Diabetes Snapshots

My lifelines!



This has lots of great recipes and tips for people living with diabetes.




My friend's leg and mine! That was back in the day when I sported an Animas.

Exercise

Exercise has always been a pretty big part of my life. I've dabbled in various sports...basketball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, track and field. The two sports I loved the most were swimming and tennis. I was on a swim team for years and I played tennis for my high school. So, yeah, I never really had a problem getting exercise...until I got to college. I didn't have any commitments to teams, so it was a little hard to get into the habit of visiting the gym on a regular basis.
Then I realized how AWFUL I felt without physical activity and got moving. I now go to the gym everyday! I feel soooo much better too. The one problem I have is figuring out a good blood sugar to work out with. Lately I'm finding that if it's not in the mid 200s, I get low really fast. I just don't know if this is a safe number. Does anyone have any suggestions of what to do about this??? My Dr. tells me to just bolus for half of my dinner, but even this causes me to go low!

To carb or not to carb....

FOOD=LIFE
I love it....so much. I love nutrition and dietetics. I love tasting new and different foods. I love it all. =]

I personally do not have a low carb diet. In fact, when I was first diagnosed, the doctors had me eating 90-100 carbs at noon everyday! That was so difficult at times! I don't eat that many carbs anymore, but I still have quite a bit. Though, there are rules I've set for myself. For the most part, I really only eat whole grains. I limit refined and processed ones as much as I possibly can. These spike my blood sugar very, very quickly. I also try to make everything pretty high fiber...I'm kind of obsessed with fiber. Maybe it was all the GI problems I had at the end of high school......yeah. I'll stop there before I gross anyone out.
But honestly, the meds the doctors gave me didn't really help that much. It's all about the diet!
I try to incorporate proteins and fats into every meal as well. These help to keep my blood sugar steady without so many spikes.

My favorite snacks include:
-Apples with peanut butter
-Triscuts and cheese
-Greek yogurt with honey
-Tortilla chips with guacamole (mmmmm yum)
-carrots, carrots, carrots.

Oh, and I love seeing how many ways I can incorporate vegetables into different meals. I get all my recipes from "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." This is the coolest cookbook ever! Today I made pancakes with beets and ricotta cheese in them or "pink pancakes." They were soooooo good!

My Biggest Supporter!

Since I was diagnosed in June, 2004, there's been one person by my side through it all....

MY MOMMY!

Without her support and guidance, I don't know where I would be.
She was there to comfort me when we received the diagnosis, got up at all hours of the night to test my blood sugar, gave me my injections, orders my supplies (yeah, I'm almost 20, I should probably start doing that on my own)....and puts up with with high/low crankiness. I know I don't always show my appreciation, but I hope she knows how much I love and cherish the support she's given me through the years. I LOVE YOU MOM!

Me, Mom, and my little sister Christi....she's pretty great too.

I should probably thank her for being there for me too! She's
taken the time to learn about diabetes and what caring for it
entails...and I LOVE that. Thanks Christi!

MAKING THE LOW GO!

I HATE being low. I went through almost a year where I didn't bolus for food, only corrected the high afterward because of my fear. Yeah, this brought my A1c wayyyyyy up.
When I do get low, it's so hard to "wait it out." I Just want to keep eating and eating so I can feel better, but then I get really high.....and really tired.


When I'm on-the-go, my favorite way to treat lows is glucose tabs. My favorite flavors are fruit punch and watermelon. They're kind of like giant smarties...only chalkier. I also like starbursts for my on-the-go-lows! They bring me back to my childhood when I used to eat packs andpacks! yummmmmmm!

Now that I'm home, my new favorite is orange blossom honey. I just take a spoonful or two and I'm good.

When I'm not too too low, but I know I'm going to be low later, I like to have something with carbohydrates and protein. Good snacks for this scenario include a glass of milk or a banana and peanut butter. These get my blood sugar up and keep it steady until my next meal.

