One resolution: Drink more water
If you have been reading us for a while, you know we are not big fans of resolutions. Goals? Yes. Commitments to yourself at any time of year? Certainly. However, we are bending our own rule a bit this year. Because if ever there were a resolution worth making—and super easy, to boot—it is this one: drink more water. Even better, drinking water may be able to help you with other goals and resolutions, if you were to decide to go that route. Here is a peek at how: Water for weight loss or management A 2019 study found a link between dehydration and overweight1, and...
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Your most important back-to-school supply: Communication
There is nothing quite like the smell of pencils and the sight of new school shoes to bring memories of your school days flooding back. New teachers, a new routine and new friends can be exciting and scary all at once. If your child has diabetes, going back to school can come with an extra dose of complexity. A few tricks and a lot of open communication can make it easier. The early years Sending a child with diabetes to primary or grade school can be an exercise in faith. If your child depends on insulin injections, mealtimes, class parties, outings and excursions, and just the...
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Handy Guide to Portion Control
Many people with diabetes learn how to count carbohydrates in order to manage blood sugar, and others are asked to watch their weight. But one of the easiest ways to miscount carbs or calories is by underestimating portion sizes, so here are a few handy tips. Measure now, feel good later Using a food scale and measuring cups can save you a lot of worry. This way, you'll know that you had a half-cup of brown rice with 22 carbs and 100 calories,1 instead of "about" that much and "20-ish carbs/100-ish calories." Over the course of a day, small inaccuracies can add up....
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Chocolate, peanut, whipped-cream cake
Call it a cake, cream pie or layered dessert, your friends and family will call it delicious. Easy enough for a family dinner or impressive on a holiday table, this recipe calls for coconut sugar in place of refined white sugar for a more complex flavour and a lower glycemic index (35 compared to 60), so it may not spike your blood sugar quite as high as table sugar.1 Ingredients (Serves 8) Peanut base 1-1/4 cups salted peanuts 3 egg whites (save the yolks for the chocolate cream) 1-1/4 cups coconut sugar Chocolate filling...
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The sugar thieves
Do you know any sugar thieves? Those well-meaning people who steal your real sugar and replace it with stevia, saccharin or other substitutes? I think about one holiday celebration a few years ago. There was a table filled with pies, cakes and bars straight out of Willy Wonka's dream. The smell alone made my mouth water. Next to that table was a smaller one with sugar-free apple pie and gummy bears, just for me. While it was extremely thoughtful and considerate of my diabetes, well, YUCK! I choked down a few forkfuls and watched the others enjoy their desserts. It's been over a decade since the experts...
Read More
Paper is for origami, not diabetes logbooks
I think I speak for many people with diabetes (PWDs) when I say that manually keeping track of diabetes data is a lot of work! Of course, there are a lot of things we do that take work—like brushing our teeth—yet we still do them. Why? Because there are benefits. In the case of tooth brushing, that means bright, white teeth, fewer cavities and a beautiful smile. Keeping a logbook is similar in that there's a payoff and it gets easier once you make it a habit. You can't learn from data that isn't there Years ago, I went to my diabetes doctor empty handed. Unfortunately, I also...
Read More
How to stay in the guardrails of blood sugar range
How to know your blood sugar guardrails? Have you noticed the safety guardrails when you drive on the road? You have freedom to drive as you wish but veering outside the guardrails is dangerous and everybody wants to stay safe. We have them to tell us when we are getting outside the safe zone. It is kind of like that with your blood sugar ranges. Knowing the blood sugar ranges to stay in helps keep us out of bad situations and on the road healthy and happy. Your doctor can help you know what your normal ranges (or guardrails) should be. What is the difference in HbA1c and my checks using my meter? When...
Read More
How to make sense of blood sugar numbers
I don’t understand what my blood sugar range means! If you live with diabetes, you have probably been asked to check your blood sugar a lot. But what are you supposed to be checking? How do you make sense of the numbers you see? Managing your diabetes is easier when you know what the numbers mean and what you are trying to accomplish. What is the normal blood sugar range? Your doctor is the best person to ask what your blood sugar goals should be. Since everyone is different and unique, your goals may be different from the standard ranges. Things...
Read More
How to use an app to help manage diabetes
If you're reading this, you already know how much goes on behind the scenes to manage diabetes. You have to think about what happened recently, what's happening right now and what you expect to happen in the coming hours. You've probably gotten so good that you don't even consciously think about most of it—you just do it. Then there's the big-picture stuff—how you're doing over a longer period of time. If you're like many people, you don't think about this until there's a doctor's appointment right around the corner. Where does an app come in? Keeping so much information in...
