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Dorm & College Life

August 22nd, 2011

For a lot of people, this week starts a new schedule.  Some will have to wake up earlier to get kids off to school on time.  Some will stay up later to complete homework assignments.

Some are starting college.

For those beginning the college trek who also live with diabetes, that is a HUGE transition.  Almost too large to  comprehend all at once, particularly at the age of eighteen.

I’m just saying, while many leaving now for college are concerned with making friends and gaining The Freshman Fifteen and finding classes and managing for themselves without parents in-home not to mention doing laundry for the first time, those with diabetes are also wondering how on earth to manage their disease on top of all of it.

I’m sure a bit of them is somewhat relieved that their parents can’t see what they’re eating, can’t see the meter screen, and thus can’t lecture as often.

It’s a LOT easier to hide from your diabetes when you are on your own at last.

It’s a wreck of a situation: you’re feeding yourself in the cafeteria (where is the package with the carbohydrate count and ingredients listed?), you’re staying out at different times doing fun stuff (shoot what time is it; do I need to take a shot?), you’re maybe drinking with abandon (who the hell cares I think I’m having fun!)  and where on earth did you leave your meter.  Maybe your roommate moved it or covered it with their own stuff.  Shoot.

Oh, well. 

To say that a move to college is a crazy time is an understatement.

I know for myself I had to learn a new way to care for myself and my body; figuring out when I felt sick enough to go to student health, learning when I had the flu that the cafeteria would bring food to my room (score on that one), figuring out where the pharmacy was and what friend would drive me there when I needed insulin or syringes.

It was a struggle, and I wouldn’t let myself see it at the time.  I was too concerned about everything else that was going on with college life to factor in what was going on with my disease!

Looking back at it, it would have been better for me if I had someone who checked in with me maybe a couple times a week, just to see in a nonjudgmental way if there was anything going on with my diabetes they could help with.  It would have been better for me if I could have had insulin mailed to me (score again for almost everyone with pharmacy coverage now).  It would have been better if I kept my diabetes stuff all in one spot and had been able to sit with a friend or roommate for a half an hour and tell them what I needed them to know.

I would have felt better, I know.

I’ve never wanted anyone to feel sorry for me, but I think having a few more people wholly on my team in a way I felt both emotionally and physically is something everyone deserves.  College is tough, and so is diabetes.

We’re all working at this, one day at a time.  There IS a way to get through college with confidence, health, a smile and oh yeah some classroom learning, too.

If you want to talk about more specific strategies for you or your son or daughter away at college, I’m here!

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Posted in Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized

Which Side of the Package Do You See?

August 19th, 2011

Do you look at the front of the package when you decide to buy food in a package, or do you look at the nutritional information label?

You have to love/hate the fact the US Food and Drug Administration works continuously to inform the public about what we have in front of us and how to make “wise choices” about what we put in our mouths. 

They even have a 30 minute video on the FDA website about the food label!

They want you to pay attention to three things on the label: calories, serving size, and percent daily value.  It’s a relatively entertaining video.  (Well, at least the first 3 minutes of it are relatively entertaining… my attention span is not 30 minutes long when it comes to a nutritional label.)  It isn’t a Disney production—it’s more like a video for science class.  But still.

And when was the last time any of us paid attention to only THREE things when it came to food?!

Having lived with type one diabetes for most of my life and having counted weight watchers points for years, me and that label are pretty familiar.

Now, it matters that you understand you have to agree that what the FDA says is true for you and your body before you continue reading this.  If you don’t agree, you need to know that and you need to be willing to discover for yourself what works and is good for YOU.

So getting back to the package: do you look at the information box with carbohydrates, fat, and calories and beyond or do you care more about information on the front, enticing you to purchase?

Sayings like “natural” and “gluten free” and “low fat” and “high fiber”.  Those that sound REALLY HEALTHY and encourage us to buy it and eat it
without thinking much more about it.  The government calls them “nutrient content claims” and “health claims” and “allergy information”… and they have some work to do when it comes to these claims plastered on the box!