A Day in the Life....With Diabetes

Life with diabetes requires at least SOME routine....something that's really hard to have when you're in college! Everyday is different....classes get out early, friends want to eat earlier or later, things come up...I honestly don't know how I'd manage diabetes in college without a pump. Kudos for those that can! I'm going to give an example of my usual Tuesday/Thursday school day because that's about as routine as it gets for me!

6am- Test blood sugar. If it's high, correct!

8:30am- Get up, ready, test my blood sugar...and grab my coffee mug!

9:15am- Go to the dining hall with my friends. Usually I try to stick with an egg white omelet (YUM), toast, and fruit. I also really like Kashi Go Lean! Crunch, but I have the WORST time bolusing for that! No matter what I do, I skyrocket into the 300s and crash into the 60s hours later! UGH!
Oh, and I get my first cup of coffee for the day =]

10am- Go back to my room or to the library. I usually catch up on some studying....and facebook of course =]

11am- Test my blood sugar and correct if necessary.

11:45am- I head over to my 12pm class (Cell and Microbial Biology). On Thursdays, this class has a lab, which for some reason reeks havoc on my blood sugar. These labs don't allow for much time, so I get really stressed....and my blood sugar plummets, making me VERY cranky.

1pm- Test my blood sugar. If it's a Thursday and I'm in the low 100s, I'll usually have a couple glucose tabs to hold me over until lunch.

1:45pm- Lunch! I test my blood sugar again and make my way around the dining hall to find some food. I love the vegan station in my dining hall, so I usually get food from here! I try my best to correctly measure and count the carbs, but this can get pretty tricky without measuring cups and scales. Ugh.

2:30pm- Time to grab my next cup of coffee

3pm- Test my blood sugar....since I usually don't count my lunch carbs with complete accuracy, so this usually means a correction.

4pm-5:45pm- My next class!

5:45pm- Test my blood sugar and go to dinner. I make sure to bolus for about half the food I'm eating so I can go to the gym after dinner.

7:30pm- Test my blood sugar. I like it to be about 180- low 200s in order to do some cardio without crashing. At the end of my workout, I'm usually anywhere from 90-100. Wonderful!

10pm- Test my blood sugar and have a small snack (apple and peanut butter)

10:30pm- Shower. Every other day I change my pump site and insulin cartridge.

12am- Test my blood sugar before bed. My roomate and I like to watch a movie, or at least part of one while falling asleep...probably not the best habit. =]

So, that's the day in the life of one collegiate diabetic. Who knows what in store for my summer schedule. This year, I'm part time dietary aide at a retirement center/ part time landscape contractor assistant for my dad. Both require a lot of walking and lifting......thank God I have my Dexcom! He's working wonders and I feel so much safer! I'll continue to let everyone know how he's working out in the future!
Can't wait to see everyone's posts for Diabetes Blog Week! Happy Monday!

Climbing a Mountain!

This past weekend, I went hiking with a bunch of people from Hall Council! This is a group of people from a few of the different residence halls that put together activities throughout the year. We decided it would be fun to have one last get together as a group and climb Mount Monadnack!

I've hiked this mountain before back in September, but this time I was so, so nervous. I kept thinking my blood sugar was going to get really low and I wouldn't be able to keep up with everyone. On Friday, I went to Target and bought $15 worth of food for this hike....a day hike. lol. I was popping starburst the whole way up! Well, I made it to the top safe and sound....and my blood sugar was a wonderful 137! No low!

Climibing Mount Monadnock made me realize how far I've come. When I got diagnosed almost 6 years ago, I was hesitant to do the simplest things in fear that my blood sugar would go low. Even going to get a hair cut was scary for me! What if I got low while the woman was cuttng my hair??!?!?! I couldn't give myself shots and could barely do finger pricks. Well, now I can give shots, change my pump sites, I know the carb count of almost anything edible, I know what makes me low and what makes me high....I've come so far!

Happy Monday everyone!!! I only have 3 more days of exams....then it's summer!!!

Pictures taken from T.J. O.

My future roomies and I at the summet!

The whole group!