Diabetes & The Victim Mentality

Scanning the diabetes related forums I’m active in, there are a few commonalities.

Supportive members. Great discussions. Awesome tips and tricks to manage everyday life with diabetes.

But there is another one – a more negative one.

That is the fact that there’s a lot of victim mentality within the diabetes community (and, I’m sure in other chronic illness communities as well, but I don’t know those well enough to comment).

Post like this one are pretty common: “I just can’t handle diabetes anymore, I’m always feeling bad and my mood is always so low!” Or this one: “I’m feeling trapped. I’m trying to feel up beat and strong and focused, but I’m falling apart.”

And, yes, every single person, diabetic or not, does this from time to time.

YES, clearly and of course diabetes is a tremendously difficult partner to have by your side at all times. And handling it 24/7, 365 days a year, year after year is a challenge to say the least.

All the higher powers (no one mentioned, no one forgotten) know that handling diabetes is never easy. No matter how well you’ve learned to tame it or not, it never gets easy.

But, and trust me on this one, it won’t go away just because you can’t take it anymore. It will come back, and it will bite your butt even harder the next time.

At this point, the only thing that can change is your attitude.

Change view

Awesome quote by Wayne Dyer

 

Let me be frank with you here for a second. To some extent, it’s always a choice – you choose to be a victim.

It’s so much easier to just complain about your situation, rather than doing something about it. And I really get that. I do.

But it doesn’t change anything. Diabetes will still be there when you’ve (conveniently) “forgotten” about it for a while (hours, days, weeks…). So why not do something about it, instead of complaining and whining about what you can or are willing to do?

Here are 5 tips on how to get past Victimville (or at least a first step out of there):

  1. What is the one diabetes related thing I can make easier for myself?
    Can you have an alarm on for checking your blood sugar, if you tend to forget? Or, is there an app for recording your values, instead of using pen and paper?
  1. What is the one big diabetes thing that you keep screwing up?
    Is it preparing healthy meals, and resorting to take outs a little too often? Forgetting that night time basal shot? How can you work on this?
  1. Is your self-care more of a challenge when you’re not at home?
    Lack of exercise while on vacation? Not sticking to your routine? What can you do to maintain all the hard work you put into your care whilst being away?
  1. Identify hurdles before they appear!
  1. Focus more of your energy on what’s working in your self-care, and not on what isn’t.
    Again, a shift of energy might just work little wonders on your motivation. Are you really good at remembering to check your blood sugar? But perhaps not so good to change your pump site on time? Focus on checking that blood sugar, and the rest will come.

 

You’re stronger than you think. One of my favorite quotes of all time is:

“You never realize how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.”

Remember this. Yes, because of your illness you may have to be stronger than others, and than the people around you. But that is a great thing!

Diabetes teaches you a lot of things as well; it’s not only a curse. It teaches you discipline. Humility. Being a winner. Being a loser. Maths (forget calculus, this is the real deal). Time management. Budgeting. Tech knowledge. It teaches you to power on, even if you think you can’t do it anymore. It allows you to get to know yourself on a completely different level than most. Amongst other things, of course.

If you want to feel the best that you can, you have to work with your body instead of against it. No matter what you may or may not have.

 

When do you slip into a victim mode?

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Breakfast, or Sugary Dessert?

Your alarm goes off.

You try to open your eyes, with varying levels of success, and try to shut that darn ringing off.

A yawn and a stretch later, you get up, go into the kitchen and…

(Please finish that sentence in the comments below, I’m dying to hear the end of this!)

Yes, what does happen next?

Do you go straight for the coffee machine, or do you make yourself some yummy breakfast?

If it’s the latter, what is that breakfast made of? Or, could it technically classify as dessert?!

Today, I’m going to have a merciless look at some of the usual breakfast suspects, and how much sugar they contain. I’ll also give you awesome alternatives for your healthier lifestyle.

Let’s start with something pretty “harmless” – cereal.

If you’ve been following me for some time, you already know what I think about it. As I’m only looking at the sugar content, my opinion of cereals otherwise, will be suspended for the following sentences.

In a recent blog post, Ann Fernholm, a Swedish scientific journalist, specializing in how nutrition affects the body, pointed out that Kellogg’s Coco Pops contain 35 g of sugar/100 g, whereas a brand of chocolate cookies contains 33 g of sugar/100 g.

The cereal is relatively sweeter (contains more sugar) than milk chocolate cookies. How disturbed is that?!

Many cereals have more sugar than desserts do. Here is a little list of comparison of how much sugar they contain per 40 g of product:

Kellogg’s Coco Pops – 14.8g
Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes – 13.6g
Scoop of vanilla ice cream – 10g
Nestle Cheerios – 8.6g
Jam doughnut – 8.6g

Even the “healthier” Weetabix doesn’t go under the radar here, even if 2 of them “only” have 2 grams of sugar in them. What you don’t see in that fact, is that 69% of the full weight of a Weetabix is carbohydrate, which will turn into sugar (glucose) as soon as you digest it

Carbohydrates are Sugar

Carbohydrates are Sugar

Ok, fine. But what about a sandwich? With some nutella (because it “just tastes better”)? So, 2 slices of white bread has 3 grams of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of nutella contains 21 grams of sugar. This is truly spreadable candy, with 23 g of sugar per serving!

