Tag Archive for: blood glucose

A Cure?

“A CURE IS JUST 5-10 YEARS AWAY”

If I (& my parents) had a penny for every time we’ve heard that “promise” during the past 34 years, we’d be laughing all the way to the bank.

Let’s talk about the prospect of curing T1D. Do you think we’re getting close to one? 🤔

After a weekend of particularly shitty blood sugars, this is more relevant than usual. A weekend where I had to, yet again, come to terms with my own mortality. And insulin acting like saline.

With diabetes awareness month coming up in November, there is somehow a communal hope brewing. A hope of more awareness, because awareness should lead research teams everywhere to be motivated to finally find a cure. Right?! Don’t get me wrong, awareness is GREAT! It’s necessary, it’s inspiring and needed in the world. All T1Ds should speak up, and not only during the month of November. But – diabetes awareness alone won’t cure us.

And frankly, not to be too pessimistic, but rather I choose to see it as a realistic mindset, I’m not sure there will be a cure in my lifetime. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Have we gotten any closer on this in the past 34 years since my diagnosis? Since the diagnosis of those who have lived with this a lot longer than I have? I don’t know.

Just because ones diabetes is (mostly) “well controlled” doesn’t mean the fears aren’t there. The fears about the future. What the future may, or may not, bring. Will diabetes cause any limitations to my life? And it certainly doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be first in line when they start curing it. Even though diabetes tools and tech has evolved at an astonishing speed in recent years – we still need a cure. Even if it is very possible to have happy, healthy blood sugars with T1D – we need a cure. And we would have needed that cure yesterday.

Until then, we’re not waiting. Do whatever it takes for you to be healthier, to live your best life and thrive with T1D. ✨

Ps. This post was originally posted on my Instagram account, @hannadiabetesexpert. Follow me there for more on the go updates!

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Inspire – don’t judge!

“You give other people with diabetes bad conscience!”

The words of my Sweet Friend surprised me. I was gobsmacked, then I was amazed, then everything suddenly made sense.

“That’s soooo not my point”, I said, laughingly. “I know, I know it’s not, but if everyone knew how to take care of themselves like you do, then everyone would feel better. Not everyone has that motivation,” she continued.

My goal is always to inspire others, not to make anyone feel less worthy. I don’t want to be the one who makes you feel bad about your diabetes management, or yourself. I‘m not ever ”better than you!”

I want to inspire you, because higher powers know I would have needed it myself. When I was at my absolute worst, with double digit A1C’s and didn’t know my ass from my elbow in terms of diabetes management, I was trying everything out, one thing after the other and it all lead to the same shit… I wish, I wish social media would’ve existed, and I could’ve found some sort of motivation and inspiration in people who have walked the same path. And even when I had A1C’s of 7-8% I would’ve needed someone who I could look up to.

That’s who I aspire to be – I want to be your cheerleader, the one that cheers you on when the going gets tough! Me sharing my values and numbers, me sharing my lifestyle and tips, me sharing everything that I do on social media is NEVER about bragging. It’s about me being on the diabetes journey / just as much as you are. And I want you to see it as inspiration.

If I could get myself from double digit A1C’s to a healthy, healing, happy range of blood sugars, so can you. I promise And I’ll be there for you, to guide, inspire and motivate you. If you want me to, that is. Always rooting for you. 🙌🏼💗🌟

Post originally published on my Instagram account, @hannadiabetesexpert

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Type 1 Thursday – Stress & Blood Sugar?

What does STRESS have to do with your diabetes management?

Have you noticed that your blood sugar reacts in an unexpected way, either up or down, when you’re stressed? We can distinguish between physical and emotional stress, and, sadly, we are way more emotionally/mentally stressed today than ever.

Today, I talk about why this happens and what causes it, along with stress prevention and coping mechanisms. You can read a written version below if you can’t watch the video.

Have you noticed that stress impacts your blood sugars? How? Leave a comment!

Stress & Blood Sugar – Type 1 Thursday with Hanna Boëthius

Transcription

Stress and the impact the stress has on your blood sugar management is sometimes overwhelming, because it can make things a little bit more interesting than intended to be.

Here, I’m going to cover what happens in your body when it experiences stress, and how we can alleviate it and what we can do to cope with the stress that we do face, perhaps even on a daily basis.

What happens to blood sugar, or rather, why does it happen that blood sugar gets impacted by stress? It is our beautiful stress hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline and epinephrine, that are impacting your blood sugar. They tell the liver that your body needs more energy to cope with this stress. That’s why your blood sugar will react either way, in the vast majority of cases, your blood sugar will rise when you are under stress. But there are also instances, which I’ve experienced myself where, during stress, your blood sugar unexpectedly does drop, which is unexpected, and you have to roll with the punches. An example of this, that maybe most people with diabetes can relate to, is Dawn Phenomenon. This is when our stress hormones tell our liver that “hey, it’s time to wake up. Let’s get some sugar in the blood from your storage system and get this party going.”

There are two main forms of stress. One is physical stress, for example, if you had an injury, or if you exercising super hard, or you’ve gone through surgery or some sort of physical trauma, and infection, then definitely your body is under stress. That’s also why we can see when we are getting sick or that when we are sick, that the blood sugar’s can rise, because it is a stress for the body, and stress hormones are released and the little sugar party is going on in your body.

It can of course also, and it may be more usual for us in today’s society, that it’s emotional stress. This can be things like, being overwhelmed or you’re just too busy, you have too much to do, too much on your plate, anxiety, your phone going off all the time, the train is late… Essentially, it’s what becomes more of a psychological stress. But that can also have an impact on your blood sugar, which is why I bring it up. The fact that we experience so many things as stressful has been left throughout our evolution. When we had to be afraid of wild animals in nature, so that we had that quick release of energy, so that we could run far, far away from that mountain lion/bear, and get into safety. That’s why our body reacts with the sugar rush when we get stressed. The problem is today though, that some things that shouldn’t be stressful are interpreted by our bodies as stressful. It can be nutrition, for example, too much sugar can be a stress for the body. It can be, as I said, the train is late, or your phone’s going off every second. There’s so many things that stresses us today that didn’t use to stress us. This also means that we can see more volatility on our blood sugars because of that.