The FDA has almost as much work to do when it comes to these claims as each of us have when it comes to making good healthy choices for ourselves and our families.

The FDA did start to require additional words when claims are made, in addition to requiring the claims fit within the guidelines (like containing 51% or more whole grain ingredients by weight per reference amount customarily consumed).  At this point, however, I fear these words are like that certain Surgeon General’s WARNING millions of smokers no longer even see.

Also: 2,000 calories is a LOT of food when it comes down to it.  So making decisions based on the information listed for a 2,000 calorie/day diet when a 2,000 calorie diet is way too much for YOU doesn’t make as much sense.  You have to make a lot of calculations.

But wait; if you live with diabetes, that’s what you’re doing anyway!

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Posted in Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized, Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me-- Does it have to do with what I eat?

Being Excited, Speaking, and Staying Mum on the Subject of Diabetes

August 18th, 2011

I decided to go back to working as a lawyer part-time.  I miss being in an office with other people and I think this job sounds like a lot of fun—very detail oriented, to the point others would probably look at me like I’m crazy for thinking it’ll be fun.  (So I won’t bore you with the details!)

It was pretty interesting, though, to go into the interview and purposefully NOT mention diabetes.  I mean, for me it often feels like I speak only about diabetes all day long!

So when they asked me why I wanted to work part-time, I just said I have a fitness business.  Weird to not mention how diabetes is such a major part of my business and my life!!

I didn’t mention it not because I don’t want to talk about my diabetes—I didn’t mention it because it isn’t the best idea to discuss what is legally considered a disability at a job interview.  If I hadn’t gotten the job I could have wondered if I didn’t get it because they didn’t want a diabetic working there.  I simply thought it was safer for both me and a potential employer to avoid the subject altogether.  Just like kids, spouses, sexual orientation—just because it is safer at a job interview to stay on track—the job and my skills are the important things.

It’s one of those things that logically I know is pretty unlikely.  But at the same time… I also know how much misinformation is out there when it comes to diabetes.  I don’t know what the interviewers’ preconceptions are about my disease.  I do know how complicated life is with diabetes, and I know without a doubt that my diabetes isn’t going to affect my job performance.

So I stayed quiet about that part of Diabetes Outside.

After more than two years of staying anything but quiet about Diabetes Outside, it was a weird experience!  I didn’t even say the name.

Of course, I’m excited to talk about it more now that I’ve been hired whenever the “what do you do when you’re not practicing law” subject comes up.  But they’d better be careful—they will get an earful!

I’m really excited to share my exercise class for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes that starts next month.

I’m excited to tell people about my upcoming talk about Exercise and Type One Diabetes hosted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on September 27.  

I’m excited to think and talk about a speech I’m giving to a group of Certified Diabetes Educators next month in San Jose.

There is a lot going on with Diabetes Outside! 

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Posted in Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized

What’s That You Say?

August 12th, 2011

I see 2 slogans/concepts 2 diabetes organizations have built their identities on.  The 2 different organizations are nationwide supporters, according to them, of MY diabetes, but the two concepts confuse me when put together.

The two concepts put into (catch) phrases and slogans:

YOU CANNOT PREVENT TYPE ONE DIABETES

and

STOP DIABETES

The first one is currently displayed on a billboard along the freeway, at the exit for my house.  The
other one hangs on my keychain.

It’s confusing.

Neither one is particularly inspiring on its own for me as a type one diabetic/person with diabetes/my name is Amy.

It isn’t that I don’t understand these organizations need money to keep alive and to accomplish their goals.  It isn’t that I don’t understand that people have determined that making things sound awful is a great way to get donations.

It’s that I feel overlooked.

Overlooked by the two loudest voices out there proclaiming to support me.

It’s confusing.

Maybe they have been instructed by their advertising boards that people in Amarica can’t remember complicated issues.
(I just HAD to leave that typo in.)

It is likely the same “sound bite” and “dumb it down” idea that has hit us all.

