On ordering a Cheesecake Online

I have a fondness for cheesecake, just as I have a fondness for ice cream. However, cheesecake and ice cream do not have necessarily have a fondness for me. Yes, despite the attention to diet and years of weight lifting I have type II diabetes.

This is completely controlled, of course, mainly with a sensible diet, but the thing about type II is that, even if your condition is perfectly controlled and your BG levels are consistently normal, it doesn't remove the fact that you are, in fact, diabetic. And that's a fact that doesn't go away. You know, sometimes, you just get the luck of the draw and you're not so lucky. A predisposition to hypertension, elevated glucose, and cardiovascular disease runs on my dad's side of the family as far as several generations back.

Nonetheless, as I said, I love cheesecake and ice cream. What to do, what to do. This is what I've done. As far as ice cream is concerned, I now consume sugarless and low sugar versions. For instance, Breyers CarbSmart ice cream bars are sweetened
with splenda and also use sugar alcohol as a sweetener.

Splenda, as far as I'm aware, is sucralose, which means that it is simply sugar with one molecule removed and, by all accounts, has no effect on BG levels. Sugar alcohols (of which there are many different types, including maltitol which I have a bad reaction to), on the other hand, do have the potential for raising blood glucose levels, though more slowly. This is something I've been able to verify myself simply by using a blood glucose monitor one and two hours after consuming a product containing a substantial amount of sugar alcohol.

CarbSmart ice cream bars contain 9 grams of carbs. Of this, 2 grams are dietary fiber, 2 grams are sugar alcohol, and 5 grams are sugar. While this isn't perfect (particularly the five grams of sugar), I find that I can eat one of these bars with no significant affect on my BG levels (bear in mind, everyone is different).

The other type of ice cream that I have now and then comes from a local establishment (local to Raleigh, NC) called "Goodberries", a chain of specialty ice cream shops with all outdoor seating. Everything at Goodberries is delicious---and full of sugar. With, however, the exception of their zero sugar vanilla custard. This product is even tastier than the CarbSmart bars and, again, testing has indicated to me that this product has no significant effect on my blood glucose levels.

The other treat that I mentioned was cheesecake. Obviously, cheesecake is a huge no-no for anyone who is a diabetic, type I or type II. However, an establishment called "The Cheesecake Factory" offers a low carb cheesecake sweetened with splenda.

This product claims that each slice is limited to six grams of carbohydrate. This, of course, means that you may need to limit yourself to one slice (which, let's be honest, anyone should). How many grams of total carbohydrate does this cheesecake include, per slice? I don't know and couldn't find the information online. However, as always, the easiest way to find out is simply to eat one slice and then test my glucose one and two hours later for the effects. With type II diabetes, fortunately, the information you need can be found via testing.

And on this subject, I will be in the position of testing a slice later today. My low carb cheesecake arrived in the mail today. And this is actually why I started this post. Not to talk about cheesecake or ice cream per se (both of which may seem strange on a health website), but, rather, to mention (to anyone else considering buying a cheesecake online) what its like to receive a cheesecake in the mail.

It arrives in a fairly large box and the cheesecake is actually frozen. This makes perfect sense, of course, but I really hadn't given the issue any prior consideration so I was surprised to see a bag of dry ice sitting on top of the cheesecake.

This, to me, is the most interesting aspect of having received this today. The bag has a large-letter warning printed on it. The warning states that you shouldn't handle the bag with bare hands and that this may cause...burns.

Being typically male, I decide to put this to the test and held the bag for about four seconds. Luckily for me, I didn't hold it any longer than this because I immediately began to feel a burning sensation. Which gave me a new appreciation for how quickly frostbite could set in if a person is exposed to a cold enough environment for even a few seconds.

Anyway, I will now let the cheesecake thaw, per the instructions, give a slice a try, and then measure with my portable monitor to see if this product gets a thumbs up or thumbs down. Here's to hoping.