Sparked by our conversation with Robby Barbaro on the last podcast, I tallied each bite of food entering my esophagus, for an entire day. This was a new experience. I do not actively count carbs, but go by feel alone. Inherently, some people are thinking, “WHAT?!?! How can you possibly do this and have type 1 diabetes?” Yet, some people are thinking, “Makes sense to me.” Regardless, Robby lit a spark and I embarked on a one-day journey to reexamine lifelong habits. (more…)
Maybe you’ve heard the adage: HALT. Take precautions when Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, especially when it’s decision making time (this skill is sufficiently difficult by itself for me, not withstanding additional emotions). Let’s add another L to the acronym: Low. Trying to do much of anything while hypoglycemic is already a challenge, but oftentimes the tiniest decisions turn tortuous.
How important is this understanding? Well, important enough to write a blog about it. Looking back, I think things would have just been easier if used the thinking plan I use now, “Okay, Ryan you are low. I know this feels like something really important that you should do right now, but this will be simpler in 1o minutes. Find some food.” Remind yourself of the past experiences where things were never as bad as they seemed when you were low. Really though, it’s never that bad.
This is not an advice column. It is the opposite. If you, like the DiabetesDailyGrind, want to make the most of your Thanksgiving with friends and family, avoid the following seven diabetes-related behaviors:
After scoring every touchdown, making every tackle, and breaking your niece’s collarbone, your family will most likely say “See you next year” and you’ll be low.
This is a different subject matter than the aforementioned methods, with it probably standing on loftier moral ground. Brittany got the dating ball rolling earlier in the week, and lately I’ve been pondering this very concept as I traverse the first few weeks of getting to know someone I really like, while not really knowing how much they’re into me, knowing that I’m into them, guessing she’s kinda into me because we definitely wouldn’t be spending this much time together if not, but all the while just ‘playing it cool’. As unnecessarily complex as that last sentence sounds, the diabetes intro is simpler… or it should be. (more…)
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Welcome to the 10th episode of Real Life Diabetes Podcast with guest Tonya Cameron – She’s a dear friend and mentor of Amber’s from her days of slinging pasta and chatting at Joe’s Taverna in Norman, OK. Tonya is a full time registered nurse, certified mirco-pigmentologist, lover of all things flora and fauna and a professional student according to her mother. Passionately devoted to a healthy lifestyle, her value in an Integrative Medicine Clinic is unquestioned. This gal can talk kale smoothies, load an IV, or give a botox injection while blowing your mind with her wealth of knowledge and opinions on all things health transformation. She’s the perfect DDG guest!
(Ryan is not currently scanning the coast but the pathophysiology of asthma. Authored July 2015.)
Let it be known: I am not a real surfer, yet. Can I swim? Aptly enough. Can I catch a wave? Yes. Can I stand up? Occasionally. Can I turn? Sure.
That said, as I scan a nice break off the coast of Maui, humbled is my main qualification. Surfing is an art honed through decades of work in salty water, watching the sun rise and descend on opposite horizons, all on the same day. I have observed real surfers. Those who are the art and the religion–no separation between their body and the waves, riding the earth’s energy. Gorgeous stuff.
Having paddled out now over 30 times, blood sugar themes do their emerging thing, and I know what to expect. In many ways, I’ve found surfing to be a simpler, more-straightforward cause and effect relationship between movement and glucose levels (compared to running or cycling). (more…)
As is par for the course with much of my decision-making, the original reasoning escapes me. Was it done out of boredom? Just a random change of pace? Perhaps I grew tired of my belt nudging it. Maybe it was the other morning in the shower when I felt the dense scar tissue building on my hips. Possibly, I realized those hundreds of microscopic white scars on my stomach aren’t going away, even after a 4 year break.
Or, in the more likely and less melodramatic version of the story, the moment happened in Metabolism class, when my teacher mentioned that blood glucose is absorbed most effectively by visceral adipose tissue, that stuff surrounding our internal organs or hanging over the belt, when signaled by insulin. Haven’t we all been told “stomach, butt, thigh, or back of arm”? But to hear that it acts fastest and best around the stomach, that struck a cord. Thus, I made the move back to the stomach. (more…)
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For those who are familiar with how our website operates, this will come as no surprise–we held nothing back. Today’s show is all about sharing the diabetes journey. Every so often, it’s just nice to know that you aren’t the only one digging the trench. That’s sometimes the metaphor we use when thinking about diabetes on a daily basis. We’re not experts, just people living a real diabetes life and talking about it. Thanks to all who dropped in a question.
We went deep into endurance exercise with John Brandenburg and how to prevent a low blood sugar during. Having that conversation with roommates can be tough. We talked about how, why, and when to bring it up. Ever had an issue with medical supplies? Oh yeah, we have. Amber still, yes still, prefers shots over the pump. She gave us her rational and made stellar points. (more…)