But that mentality isn’t what we who live with diabetes actually live.  We live complicated thought
processes 24 hours a day without vacation.  We manage the incredibly complex task of keeping our blood glucose levels in near-normal ranges and continue on with the rest of our daily lives at the same speed as everyone else.

It’s confusing.

So maybe I’ll just need to amend the two campaign slogans at least for myself.  I think I’ll have to add to each so they work for me and for those who I know who live with diabetes.

I think it’ll go something like:

While you cannot prevent type one diabetes, you can absolutely live the life you want by paying attention and taking care of yourself.

When I choose to stop diabetes from preventing me from doing what I want to do, I win.

Won’t fit on a billboard or a keychain, but it seems like a much more accurate and positive fit for me and my life.

What do you think?  What slogans would work for YOU and YOUR diabetes?

 

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Posted in Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized

Scaredy Cat Shudder Squeak Scream FEAR

August 10th, 2011

I don’t like it when people use fear to motivate others.  It feels like a false motivator to me.  I know it can’t last long and I know it doesn’t feel good inside to be afraid of something.

I’m not entirely sure, but it seems somehow like the fear motivator assumes I’m not very smart.

It makes me think of the Second World War when I think about people being motivated by FEAR. (Wholly different fear motivators in
the case of wartime and WWII in particular, of course, and entirely unrelated to intelligence.)

For some with diabetes, it’s a fear of having to take insulin.  For some it’s a fear of going low.  Or high.  For others, it’s fear of amputation or blindness.  For still others, it’s more and deeper and simply terrifying.

While I can understand these fears to a point, I cannot understand nor condone a medical professional using fear to motivate a patient.  It’s like a doctor being a bully to get a desired result.  I can’t refer to that person as a “professional” when they behave more like a thug.

Although, I did meet a lady at a diabetes support group last week who said she lives in constant nearly debilitating fear of diabetes complications.  That fear motivates her to “exercise every day and not eat any bad food.”

While on the surface, those behaviors are healthy for her; however, I can’t help but ask: at what cost?

If you are living with nearly debilitating fear all the time… how is that living?

I understand that some people are just going to wait to deal with any physical issue until they HAVE to.  I think that explains why some kids don’t give themselves shots—if Dad and Mom will do it, why should they
have to?  If someone doesn’t have type two diabetes now and instead has prediabetes, what’s the big deal?  If you’re feeling fine with a BMI of 50 why should it matter?

It should matter to you and for you because YOU matter, and being healthy is intrinsic to living your life and loving and enjoying all there is in your life.  There shouldn’t be ROOM in that equation for fear.

If you can’t see that you are worth it, and your life is worth it, I worry that fear may be the last tool people who care about you have to help you get motivated to make some healthy changes for yourself.

That doesn’t make it any less irritating to see but it does make it much sadder.

In any case, I’m still wary of those who use fear to motivate.

How do you get beyond the fear you have about your life with diabetes?

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Posted in Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized

HOW to get yourself moving

August 9th, 2011

Motivation is a key element of fitness—without motivation all the good intentions and smart ideas in the world will lie inert and be of no good to anyone.

I’m all about politely acknowledging the THEORY behind ideas and then moving quickly into MAKING THEM HAPPEN in real life.  (Always have been; just ask my sister!)

When it comes to weight loss, we can talk and write and read and shop until we’re blue in the face, but unless you actually EAT LESS you aren’t moving toward accomplishing your goals.

The same is, of course, true when it comes to exercise.  I read an interesting tidbit in my Runner’s
World magazine earlier this morning: someone asked the expert whether it was better to eat unhealthily and exercise (in this magazine, run) or whether it was better to eat pristinely and not exercise.  I thought the answer was pretty good: it’s the same thing as asking whether it’s better to shoot yourself in your right foot or in your left foot.  Either way, you’re shooting yourself in the foot!

Along those lines, I will say that I think sometimes people feel a need for more motivation and ideas when it comes to figuring out WHAT kind of exercise to do.

To answer this, I suggest a few ideas for HOW to get your exercise groove on.