What can you do to mitigate stress? Find patterns. Is there certain situation every time that you do it, that causes you to stress and have a blood sugar spike, for example? Is there something that you do in your daily life that you don’t feel well doing? Is there something that goes against even your own values? Could that be stressing you? Find a pattern, so that you know how to react! When you have the prediction, you can also prevent it. It’s really important to pay attention to this (and with everything else) to see the patterns in it, so that you can just simply prevent it. Bear in mind that this is very individual. What stresses me for, example, may not stress you, you lucky person! And what stresses you, may not stress me at all. It’s very individual and we have to see on an individual level how we are impacted by stress.

What are some coping mechanisms for stress? Cut down on the nicotine, alcohol and caffeine, all of the stimulants that we may use under the impression of that it will help us with stress. It will probably stress our bodies even more. Recognising that we are tired and doing something about it, taking a break. Physical movement also really helps stress. Make relaxation a priority, if you don’t make space for it, it won’t happen. You know that with a lot of other things in your life perhaps, but making space for it and making time for it does matter. So make sure you schedule in relaxation. Make sure you also have a sound sleeping schedule, so that you make sure that you sleep enough during the night.

Accept things that you cannot change. This is really hard, but it’s really worth it. It does remove a lot of stress. Improve your time management, maybe that’s where you’re lacking a few tools? And my personal favourite jump on the No-train. Say no to things that do not light you up, that you are not excited about and that you know that you won’t be enjoying.

When we are in the stress situation, how can we alleviate it? This goes hand in hand with the coping mechanisms mentioned above, but how can we alleviate it as well as we can? Movement. do move daily. How about actually scheduling a holiday? That could be something great right? Listening to your favourite music for example, that could be an amazing stress reliever. Take up a hobby that takes your mind away from the from the stress. How about meditating? Meditation can really calm you down, along with breathing exercises. Breathing deeply can really distress you quickly! Or how about taking up yoga, stretching your body and feeling and really being in tune with your body also helps stress.

Relaxation cannot coexist with stress

Do remember that relaxation cannot coexist with stress. If you’re relaxed, you cannot be stressed at the same time.

I would love to hear if you’ve noticed that your blood sugar has been impacted by stress? What happened? How can you change it until next time? I can’t wait to chat with you further in the comments below.

Ps. Are you looking for a stressless retreat to soak up the last of the summer sun, learn from international health experts, spend time with likeminded people, all in a place too gorgeous to miss? Join me at the amazing The Low Carb Universe 2019 in Mallorca, Spain in November!

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All about my latest HbA1c…

“Your A1c is 4.8%”, she said with disbelief in her voice.

“No way”, I replied, laughing, “it must be an error!”

“It’s time for your yearly blood work anyway, let’s throw in an HbA1c, too. The labs margin of error is a lot less”, she mentioned.

Excellent suggestion!

Well, the lab results came back at 4.7% (29 mmol/mol)! My lowest ever reading, by far. And that without significant lows – Dexcom shows 6% lows for the past 90 days (a few of them are pressure lows too.)

I remember just a few years ago when I could easily have added a 1 in front of that result and it would’ve been my reality. I remember the pain, frustration and hopelessness I felt. I am reminded of my war wounds from having battled T1D for 34 years.

And I finally feel a sense of freedom. Freedom of having found things that work for me and my diabetes management. Freedom in the feeling that normal, healthy and healing blood sugars ARE possible, even after living this long with this disease.

This by no means means that I never have problems. That I never have days when it’s all shit. Or never have moments I want to give up. But there are less of them now.

If I can do it, so can you! 🙌🏼 Share your achievements with gratitude – they are worth it to be acknowledged!

Thank you for your support and for following me on my diabetes journey. 🙏🏼 You are the best.

HbA1c
My latest HbA1c result, including lab print screen

Ps, do you want to know my HbA1c lowering formula? Watch my Type 1 Thursday episode about it here!

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Type 1 Thursday – Hydration, why so important?

How important is hydration for diabetes? What can it cause if you’re not hydrated?

I’ve noticed it myself. Sometimes, if I have a particularly stubborn high (or event borderline high) blood sugar that won’t come down with my usual line of care, it may very well be that I’m a bit dehydrated.

But is that the whole story? In this weeks episode of Type 1 Thursday, I go over the main factors why hydration is important, what signs of dehydration is, the causes, and how all this can impact your blood sugar management.

Type 1 Thursday with Hanna – Hydration, why so important?

Do you consider hydration an important part of your diabetes management? Why, or why not? Let me know in the comments!

Transcription

If you prefer to read about hydration instead of watching the video, here is a transcribed text version for you:

We all do it every day, hopefully. And we may not be paying enough attention to it though, which is why I wanted to make a point of it today: hydration, and how important hydration is to a diabetic or person with diabetes, depending on which you prefer.

What causes dehydration, and what can it cause if you’re dehydrated? Dehydration is a higher risk for people with diabetes, because of high blood blood sugars being dehydrating for the body. Even if you don’t have super high blood sugars, or maybe you are someone who is up in the 70 to 90% it time in range of blood sugar. But even then we do have those few circumstances when the blood sugar does go up so that we have to pay attention to our hydration.

High blood sugars don’t just cause dehydration, dehydration can also cause high blood sugars. I know this for myself, for example, if I have a more stubborn, higher blood sugar than I would like insulin is not really taking as it should, movement doesn’t help, insulin neither, all my normal strategies of trying to get my blood sugar down. Sometimes, it can actually be that you are a bit dehydrated! In that case, that’s why your blood sugar has gone up as well, because the body doesn’t have enough liquid to actually keep that blood sugar moving in the body. One doesn’t necessarily cause the other, they can both cause each other. It can be a vicious loop, unless you pay attention to it.

What are the symptoms of being dehydrated? The obvious thing is thirst. If you’re thirsty, you’re probably quite dehydrated and you should fuel up with some water. You can have a headache, often a creeping on headache can also be a sign of dehydration. Dry eyes and dry mouth, I know for myself when I have a higher than normal blood sugar, I can definitely feel my eyes being like a little bit sandy, and my mouth feels like it’s been swiped with about 15 cotton balls! You can become dizzy, especially in hot weather, for example if you’re dehydrated. You can become tired and sluggish. And, if you when you go to the bathroom and your urine is dark, that can also be a sign of dehydration.

What causes dehydration? One I already mentioned was high blood sugars. But as you remember, high blood sugars can cause dehydration, but the dehydration can also cause high blood sugars. Yhe jury’s still out on which one is which! Other things are you simply drink too little water, that is very likely one of the causes. Hot weather or strenuous exercise, so if you’re sweating more than normal, can be a contributing factor. It can be alcohol, for example, that dehydrates your body. Diarrhoea or that you’ve been vomiting can also dehydrate your body.

