Julia lives behind the Tofu Curtain, in the Pioneer Valley, in Western Massachusetts. It's a nice place. She likes it there. She'd invite you in for a coffee, but the three kids, the hockey-playing Canadian husband, the Dog-Who-Sheds-A-Lot and the Cat-Who-Pukes-A-Lot mean that the house is in a constant, ever-changing state of chaos.
In fact, she thinks she used to have two cats but believes one is lost in the clutter. Either that or it decamped for neater surroundings. Her eldest daughter, Olivia, has type 1 diabetes. She's also 13. It's a real toss-up as to which is more difficult -- the diabetes or the teen-age drama.
When she's not trying to grab a nap, grab a toddler or grab a drink, she can be found here, on dLife or over at her other blogs (the ones where she swears with gay abandon)
Major Bedhead and
New England Mamas. She'll bend your ear on just about any subject. There are only two things that she won't tolerate bad grammar and dissing the Red Sox. And even the grammar can be flexible. The Red Sox? Not so much.
I got a link to an article from ABC News today about Halle Berry. I was encouraged to see that doctors are equally concerned with her claims that she's cured herself of type 1 diabetes.
"Diabetics quickly took to the blogosphere to condemn Berry for claiming that a change in diet could cure Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas permanently fails to produce insulin, the vital hormone that regulates sugar levels in the blood."
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This is all over the diabetes online community and may have already been posted about on here, but I'm going to chime in with my 2 cents.
Have you heard? Halle Berry has managed to cure herself of type 1 diabetes and has beaten it down to type 2 and doesn't need insulin any more.
Isn't that a neat trick?
Perez Hilton even has something on it. You know the diabetes online community is really up in arms if it's being reported on Perez Hilton!
It's been talked almost to death, but I don't understand what Halle Berry's problem is with having diabetes. If she has type 1, is she ashamed of that? If it's type 2, shouldn't she be out there saying "Look! It's not a fat disease! Thin people who eat well and exercise a lot can also get type 2!
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We try really hard to stay away from high fructose corn syrup around here, although, man, that stuff is in everything! Even bread. I think there are two or three brands that don't have it.
Olivia used to drink a lot of diet soda. I'd buy a couple of 2 litre bottles every week for her, in addition to drink mixes like Crystal Light. Sometimes I'd make diet Kool-Aid, using Splenda instead of sugar. One week, I added up how much of my grocery money was going towards diet drinks and was apalled - it was easily $10 or $15 a week.
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Blah, blah, blah, here she goes again, pissing and moaning about logging.
Back when the year was shiny and new, as opposed to snow-covered and grubby (and enough with the snow already, ok? I'm SICK of it. Sick.) I resolved to be more diligent about logging Olivia's blood sugars. And for a few weeks I was. And then I forgot for a couple of days. And then it was Thursday and I thought, well, I'll just start over on Monday. And I forgot again.
I've logged in fits and starts over the last 2 months, but mostly, I haven't logged at all. And now she has an endo appointment tomorrow and I'm not going to have that much information to give her and I'm pissed at myself.
I just don't know how to make myself log. I forget. And if I'm forgetting to log, how am I supposed to teach Olivia? I'm not setting a good example at all and they always tell you (who are they anyway?) that you should lead by example when it comes to your kids.
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Julia
I've often thought about making some sort of subtle statement around the holidays regarding diabetes. It's a tough time of the year when you have diabetes - there are so many sugar-laden treats around and your schedule is usually out of whack so blood sugars and testing can fall by the wayside in the whirl of activities.
So for the last few months, I've been saving Olivia's insulin bottles. I planned on putting them on a string of lights once I had enough and then putting them on the tree.
Last night, I happened to be in CVS, getting my thyroid medication (and gummy bears, as you do) and I saw these Tiny Lights and I thought "Perfect!" I grabbed a box and was on my way.
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A recent post I put up, about trying to manage Olivia's blood sugars, generated a comment from someone about regulating carbs. I was initially kind of pissed off by the answer. I realized, after thinking about it for a couple of days, that I was more pissed off with myself than with the commenter. (READ MORE)