how can i help my mom?

@davidyapp wow ! thank you so much im 1000% looking into that! my mom loves to cook but shes so paranoid that she doesn’t know what to cook anymore because she doesn’t know what’s safe for her, this is great! i will also be looking into getting her a dexcom thank you so much!!

@venture im so sorry to hear about your friend 🙁 i hope he’s okay now!
thank you so much for these words, she’s obsessed with sodas she’s a soda addict so she’s been struggling to let that go but i will be trying my hardest to take that away! do you know any like fizzy drinks that diabetics can drink? or is that not a thing?

@reneerogahnthanig yes i thought her doctor would’ve mentioned it also but since she didn’t i thought maybe i was overthinking haha! thank you so much again!

@celia16 i never thought about mentioning GLP medications that’s a good idea, i will definitely look into that! thank you so much!!

@anagel , switching from regular soda to diet is a challenge for many, but I know many people with diabetes who drink diet or zero colas. There are also many carbonated, flavored waters. I drink them occasionally and prefer black cherry or grape.

Dr.Pepper has a diet cherry soda I like a lot. Black cherry is a favorite also. Also Diet MtnDew is good In my opinion. But I limit my sodas because it can give me hiccups. I had hiccups for days a couple times. One time ended up in the hospital. Find a diet soda NOT using aspartame , often taste VG

@anagel

“Fizzy drinks”. 👍. I completely understand your mom’s obsession with soda. I’m 62, diabetes type 2 since age 40, used to drink Coke, then switched to Diet Coke. I had difficulty switching off the aspartame (sweetener in Diet Coke which isn’t good for gut health). Then I realized I was just craving the caffeine AND carbonation. I searched and found Zevia. It has Stevia natural sweetener and better for most diabetics. I like the creamy root beer flavor, but they have many flavors and some with caffeine. I’m now able to report that over the past year I’ve had one small 7.5 oz can Diet Coke and I didn’t enjoy the taste, because Zevia creamy root beer is my new craving.

Full disclosure = I’m also on Mounjaro 15 mg (top dose) and this has stopped my food and drink cravings. I’ve lost 45 pounds since May 2026 and my A1C is 6.2.

I highly recommend what a few others have posted about trying a GLP-1 medication to help lower blood sugar AND lose weight. Ozempic is a GLP- 1 med. I took it for 6 years and it didn’t work as well for me, so my endocrinologist switched me to Mounjaro, which is a GLP-1 + GIP medication. I’m so thankful she did!👍

How old is your mom?

I wish I had someone like you in my corner to help me when I was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2004. You’re a good daughter to want to help your mom. 🥰

I’m responding to your specific words of “my mom has always been on the bigger side and she loves foods and sweets.”

I can relate. My highest weight was 317 pounds in 2012. I tried several diet plans. I could lose 60-70 pounds, but would always gain it back. Now I’ve read the research that Obesity is a disease. People with this disease = their brain is telling their body to hold onto extra body fat in case of a future famine 😲.

The new weight loss drugs can help brain adjust to turn off the signals to hold onto excess body fat. The brain sets a lower body fat set point. These GLP-1 and GIP meds help turn off the “food noise” which bombards us even when we’re not hungry.

But these new weight loss meds alone aren’t the cure. We must also combine these meds with healthy foods and exercise.

I have found the Carb Manager app (free) to be helpful. It tracks your carbs + protein + fat + calories in each food you enter for each meal and snack. You set the amount of weight you want to lose and it gives you the daily amount of each one of these 4 macros.

As for exercise, I’ve found an outdoor recumbent bike works for me. Balance became a problem when I fell off my two wheeled bike in 2019. I encourage you to find some form of exercise your mom enjoys and start slow and work up to the recommended 20-30 minutes per day.

I also agree with other people who have posted and recommend your mom get a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I’ve had mine since 2019 and it changed my life = I was able to see my blood sugars rise dramatically after eating high carb/sugar foods. Then I understood the damage I was doing to my body and it motivated me to switch to enjoyable lower carb foods.

It takes time, but I want to encourage you as a daughter, you are helping your mom avoid more serious future health complications like heart attacks and strokes. Don’t give up. The two of you can work together and succeed to gain health. 🙏

I use Freestyle Libre + CGM which automatically shows my blood sugar level and updates once a minute on my iPhone. It lasts 15 days, and I get a month's supply of 2 for $66.75.
Also count and limit carbs and food portions, viewing food as medicine, so it's not poison.