Why does dehydration happen? And why in relation to high blood sugars? When our blood sugars are high, the kidneys try to filter as well as much of it out as possible. This means that you actually filter a little bit more of blood through your kidneys at that point, which also brings with it water. In a simplified explanation, that’s why we get dehydrated and can feel dehydrated when our blood sugars are higher. Actually, the main point in diabetic ketoacidosis is not necessarily the ketones, for example. Ketones are not bad in limited amounts. It’s also not necessarily the high blood sugar, but it is the dehydration. The really dangerous part of a DKA, and especially if it has come to vomiting and other symptoms of DKA can bring with it, it is the dehydration that makes it dangerous. Please watch out so that you don’t become too dehydrated, as it can also be a contributing factor to the diabetic ketoacidosis. And, I can’t forget, every time I talk about DKA, I cannot miss the fact that it can only be caused by a lack of insulin in the body! This can be a relative lack of insulin in the body, when the body is simply not getting the insulin that it needs and requires to work properly. That is why DKAs happen – it’s not necessarily just because of the high blood sugar – the root cause is always too little insulin. Diabetic ketosis is not the same as ketosis, they are two completely different things. You can see and read my further thoughts on DKA av ketosis here!

Anyway, back to the topic! Dehydration can also cause a lack of electrolytes. If you’re severely dehydrated, you should and may have to go to the hospital to get IV fluids with electrolytes.

How much to drink is another question I often get and that is a little bit of a tricky one, because it is very individual. It entirely depends on how active you are, on what you do and depends on what shape your body’s in. It depends on so many factors! As a rule of thumb, I personally try to drink about two litres of water a day. This also helps me flush out any things that aren’t supposed to be there and also help to stabilise my blood sugar.

Thank you so much for watching. I can’t wait to chat with you more in the comments! If you have any questions, comments or experiences that you want to share with me, please leave them in a comment below, and I’ll happily chat further on over there.

Just remember kids and sweet friends, drink your water and keep hydrated!

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Type 1 Thursday – Jet Lag and Blood Sugar Impact?

How does jet lag affect blood sugar? And how can you ease the burden? 

Last week, I attended the most incredible of events, KetoCon 2019, in Austin, TX (awesome city, btw! If you haven’t been yet, you gotta go!). With closer to 3 000 people attending the event, it was amazing to talk to people, connect, share stories and experiences, meet new friends, listen to mind blowing talks with tons of new knowledge. I also had the incredible honor of being a speaker at #ketocon2019, which was an unforgettable experience! (Universe, please send me more speaking gigs! Kthx!) It really is an amazing community, and I’m so proud and honored to be a part of it.

With traveling that far, however, comes a certain amount of jet lag. 7 time zones back and forth within a week is a little…. intense. So I wanted to tell you about how jet lag impacts blood sugar, and share some of my tips on how to make the jet lag easier on you.

What are your best jet lag tips? Let me know in a comment!

Transcription

If you prefer to read, here is the typed up version of the video above:

Today’s topic has been a part of my life for the past week or so. So I thought if it affects me, then it may affect someone else out there.

I recently attended KetoCon 2019, in Austin, Texas, where I was also fortunate enough to be a speaker. I was very, very touched and humbled by that. I had a fantastic time! The amount of people that I met, the awesome storys that I heard, connections, some of the samples I tried… Everything was amazing! So many people were there, it was a huge event this year, closer to 3000 people. I was very, very fortunate to be there! I really hope that I get to go back to KetoCon next year, and I hope that you will join me there as well.

I love travelling! Sometimes with the travel comes changing time zones, perhaps not all the time. But when it does, meaning that your body might be stuck in one time zone, where as you have moved on to the next. That discrepancy between what your body feels like and what it actually what time it actually is, where you are is called a jet lag. This time, we did a very short trip to the States, it was only a week back and forth. It was a little bit intense. Usually, there is a way or direction that it’s easier for us. For me, it’s going to the east, which is apparently uncommon, I have a lot easier to come home from the States to Europe, then going to the States. This will be taken into account for future trips, believe me…

Jet lag can also affect your blood sugar because your body feels like it is in a different time zone than you are and your insulin pump settings are not in tune with your body’s needs. This is despite that you have changed your insulin pump settings by the time you touch down on the new ground. Your body might need a different amount of insulin than what you are giving in at that point in time. This also happens with basal insulin, or long acting insulin, it’s not novelty for insulin pumps.

It is also a huge stress for the body to change time zones. It gets all confused about times and when to sleep and when to stay awake and when you’re hungry and when you need to drink. And when you have insulin, for example. We also know that stress is a blood sugar killer. Because this is such a stress for the body, this can really cause havoc on your blood sugars. (It wasn’t too bad for me personally, this time. I suffered more from a terrible pump site, than the jet lag itself.) And it didn’t help that I was travelling very quickly back and forth, across 7 timezones within a week.

I was going to share a couple of my best jet lag tips. Although they’re not 100%, clearly, but they may alleviate a little bit so that you don’t have to have such a bad time as you may think it might. So first of all, I wanted to clarify that actually a lot of jet lag is a mindset. If you decide that it’s going to be a terrible time being jet lagged. Guess what? It’s going to be a terrible time to be jet lagged for you! That’s not really any magic. If you decide that hey, yes, okay, admit to yourself, yes, it’s not going to be great. But at the same time, it’s going to be worth it for what I’m doing. You’re already halfway there. If you then also add to it that I’m really excited to go and I can’t wait to see what awaits me where I’m going.

Change the timezone already before you leave. That way you are a little bit more acclimatised to the new time zone even before you leave home. That can involve blocking sunlight, when it’s supposed to be night in the new time zone, or it can be being in front of really bright lights when it’s going to be sunshine and it wasn’t at home. Or it can be regulating caffeine intake, all kinds of things. And there’s a lot you can do yourself. But of course, there’s also apps and I just did a quick search on App Store, and there are so many jetlag apps that you can use. Go explore and find what works for you.

Also, hydration is super, super important for trying to prevent as much as possible of jet lag. First and foremost, this is very important while you’re up in the air, because being that high up anyways dehydrates your body. Don’t make it worse for yourself, as dehydration can cause even more problems. A little bit of electrolytes might not be the worst thing to keep your body fully hydrated, healthy and happy throughout your journey.

