I’m feeling guilty reading this.  One of the things I try to do is exercise every day and eat sort of right. I have had LADA now for about six years and (praise God) I am not yet on Insulin.

But I have to watch what I eat and exercise. Every. Frigging. Day.  Now, I refuse to define myself by the illness. I would rather talk about the fact that today I managed a walk 10 minutes faster than before, and tomorrow I will do a long walk…  However, Elspeth’s comments are correct.

Yes, I know that there are no guarantees in life, that diseases can strike despite our best efforts. That’s still no excuse to treat our bodies like garbage dumps. It has never been my desire to be unsympathetic to the struggle to maintain a healthy weight. I work very hard to stay healthy and I am no where near what you would call rail thin. I never have been, and with each successive year it takes increased diligence and discipline to keep the weight at bay. It has required even more labor and attention after the birth of our two youngest children in my mid- and late- thirties.With young children to raise and a husband to attend to, I can’t afford to be unhealthy. I can’t afford to let myself go. I need to have strength, endurance and energy. I need to live on sensible budget as well, which is easier to do when I’m not spending crazy amounts of money on crap food that just makes it harder to stay healthy. The economic tipping point will come in this country and being unhealthy by choice will turn out to be one of the worst decisions we could make. Our families deserve better than what we’re giving them. The dismissal of health concerns was one of the reasons why the fat acceptance article was so irritating to me.But you know what? I also think it’s important that we do everything in our power to remain attractive and sexually appealing to our husbands if we’re married. I’m not insisting that every woman needs to look like Twiggy. I don’t, and my husband would hate it if I did. I know that because the one time I managed to starve and exercise myself down to someone else’s ideal, he said I looked sick and needed to eat.

Needless to say, some of the commentators over there got offended.  Now there are certain things I can do. It boils down to not eating crap. Which I generally am OK with, because I LIKE flavour and prefer to cook. .

What sets me off is stress. And I work in a job that has lots of it, with a serving of being a solo Dad on the side. No excuse. It means that I need to do more.

I’m finding that I have to do about twice the workouts that I used to do just to stay still. And I am not, by any stretch, thin. (I know what it takes to be rail thin. It took 120 miles a week of running — which is what I did when single and at university, And that was without talent — you had to be a sub four minute miler to make the “A” team at the AUTC when I was a kid. The reason I lift weights is not for aesthetic or fitness reasons. It is to manage the chronic overuse injuries I have had since my early 20s)

Most men would just nod. They would tell me to harden up and go to the gym. Women, however, hate the criticism. But here is the nasty facts… healthcare costs.

Yes, I know that you can get seriously ill at any age. Yes, I know that it can lead to huge bills — either directly (USA) or by taxation (the rest of the English speaking world).

UPDATE: Yes, did get to the gym last night. 10K bike time trial. Go do likewise.

But most of us can do something about this.