Oh, and add a little fruit juice to that yummy breakfast, too? Add another 13 g of sugar to that, making it almost-worth-eating-cake-for-breakfast-worthy with 36 grams of sugar.

And what about yoghurt?

Actually, there’s a very broad spectrum when it comes to yoghurts. If it’s a plain, no-sugar-added, preferably full fat, version, please, go ahead. Enjoy that yoghurt!

But let’s have a look at another one, too.

For the average light (meaning low fat, meaning chemical sh*t-storm), strawberry flavored pot of yoghurt (ca 130 g), there will be 20 g of sugar.

 

And what about if you have to grab breakfast on the run? (The following 2 examples should scare you off from doing that…)

Let’s say you’re running late, and run into the Starbucks on your way to work or school. You’re super hungry by this point and need something quick.

You go for a much-loved breakfast combo that you can eat on your way to work; a caffe latte and a muffin!

Let’s crunch the sugar-numbers. A Starbucks Latte has 17 g sugar (and, if you go for the pumpkin spice latte, because, hey, it’s autumn (PSL is also poisonous, though) you have 49 g of sugar In. One. Cup! And your beloved blueberry muffin has another 29 g of sugar, making it a total of 46 (or 78!!) g of sugar. In one meal.

Or, my personal favorite to discuss is the Swiss power-breakfast-combo of an energy drink and a nussgipfel (which is a croissant with a nut filling). It almost pains me to write this, as I see So. Many. People. (and mostly teenagers, too) have this in the mornings.  That can of energy drink has 26 grams of sugar, and that nussgipfel has another 36 g of sugar, totaling 52 grams of sugar.

 

No wonder we’re getting fatter every day! Not to mention these poor people’s inability to concentrate throughout the day, if they’re only fuelled by sugar in different shapes and forms! (Which, in turn, leads on to the non-surprise that more and more children are diagnosed with ADD, ADHD and other concentration-deficits. But that’s a topic for another blog post!)

A little disclaimer: we’re not even talking about carbohydrates here, we’re talking about real, pure sugar that is dumped into these usual breakfast items.

 

So, what options are left!? (That’s the question I get asked most frequently when I start explaining to my clients what sugar (and carbs) does to their body.)

The answer is MASSES. There are masses, loads and countless options out there instead of these breakfasts/desserts.

One of them is a lovely nut muesli, served with coconut milk. Nuts contain about 4 g of sugar/100 g (and here, you eat about 30-40g). There’s also 3.3 g sugar in 100 g coconut milk (and you eat maybe 50 g). This makes a total of 2.7 + 1.7 = (drumroll please…  ) 4.4 g of sugar per serving.

Or, take a weekend favorite of mine, Coconut pancakes. It contains: 3.3 g sugar from the coconut milk, 6 g sugar/100 g of shredded coconut, 1.1 g sugar in the egg. This makes a total of 10.4 g sugar for the whole batch, about 5.2 g sugar per serving.

(The recipes for these are available in my PDF that you get as a welcome present when you sign up for my VIP list just to the left of this text.)

Or an omelet with 2 eggs, bacon, tomatoes and cheese: 2.2 g sugar in the eggs, 2.6 g sugar in 100 g tomatoes, 2.3 g sugar in 100 g cheese. This gives you a total of 7.1 grams of sugar (if you actually use 100 g each of tomatoes and cheese…)

Now it’s your turn; what’s usually on your breakfast table? How do you go about choosing what you eat in the mornings? Let me know in the comments below! 

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#1 Restaurant for Healthy (Diabetes) Eating

You know exactly how it can be.

You’ve stocked up your fridge. It’s full of awesomely healthy things to make.

And the intention is there to actually make that chicken soup, the lamb and the crockpot (that’ll leave leftovers for lunch the next day, too.)

Yet, when it’s nearing dinner time, you say “eff it. Let’s go out for dinner.”

Or maybe you actually have something important to celebrate! Wohoo!

Whether you have diabetes or not, you want to continue your healthy lifestyle even if you (have to) go to a restaurant every once in a while.

But how on Earth can you do that?

What type of restaurant has the most options available to mix and match a menu that suits your individual needs?

That restaurant, my friend, is a steakhouse. (if you’re a vegetarian, I understand if you close this page now. Come back next week, though!)

And, before you want to leave me an angry comment below this post, no, red meat is not dangerous for you. At least not in the amounts you can eat in one sitting. If you follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of what I eat to inspire you to a healthier lifestyle, you’ll see that I often eat red meat. And I’m probably the healthiest I’ve ever been!

With the usual steakhouse mix and match type of menu, it’s usually incredibly easy to find things on there that suits your particular needs in terms of food. They’re usually constructed something along the lines of this model:

1. Meat. Choose the cut, type and degree of it that you like. Usually there are also other things that would fit under this category, like chicken, fish, or some seafood dish, if you don’t feel like having red meat.

