This Is It. You've Been Diagnosed - What Now?

The diagnosis.

Lying there in my hospital bed around 4 years ago with a very new piece of life changing information.

I was now a person with Type 1 diabetes and the emotions I was feeling ranged from numb, to being scared, to worrying about how it would effect the people in my own life.

It's a diagnosis that many of reading this would have had at some point in your life.

I remember that the first couple of hours and days were a complete blur. Plenty of information, lots of talking, a large amount of new fancy medical supplies and a simple how to guide of testing blood sugars, writing them down in a little book and being introduced to insulin. Being told that you'll have to do inject and prick yourself with various needles number of times a day. For every day. For the rest of your life. 

And I imagine if you're new to all this, you're feeling in a very lost place, very insecure and scared.

I certainly felt overwhelmed. 

But trust me on this. This will be the least you'll ever know about your diabetes, whether it be Type 1 or Type 2. 

Testing, testing. Always testing.

Nutrition Is Simple

So it's been about a month since I've produced a proper blog post - apologies - it's been manic what with work, being away with the girlfriend and trying to keep on top of things. But I've made a commitment to blog at least twice a week from now on. There's a lot I want to accomplish via this blog and there's a lot of work going on to try and make this as successful as it can be.

I'm working on a complete re-design of the website and various other social media outlets to try and increase awareness of what it's actually like living with diabetes!

Diabetes & The Workout Window

"So what do you do before and after you workout with your diabetes?"

I find this is the question I get asked the most after the obvious, generic "you have to prick yourself how many times a day?!?" kind of questions (sigh...).

To be honest, it's a fairly tricky one to answer because honestly, the finer details of it change almost every day.

Rant: #RealLifeDiabetes

I'm going to rant. So, deep breath.

Guest Post: Aaron & His Pump

I obviously want to write about all aspects of diabetes as much as I can. But sometimes it's difficult as my experience only goes so far! Especially when it comes to the insulin pump.

At the moment I use injections around 6-8 times a day depending on what I'm doing. I have zero experience with the pump and I really wanted to get someone's perspective on it so those of you who have it or are thinking about getting one can use it with your journey.

So, meet Aaron! Aaron and I have been chatting a fair bit via Twitter having first got in contact when I posted my Diabetes and Me post and I asked him this week to produce something on his experience with the pump! I'm delighted to say he's come up with something brilliant and I'm extremely grateful for his words. Please give him a follow on Twitter @AaronT1D.

So, without further ado...

Recipe: Awesome Double-Chocolate Proats

I do love carbs.

"Oh no a diabetic eating carbs.....!" Yeah, amazingly we can do that!

I like to workout first thing in the morning which means I need to fuel up before I do so! I have around 75 minutes from when I crawl out of bed to when I'm loading up the barbell with the first weighted plate.

Fruit, Fructose & Diabetes

I'm a big advocate of good, single ingredient eating as much as possible. Every good nutritional coach, book or article I've ever read on the matter agrees that eating real food is far more beneficial for you than anything processed. I've never been a fan of meal replacement shakes or anything similar - I don't believe it provides the same nutritional qualities as actual food.

And it makes sense really? Surely something grown out of the ground, plucked from a tree or has flown, ran or swam is better for our health than something created from a test tube.

Source: www.blogpyramid.com

Recipe: Mid-Summer Spicy Salsa

As we're currently in the midst of summer I thought it would be great to share this little recipe that I've adapted from Thug Kitchen.

It's full of amazing flavour and perfect little snack to have! You can either mix everything to leave it chunky or throw it all together in a food processor and get it to your preferred consistency!

Guest Post: Diabetes in the Workplace

Living with diabetes in the real world is something that doesn't get a lot of media attention I've found. There are plenty of statistics and figures, lots of doom and gloom, plenty of "this might cure diabetes" talk but not a lot on what it's actually like to live with day in day out. Especially when it comes our careers and trying to manage it at the same time.

Now I've never actually had any negative response when it comes to my diabetes in the workplace. I've always been very honest and open with my employer and my HR department right from the off. I've explained to them the condition, what I have to do and what needs to be done if there is an emergency and more often than not I have found people want to learn and help.

However, this isn't the same for everyone.

Source: myglu.org

Diabetes & Strength Training

When I was first diagnosed, one of the first things that sprung into my mind was "I need to get to the gym".

I've always tried my best to stay fit. Whether it's playing football, hiking around Dartmoor in Devon as a teenager, water-sports, running around - I've continuously wanted to have some form of physical activity in my life.

I first started going to the gym in my late teens and didn't really take it massively seriously. I didn't understand the health benefits, I wasn't really interested in all of that, I just wanted to build muscle and look like the guys on the front of Men's Health.

However, since being diagnosed in November 2011 I wanted to understand what was the best form of exercise, or if there was one at all, that could improve my diabetes management. One of the biggest concerns for me, and still is, is the lack of information and education provided to new and continuing patients on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including the need for routine exercise.

WheyHey Ice-cream

Being diabetic is sometimes (read always) very annoying - purely for the fact that we aren't "supposed" to have treats - although let's be honest, we all do - what's a bit more insulin eh?

I'm always being asked by Type 0's (non-diabetics) what treats I can and cannot have. To be perfectly honest, I haven't got a massively sweet tooth. I like to indulge every now and again but nothing overly major.

But I do LOVE ice-cream. I've got a real soft spot for it. They often say that if it's too good to be true - it usually is - but in WheyHey's case - they've cracked it. Especially for us diabetics.

