and the diagnosis is....you're stressed!

The past few days my temperament has been a little volatile. Not volatile as in bad mood, but volatile as in rapidly changing. I've finally realized why.....stress. It struck me a few minutes ago that I've been forced to go buy something to snack on every morning this week, and also every afternoon. I don't usually take my breaks but I've taken them this week. Why is that? Stress.

I am insulin resistant. What does that mean? Only that my body doesn't always recognize how much insulin it produces and tends to overproduce what it actually needs to balance blood sugars, which then, of course, becomes another imbalance. It isn't a condition that requires a special diet or medication (such as for diabetics), you just have to be more careful in your food choices or you'll have the kinds of days I've been having this week...roller coastering sugars that cause you to have the shakes (like hypoglycemia) and seek out a snack to try and balance them again. I internalize stress and, during times like this week, the high levels of stress wreak havoc on my otherwise manageable blood sugars. Hence...I need to eat more often. I'll have to remember to bring cheese sticks and peanut butter for snacks tomorrow. Of course, the other side effect of roller coastering blood sugars is that my usually mild temper is lit by a shorter fuse and I feel offended by the slightest things. It's not deliberate and it's not personal...it's just my imbalanced sugars making me all weird. ;) Take, for example, my friend Becky's email this morning. She needs personal email sent to her personal account. Perfectly understandable! I wish my coworkers and friends would use my personal email for jokes and forwards more often, but I know it's not always easy to remember the email address. Not a problem, I'll generally forward them to my personal email for later reading (unless I am in desperate need for a laugh at work). But that short fuse lit and I instantly was annoyed by her gestapo-like employer. (I must have been a rebel in a past life because I sure jump on the rebellion-bandwagon an awful lot.) I should have been paying attention to the stress signs! Maybe I wouldn't now be experiencing the shakes and palpitations! Stress is so evil.....I can't wait for vacation!