Make sure that you expose yourself to sunlight when you’re supposed to. When you have arrived go outside, hopefully it is during daylight time, so that you and your brain and your eyes and all this stuff that works together gets used to when it’s supposed to be dark, when it’s supposed to be light. Sunlight is healing, as we all know, lots of vitamin D, that’s great. Also the fresh air helps to maybe keep you awake rather than stuffy indoor air, when you’re not supposed to sleep.

Stay awake until at least 10pm local time, or whatever your bedtime is, so that you are least a little bit more on to the new time zone. There’s also of course includes no napping, do try to stay awake as much as you can until as late as you can or until your bedtime, whatever hits first. And then hope for a really, really good night’s sleep. If you can’t sleep through the night, which may have been my problem going to the US, definitely do a lot of meditation, a lot of snoozing until you feel ready to fall asleep again. You can also add supplements, such as melatonin and that can really help at least to go to sleep. It’s still debated on whether it helps you to stay asleep but it may help to go to sleep. You can also try things like over the counter histamine drops. Check with your doctor first. CBD oil can also help you sleep when you’re supposed to sleep, as does double magnesium.

Being in nature in the time zone that you’re not used to yet and enjoy the walk. That also keeps you from sleeping when you shouldn’t sleep. Do some yoga doors perhaps, there’s also a lot of jet lag yoga on YouTube, for example, that was very helpful for me, as well. But forest bathing definitely does help.

Keep busy. When I got home yesterday morning, I made sure to unpack my whole bag, put on the washing, so that I had something to do the whole time so that I wouldn’t fall asleep. Today, I feel a lot better, probably also thanks to my hydration plan and my forest bathing and meditation and all these things that I do implement for in order to help my jet lag along a little bit quicker and not just suffer from it.

What are your best jetlag tips I can’t wait to talk with you more in the comments below.

And wherever you are exploring next, enjoy and hope the jet lag is not too bad.

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Type 1 Thursday – Unexpected high blood sugars? 🤔

…it could be THIS!

When you’ve done everything you normally do to keep your blood sugar healthy and stable, and your blood sugars all of a sudden rise to the point that you have to drastically increase your basal dose or rate.

You’ve eaten low carb, taken insulin & other meds you may be prescribed, hydrated, moved, supplemented, not stressed too much, changed insulin vials, stuck to your routine – all to no avail. Your blood sugar is stubbornly and unexpectedly high anyway!

In thisType 1 Thursday, I will discuss a possible reason why, based on my own very recent experience.

Watch the video or read the transcription below:

https://youtu.be/qafwdTm4tqQ
Type 1 Thursday – Hanna Boëthius

Have you experienced something like this? Leave a comment and tell us more!

Transcription

If you prefer reading the information, here it is:

Today’s topic is actually a bit of a personal note, because this is something that I’ve recently experienced. If I’ve experienced it, there may be others out there who experienced the same and may need help with similar situations or at least help figuring out what it can be.

If you live with Type 1 Diabetes, you know that some days are just weird, blood sugar-wise. It doesn’t matter what you do, your blood sugar’s either high or it’s low, or it’s whatever where it shouldn’t be. Usually it is a little bit on the higher side, and if you have frequent lows, you just think that you’re cured for a split second!

When you have those stubborn high blood sugars, to the point where you do a basal test to find out how much basal you should be taking. And that actually shows that you’re taking too little basal all of a sudden! It’s not due to hormones, if you’re growing or a woman or anything hormone related. It is not due to the seasons, because whether can involve insulin resistance, too. It’s not because you’ve changed your diet, you’re eating the same thing. Basically, you keep everything the same. Just all of a sudden, your blood sugar’s up, and you need more insulin overall.

“Oh, okay. Have I not exercised enough? Yes, I’ve done that.” Check off the list. “Am I coming down with something? Am I getting a cold or a fever? Is there something like that going on? Nope.” You feel fine as a little baby bird, just maybe apart from the high blood sugar situation? Hmm, what else? “Am I injured somewhere? No, not that I know. And have I been drinking enough water and I’ve been taking my supplements? Have I been eating low carb enough?” It can also of course, be stress, it could have been stress in my case, definitely. And it could have been a bad insulin vial. But as this kept going throughout insulin vials and stressful periods and stuff, I figured out it wasn’t that. All these things that will checklist of lifestyle factors that do influence blood sugar. Everything is in check. What the *bleep* is going on?

Well, this, as I mentioned, did happen to me quite recently. In the past few months, all of a sudden, my basal requirements increased with, I kid you not, 30%! This is, of course, it’s just a number and you have to use the insulin that your body needs. But to me, it felt very weird. Wait, what could this possibly be that is going on? I didn’t think more about it. My blood sugar was then back to their stable, wonderful self, with the 30% extra basal insulin requirement.

But then I started getting a tooth ache. We were traveling at the time, and I was like, “Oh, no, I have to like find a dentist!” I’m not too fond of dentist, as it is. I contemplated finding an emergency dentist where I wasn’t notat home, and didn’t really speak the language. And I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know where I am and all the stuff. I’m like, oh, what am I gonna do?

But I made it. I could soothe the symptoms until I got back to my normal dental hygienist, who happily took an X ray of my lower jaw on the left side and noticed, “oh, you have an abscess underneath that tooth that was hurting.” I’m like, “oh, okay, so it was an inflammation. I just couldn’t feel it at the time!” I had walked around with an inflammation, which is known to cause high blood sugars and insulin resistance (or both, which is probably the case here). I was very jolted when she said that it has to be surgically removed.

Now, I’ve had a fair amount of dental work done. Especially when I was still in my high sugar eating days, my teeth started crumbling a little bit. I didn’t know why, because I was eating the way I was supposed to. Since going low carb, I haven’t had any problems at all. So for a long time, I haven’t had to go to the dentist, I’ve only gone to the dental hygienist to get my teeth cleaned and and she checks my teeth. If everything is good, I don’t have to go to dentist. Yay. Happy me. But this time, she’s like, “well, you know, you can’t really remove this on your own, it won’t go away. So we have to actually surgically open up your gums on the lower left side.” This sounded lovely. (If you’re sensitive, please just fast forward!)

“We have to open up your gums on the lower left jaw and we have to dig out the inflammation by hand because it won’t go away.” And I’m like, “No, this is terrible!”, feeling my stress regarding dentists as it is, my blood sugar immediately went up a little bit. I wasn’t very happy about that (but that wasn’t the point of the story.) The point of the story is, that when I finally managed to get the courage to make that appointment, and the dentist was allowed to cut up my gums (and ended up doing a lot of other work that I just don’t even want to remember, because it was terrible.) Then, when the inflammation was out, and I had started healing, look at that, hey, presto – there went my 30% basal rate that I had added on top! My basal rate went back to normal. It was that inflammation.