2. Side. An absolute majority of steakhouses have some type of vegetables listed under their side dishes. You might need to use the old willpower card for the fries, if you usually love those. I promise you it’s not worth it though.

3. Sauce. If you want to be extra cautious, choose the garlic/herb butter, as the Béarnaise sauce can contain wheat (gluten) and other nastiness. Or if they have a chimichurri or gremolata, that works too. Also avoid the salsa if you can, many add sugar to theirs!

The other pitfall might be desserts, but if you’re anything like me, you’re too full from the real food to even think of that kind of stuff at the end of a steak house meal. Decaf espresso please, and the bill!

And that’s about it. It might just be the easiest restaurant menu to navigate in the world.

My number 1 tip at any kind of restaurant is: Dare to ask!

Dare to ask if they have some vegetables instead of those fries, if there’s wheat in that sauce, or if they can make a sugarfree margarita (most can!).

It’s always a better option to ask than to sit at a lovely restaurant knowing that you’re going to feel not-so-great in a second, or even worse, not have any clue of it and it hits you like a wet fish in the face.

Extra tip: If you’re (ever) in Zürich, I have a golden tip for you…

Restaurant Goodmans. Holy cow (ha!), that was beyond yummy! We got a viewing of their meat cooler where they hang-dry the beef, which the quality of is so amazing at this place. Not to mention the wine, the service (thanks, Rob!), and the side dishes. They also cater for any allergies or food intolerances. Everything was so well organized and well made, I just can’t WAIT to go back to this restaurant!

There are of course many, many other types of restaurants that are flexible, willing and able to cater for your needs. What is your favorite type of restaurant to go to? 

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CGM – should you get one?

It was finally time.

I was nervous, noticeably so.

My hands were shaking, I had a slight sweat and could only concentrate with major effort.

I was sitting at my diabetes nurse’s office, plunger in hand, plaster sitting snuggly on my stomach.

“Come on, Hanna, you’ve done this a gazillion times before”, I told myself.

And then I just did it.

I pushed the plunger and the sensor was in. It didn’t even feel worse than a normal injection (sometimes I hate the fact that I can say that.)

So, I got hooked up to my first Dexcom G4 Platinum sensor yesterday.

I have now become a bionic woman, wearing 2 medical devices/robot parts, my OmniPod insulin pump, and my Dexcom cgm. (and yes, they have names, too.)

 

CGM and Insulin pump - I'm a bionic woman!

CGM and Insulin pump – I’m a bionic woman!

 

I’ve had it on for a full 24 hours, so these are really my very first impressions! And my initial reaction is that it’s beyond amazing! The results have been very accurate (ca 1 mmol/l difference) so far, and I’m hoping it will stay that way.

What is a cgm?

A cgm is a continuous glucose monitoring system, meaning that it measures your blood glucose level in your interstitial fluid every couple of minutes.

This is done by a tiny sensor underneath your skin, which you can keep there for (officially) 1 week, but sometimes longer.

The sensor is connected to a transmitter, sending data to the receiver, on which you can see pretty graphs of what your blood glucose levels are up to.

Although the glucose levels in the interstitial fluid is a few minutes delayed from the level in your blood, it’s an awesome tool to see the trends and where you’re heading, blood glucose wise.

 

Dexcom G4 Platinum (borrowed from the Dexcom website)

Dexcom G4 Platinum (borrowed from the Dexcom website)

 

I love making lists for myself. And so also this time.

The pros with a cgm

–       The Trends

Seeing the trends and where your blood glucose is heading is very handy. It takes a lot of the worry out of your daily care.

–       Security

Hand in hand with the pro above comes the security feeling it brings. I swear I slept better last night, knowing I have something extra that has my back.

–       Analysis

Being able to analyze my blood glucose better, being able to adjust my basal levels more exactly, instead of my usual guesstimation based on “yeah, that sounds good”.

The cons with a cgm

–       Another device

It is, of course, yet another device connected to you at all times.  The transmitter is tiny but bulky at the same time. And together with the OmniPod, I may look like a slighter version of Quasimodo in certain angles… For me it’s worth it, although there are certain items of clothing I should probably get rid of now…

–       Micro management

The chance of starting to micro manage your blood glucose levels is, to a greater extent, a possibility. Seeing those dots on the screen whenever you want to may cause you to act sooner than you have to.

–       Expensive

This toy definitely doesn’t come cheap. If you have an insurance policy that is ready and willing to take care of it, there’s nothing stopping you. But if you don’t, you need to think twice about getting a cgm.

And why, oh WHY, can no diabetes gear holders be at least a little nice? Why does the bag of the device have to make you feel sicker than you actually are? (Or is it just me?)

One more list: my top 5 reasons for getting a cgm:

1. I’ve lost my hypo awareness. Meaning I can’t feel when my blood glucose levels are (sometimes) dangerously low. This can of course be helped in other ways, but the other reasons made this a better choice.

2.  Lately, I’ve gone extremely low every time I’m on an airplane. Weird, I know, as my pump definitely can’t be the reason for it.

3. Seeing the trends.

4. What happens in between the times I normally measure my blood glucose. I normally measure my blood glucose ca 8-10 a day, so it’s not like I’m slacking. But I have no idea when my blood sugar peaks after certain foods, for example. Without sounding too OCD:y, it’s to gain more control.