Read MorePages
Your most important back-to-school supply: Communication
There is nothing quite like the smell of pencils and the sight of new school shoes to bring memories of your school days flooding back. New teachers, a new routine and new friends can be exciting and scary all at once. If your child has diabetes, going back to school can come with an extra dose of complexity. A few tricks and a lot of open communication can make it easier. The early years Sending a child with diabetes to primary or grade school can be an exercise in faith. If your child depends on insulin injections, mealtimes, class parties, outings and excursions, and just the...
Read More Handy Guide to Portion Control
Many people with diabetes learn how to count carbohydrates in order to manage blood sugar, and others are asked to watch their weight. But one of the easiest ways to miscount carbs or calories is by underestimating portion sizes, so here are a few handy tips. Measure now, feel good later Using a food scale and measuring cups can save you a lot of worry. This way, you'll know that you had a half-cup of brown rice with 22 carbs and 100 calories,1 instead of "about" that much and "20-ish carbs/100-ish calories." Over the course of a day, small inaccuracies can add up....
Read More Chocolate, peanut, whipped-cream cake
Call it a cake, cream pie or layered dessert, your friends and family will call it delicious. Easy enough for a family dinner or impressive on a holiday table, this recipe calls for coconut sugar in place of refined white sugar for a more complex flavour and a lower glycemic index (35 compared to 60), so it may not spike your blood sugar quite as high as table sugar.1 Ingredients (Serves 8) Peanut base 1-1/4 cups salted peanuts 3 egg whites (save the yolks for the chocolate cream) 1-1/4 cups coconut sugar Chocolate filling...
Read More The sugar thieves
Do you know any sugar thieves? Those well-meaning people who steal your real sugar and replace it with stevia, saccharin or other substitutes? I think about one holiday celebration a few years ago. There was a table filled with pies, cakes and bars straight out of Willy Wonka's dream. The smell alone made my mouth water. Next to that table was a smaller one with sugar-free apple pie and gummy bears, just for me. While it was extremely thoughtful and considerate of my diabetes, well, YUCK! I choked down a few forkfuls and watched the others enjoy their desserts. It's been over a decade since the experts...
Read More Paper is for origami, not diabetes logbooks
I think I speak for many people with diabetes (PWDs) when I say that manually keeping track of diabetes data is a lot of work! Of course, there are a lot of things we do that take work—like brushing our teeth—yet we still do them. Why? Because there are benefits. In the case of tooth brushing, that means bright, white teeth, fewer cavities and a beautiful smile. Keeping a logbook is similar in that there's a payoff and it gets easier once you make it a habit. You can't learn from data that isn't there Years ago, I went to my diabetes doctor empty handed. Unfortunately, I also...
Read More How to stay in the guardrails of blood sugar range
How to know your blood sugar guardrails? Have you noticed the safety guardrails when you drive on the road? You have freedom to drive as you wish but veering outside the guardrails is dangerous and everybody wants to stay safe. We have them to tell us when we are getting outside the safe zone. It is kind of like that with your blood sugar ranges. Knowing the blood sugar ranges to stay in helps keep us out of bad situations and on the road healthy and happy. Your doctor can help you know what your normal ranges (or guardrails) should be. What is the difference in HbA1c and my checks using my meter? When...
Read More How to make sense of blood sugar numbers
I don’t understand what my blood sugar range means! If you live with diabetes, you have probably been asked to check your blood sugar a lot. But what are you supposed to be checking? How do you make sense of the numbers you see? Managing your diabetes is easier when you know what the numbers mean and what you are trying to accomplish. What is the normal blood sugar range? Your doctor is the best person to ask what your blood sugar goals should be. Since everyone is different and unique, your goals may be different from the standard ranges. Things...
Read More How to use an app to help manage diabetes
If you're reading this, you already know how much goes on behind the scenes to manage diabetes. You have to think about what happened recently, what's happening right now and what you expect to happen in the coming hours. You've probably gotten so good that you don't even consciously think about most of it—you just do it. Then there's the big-picture stuff—how you're doing over a longer period of time. If you're like many people, you don't think about this until there's a doctor's appointment right around the corner. Where does an app come in? Keeping so much information in...
Read More