The moral of my terrible experience and story is that if you do have unexpected highs and your basal rate does go up, it doesn’t have to be anything that you’ve done or that you’re doing wrong, or that you’re not being “compliant”. That’s a terrible word! It can also be something that is going on in your body that you don’t even know about, as in my case, it was a dental inflammation, a dental abscess.

I don’t recommend it to anyone. But if it does happen to you, make sure that you get it taken care of, and go check it out. And this is why it’s actually quite good as a diabetic to get your teeth cleaned quite regularly so that someone can see the differences going on.

Have you ever experienced anything similar to this? Anything that all of a sudden raise your blood glucose values or all of a sudden raise your basal rates?

Let me know and let me know how you sold that in the comments and we’ll be happy. I’ll be happy to do chat with you there.

I hope this story hasn’t put you off! It did me for a good while, but I’m happy that it’s now over and I can look forward again.

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Type 1 Thursday – My HbA1c Formula

Lowering your HbA1c as a Type 1 Diabetic is HARD!

How did I turn my double digit HbA1c nightmare into a healthy 5.0% habit? Find out all about my 12 step formula in this week’s Type 1 Thursday!

My HbA1c Formula

What is your goal A1c? Or healthy goal in general? Let me know in a comment below!

Transcription

If you prefer to read about my HbA1c Formula, here you go:

Getting your HbA1c down as a Type 1 Diabetic is hard! It’s really, really hard and requires a lot of work and effort. So how did I turn my HbA1c from a double digit nightmare to a 5.0% healthy habit?

In this week’s Type 1 Thursday, with me Hanna Boëthius, one of the cofounders of The Low Carb Universe, as well as a Type 1 Diabetic since 34 years. I don’t know if you know, but I reached something magnificent. I have had a long, long standing dream of reaching a HbA1c of 5.0% (31 mmol/mol) in the “other scale”. This week, I finally got confirmed that this was the case and I couldn’t be happier! But what you may not know about me, yet, at least is that not that many years ago, I was a total diabetic mess. I failed to take care of myself. I had terrible blood sugars and very little knowledge of how to actually manage diabetes. So my A1c not too long ago was in the double digits, which is not good for anyone who knows anything about blood sugar. At the same time, I was so hopeless because I was clearly not given a the proper tools of taking care of my diabetes.

I actually shared my full story a couple of weeks ago, but so that no one else has to go through all the trials and tribulations that I did, I have formulated my getting a better HbA1c formula!

It’s what I have done to bring my HbA1c from double digits to a healthy, happy 5.0 habit. I’ve actually been under 5.5% for more than three years now, something I’m very happy about! That means that it’s stable, that means that I have found out a few things that work for me. That doesn’t necessarily means that they work for every single Type 1 out there, but they work for me. And maybe just maybe you or someone you know will be able to draw a little bit of inspiration from what I’ve done, so that you can get healthier and to your health or A1c goal as well.

This is a 12 point plan, so buckle up and get ready, we have a lot to go through!

Number one is definitely eat low carb. I know, it’s a very heated topic in all of this. But if you have problems with blood sugar, there is really nothing else that will work as well as to lower your intake of dietary carbohydrates. This also means my favorite topic in the world, which is the law of small numbers. Instead of with a lot of carbs, you add a lot of sugar, and then you have to chase it with a lot of insulin and then the margin of error is just equally as big. Instead, you can eat a little sugar, you add a little insulin and the margin of error is smaller. This is the number one reason why low carb for diabetics is such a great idea, because it leaves out so much of the guessing work. I also incorporated intermittent fasting into my routine a good couple of years ago. This means that I skip breakfast every day, just because I’m just not hungry, and I don’t see the point of stressing my body with trying to, to digest more. Intermittent fasting that has helped me a lot, and maybe it’ll help someone out there too.

You have to find out if you are intolerant towards any sort of foods. A very common intolerance is dairy, for example, which is a big thing within low carb. If you have any issues or allergies, then maybe it’s not going to help you reach those blood sugar goals that you are so dearly after. Make sure that you find out other things, for example eggs, night shades… People have intolerances towards many foods, but you might not find out.

What is your personal carb threshold? I know this is also very widely discussed within the diabetic community. I personally eat maybe 20 grams of carbs a day, most days not even. For example, the great Dr. Richard Bernstein says that you should eat 30 grams a day with six grams of carbs for breakfast, 12 for lunch, and 12 for dinner. It’s all up to you finding out what kind of level that you should be at for the best results. This is definitely not carbs from cookies, and pasta, rice, potatoes, all this stuff. This is green leafy vegetables, vegetables that have grown above ground, as these vegetables don’t impact your blood sugar as much.

Treating the few hypoglycemia as that you still will experience, but not as many, with precision so that you don’t go up and down and down and up and up and down as we were used to on the high carb lifestyle that I was on before, but treat lows with precision. Use the exact number of grams of glucose that you need to get into back into a healthy, safe level of blood sugars. If you overshoot too often, then your average blood glucose is going to go up. If you want to bring your A1c down, then make sure that you stay in range as much as possible.

Second point is medication, whatever kind of medication you’re on. Yes, insulin, but I don’t want to discount any other sort of medications you may be on, they may have an impact on your blood sugar, please check this with your doctor. When it comes to insulin, there are two really important things that you have to do: number one, basal rate or your basal dose of insulin, the long acting insulin that should keep you stable throughout the day and night. Please test that this is correctly dosed. If it’s not, then it’s going to cause you to either slowly but surely go up in blood sugar or go down and blood sugar if you’re take too much basal. You can test this by fasting and checking your blood sugar every hour of that fasting window, you can either divide it up or do 24 hours in one go. The second part is of course, bolus insulin, the mealtime insulin. Make sure you know your ratios, and that they are properly calculated, or found out through trial and error, as they are in my case. The common ratio calculations that exists with high carb eating, don’t quite apply to all diabetics eating low carbs. So for very many of us it has to become a trial and error. With a law of small numbers, the error margin is not that big. So you’re not going to be in for a wild ride. It takes some time to figure it out.