5. To have less question marks in my life. Life is full of sometimes quite pesky question marks anyway, so why add to them if there is a solution?

So far, I absolutely love my Dex (that’s his name, and no, it’s not very imaginative). I can definitely see that he’s going to be a huge help in my self care, and give me a little more peace of mind in the diabetes jungle. Dex passed the field test today, working at a cafe in town, with flying colours (and I did too, I’ve never seen a better graph! (blood glucose tests confirming this))

 

1st Day CGM graph - not bad!

1st Day CGM graph – not bad!

 

As I see it it’s either a love or hate relationship with this thing. It has huge potential to help you a great deal in your self care, but it can also interrupt you if you already have a great regime going that works for you. But YES, you SHOULD get one! 🙂

But boy, oh boy, we’ve come a long way since the insulin syringes needed to be boiled to be disinfected. Or from my very first blood glucose meter back in the late 80’s , that took several minutes to give an answer to the ever long question “where is my BS at?”

Do you have a cgm? What do you like about it? Dislike? Let me know in the comments!

 

Ps. I also have my first impressions written down from when I got my OmniPod about a year ago. Would you like to read that? Comment below!

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Diabetes and the Universe (or, Why me?!)

I have something to confess to you.

I used to think in a way that was pretty destructive, both for myself and those around me. And I still can’t help but to fall back in every once in a while.

And I’m going to bet that you’ve thought this precise thought many of times.

When something has happened to you; your wallet got stolen or you get a really bad cold.

When you get food poisoning twice in one week whilst visiting one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Rome. (True story, that was me last week.)

When you spill that glass of red wine on your white pants.

Or when diabetes shows itself from its very brightest (and most butt kicking) side.

In these situations it’s so incredibly easy to tilt your head backwards and shout out loud: “WHY ME?!“

You feel very excluded from the masses, almost chosen by some higher power to be suffering. It’s almost like Karma came up to you, tapped your shoulder and said “you’re it” and ran away, like any mature 5 year old would.

Ok, maybe I’m being a tad melodramatic.

But it feels really crappy when you’re sitting there, with a possible sh*t storm brewing right next to you/on top of you/in your hands (ew).

The biggest problem with this is that you’re making yourself a victim. This is victim thinking at its highest degree.

And what’s wrong with that, you may ask?

It’s whiny, it’s the easy way out. And frankly it’s being a coward.

It’s blaming something/one else for your own fate, when all you can do is to put on your big girl panties and knock it right on the nose.

It takes a huge shift in mentality to see this, as well as to see the other side of it. Believe me, I’ve been there myself.

I used to be the biggest “why me”:er the universe has ever met. I threw it out for anything and nothing that didn’t go My. Exact. Way.

Whether it was a failed relationship or disgusting lunch options. Being teased for something or an “unfair” grade. Or a period of shaky blood sugars. The answer was always “why me”.

It’s crucial to gain the insight that it might not always be about or because of YOU.

If it’s illness you’re “why me”:ing about, maybe your body is trying to tell you to slow down? If your wallet got stolen, stop spending as much money as you are? And what about that red wine stain on your white pants? Maybe it’s keeping you from some other, bigger disaster, or, you’ve simply drunk enough?

This is where faith comes in. And no, I’m definitely no biblethumper. But you need faith in knowing that you won’t be handed what you can’t handle. Sure, it might stretch your definition of what you can or can’t handle. But guess what? That’s how we grow as humans! Getting out of your comfort zone is what life is about.

comfort zone magic

Of course this takes a little longer if it’s a more serious issue, like, say, a chronic disease you will have for the rest of your life (read: diabetes). But it is doable.

And it is definitely worth getting past “why me”:ing.

Because what awaits you on the other side is a happier life. A life that is more worth living, when you don’t focus on your own “misfortune” every time something goes a little sidetracked.

You have the means and tools to work with, combat or embrace whatever falls in your lap. Go use them.

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Green smoothies – why I don’t recommend them.

Ah, the rave about green smoothies!

Green smoothies to heal this, green smoothies to clear that infection, green smoothies for brighter and clearer skin.

The list is endless of what green smoothies can (apparently) do!

Yet, I might be the only nutrition specialist that doesn’t recommend drinking them. Especially not for people with diabetes. 

Have you ever thought of the ingredients in these smoothies?

Sure, they’re packed full of good stuff like spinach, kale, cucumber, various other veggies and sometimes even spirulina and other gently detoxifying stuff.

Have you noticed that most recipes contain an enormous ratio of (high sugar) fruit, though?

So much so that it becomes closer to the American Diabetes Association’s outdated recommendation of 60% carbohydrate to every meal?

And, a smoothie should probably not even be considered a full meal! (Unless you’re doing a juice cleanse, in which case I wish you good luck if you have diabetes.)

 

Let’s have a look at some of the recipes I’ve seen recently:

1. Avocado Coconut Smoothie (from: finerminds.com)
1 large avocado
1 large banana
3/4 cup organic pineapple juice
3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime or lemon juice
1 can organic coconut milk
1 tablespoon flax seed oil3 tablespoons melted extra-virgin coconut oil.
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sounds super yummy! But what’s the carb count?

