australian Vegemite – an acquired taste. You either grow up with it and love it, or learn to like it if you’re living in someone else’s tradition, or you turn your nose up at it. The non-European Jewish people – some from the Middle East, Africa and some Mediterranean countries don’t have gefilte fish in their traditional food and often don’t like it. Thanks… if you’re sitting next to me, I’ll have yours too!
Course number three will have a side of tzimmes, a sweet carrot dish. And there are more dishes – sweet, sweet, sweet. How else can we expect to have a sweet year unless we stuff ourselves with traditional sweet foods? That’s tradition for you!
Every year, I look at the apple, the challah, the honey and all the other dishes, swearing I will only take a tiny bite. But, you know… I want to have a really sweet year.
The problem is the massive carb guestimate that goes along with eating that kind of food.
While you’re in a fascinating conversation with someone else at the table, you are barely aware that you’re reaching for another piece of challah because this year, it’s especially yummy, or that someone has put a plate of freshly cut fruit in front of you and it’s just there, staring at you, saying: eat me, eat me. Fresh rockmelon, honeydew melon and watermelon. One small bite, right? Wrong! Honey cake (yes, honey is THE star of the show) and more fruit. So that’s 4 courses (at least) times sweet.
Um… what was that? Maybe 50 grams of carb… maybe 150… maybe some carb number out of my reach. None of the food comes with a carb count. After years of enjoying the food and madly blousing under the table, you get pretty good at guessing, but you can never be sure. Just 10 grams of carb out – nearly one teaspoon of sugar, which could easily be contained in a single bite of some of what I was eating – can be the difference between ‘in-range’ and oh hell I need more insulin. Believe me when I tell you, it’s seriously good food, firstly because it’s good food, but secondly, it’s food you’ve had at this time of year, every year of your life, so it has a history in a deeply rooted tradition. Maybe like a traditional Christmas lunch, which I’ve never had. The older you get the more past times and places you are reminded of, and the more entrenched that tradition becomes – least it does for me.
Insulin pump, thank you! I could never have managed this without you! (And never did!) I’ve had you now for 2.5 years, and still thanking my lucky stars! Combo bolus for a few hours, and add straight boluses here and there as you realise you’ve nearly lost count of the carbs. Manageable, although I suspect I had an entire week of carbs in one sitting. And I’m well aware that it will do my waistline no good at all! Insulin makes me fat – it loves me that much!
Every year, when I get home and pull out my meter, I make bets with myself – how high am I going to be after all that food I wasn’t going to eat, and how off was my carb guesstimate. In times past, I would also be doing some of the cooking for the crowd, so I would make some lower carb dishes as well. This year I wasn’t in the kitchen for the first time in 12 years. Eat or starve!
All things considered, I was a little high by the time I got home, but a 9 mmol/L (162 mg/dl) wasn’t so bad. Yesterday my endo said he advises people not to correct under 10 (180)… not that I’d follow his advice. That wouldn’t work for me. I’ll correct if I’m in the 7s or 8s (126-180). I feel better if I’m around 5.5-6.2 (99 – 112). I seriously expected to be way higher, so I’m pretty happy I almost nailed it. Just one more little bolus before bed.
Wishing all who celebrate this special time of year: Shanah tova u’metuka - a good sweet year.
How high do you go before you correct? At certain times of the year (e.g. Christmas or some other special occasion), do you have food you don’t usually eat? Clearly I do! And I’m not one tiny bit sorry!
