D-Blog Week: The Little Book Of Carb-Counting Tricks

For a long time, I put up a lot of barriers towards carb counting.  When I was diagnosed with diabetes 18 years ago, my parents and I weren't taught about the importance of knowing how much carbohydrate you're eating, and how much insulin to take for it.  Instead of altering how much insulin I'd inject depending on what I was eating, I had set doses for each meal and that was that.  It was only when I was about 15 years old that I was encouraged by my doctors to attend a DAFNE course but, as far as I saw it, there was no need - I thought everything was just fine the way I'd been doing it.

Thankfully, I eventually realised that carbohydrate counting not only made a lot of sense, but it's also essential to balanced blood-sugar levels.  My lifestyle, and the amount of food I'd eat, would change significantly from day-to-day and administering the same amount of insulin, regardless of whether I was eating one piece of toast or a whole plate-full of pasta, was a recipe for disaster.

When I finally started to learn how to carb count and began to realise which foods had carbohydrate in them (it had never occurred to me that a lot of meat products like sausages and burgers are packed with bread-crumbs!), it took me quite a long time before I had the hang of it.  The book 'Carbs & Cals'  acted as a bit of a lifeline for me during this time.  Each page has photos of different portion sizes for so many different carb-containing foods, and it tells you how many grams of carbohydrate are in each one - it is genius!  

Although I either weigh my carby food, or look at the nutritional information on the back of packets to know how much insulin to give myself, I still find Carbs & Cals really useful.  When I go out for a meal, when I can't find out the weight myself, I know that I can flick through the book and compare the portion size to the photos on the pages.  I've also found that, nowadays, I don't even need to carry the book with me as I know instantly what 60g of pasta, or 70g of rice looks like on my plate, because I've seen it so many times in Carbs & Cals.

So if I could give one tip that makes life with diabetes easier (aside from not wearing all-in-one clothing, after my injecting difficulty when wearing my floral playsuit a few weeks back [read here]), it would be to buy a copy of Carbs & Cals.  You'll never be left guesstimating again!

Diabetic Dais' 2nd Blogging Birthday!

Today marks two years since I wrote my first post for Diabetic Dais!  A lot has changed in two years in my personal life, in terms of my diabetes and at the point where both intertwine.  At 18 years of age, and when I started Diabetic Dais, I had a HbA1c of 10.2%, I couldn't carb count and I thought the only way I could manage my weight was to skip injections.  Now I have completed the DAFNE course, I feel dreadful if my blood sugar goes above 9mmol and my last HbA1c was 7.7%. This blog and the amazing people I have met through it have been such an incredible support system and I doubt I would be managing my diabetes in the way I am doing had it not been for them.

A few special mentions go out to Vicki Gibbs and the other wonderful people at Student Diabetics UK, Meagan Esler, Karen Watson, Simon Shaw, Ant Brown and Nicola Maude.  Thank you for being part of my diabetes and blogging journey so far.  Also, of course, thank you to everyone who continues to read my posts; your support means more to me than months of perfect blood sugars! xoxo

Day 21: Bad Diabetes Day

Right, so I was meant to be generating a 'health madlib poem' but I've wanted to write my own poem about diabetes for ages, so I'm going to use my artistic license and do that instead...

Bad Diabetes Day

Wake up in the morning,

On the wrong side of the bed,

Gasping for some water,

And with a pounding in my head.

Testing my blood sugar,

Hope for nice digits on my screen,

Instead I just wanted to cry,

When Glucometer shows 16!

Get ready to bolus, full of rage,

I hate it when I'm high.

Especially when I'm looking after myself,

And there seems no reason why.

Inject what I'm supposed to,

Manage to keep a level head,

Want to make my blood sugars balanced,

Not end up hypo instead!

Time to check for ketones,

Hope it isn't DKA,

Don't want my blood sugars to be running high,

I just want to get on with my day!

Don't want to test over and over,

Or correction bolus repeatedly,

Don't want to inject in front of people,

Or even do it secretly.

I don't want to change my lancets,

Don't even want to think about insulin,

Don't want to prick my fingers,

Don't want any needles to touch my skin.

Don't want to count my carbohydrates,

Or worry about kidneys, feet and eyes,

I only want to carry a little handbag,

But it's got to fit my diabetes supplies.

Sometimes I want to scream,

But there's no point in raising my voice.

I have to do these things whether I like it or not,

Diabetes leaves me no choice.

Day 17: Lessons Learned The Hard Way

Lessons I've learned the hard way:

1)  You cannot cook rice in a sieve in the microwave - you will almost set fire to the house and Mum won't be happy.

2)   Being forgiven by others means very little if you will not forgive yourself.

3)  Do not dwell on negative things that happen to you or allow yourself to play the victim - it will only make you bitter.  You are in control of your own happiness.

4)  Inject your fast acting insulin after eating, just in case you accidentally drop 60g worth of carbohydrate on the floor.

5)  It's never good to forget that you've already injected 10u of fast acting insulin for a meal and end up injecting the same again an hour or so later - eating yet another 100g of carbohydrate to make up for the insulin overdose is not fun!

6)  Have high hopes and big dreams, but maintain low expectations.  That way if someone or something lets you down you haven't got far too fall, or if your expectations are exceeded you can be pleasantly surprised.