1 large avocado has about 17 grams of carbohydrate (fiber 14 g), 1 large banana about 31 g (3,5 g fiber). ¾ cup pineapple juice has about 25 g crabs (0 g fiber). 1 can of coconut milk has 10 g carbs. The rest of the ingredients aren’t too carb-filled.

The total? 83 grams of carbohydrate. In one drink. Even if you discount the fiber count (which I only heard that you can do recently, and doesn’t work for me) you still get 65.5 grams of carbs.

Although this smoothie has a lot of good fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants, I’m honestly surprised at just how much carbohydrate there is.

 

Let’s have a look at another one.

2. Pomegranate Citrus Punch Green Smoothie (2 servings) (from simplegreensmoothies.com)
2 cups spinach, fresh
1 cup orange juice, fresh squeezed
1 cup water
1 cup pomegranate seeds
1 banana

OMG, get in my belly! And the title sounds so carb-innocent, too, right?

Well, 1 banana has 31 g (3,5 g fiber), and 1 cup orange juice 26 g carbs (0.5 g fiber). 1 cup pomegranate seeds has 32 g of carbohydrate, with 7 g fiber

This gives us a grand total of 89 grams of carbohydrates, 44.5 g per serving. Without the fiber, it’s still 39 grams of crabs per person. Yikes!

 

Third time’s the charm, right? Let’s take a really simple one, with only 3 ingredients. How bad can that one be, really?

3. Basic Balance (from: rawfamily.com (Victoria Boutenko))
1 mango
1 cup kale
1 cup water

1 mango has 39 grams of carbs, 4 g fiber. 1 cup of kale has 6 grams of carbohydrate, so not very much at all!

Still, 45 grams of carbs in one drink is way too much for me…

 

Do you notice just how much carbohydrate these drinks contain? (AND WHAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE BANANAS?!)

In comparison, a can of coke has 39 grams of carbohydrates. Granted, there’s no fiber (or any other nutrition for that matter) in a can of coke, so it’s not exactly the same. But comparing the pure carb values? And what carbohydrate, in whichever form, does to your blood glucose levels in the end? Ouch, that’s going to hurt in the morning.

Yes, the type of carb in fruit and vegetables is infinitely better than eating 100 g of pasta, as it’s more nutritious and filling. But: there are simply too many carbohydrates turning into sugar in these smoothies to be able to include them in a low(er) carb lifestyle.

With the carbohydrates, fibers and occasional fat added too, it can get very tricky to get the insulin dose right for a diabetic, as well. Let alone if you buy it from a healthy store/juice bar and haven’t even made it yourself, meaning that you therefore have very little clue of exactly how much banana (or other high sugar fruit) is in that smoothie.

It’s not all gloomy days when it comes to green smoothies, though.

I have two suggestions for you so that you can still enjoy these bombaliciously nutritious powerhouses!

My first suggestion is to make your own, at home. This way you have the best possible control of what’s in it, making sure to use the freshest and most organic ingredients you can possibly find.

There are some really neat (and cute!) carrying/take away options you can use. I’ve even seen mason jars with a special lid for straws, like this one.

My second suggestion is that you make sure it’s a GREEN smoothie. What I mean by this is that you use about 90% vegetables in your smoothie. Please avoidmaking a “fruuitie”! What I mean by that is to avoid using mostly fruit with some added vegetable and think that it won’t affect your blood glucose.

Here are some excellent, low(er) carb green smoothies that won’t send your blood glucose and insulin requirement on as much of a rocket ride.

I want your opinion; am I being too harsh? Have you tried green smoothies? What are your experiences?

 

(Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to do a HAPPY DANCE for the first blog post with the new web page design! Woohoo! )

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The Diabetes Treadmill

If there’s one thing I don’t enjoy doing, it’s walking (or running) on a treadmill.

For me, there’s nothing more boring to spend my time doing. Life is to be lived, not be spent on a treadmill! (You heard it here first!)

This is a thing in my life that has changed though – before I used to LOVE the treadmill! I used to prefer it to walking/running in nature, or on the streets.

Every time I went to the gym, I’d see if I could run just a little further, or just do one more climb… And always feeling really proud of myself when I was finished. Just like I wouldn’t even know that there’s anything else out there to do for exercise.

Why did I feel that?! Sure, exercise is a great point, but there are about 100 ways to do that without having to set foot on a treadmill.

My point is that although a treadmill is fine for exercise, it might not be able to give you what you want, or even need.

Maybe your body type needs more weight lifting, yoga or body pump to stay in shape and reach your own goals with a great feeling of accomplishment. Or maybe you need a mix of them all?

And, most importantly, what do you prefer? Running around on a tirelessly ever-turning machine that has “worked for everyone else”? Or try another thing, the road less taken, and give yourself a chance to breathe and face less resistance?

Maybe “everyone else’s” goals weren’t and aren’t the same as yours. Not even by a long shot. Or maybe they find joy and happiness on that treadmill that you, perhaps, don’t.

