Today, I am feeling particularly giving, so I am going to give you some advice that may help you cure or prevent diabetes. Or both.

Here goes:

If you are a multi-tasker, I suggest eating cinnamon flavoured yoghurt in the nude while telling yourself how awesome you are.

Or.

You can ignore all the ridiculous claims, phoney promises, snake oil, COCONUT oil (I am so looking at you and your activated nuts right now, Pete Evans) and do the following:

  • Follow your management plan that has been put together by you and your healthcare professional/s. And for the purpose of this, we are going to say that a healthcare professional is someone who has studied for a number of years and gained some sort of qualification – as in a Bachelor degree – not a certificate they have printed themselves after doing a six week online course. A healthcare professional is not someone who writes a blog / is a TV personality / is a personal trainer / has ever appeared on a reality TV program / thinks they understand ALL health conditions because they have one themselves etc. etc. (Hence – I am not a healthcare professional. I am not even professional when push comes to shove. But then, I’m not telling you to eat Nutella while naked to cure your diabetes, (you can trust me on this one – it doesn’t work…). BUT, if I tell you to go eat some chocolate, you should. Because it tastes good.)
  • Be nice to yourself. Because you are an awesome person and having a health condition does not diminish who you are or your self-worth in any way.
  • Food doesn’t have a moral compass, so if you want to eat a doughnut, knock yourself out. Or don’t eat a doughnut if you don’t want to.
  • Remember that you did nothing to cause your condition. No one deserves to be diagnosed with any crap condition. No one is to blame. No one asked for it. (Really, no one writes in their letter to Santa ‘This year for x-mas I would really like an incurable autoimmune condition. I have been super good, so if you could give me two that would be great.’ Seriously. Santa never received that letter!)
  • You can look for things to blame because I know how great it would be to point at something and say ‘damn you for screwing up my pancreas’ but that isn’t going to make diabetes go away. Perhaps you could consider using your energy for doing something that makes you feel good. Like patting a puppy dog or eating a piece of cake. Or go cherry picking.
  • Surround yourself with people who make you feel good about life – not people who suck the life out of you and make you feel worthless.
  • Accept that it is absolutely, positively, completely and utterly okay to feel crapola sometimes about having a health condition that you didn’t ask for. It’s your diabetes and you can cry if you want to.
  • If you have the energy, put on some music and dance around your kitchen. I promise when I tell you it will make you feel good. Plus, you can claim it as exercise (quick – log a Big Blue Test – extended until today!) which will make you feel even better about yourself.
  • Read something by David Sedaris. Aloud if you can.
  • Stand in the sunshine for 10 minutes
  • Or, stand in a downpour and get totally soaking wet – a bit of Belinda Carlisle will make you feel fabulous! (Ideally, do this in your back or front yard so you can go inside and dry off. By all means, do it at work, but you will get strange looks from co-workers if you squelch back to your desk looking like a drowned rat, leaving a puddle in your wake).
  • If you are the hugging type, find someone to hug (ask first; it’s polite).

Now, none of these things is going to cure or prevent diabetes. I could claim that they will, but I’d be lying. Because nothing – NOTHING – will cure your diabetes. But doing whatever you can to make you feel good is a worthwhile thing to do.

Any other ideas? Go!