Recipe: Chicken Curry

Apologies for not being around much this last week! I've been away up north enjoying a very long awaited break spending my time on the beach, taking coastal walks and eating great food!

Speaking of - I thought I'd introduce you guys to a wonderful chicken curry recipe which I've altered and edited over the years to make a great bowl of spicy, rich, tomatoey goodness with plenty of veg in there!

Hypos.

Hypos (or if I'm using the correct term: hypoglycaemia) - they're the worst.

They're every diabetics worst nightmare. The bane of our existence. There is just no way I can put a positive spin on them whatsoever. I've yet to meet a diabetic who hasn't experienced one.

It's when our blood sugar gets too low. Usually caused by when we haven't eaten enough or taken on board too much insulin for any given period.

Source: www.richthediabetic.co.uk

The 'Non-Diet' Diet

I love food.

I love going out and finding amazing ingredients. Preparing it. Cooking it. Eating it. On my own, with my girlfriend, with friends or with family.

Jamie Oliver writes:

"It's about recipes that really hit the spot at a certain time, and have the capacity to pull out explicit feelings and old memories, as well as creating new ones and passing that joy onto the next generation."

Source: www.food-saint.co.uk

Guest Post: The Importance of Acceptance

What a week! It's been a fantastic #diabetesweek and thank you everyone so much for their amazing words on the blog. I cannot express in words how much it's meant to me and the happiness I am feeling!

As my final post this week I really wanted to get another viewpoint of a diabetic and for them to talk about their journey. 

I'd love everyone to meet Sally! For those of you that don't know her, she's also a Type 1 diabetic, fun, loud, outrageous and a wonderful human being! Sally and I had a chat at the beginning of this week on what topic she'd love to write about.

There were two that stuck out firmly. One of the topics we thought was a post we should work on together as it is incredibly important (eyes peeled for it in the coming months) but I am delighted to say she has written a truly wonderful and heart felt post all about her acceptance of her condition.

So without further ado, please read her story and enjoy.

Diabetes and Me.

This entire week we've seen so much great stuff on social media with plenty of people using the hashtag #diabetesandme.

It's been fantastic to see so many people sharing their views and journey's with diabetes. Some are very positive, others show the darker side of the condition.

And as it's coming to the end of the week I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give you an insight of my journey with diabetes. It's my #diabetesandme story.

Sydney - 2013

What Is Diabetes?

Let's set a scenario. Someone you know has been diagnosed with diabetes.

Right - so you kind of know what that is yes? You've seen it on the news. Basically they can't eat sugar right? Or they've eaten too much and that's why? But aren't there two types? Or just 1? So they need to take insulin - is that forever?

Source: www.lifesciencesindex.com

Guest Post: Dating a Diabetic

What I really want to achieve with this blog is to get across as many people's experiences and journey's with diabetes (whether directly or indirectly) so that others can relate to and understand that whatever they're going through, they're probably not alone.

Living with diabetes isn't easy. But being the partner of a diabetic isn't exactly a walk in the park sometimes! So, I thought I'd ask my own girlfriend some questions about what it's like dating a diabetic!

Diabetes In The Media - A Little Rant

Diabetes is tough enough as it is.

It's constant. For those of you who don't know, here's a small insight into our world.

You wake up. What are my levels? Am I high, low? Are they ok? How do I feel? *Pricks fingers, blood on strip, check, record, act accordingly*.

Source: www.nrp.org

Recipe: Cajun Blackened Salmon

This is without a doubt, the best salmon recipe I've come across and I thought the perfect way to start off introducing recipes onto my blog! To make the fillets takes about 15-20 minutes total time to prep and cook so it's quick, easy, healthy and, most importantly, delicious.

Also great for people who fancy a little spice in their food!

Macro-nutrients & Micro-nutrients - The Basics

The human diet consists of macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients. On this post I want to take you through the basics of both, what they are and how they affect our body.

MACRO-NUTRIENTS

Often referred to as "macros" - our body needs a large amount of these to make sure our body has all that it needs to fuel itself, grow and keep a healthy metabolism. There are three major ones. Protein, carbohydrates and fats. Fibre is now also being considered as the 4th major macro-nutrient due to our level of understanding on the role it plays in our diets. What you put in your mouth has a huge impact on your health and how your body works. Let's have an overview of the main three and how our bodies uses them.

Source: www.ppsnutrition.com

The Honeymoon Period.

So.

You've just been diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic and there's a lot going on. There's a huge amount changing in your life and you may or may not completely understand what's going on.

About Me

My name is Dan. 26 years old currently. Type 1 Diabetic. Fitness enthusiast. Loves to cook really good food. Believes in a healthier lifestyle leads to a happier lifestyle.

Where are you from?

I was very fortunate to grow up in the country in Devon. I then went to University of Bath where I studied Civil Engineering and now am now lucky enough to live in London and have done so for the past couple of years!

May 2015

How To Get The Best Sleep Of Your Life!

For me, health revolves around 4 main factors. Fitness, nutrition, stress management and sleep.

Everybody out there knows that sleep is incredibly important - but with our world becoming ever more busy and stressful, it seems it is now the norm to survive on less and less sleep and reaching for more and more stimulants to help us get through the next day.

The Start.

Diabetes.

Complicated thing isn’t it?

My name is Dan and I’m now 26 years old and was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic in November 2011 after going into DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis) and spent the night in Frimley Park hospital in Hampshire receiving emergency treatment.