This is of course a metaphor for how diabetes advice normally is given. Clearly.

But, Hanna, what do treadmills have to do with diabetes?!

More than you may think. Although exercise is of course very important in your own every day care, it doesn’t have to be done on a boring treadmill. Not at all.

Get out in nature, enjoy what you’re doing and pay attention to the amazing details that surrounds you.

The same goes for diabetes advice.

If the tried and tested advice with 60% carbs to every meal, “some” exercise and eating absolutely zero fat (aka the treadmill) doesn’t work for you– find your own way.

Get off the diabetes treadmill!

Get off the diabetes treadmill!

 

Get off that diabetes treadmill. Even if it keeps running, you don’t have to run on it anymore, if it’s not working for you.

There are always choices out there that might suit you better, that might make you feel healthier, more in control and more confident about yourself and diabetes. It might even give you a clue to the ever-green question: “What’s going on?!”, that other information sources might not have been able to give you.

I’ve picked the raisins out of the several proverbial cakes I’ve had with, on, besides, on top of, underneath and slightly to the right of diabetes, and made them into a health care system for myself, instead of the sick care I’ve been handed elsewhere.

It’s a liberating feeling, finding something that works for YOU as a person, but also YOU as a diabetic.

We both know diabetes can be exactly as varied and changing as you are. It’s the most frustrating feeling in the world. That’s why it’s so important to widen your horizons and find out what’s best for you.

 

 

(Spoiler alert: it probably isn’t the advice you’ve been given your whole diabetic career!)

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Top 10+ Health FB Pages To Follow

Whilst grainbrain.ch is getting her new looks, I thought I’d focus a little on my favourite social media platform, Facebook.

Who do I follow on Facebook? 

The answer here is: tons. I follow tons of people, companies, news sites, brands (and yes, even Sauna, being true to my Finnish roots!).

Exclusively for you, however, I’ve listed my top 10 health pages I follow. Some of these you may already be familiar with, while others are new to you.

1. Diet Doctor 

Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt is one of the most outstanding medical professionals to recommend a lowcarb lifestyle, in my opinion. The information he posts is current, relevant and very educational. He also understands diabetes well, and posts about every big study that is made. Check out the Facebook page here.

2. Dr. Mark Hyman 

Dr. Hyman is a functional medicine practitioner, who is doing a fantastic job with spreading news about medicine and nutrition. He also gets it with diabetes, and has great resources and tips. Look here!

3. Cereal Killers Movie

If you haven’t seen this documentary yet – do it (right after finishing reading this blog post)! This page contains very little promotion for the movie. Instead this guy shares very useful, thoughtful and educational posts. It’s a keeper! 

4. Dr. David Perlmutter

Dr. Perlmutter is the author of the (very well named!) book Grain Brain. Luckily we share very many opinions. 🙂 He’s also about to release a cook book. Anyway, back to the Facebooking, he has some very interesting articles that make you think twice about what you’ve been doing all your life. Check it out for yourself here. 

5. Naturalnews.com

“NaturalNews.com is an independent news resource that covers the natural health and wellness topics that empower individuals to make positive changes in their personal health. NaturalNews offers uncensored news that allows for healthier consumer choices via informed skepticism.” That really says it all – check it out here. 

6. Food Babe

Food Babe, or Vani Hari, has become the leading expert in finding out what the food we eat is made of, what’s hiding in it, and what are potentially lethal ingredients. Her investigations go much deeper into the food production industry than any of them would like. She’s a true star in finding out the truth. Have a look for yourself here. 

7. Dr. Lissa Rankin

Dr. Rankin wrote one of my favourite health books to date, Mind Over Medicine. I believe all health care professionals should have read her book at least once. Her FB page reflects much of her thinking in the book – health as holistic, functional medicine. Get inspired here. 

8. Mind Body Green 

MBG is a fantastic site that collects the best of the best in terms of health, well being, nutrition, exercise, meditation, relationships… Usually shorter articles that are easy to understand. I barely go onto their website, as they deliver all the goodies right to my FB newsfeed. Find their great articles here. 

9. I Quit Sugar

Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar 8 week program is hugely popular to, eh, quit sugar. The FB page is filled with great recipes (that you can easily modify to your needs), tips, ideas and announcements. Love it as much as I do here. 

10. Kris Carr 

Kris Carr, the undoubtable queen of green juicing, always posts really great information, recipes and motivation on her Facebook site. This woman is truly an inspiration, and I suggest you check her out here.

11. Gabby Bernstein

One of my spiritual guides, Gabby Bernstein, has probably been given a prize for “Most Active FB Page”. It’s truly astonishing how much great advice, affirmations, meditations, thoughts and pictures this modern guru posts. Get a huge dose of inspiration here. 

12. SwissHealthCoach

Mirkka at SwissHealthCoach recently did an amazing myth-busting series on the truth about our food. Check her out!

13. Type 1 Diabetes Memes

This page, run by type 1’s for type 1’s post hilarious photos, with a huge “omg that’s me, every time”-factor.  Their aim is to make you augh, and to have a positive outlook on living with Type 1 Diabetes. Get a good laugh right here! 

