Today I gave blood for the first time . I have wanted to do it for years; somehow, however, I never got around to it.
The real reason I never went was to do with my weight. Part of me was afraid they would reject me for being unfit/overweight - I had no evidence they would but that was my irrational fear. I also knew finding a vein would be difficult when I was bigger. I tended to avoid medics when I was obese, somehow I felt more 'visible' when in a medical setting (infact one of my motivations for doing the Cambridge Diet in late 2008 was because I knew my mirena coil was due to be changed and I couldn't bring myself to go to my doctor as big as I was!)
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| Just home from donating blood for the first time :) |
Giving blood was fine. The challenge was refusing the carbs they try to insist you eat afterwards. The lovely refreshments lady was like a "pusher" with her biscuits and bags of crisps. I was a little surprised that the NHS was trying to insist doners ate such unhealthy rubbish after their donation. I understand their wanting to ensure people don't become weak or faint and the general consensus is that carbs are the best way to provide quick energy (what happens after the sugar spike has abated is another matter of course) but why not offer fruit? Fruit is packed with fructose (if sugar is what they want to get into folk) and generally accepted to be much more healthy than crisps or biscuits (the crisps were Seebrooks - totally yummy but - very, very high in calories, fat and salt when compared to most other brands).
I managed to politely refuse the numerous offers of biscuits, crisps and sugary squash. Yes I was sure that water and sugarless tea was sufficient thank-you. The woman sitting next to me ate her way through 4 packets of biscuits (with 3 biscuits in each pack) saying she felt so weak she couldn't open the packets (I did that for her!)
Bx
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