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)

The other night my wife, kids, and I went over to my sister's house for dinner.

Upon arriving we realized we had forgotten a crucial ingredient for the dish my wife was bringing. (Cheese-if you are wondering!)

My wife and I took a quick trip to local grocery store to pick up the cheese and possible get something for dessert. This was not the original plan but it seemed like a good idea to me!

We went into the store and quickly found the cheese she needed.

"Alright, let's go," my wife said assuming we were done!

"Um, I was thinking we should get dessert." I said it with that smile she cannot resist or at least, she makes me think so.

"Alright, what do you want?"

And this is when I freeze up. I have no clue what to get.

"Maybe just some cookies. That sounds good." (READ MORE)

In response to my post about no longer taking insulin, a reader commented: "I don't understand why you are still eating carbs if not eating them keeps your blood sugar down." That's a very good question and one with a complicated answer.

When I was first diagnosed, I went to see a dietitian, who told me I could eat whatever I wanted, in moderation and in the right combination. She gave some examples that sounded great in theory but just didn't work in the real world. Imagine my dismay when my blood sugar clocked in at 250 two hours after eating two slices of white toast with peanut butter and half a banana with a glass of milk. (READ MORE)

cx_ed

The other day I posted about how Christmas can be a downer.

(READ MORE)

In my nutrition class, an entire chapter is devoted to carbohydrates. Dreadful, but life-sustaining carbohydrates. Of course, the class goes into much greater detail than the familiarity that I have with carbs, but I still feel knowledgeable in the area.

One piece of information did strike me as very interesting and a little concerning. Someone (I believe the government) recommended that everyone consume at least 130 grams of carbohydrates per day in order to merely give the brain enough energy to survive. Apparently, 45% to 65% of my daily caloric intake should be from carbohydrates.

  (READ MORE)

I got a bit of flak from a number of folk in the type 1 community for juxtaposing the You Can Do This project with the "you CAN eat this if you have diabetes" mentality of, well, many of the same folk. The issue is, the same folk who are, on the one hand, encouraging us to test and inject and correct are the folk who are talking about Food Police and Diabetes Police and how we, as people with diabetes, have to fight against those stereotypes by -- well, by eating all those things we should never touch with a ten-foot-pole.

This may work for people with type 1 diabetes, but it can be deadly for those of us with type 2.

  (READ MORE)