Borrowed from the Type 1 Diabetes Meme Fb page

Borrowed from the Type 1 Diabetes Meme Fb page!

 Ok, fine, that was a bit more than 10, but I just couldn’t leave any of them out!  All of these have contributed so much toward my health and getting more confident in my self care. 

I’d love to know who YOU follow? Anyone I’ve missed, anyone you don’t-understand-how-I-can-live-without that I should be following? Please let me know in the comments, there’s always space for more people to be inspired by!

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Can You Do A 24h Fast With Type 1 Diabetes?

Recently, I’ve read a lot about fasting, intermittent fasting and how to do it.

Intermittent fasting can be done in many ways, depending on your preferences and lifestyle, and basically means to cut down on calories for a limited period of time, to give the body a chance to use its own reserves.

This can be especially helpful if you’re trying to lose weight, or keep your blood glucose levels more stable. In some cases, these two are interlinked (read: Type 2 Diabetes).

What is important to remember is to still eat enough calories. You just do it within a limited time window. Intermittent fasting makes your body use the energy (food) consumed more efficiently.

And no, skipping a meal (or even two) won’t send your body into a crisis-starvation mode. That takes a good few days to happen.

Intermittent fasting usually has numbers attached to it, depending on how long you’re fasting for;

–       5:2 means you’re restricting calories on 2 days of the week, while eating “normal” the other 5.

–       20:4 means you fast for 20 hours, eating one or more meals within the remaining 4 hours.

–       24/36/48/72:0 simply means a 24/36/48/72 hour fast.

–       16:8 means you eat your meals within an 8 hour time span, fasting the remaining 16 hours.

I’ve done a 16:8 fast in my daily life for a few months now. For me it works really well, as it enables me to keep my blood glucose levels more stable for a longer period of time (which is really beneficial on so many levels!).

And to be honest, in practice it only means skipping breakfast, and eating lunch and dinner as normal. This feels doable for me, and I can easily function without having breakfast every day.

But, is a 24 hour possible to do with insulin dependent Type 1 Diabetes as your BFF?

I decided to test it out, in the name of science. And for this blog post.

For the sake of full disclosure, it didn’t end up being quite a full 24 hour fast, but it was from dinner one day until dinner the following day (which sadly (for science) weren’t eaten at the same time of the day). However, the step from my normal 16 hour fast to 24 wasn’t too crazy in theory.

During that day, I made sure to take extra good care of myself, checking blood glucose levels more often, drinking a lot more water, and taking breaks whenever I felt I needed to. I also took my supplements and medication like I usually do.

You might be thinking that I’m insane, and that’s probably a pretty fair question generally, too. 🙂

Is it possible?

Is it possible?

 

Well, I’m sure you’re curious now: how did I do?

Let’s do the technical part first.

My blood glucose levels kept stable all day, with a slight downward trend towards the end of the day (before dinner). This is great news for another reason – it means my basal rates are correctly configured! Yay!

My highest reading during the day was 8.0 mmol/l, which was right in the morning, and just might have had something to do with the dinner the night before, being a birthday dinner and all.

My lowest reading was 4.5 mmol/l right before dinner at the end of the fasting day, which is understandable. I don’t know about you, but for me that’s a very successful day in terms of blood glucose readings. (For reference, a healthy person’s blood glucose is around 3.5-8.0 mmol/l in a day, depending on what they eat.)

To keep myself hydrated and help my kidneys filter out some of the toxins that might be lurking in my system, I drank 4 liters of water, 1 herbal tea and 1 decaf coffee (which isn’t even unusual for me, as I cant handle caffeine) throughout the day.

Drinking about 1 liter more water than I usually do per day, naturally made me run to the bathroom more often. Lucky for me that I work from home!

It really felt good to give the body a good rinse through, and I assume that was part of my surge of energy.

Something that I noticed during my fast was that my thinking was a lot clearer. And I was so much more productive!

I felt like I was an idea-shooting-gumball machine. I’m glad I have a system set up for jotting down quick notes, because they were firing from all angles! I’m sure this was a mechanism from my body to keep me busy and not think about food, which was challenging from time to time.

And, I was a little insecure about whether or not I’d have to take many breaks during the day. But in the end, I had to take less breaks than I usually do.

The only breaks I took were for drinking liquids, going to the bathroom and one 30 minute nap in the afternoon (because I had slept so badly the night before).

I also had the feeling that I slept better.

In the night after fasting, I slept better than I have in a long time. And I don’t even have problems sleeping normally. But I felt it was a deeper, dreamless sleep, leaving me more regenerated and rested in the morning.

I only had to get up once to go to the bathroom (damn water!) and took the opportunity to check my blood glucose at the same time. More on that further down in the post.

I also had quite a big realization.I realized just how addicted to food I actually am.

Please note that I’m NOT advocating anorexia nervosa at all, or in any case; that’s a terrible disease and needs to be treated, not to be joked about.

Leaving out the lunch that I usually have at around 12-1pm was actually most annoying and demanding mentally, not physically.

