Olivia has had diabetes for almost ten years now. The first few years were a struggle, emotionally and blood sugar-wise. I felt like I'd gone back to school - I had to learn this new language, this new way of life and it was hard.

It's been so long now, though, that diabetes care is pretty much second nature for us. We all look at carb information on packages of food, we're all really good at guessing when that information isn't there. I've talked about this stuff with my family, too. I thought they were on board with it all. I didn't expect them to be as expert as I am (and believe me, I know I could always know more), but I thought they'd at least gleaned information from all of my speeches over the years.

Apparently not. My father and his wife are on a low-carb diet. I don't think those diets are all that safe, but it's not my life, it's theirs and they can do what they want. The few times that we've gone over there to eat, they've prepared meals using those low carb pastas and breads that are available. They both insist that Olivia shouldn't have to dose for the carbs listed on the package because,I don't even know. They tried to explain it to me, how this low carb diet worked, but I didn't understand any of it.

If the package says 1g of fiber and 26g of carbohydrates, then I dose for those 26g. The low carb pasta that they're using is not high in fiber, so I don't understand why the carbs are supposedly not being used by the body. Anyone know the reasoning behind that?

I tried to explain to them that a carb is a carb is a carb when it comes to diabetes, that only fiber has any affect on carb counting. They kept insisting that those carbs wouldn't affect her blood sugar. I wasn't going to NOT dose Olivia properly and then have her spike a high blood sugar, but I did have her check an hour after she finished eating. She clocked in at a respectable 126. Two hours later, she was 113. I rest my case.