Also pre bolus for your meals, even if they don’t contain that many carbs, just so that the insulin has a bit of time to start working before the food comes and does the same. What really helps when you’re trying to find out your medication and ratios and pre bolusing for meals, and everything else, is of course to have a continuous glucose monitor. This is either Dexcom, for example, or Freestyle Libre, or any of the other ones that are out there, whatever one fits you the best. I know they’re very expensive, and they’re very hotly debated as well. But they are a huge, huge help when it comes to really lowering your A1c, because when you see a trend you can start acting before the catastrophe is a fact, hyper or hypo.

The next point, is blood sugar levels. As a perfect diabetic, or whatever that means, you should try to aim for an average of 4.6 mmol/l or 83 mg/dl. This is what people who are healthy and have a functioning pancreas’ are on average. If you are at a much higher average right now, don’t try to get down to 4.6 or 83 in one go, do it step by step. All of the modern blood sugar meters have an average measurement of blood sugar. Depending on how often you prick your finger, it might may be representative of what it actually looks like. As soon as you see where that average is, just try to aim for values slightly below that. You will slowly but surely take it down to normal healthy levels and therefore achieve a normal healthy A1c. You HbA1c, in short, it’s the average blood sugar for the past sort of six to eight to 12 weeks.

How you correct blood sugar also matters! Don’t be aggressive about it, whether you have to correct a hypo or a hyper. That causes the large margin of error. Be careful about it, and have a little bit of patience. I’m the worst person to talk about this, as I have zero patience! Be sure that you have a little bit of patience when you do treat, as things can turn quite suddenly. Find out if you are affected by the dawn phenomenon, for example, which is when the liver kicks in and starts shooting out sugar so that you wake up in the morning. Or if you have something that is called boots on the ground syndrome, which is when you are have woken up and you put your feet on the ground and the stress of your day gets your liver going and your blood sugar consequently goes up. Those can also be fine tuned with basal insulin, which needs to be handled by a doctor.

Then number next is stress. Stress is a really a blood sugar killer! It really aggravates your whole system, and it causes your blood sugars to go up. Make sure that you can prevent and avoid as much stress as you can in your every day life. How can you reduce it? Well, you have to find what works for you. Could it be yoga? Could it be meditation? Could it be a long walk in the nature? Could it be a hobby, could it be having a pet? Stress is really something that we have to work all of us, but especially people with glucose problems need to work hard at trying to eliminate it.

Next point, movement. I don’t like the word exercise, so I’m going to use movement. Our bodies are made to be moving and our bodies feel good if they get to move often and in different ways. Find out what makes you happy. What is fun for you, what way of moving is so fantastic that you just forget about time? It could be dancing, it could be the ones that I mentioned before, yoga, walking. It could be weight training, it could be dancing on the beach (which we do happen to do in Mallorca! If for nothing else, join us to find out how much fun that is in November.)

Movement has a very individual reaction on blood sugar. In the long run it definitely smooths things out. But when you’re doing exercise, or you’re moving vigorously, chances are that your blood sugar is going to go up. You need to find out what strategy works best for you. There is a rule of thumb – strength training makes your blood sugar up and cardio makes your blood sugar go down. But that’s not true for everyone, that’s just a rule of thumb! You have to find out what works for you and what happens to your body in different movement situations.

Next point is planning. Make sure that you are prepared for basically anything when it comes to diabetes. If you’re traveling, carry a glucagon kit, always have glucose tabs with you, no matter where you go. And even if you’re only doing a quick run, make sure that you are prepared for anything that can happen.

No matter how great of control you have of diabetes, things still do happen. Please be prepared for all eventualities at all times. For example, also bring enough test strips for your blood sugar meter, make sure that your insulin pump or your vials have enough insulin in them for the day or the time you’re going to be away. It is all about planning. It really is about treating and treating blood sugar – if you fail to plan, you really plan to fail. Don’t get caught in that trap. That can save you a lot of “interesting” moments with diabetes.

Next point is mindset. What is your goal? Set a clear, actionable, timely goal. Also make a plan of how you’re going to get there. Without motivation and a proper mindset, you aren’t going to reach your goals.

Next one, acceptance. Accept that diabetes is what it is, life still happens with it. And you can only do the best you can, and you can only do the best that works for you. You can’t do much more than that. And please don’t hate diabetes! The more you make it your enemy, the more it’s going to lash right back at you and you’re not going to be able to work with it, which is what you have to do. You have to be kind to yourself, you have to show yourself some love, even when things go wrong. That way you’re going to get to a better relationship with your diabetes, which is also a huge point.

Find your support network, whether that is that our coaches, CDE’s and nurses, doctors, spouses, personal trainers, and other happy people around you, like your friends, family, pets – all of these people that that create the network around you. Make sure they are supportive. This is who you turn to when you have a bad day, or when you want to celebrate a fantastic achievement. You don’t have to sit there by yourself, you can turn to other people and let them help you both in good times and in bad. When it comes to the medical side of your support network, please make sure that you have a Medical Dream Team. This is a key to getting the care that you know that you need, and to try to find out what works best for you. This is where you can really get support for your lifestyle choices, and also help you with your diabetes management.

Hydration, you have to hydrate! Make sure that you hydrate properly, because this helps the body to keep all that, perhaps, unnecessary sugar at bay. The body really does well when it is well hydrated. I personally try to aim for about two liters of clean water a day. It doesn’t have to be that for you.

Finding a routine that works for you . A daily routine, as in you get up sort of the same time in the morning, you go to bed sort of the same time at night, and everything in between. Of course you should be spontaneous and have fun, too! But the main parts that could have a little bit of a structure will help you manage your blood sugars better. Perhaps this could include when you take your basal injection, if you’re on pens or syringes, or when you change your pump site. Also work into your routine when you take your supplements, when and how much you hydrate, when you eat, what you eat, when you move… Building it into a routine is great, because blood sugars, as far as I’m concerned, aren’t too happy about uneven routines, they tend to do better when there is a routine, so that you know what you’re doing.

My final point are supplements. Some potentially blood sugar lowering supplements may be of use. The ones that I take, for example, are omega 3, vitamin D (helps autoimmunity) magnesium (high blood sugars do require a lot of magnesium), also zinc for the immune system. Chromium also can help keeping your blood sugar levels a little bit more stable, as it helps with insulin sensitivity way down in the cells. Also, I’ve heard a lot of good things, but I haven’t tried it myself yet, about alpha linoic acid, ALA.

These are my 12 steps of what I did, and my HbA1c formula to lower mine from a double digit nightmare to a healthy and happy 5.0% (which actually in fact, if I get to brag for a second, is better than even some healthy people have!). I’m very very proud of myself, especially after 34 years of living with this disease and it not having been very easy at for very long periods of time.