During the day I had a few rumbles in my stomach, and really felt like eating once. But this feeling wasn’t even hunger pains or anything similar – it was mainly my mind telling my stomach that it was time for food (nervus vagus if you want to nerd out about it).

If and when you do decide to do a fast, no matter in which format, remember that a lot of it is in your mind. You have to mentally prepare for not eating. Your body will be fine; in most cases it has more than enough reserves to take from.

 

I really did feel amazing all day. And I felt fine until the very last hour, which could be entirely psychological.

The last hour I got dizzy, cold, had a few muscle spasms (perhaps I flushed out too much Magnesium with drinking that much water?) and hunger pains. My whole body literally screamed for food!

My very kind and loving husband came home from work and cooked me dinner. Very lucky for me, because I don’t think it would have been a great idea for me to handle sharp objects, such as knives at that point.

For dinner I had zucchini noodles with smoked salmon in a cream sauce, and one piece of leftover low carb, grain-, gluten- and sugar free carrot cake from my husbands birthday the day before. I had to eat like a bird to prevent feeling nauseous, as my stomach was completely empty. This was very difficult – normally I inhale my food (I know, it’s a terrible habit to have!) My total kcal count ended up being 1376 kcal that day. I don’t usually measure, as food should be eaten, not measured, so I don’t really have the value if a normal day.

 

So, in short, YES, it’s possible and even beneficial in some aspects to fast as a Type 1 diabetic.

For me, dinner was probably the wrong meal to start eating again. I draw this conclusion based on that my blood glucose skyrocketed after finally eating.

It culminated at 14.7 mmol/l at 5am, but came right down after a dose of correction insulin. This could have been a direct cause of fasting, of course. And the only way to eliminate it would be to try a 24 hour fast again. But it could also have been the piece of low carb cake I had (and am not used to having). Or it could have been coincidental. The wonderful part of diabetes, the constant surprise factor! The way I like to look at it is that you at least never have time to get bored!

This is probably nothing I will be able to do on a weekly basis. It might however be a good thing to do every once in a while, if only to keep blood glucose levels that stable.

But trust me when I say that dinner hasn’t tasted that good in a long while that day.

I find this very interesting, and would love to hear your opinion: have you ever done/tried a fast? Tell me your experiences in the comments below!

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Getting Confident

Sometimes being confident is just not an option.

You know what I mean – when you see your ex with a new love, or when you realize you’ve majorly messed up.

But confidence goes much deeper than that immediate, gut wrenching reaction.

Can you get confident enough to show all parts of you, of your person as well as your body? Are you ready to show others your darkest, most secret thoughts and emotions? Ready to rock a two-piece swimsuit at the beach?

If you happily say yes to these questions, I’m in awe of you.

This can be a struggle for most people. It might leave you to slip a little white lie in order to get out of the uncomfortable situation. Or plain out make you duck and dive, not to be seen.

But are these really built on other people’s thoughts of you? Or, could they, perhaps, be fictions of your own imagination?

And, what is the worst thing that can happen? They laugh at you? Laugh back. They look at you with a look that stings worse than any swam of bees? Ignore, and most importantly, move on.

I know it hurts you the very most when someone finds an old scab of yours to pick (i.e. making fun of you for something you’re already insecure about, to be clear). I really do. I’ve been bullied, poked, prodded, laughed at, stared at, pointed at, ignored, and been talked sh*t about. And it’s hurt me more than I’m willing to admit.

The key is this: you learn.

You learn to live with it, to stop seeing it and to ignore those (just equally as) insecure people who have nothing better to do with their time than to annoy you.

And it’s terrible that we have to manage like that, but this is the reality of things.

me_powerful

 

What about if you have something or wear something you have to, say, for medical reasons, and can’t, and definitely SHOULDN’T hide?

Confidence isn’t always easy, but it is definitely required. Especially by people who can’t help what they look like or what they wear.

Last week, Miss Idaho, Sierra Sandison, rocked her bikini-part of the competition wearing an insulin pump. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read more HERE.)

Miss Idaho/Sandison’s amazing gesture has filled the diabetic community with both hope and confidence. Using the hashtag #showmeyourpump, it’s become nothing short of a social media phenomenon to share a picture of your insulin pump.

I got so inspired and deeply impressed by Miss Idaho 2014 for showcasing her insulin pump in the competition, so I decided to show my support and admiration by posing, in a bikini, showing my pump, too.

By doing that, I want every single one of you to know that it’s OK to wear a bikini (or anything else you’re shoving further back in your closet because it’s too “revealing” for wearing a device that keeps you ALIVE) – if people don’t like what they see they can kindly look away.

#showmeyourpump

#showmeyourpump

And, for the sake of clarification, no, this is not easy to post for me, many parts of my body are not my favorite. But I am thankful that so many parts of it still work! And no, those dark patches are NOT bruises. My doc and I think it’s another AI issue, but no one seems to know. If you do, please let me know what it is!

Now, I want to see you showing your pump too, although I understand not everyone is ready for a full swimsuit shoot, take a photo and tag it with #showmeyourpump !

Ps. You can find Miss Idaho’s personal blog HERE.

…as well as a superb interview with her HERE by fellow d-blogger Kerri Morrone Sparling.

 

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