Two things we love about the updated Canadian food guide (and a yummy recipe)
Drink water. Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Cut saturated fat. Avoid processed foods. The new Canadian food guide (updated for the first time in about ten years) is simple and doesn't include a lot of surprises. Two pieces of advice, however, stand out: Include more plant-based proteins. Meat and dairy, while still part of the picture, have a less prominent role than in years past. Proteins from soy, nuts and pulses or beans can provide more fiber and less fat while helping to meet your nutritional needs.1 ...
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Travelling with diabetes: Create memories, not stress
Guest article by Phyllisa Deroze. Travelling is my favourite hobby. As a kid, I treasured my family's summer trips, driving to visit relatives. I fell in love with travelling because it gave me opportunities to see new places, try different foods and create memorable moments. As a college student, I spent hours on the internet planning trips to places that I couldn't afford to visit in real life. Today, I'm fortunate to travel several times a year and I have visited more than ten countries since being diagnosed with diabetes. It was scary at first. When I was newly diagnosed, diabetes management seemed...
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Shedding the diabetes stigma: Say no to blame and shame
You're already checking your blood sugar, seeing doctors and educators, and watching what you eat. Anyone who wants to judge you—including yourself—should be impressed by what you're getting right, not looking for ways to criticize. If you ever feel down on yourself for having diabetes, or worry that others might, try to do four things for yourself: Believe you didn't cause diabetes. You've most likely been told or read that diabetes isn't your fault, but do you believe it? Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you didn't do this to yourself. Diabetes is a complex...
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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...
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...
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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...
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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
Travelling with diabetes: Create memories, not stress
Guest article by Phyllisa Deroze. Travelling is my favourite hobby. As a kid, I treasured my family's summer trips, driving to visit relatives. I fell in love with travelling because it gave me opportunities to see new places, try different foods and create memorable moments. As a college student, I spent hours on the internet planning trips to places that I couldn't afford to visit in real life. Today, I'm fortunate to travel several times a year and I have visited more than ten countries since being diagnosed with diabetes. It was scary at first. When I was newly diagnosed, diabetes management seemed...
Read More Shedding the diabetes stigma: Say no to blame and shame
You're already checking your blood sugar, seeing doctors and educators, and watching what you eat. Anyone who wants to judge you—including yourself—should be impressed by what you're getting right, not looking for ways to criticize. If you ever feel down on yourself for having diabetes, or worry that others might, try to do four things for yourself: Believe you didn't cause diabetes. You've most likely been told or read that diabetes isn't your fault, but do you believe it? Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you didn't do this to yourself. Diabetes is a complex...
Read More 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 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 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