What is your A1c goal (or if you are not focusing on A1c – what is your health goal)?

Let me know in a comment and I’ll be happy to chat with you there.

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Type 1 Thursday – Why the Dietary Wars?

In today’s Type 1 Thursday, it’s time for a more personal comment… 

Why do people disagree so strongly about what people with diabetes should eat, when we all should have a common goal (notmal, healthy blood sugars)? 

Type 1 Thursday with Hanna Boëthius – Why the Dietary Wars?

What’s your opinion about this? What tools and tricks have you tried to try to manage your diabetes and what worked for you? I would love to hear in a comment somewhere and I will be happy to chat with you there. Comments and questions are welcome!

Transcription

If you prefer to read, here’s the transcription of the episode above:

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Type 1 Thursday with me Hanna, one of the cofounders of The Low Carb Universe. Also, as I’m sure you’ve heard me say many, many times now, I’ve had Type 1 Diabetes since I was two years old. So for 34 years, I’ve been juggling this wonderful roller coaster that is Type 1 diabetes. And I am happy to share some of my knowledge with you that I figured out and some of the aces up my sleeve that I have gathered in these 34 years! I wasn’t always in control, as I am today. I was very uneven moment, even majority of my diabetes career…

But today, I want to talk about a topic on more of a personal comment. And this is actually something that I’ve gotten comments about before and also during this series, namely the nutrition debate for people with diabetes.

Why is it so inflamed regarding what you should eat as a person with diabetes? How can there be such divided opinions? Everyone who has an opinion seems to be going head to head with each other about this?

I’m actually sad about this, because we all should have that one common goal, which is that all people with diabetes are worthy of normal, healthy, happy healing blood sugars. How the person in question, who is living with diabetes, gets there should be less of a question – as long as they do. If someone comes to me and says, “Hey Hanna, I went vegan and since then my blood sugars are really great!” I’m like, “amazing, great! I’m so happy you found what works for you!” Or if someone says, “you know what, I’m following the Western diet to a tee, and I have amazing blood sugar’s” My response? “Great, fantastic!!

No one could be happier for you than I am in that moment, when you tell me that you have fantastic blood sugars regardless of how or what you’re eating, I, and I know very many people with me, who do advocate for a lower carb, real food, sugar free way of eating don’t want to be militant about it. It’s not that I want to convert every single person with diabetes, that’s not my point. It will never be my point.

But the point is to educate, to inform, and to make people with diabetes aware that they do have a choice.

There is a choice when you’ve tried everything else. When you’ve tried every single diet, every single insulin, every single supplement, way of eating, timing of insulin, there are still options. There’s always, always, always something that you can do in order to improve your health.

It’s not about being militant, it’s not about standing my ground and holding it tight. No,. My goal is for every person with diabetes, to know that there are different ways of managing blood sugar and diabetes, and it but it doesn’t have to be according to the standard Western diet, it doesn’t have to be a vegan approach. It doesn’t have to be low carb, it can be something completely different, as long as it works for YOU. The main point to find what works for you, you can’t look at anyone else. You can draw inspiration from other people who are doing something that is working for them, and then take the good parts. And leave what doesn’t work for you, it’s all about information.

I have had a struggling past with diabetes, it’s been very, very difficult for me to control my diabetes with the standard Western diet that I was told to eat for 26 years. Which, requires, well, recommends, 35 to 60 grams of carbs per meal, five times a day. For me that became unreasonable. It didn’t work. I couldn’t maintain good, healthy, normal blood sugars, without mountain tops and valley bottoms, in terms of blood sugars, which of course doesn’t make you feel great at all. It makes you feel terrible.

My whole point about advocating for low carb for diabetes, and I know very many with me, it is that as long as you get stable, healthy, happy blood sugars, we are all game for it. It wasn’t until I actually did start cutting down my carbs, coincidentally, perhaps, that I started to get better control of my diabetes. So I went from a double digit HbA1c, to a level of 5.1% last time. This is well within the healthy range!

I swear that I could not have done that without the help of dietary change, a change in my lifestyle, and a change in the way that I was eating. For me, I know that it’s not sustainable to do that on a standard Western diet with up to 240 grams of carbohydrate a day, I can’t chase that with insulin. We come back to the law, small numbers, this works a lot better for many, many diabetics.

I really wish I would have had the choice myself earlier to know about that there is a low carb way of eating so that I could have made the decision and try it out earlier, seeing the benefits. I would have saved myself a lot of pain, a lot of suffering a lot of worry, a lot of anxiety because that always comes hand in hand with wobbly blood sugars

This is this is why it’s become such a passion for me, and for the rest of us talking about low carb for diabetes, that every single person with diabetes knows that there is that option to try out as well. When every other option has been explored and transpired, that’s run out of time. It is so important to me that you know that there is another option. And that there are very many options beyond this, too. The main point is that this isn’t disregarded as an option.

So it’s so sad to me that the nutrition debate, especially within diabetes, but also generally, for the general population, has become so inflamed. And I really wish that we could see that we all have a common goal, all of us trying to educate people with diabetes, whether it is with different ways of eating, with exercise, with all of these lifestyle measures… I just would be so happy if we could just realize that we have a common goal, and that is that people with diabetes have normal, healthy, happy blood sugars.

If you have any questions or comments, or what’s your opinion about this? What tools and tricks have you tried to try to manage your diabetes and what worked for you? I would love to hear in a comment somewhere and I will be happy to chat with you there.

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Type 1 Thursday – Type 1 vs Type 2 Diabetes

It’s Thursday – time for another Type 1 Thursday! 

Today’s topic is Type 1 vs Type 2 Diabetes. What are the differences? What are the similarities (if any)? And what about management and treatment, what are differences and similarities there?

Type 1 Thursday – Type 1 vs Type 2 Diabetes

What are your take aways from this video? Share in a comment!

Transcription

If you prefer to read, here it is:

For today’s topic, I wanted to explain and go through the differences between the two main types of diabetes. So that is, Type 1 Diabetes, as I have, and also Type 2 Diabetes that is the more common version. There are also many other versions of diabetes together with it.

I wanted to draw the outline of the sort of differences between these two, and perhaps if there are any similarities. And what about management? How does that work between the two different types?

