bigevil600

Since becoming a "Weight Watcher," I have noticed the amount of stress in my life has increased. Having diabetes means I carry around a bunch of stuff with me where ever I go. I have my Glucose testing machine, strips, lancets, glucose tabs, and not to mention my carb counting book.

And now I have to add my Dining Out Guide which gives me the point values to restaurant food, my sliding scale for figuring point values, my tracker which I log my points in, and the Food Guide that has point values for all kinds of foods. So you see, I have more stuff to remember these days then I did before. (READ MORE)

I was reading through the dLife Viewpoints section today and saw a post that really hit home.

It's called "Bested by a Can of Tomato Soup" by Scott Johnson and I think it should be required reading for type 3's and other people without diabetes.

Counting carbs can sometimes be a difficult and maddening situation.

And we do it for virtually every meal every day. I mean, we are supposed to.

  (READ MORE)

CraigPJ

Last week I wrote about my experience with my new endo. Today marks a week from that first visit and the day I am supposed to fax over a weeks worth of BG readings and boluses from my pump.

  (READ MORE)

My friend Scott, who has spent enough time on insulin to make my head spin, just vented his frustrations regarding the carb count for a meal of soup and crackers. While I've not had to become quite as precise on carb-counting as those of you on insulin, having to completely rewrite my doctor's office's 1000 mg sodium/day diet (following the flyer they gave me would have had me consuming closer to 2000 mg sodium/day) made me much more sensitive to calculating serving size than the average person with diabetes -- or the average person with hypertension, for that matter.

  (READ MORE)

AmethystD

A coworker asked me if I knew of a cake mix that was sugar free. She was asked to bake a cake for a friend who has diabetes.

That began the carbohydrate lesson.

"The thing is, although something may say 'Sugar Free' or 'Reduced Sugar' it may still have carbs in it which is what effects blood sugar. Sugar is included in that number." I did my best to not get too technical.

"Well I bought this one to try but I thought I would check with you to see if you knew of a better one," she said. (READ MORE)

Ian B. Line

Diabetes is hard work. Everyday I use my brain to survive and thrive. Every day I'm a mathematician, nutritionist and doctor.

I add carbs together, often so naturally I never give it a second thought (until three hours later when my levels leap up to 250). I subtract and add boluses to achieve an accurate dose. I figure percentages of basal rates to achieve a better A1c. I find the averages of blood sugars, insulin totals and daily carb counts (or let my high tech meter and pump do it for me). My brain is full of numbers and levels just waiting to be added, divided and analyzed. (READ MORE)