One large lemon contains 5.4g of sugar, which will raise my blood sugar 3.2 mmol/L (57 mg/dl).

“I don’t want to do this,” was my immediate reaction to Dr. Richard Bernstein’s book, Diabetes Solution. I waded through it for the first time in 2000. I was not quite ready for the low-carb diet it prescribes. Since then, I have slowly changed my crazy and emotional eating habits.

12 years ago, I loved everything that was bad for me. I couldn’t believe a lemon could raise my blood sugar.

Today, I love my low-carb diet but it is not without emotional struggle. I am mostly satiated on it. But the emotions get in the way and say I need more. Or I want to have a snack when I am at dialysis like chocolate or nuts (the worse two foods for a dialysis patient to binge on).

Having type-1 diabetes and being on dialysis has many food restrictions. I had to find a way to live with those food restrictions—not sneak them in. I can, however, work nuts into my diet. They are highly restricted on Dr. Bernstein’s diabetic diet because of their high carbohydrate count. Furthermore, they are high in potassium and phosphates (which cause nutrient toxicity in large amount for dialysis patients). Still, I can stay within safe limits if I limited myself to one tablespoon of nut butter at dinner.

Despite my rigid self-discipline, the little devils still pop up and want to gorge. Hopefully one day I can say I have conquered them.