So basically, Type 1 Diabetes, as you may or may not know, is an autoimmune disease. That means that my beautiful immune system decided that those insulin producing cells looked a little bit dodgy when I was two years old, and kick them out of commission, which is not great because that means that I am all other type 1’s will have to inject insulin for the rest of our lives no matter what we do, no matter whether we go low carb and no matter if we go carnivore – we will always have to inject some insulin. Perhaps not as much as when on the standard American or Western diet, but still a bit so that we keep our engines running, as insulin is the master hormone. And it’s very much needed. So if you don’t produce any, you have to add some.

It is, as I already said, it’s the pancreas that get or a part of the pancreas that gets kicked out. That means that I produce no insulin, but other Type 1’s may produce some, but it is nearly not enough insulin. This can be hereditary, but Type 1 doesn’t have to be hereditary. I, myself, am an example of that. I have no history of Type 1 Diabetes in my family, I am the lucky chosen one. How great is that?

Type 1’s are about 5% only of all diabetes cases. Considering there are over 420 million diabetics in the world, that means that we are very small minority. And I’m not sad about this, because I don’t wish this on anyone. It does explain that we have to do a little bit more advocacy for our type of diabetes because we are not represented as much as Type 2’s.

The onset of Type 1 Diabetes can be very sudden, and it’s usually discovered within weeks. If it’s if it’s not LADA or other side types of Type 1, you will be very, very sick very suddenly. Symptoms include frequent urination and thirst, incredible unquenchable thirst, falling asleep everywhere, because your blood sugar is skyrocketed high. There are few warnings to look out for, that can also be mistaken for the common flu. Don’t wait in case you have this suspicion, go and check it out, if it happens to a family member, for example.

There’s no cure for Type 1 Diabetes. We do have better management possibilities than we’ve had in the past 34 years that I’ve been living with the condition, but there is to date, no cure, and I’m not positive about one happening anytime soon. I secretly, or not so secret, I do wish for it every single day of my life, even if it is easier to manage with lifestyle choices, it’s not as easy as maybe it would have been without having to act as your own pancreas.

Type 2 Diabetes, what is that? That is basically a severe insulin resistance. So your body is still producing insulin. In fact, it’s actually producing tons and tons and oodles and oodles of insulin. But the problem is that your cells don’t recognize the insulin that you’re producing, making you insulin resistant, making you not be able to take up the sugar from the blood stream, making it hang around in the blood stream. That is why you have higher blood sugar in Type 2 as well. Basically, the body does not recognize its own insulin. And this can be very tricky, but there are a lot of things that you can do to improve insulin resistance even as a Type 1, but definitely as a Type 2.

Type 2 can be lifestyle related, or it can also be hereditary. But the lifestyle part is a majority of the cases.

Diabetes cases that are Type 2 in comparison to Type 1 are basically the remaining 95% (and 5% are Type 1.) This can take years to develop, although the symptoms are just the same as in Type 1, just maybe not as severe from the beginning. You might notice a need for more water over a while or you might notice that you’re more tired than usual. But that can also be attributed to stress and all these kind of things that are lifestyle related, as well. The lucky thing with Type 2 is that many cases actually can be reversed with the help of lifestyle measures, like changing your diet, movement, taking supplements, all these things that you can do with your lifestyle is to alleviate and also perhaps reverse Type 2. Even if your Type 2 has so called been turned into Type 1, which it can’t, Type 2 can only become insulin dependent, but it can never be Type 1, because it’s not an autoimmune attack on your insulin producing cells.

What are the commonalities of these two types of diabetes?

Both of them lead to the same complications. These includes retinopathy, potentially blindness, that leads to nerve damage, potentially neuropathy, and/or amputations. And it also can lead to kidney problems and nephropathy. It can lead to cardiovascular disease, it can lead to stroke… All of these things that aren’t so nice with diabetes can actually be attributed to the high blood sugars or the constant constant fluctuations in blood sugar and not the diabetes itself. If you manage to keep your diabetes at bay and keep your blood sugars at a normal, healthy level, then the risk of complications, DKA and all these things, it’s very much smaller than if you don’t and you go between minimum and maximum at all times.

A second similarity is that you have the same goals of achieving normal, healthy, stable blood sugars. Make those continuous blood glucose monitor things look like lines, not roller coasters, but lines. That goes for any diabetic, independent of type.

Thirdly, the want to reduce insulin. Before before people get angry with me here, let me explain why.

In Type 1, if you keep adding lots and lots of insulin the whole time, the risk is that you’re going to be a double diabetic. That means that you, in addition to your Type 1 Diabetes, develop severe insulin resistance so that you have both types of diabetes. For me personally, and I know very many with me, this is something that we definitely want to avoid. You can’t think of insulin as a free for all thing that can make you eat anything that you want. For those of you who works for, great! For those of us who maybe it doesn’t work for, and we need more insulin than necessary, it’s not maybe the best idea. The risk is there, and I was there myself a couple years ago, I am very sure that I had double diabetes, because I was on so much more insulin than I am on now. But it wasn’t confirmed. So I can’t say with security.

Why you want to reduce insulin as a Type 2? If there isn’t that much insulin to not react to for the cells, then maybe they start listening a little bit. It’s like a small toddler, when you scream at them, and try to reinforce your power and try to make them understand… Do they ever listen? No. If you, on the other hand, just keep calm and really give it instructions with a point and and with direction, there is at least a chance that they might listen. It’s similar with Type 2 and insulin, in my opinion.

How can you reduce the amount of insulin needed or used? How can you get stable normal blood sugars? And how can you, as a Type 1 diabetic, not get double diabetes? Lifestyle measurements. As a Type 1, as I said, you will always have to take some insulin, but it will it can be reduced. The power of nutrition in diabetes is just so immense. You can eat a sugar free, low carb, real food kind of diet (and I hate the word diet but there’s no other way of explaining it). If you eat real food, if you if you eat sugar free and if you low carb, chances are that you will be able to improve your health a lot.

This doesn’t just go for people with diabetes – this goes for everyone. Whether you have diabetes or not, if you’re healthy, if you have no health issues at all, you are always going to be better of health wise, if you eat a sugar free, low carb, nutrient dense, real food diet. That’s just it. That and of course, movement, exercise, make sure that you feel joy in your life, make sure that you take supplements if you need them. Make sure to hydrate, make sure that you have a routine that works for you. Make sure that you alleviate your stress. All of these lifestyle measurements are good for both diabetics and non diabetics.

If you have any takeaways or any ideas or any comments, let me know below and I will be happy to chat with you there.

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