Exercising and Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes should not stop you living the life you want to lead and one of the key factors in allowing you to lead a healthy, normal lifestyle is engaging yourself in a good exercise regime.

Carbs are NOT the Enemy

You may have seen that a wrote an article for JDRF recently on the importance of exercise and the benefits it can have on our diabetes management as well as a whole host of other upsides.

This article was published on the JDRF UK Facebook page and received a very good response for which I am very grateful for - being given the opportunity to produce content for a charitable organisation like JDRF is something I am very proud to be asked to do and receiving positive feedback is incredibly humbling. I'll link it at the bottom of this post. 

There was a comment left on the Facebook post that got me thinking however. It was left by someone who made the claim that ALL carbohydrates are bad and that she couldn't understand why Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics go near carbohydrates or sugars at all. 

This got me thinking. 

Carbohydrates have undergone a bit of a bashing in the last few years. It's very "in" right now to be low-carb but a lot of why people choose to adopt this diet approach is often for the wrong reasons. 

What IS Insulin?

As diabetics we're told over and over to have good blood sugar control. This can be managed in a number of ways. A good diet, a sound training regime, reduction in stress but the biggest factor of them all is usually insulin.

But what even is this clear, weird smelling fluid that we artificially inject ourselves with multiple times a day?

#DBlogWeek: Diabetes: The Best Thing That's Ever Happened To Me.

19th November 2011.

The majority of diabetics out there know their 'diaversary'. The day that their whole life changed. The day that they were diagnosed with a disease that will ultimately alter their future dramatically.

Good Blood Glucose Management: What's the Point? The Long Term...

Last time I wrote about the short term benefits of having good management of your blood glucose levels. It was intended to be a more light-hearted post as diabetes can be overwhelming and serious and I wanted to get my personality in there a little bit to try and soften the blow, so to speak.

However, it seems wrong to do it in this post. Because the long-term complications of diabetes can be very scary - some of them certainly put me in a somber mood.

The short-term benefits are easy to recognise and explain in real terms. The advantages of keeping those blood levels in check can be felt within a few hours in some cases.

Good Blood Glucose Management: What's the Point? The Short Term...

Taking care of diabetes is really just an ongoing clusterf*ck of small sacrifices, costs, mental efforts and time commitments. It means trying to control your body after it's royally stuffed you and managing a beast that is just waiting to ruin your day from a little to mammoth proportions.

It's hard work. And usually a complete thankless task.

I get it. Yes the doctors and specialists all say that you've got to stay on top of your blood glucose management in order to control your diabetes but sometimes you just can't be bothered.

No wonder. Who would voluntarily prick their finger a few times a day and then continue to inject themselves with a drug that if not administered correctly could kill you?

I know I've fallen into that category. Usually after a check up or a visit to my specialist I'm full of motivation to get my HbA1c to near God-like levels of awesomeness and have total control of my diabetes rather than it have control of me.

But then there are days where the world is against you and everything else is taking priority and stabbing yourself just doesn't come high up the list of things to do.

Guest Post: Katie & New York City

Katie and I have been chatting for a few months regarding a recent trip that she has coming up. Katie, still in college, was concerned of people's reactions when she inevitably had to be very open about her diabetes socially around her classmates - many of whom did not know that she was a diabetic.

Following her experience I invited her to write a post for this website as I believe the reaction she got will ease a lot of other young people's minds regarding opening up to their friends about having this condition. I'm truly very proud of Katie - she has shown great maturity handling this and I'm honoured for her to have written this for the blog!

Katie can be found on Twitter @KatieJeanTaylor if anyone out there would like to have a chat with her regarding something similar.

So Katie, without further ado...!

This Is What It Is Like.

Boy oh boy did I have one hell of a hypo today.

Review: Dario Smart Meter

Spoiler alert - the Dario Smart Meter is pretty awesome.

I was contacted by Dario a few weeks ago to trial out their latest blood glucose meter and I was pretty excited to try it - mostly because I've been using the same glucose meter for the past few years and I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to the latest tech stuff!

Beyond Type 1: Top 5 Books Post

Massively excited!

Source: www.beyondtype1.org