Artificial Sweeteners And T1D

Living with type 1 diabetes can be tough - to say the least. Not only do we have extreme regimens with insulin and low corrections but our diets tend to be fairly strict as well. So of course when a low-carb anything comes out, we have to and are drawn to try it. Makes sense, we are only humans after all. The thing is, we are so conditioned to think about what we can’t eat, it makes eating/drinking these products that much more appealing and while there are many products I can talk about, this month I wanted to focus primarily on “sugar free” beverages specifically.

Diabetes and summer: Tips to Beat the Heat

Enjoying the sun is one of the things many people look forward to in the summer and on holiday. But if you have diabetes, it can be harder to manage your blood glucose (sugar) levels in the hot weather. In hot weather, a person with diabetes can be at higher risk for both low and high blood glucose levels. Like our moods, insulin can be a little temperamental in the heat! Here are some tips, to ensure you can safely enjoy the warm weather.

Lory Gonzalez RN, MSN, CDCESJuly 22, 2020Comment

5 Steps for Leaving Your Type 1 Child with a Caregiver

“What is your blood sugar?” “200.” “Do you have any active insulin?” “No.” “Then please give yourself a correction.”Would your caregiver be able to have this conversation with your Type 1 child? While technology advances have made it possible for you to track your child’s CGM even when you are not there, it is not a substitute for a well-trained caregiver. While it may seem a daunting task to find someone who you trust leaving your T1 child with, it is possible! Here are 5 steps to help you have a great experience with your caregiver.

Type 1 Diabetes, CaregiverChristina EssexJuly 15, 2020t1d mom, caregiver, t1d caregiver, t1d childComment

T1D & Supplements: What you should be taking, what’s safe, & what’s not!

Supplements can help us achieve our fitness and weight goals or can even just replace what we are missing day to day. As diabetics, we are prone to lose a lot of water-soluble vitamins and trace minerals, especially if our blood sugar is high and we are constantly peeing. Aside from that, when having diabetes, a large toll is placed on our body and the normal functions of our body may be impaired. By adding certain supplements, specifically vitamins and trace minerals, we can help stabilize our blood sugars and stay more on track with our levels.

Taylor Gann, PA-SJune 17, 2020 Comment

How The Gut Microbiome Is Connected To Your Diabetes

Having good bacteria in our gut microbiome helps appetite, digestion, bowel movements, can aid with weight loss efforts and help us better control our blood sugars. For example in our gut microbiome, bacteria break down different food products that we wouldn’t normally be able to digest. While the bacteria are afforded a nice warm SAFE place to live. Therefore we both benefit. This may gross you out, but in fact is essential to human life and without it we would not be able to function.

Type 1 Diabetes, health and wellnessTaylor Gann, PA-SMay 20, 2020microbiome, gut, gut health, diabetes, t1d, type 1 diabetesComment

Is The Keto Diet Right For A Type 1 Diabetic?

Keto is short for Ketosis, a metabolic state where the body is burning fat as a method to run on alternate “fuel.” See normally the body runs, and prefers to run, on glucose but in times of famine or other shortage of food, the body has the ability to switch gears and metabolize fat to ensure survival. For diabetes, weight loss typically results in an increase in insulin sensitivity and better blood sugar control.

How To Eat A Paleo Diet With Diabetes

The Paleo Diet has been nicknamed the “Caveman Diet” because you are supposed to only eat foods that cavemen ate, but this really is a simplistic summarization of the diet. It includes meats, specifically animal proteins, healthy fats and oils, fruits, and veggies while you are to avoid processed grains, carbs, and sugar. And this isn’t just limiting carbs like the Atkins diet, this is avoiding carbs, grains, processed wheat and sugar at all costs.

How To Eat A Low-Carb Diet With Diabetes

The low carb, “diabetic,” or Atkins diet all fall under the same umbrella—limit carbs and supplement with high fat and protein food sources. The truth is, there is no true diabetic diet—I’m sure you’ve heard so many stories about different diets that have “cured” diabetes. While that isn’t exactly true, that doesn’t mean that different diets don’t work for different people because they certainly do—our technology just isn’t there yet to customize diet plans based on people’s genetics. In general we are trending away from using the term “diabetic diet” because we want people to have healthy balanced meals rather than extremely restrictive diets.

Nutrition Basics Every Diabetic Needs To Know

With diabetes we always get a crash course in carbs and carb counting, but what about the rest of our plate? Often times so little attention is paid to those groups and it truly is unfortunate. As diabetics not only do we need to control sugars, but we need to keep an eye out for heart disease, high blood pressure, and other conditions that we are more likely to develop. So to start, I’m going to throw a little plate down below just to have a visual to help guide and keep us on track.

Matthew Vande VegteJanuary 22, 2020Comment

Happy HoliDAZE: How To Keep Blood Sugars In Range During The Holidays

We’ve heard those outrageous studies that say Americans eat over 7,000 calories on Christmas and gain anywhere between 1-5 pounds between Thanksgiving (end of November) through New Years Day. While I don’t doubt the validity of these numbers, that's a TON. And what’s worse is as diabetics, there’s no information on time in range and how they vary during these months. Although my expectation is that they differ largely from the remaining months of the year.

The 5 Diabetes Basics That You Might Be Overlooking

To start, put more veggies on that plate or in our snacks—most veggies are low carb anyways, plus as we all know, jammed pack full of vitamins and minerals. It’s like killing two birds with one stone, avoiding spikes in blood sugars while also replenishing our body and giving it what it needs. When it come to carbs, well we could spend hours on that subject alone, but remember to try to keep your grams of carbs consistent. For example, if you had 30g yesterday morning, try to match that on the following morning. (Please keep in mind everyone has their specific diet plans with their medical team, so please refer to that—that statement is not taken to mean that everyone should eat 30g of carbs).

The Effects Exercise has on Blood Sugars

Exercise and blood sugars. Its an interesting relationship between the two, but I want to demystify the cause and effect that can lead to us shying away from getting our exercise in. I want to show you that it can actually be relatively consistent and predictable with proper planning, documentation, and consistency. While this is something that I coach on in depth through my diabetic health coaching program, this will be more of an overview so that we can keep it short.

Finding Your WHY

Why do so many New Year’s Resolutions fail? Why do so many of us find it so hard to follow through on our own goals? We make promises to ourselves and to our loved ones, yet more often than not we fail to stay true til the end. Blame it on your busy schedule, blame it on external factors, blame it on circumstances, but I would argue that nine times out of ten it’s because you didn’t have a strong enough WHY to start out with.

Matthew Vande VegteApril 18, 2019Comment

How Logging Data Can Help Improve Your Diabetes Control

One of the best ways that I’ve found helps me manage my diabetes is to make sure that I log everything from blood sugars, to insulin doses, to the food that I eat. It sounds painstaking, but trust me, it’s worth it.

Having data will help you make more informed decisions. And the more informed your decisions are, the better your control will be over your diabetes, thus, you’ll feel better (I hope)!

health and wellness, mindset, mental healthLeahMarch 27, 2019heath, mindset, stories, documentationComment

SixUntilMe: My interview with Kerri Sparling

My name is Kerri Sparling and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of seven. I've worked full time since the day after I graduated from college (I've been a banker, service writer at a car repair shop, arbitration coordinator, aviation insurance specialist, editor ... diabetes has required me to keep working in pursuit of reliable insurance coverage) but the job I love most is the one I've been doing for the last 14 years, and that's working as a writer and speaker.

Kerri SparlingJanuary 9, 2019stories, interviews, T1D Comment

From The Fight