Tricks in Treats

Did I ever tell you about the time with the Oreos?

I went to the grocery store and saw some Sugar Free Oreos. As always I flip over the package to read the carb count.

16 carbs.

I decided to compare the Sugar Free Oreos with the regular full of yummy goodness Oreos.

24 carbs. 

There's a little jump up there. I guess Sugar Free is a little better on my carb intake.

Then I remembered something I forgot to look for.

Serving Size.

The Oreo package in my hand had a serving size of 3 cookies. 

So I strolled over to the Sugar Free Oreos and the serving size was...

2 cookies. 

That means each Oreo, no matter Sugar Free or sugar filled, counts for 8 carbs.

Be sure and read label carefully because Sugar Free is usually a marketing tactic and not a license to mow down a bunch of sweets.

Tricks in treats! 

I Have Confidence

I love my Dexcom. Love Love Love it. The window into my blood glucose trend is something I never knew was so important.

But there is a problem.

With all the love I am showing the Dex I am forgetting about my other friend, my Glucometer. My meter is not getting the love it used to. I was up to 10 bg strips a day for a while there. But lately I wait until my Dexcom wants blood before I check, if even then!

That is not cool. I know I am not supposed to bolus off of the CGM and should calibrate it at least twice a day. Honestly, I don't always do that.

This is not some rebellion or a conscience decision to not do it. I really am FINALLY in a place in my life where checking my bg is not the dreaded chore it used to be. I guess it is my confidence in the number on the cgm.

Most times it matches up with my machine. And when it is off it is barely off so I don't find it an issue. 

I should say that I wear my sensors for maybe 10 days at most. Usually it is only the 7 days so that may make a difference but I am not sure.

Have any of you been really relying on your CGM and bolusing from it? I know we are not supposed to but you all know I am not the pillar of diabetes management and I can't help but come clean about this.

My goal is to start checking my bg more often. Just so I don't get out of the habit and recreate that awful dread I used to wade through each time I pulled my machine out. And to make sure my CGM is in sync but I have to tell you, it usually is!

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes 2013

On Saturday, November 16th I am going to be participating in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes! This will be the second time I have done the JDRF walk and this time it is extra special (not that last time wasn't pretty amazing.)

I have joined my D-Bestie Sara and her Team TriSara Tops Diabetes in Las Vegas!

Type 1 diabetes has been apart of my life since I was 17 and diagnosed during my senior year in high school. It was not immediately the burden it should have been because the education I received was subpar and frankly my age did not help my inability to grasp the magnitude of this life change. 

Now I am 23 years into living with diabetes and it is something I think about all the time. Still I have hope for a better future and the JDRF is a big part of that. I believe in what they do, what they stand for, and the focus they have on educating. Especially educating those who are newly diagnosed.

So won't help a Ninja out and donate to the JDRF walk? Any amount is appreciated and needed. The more donations we can raise the more research, education, and hope the JDRF can deliver.

Thank you so much!!!

Insulin Impression

"I don't have the bad kind of diabetes like you do."

"Hopefully I won't have to go on insulin."

"There is no way I could take shots everyday."

I have heard all of those things several times in my life and that last one I said myself a few years before I was diagnosed. Insulin is scary stuff but necessary. Necessary for all of us to live.

Some of us are lucky and our bodies make all the insulin we need. Not to mention the other side of that luck which is that our bodies use that insulin correctly. Some of us have to inject it manually and others can take pills to help our bodies use the insulin we are making.

Any which way you look at it, you need insulin. 

Many health care professionals use Insulin as a "motivator" for their type 2 patients. I would call it a scare tactic but tomato toe-mah-toe. "You better get your blood sugar in control or else you are going to end up on insulin!"

That is not cool.

I understand the need to get your bg in control. No doubt. But to use insulin as a scare tactic and to make insulin the enemy is not fair. How does one feel if they need to start using insulin? 

Insulin is necessary to live. Just because you need to take it doesn't make you a failure or a screw up. It means you need to inject insulin to keep your bg in control. Some people need different tools for the same job. There is no need to beat yourself up about it.

Using insulin in your diabetes management may mean the differerence between a healthy life and an unhealthly one.

WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MANAGE YOUR DIABETES IS WHAT YOU SHOULD TAKE!

Let's not judge a hormone by the disease. Insulin is not the enemy here. Diabetes is and insulin may be the right tool you need to get your diabetes in control.

The Power of Stress

Yesterday I wrote about the wedding I was in last weekend and how diabetes loves to remind me of it's presence.

Well another interesting thing happened to me at the reception and it involves the power of stress.

So I was asked to sing a song for the new couples first dance. They chose a song by Green Day called Last Night On Earth. I was very nervous but extremely honored to be able to sing this for them.  

Right after the MC introduced them into the reception hall he announced it was time for their first dance as man and wife. As everyone took their seats and the couple got to the center of the dance floor, yours truly walked up next to the head table, grabbed my guitar, and started the song.

Doing the song by memory only added to the stress and nerves but I did not want to hide behind a music stand. And it went really well I think. No mistakes as far the song goes and maybe a pitchy note here and there. I guess you can say I made it my own? 

As soon as it was over I gave both the bride and groom a big hug and walked back to my seat. In a lull clearly created just to embarrass me, I hear "meedely beedely beeeeep!" I grab my Dexcom receiver out of my pocket as I got to my chair and double up arrows are staring right at me. 

Great!

Before the song I was crusing along in range and as soon as I went up there to sing I sky-rocketed. See for yourself! It's nuts!

When I sat down and calmed down the spike didn't quit and of course the champagne didn't help it much. 

It took a night of getting funky on the dance floor to finally knock that spike out and I am sure the extra bolus helped some too. 

There was a time in my life when I thought stress did not effect me. But it very clearly does! It is really fascinating to me how dramatic a change in blood glucose can be with a little anxiety and stress mixed it. 

When I see this kind of thing it makes me remember that I can avoid a lot of stress with a little bit of planning and a lot of rest. Two things I am not very good at.

The fact is that stress, of any kind, can be damaging to my body. High blood glucose means damage to my body. I need to find a way to keep my cool and to make time to rest now and then. 

Do you find stress effects your bg like this?