1. Redefine Exercise.  Exercise can be any number of movements.  In fact, it can oftentimes be simply that: MOVEMENT.  Not everyone needs the same thing.  A contractor who tears down buildings with his bare hands a la Mike Holmes  may not need or want the same movement-oriented fitness as someone who sits at a desk twelve hours a day.  Perhaps the contractor needs more flexibility training than strength work—so for the contractor, maybe yoga would push him out of his comfort zone and into a new level of fitness.

2. Be Involved in What You Enjoy.  Anyone can go through the movements and turn
off their brains, but it takes a level of involvement to reach a healthy level of fitness.  Don’t try to multi-task your exercise if you are working on reaching a healthy level of fitness.  (No magazines on the bikes at the gym.  No cell phone conversations on a jog.)

If you want to get moving with other people, try a pickup basketball game, or a hilly hike, or even a game of tag with your kids and their friends.  (I also borrow my friends’ dog for some tag every now and again—talk about winding me! She can put me to SHAME!)

Above all, when you are engaged in repetitive motions particularly on a machine at the gym, STAY ENGAGED and keep your focus on what you’re doing while you are there.  If you let your mind wander, you risk losing focus and intensity and not getting the benefits from the moves you deserve.

3. If You Hate It, Find Something Else.  No one suggests that you have to hate what you do for exercise—in fact, it’s the exact opposite!  There are so many different activities that will help you move and be fit that it is a waste of time and energy to force yourself to do something you hate.  This isn’t scales on the piano or multiplication tables—it’s physical movement and activity.  Your body will respond to new things and become stronger as a result of new challenges.
Take a look at your local parks and rec offerings to see if there is a class you might enjoy.  Ever tried Tai Chi?  Karate?  Rock climbing? Golf? Ballroom dancing?  Hip hop?  (Just a sample from a nearby city’s bulletin!)

Have fun out there!

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Posted in My Soapbox, My Workouts, Random Musings, Uncategorized

What Are YOU Training For?

August 5th, 2011

I read an article this afternoon and I thought the author brought up a really good point: How Much Is Enough?

Whether you are training for an event like a marathon or weightlifting competition or an ice skating performance or football tryouts, you need to be aware of WHY you are doing what you do with your physical training.

We aren’t all running 5ks, and we aren’t all going out for the soccer team.  Your workouts
should reflect WHAT your goals are, and they should be related to getting you faster, stronger, or more agile.

Your goals should motivate you and keep you focused to work hard and improve your fitness.

It’s always good to think for a little bit about what you want and need out of your exercise routine.  (I hate the word “routine” because I think you need to keep a varied program going to keep your body challenged and your mind engaged.)

Do you want to be able to lift your grandson?  If that kid doesn’t weigh 300 pounds why do you want to be strong enough to lift a 300 pound barbell?

Do you want to be able to do your laundry without hurting your back?  If you aren’t doing body weight and spinal strength and stability exercises, you may be missing the boat.  If you are only doing dumbbell exercises with 3 pound weights, and your laundry weighs 15 pounds, how does that make sense?

Do you want to be able to win the local 10k Turkey Trot held every Thanksgiving? Do you want to qualify for the Olympic team?  Or do you simply want to be able to run the entire distance without having to stop and walk?

Each of these goals is PERSONAL to YOU and reflects who YOU are and WHAT YOU WANT to do in your life.  If your neighbor is bench pressing 135 pounds every night in his garage, you don’t need to automatically feel odd about “only” doing pushups.  It’s what will help you reach YOUR goals that you need to stay focused on!

It’s about what YOU need to stay healthy and avoid injury on your way to achieving the goals YOU want in your life, and what makes sense for YOU.

Go after those goals. They ARE within reach.

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Posted in My Soapbox, My Workouts, Random Musings, Uncategorized

Go Climb A Tree

August 3rd, 2011

Who knew there was a Finnish Forest Research Institute?  Okay, I mean, who in America knew such an institute existed.  I sure didn’t.

Yet this research institute exists and they are not the only scientists currently looking at the interaction between nature and human health.

Guess what they have determined?  NATURE HEALS by “reducing stress, boosting immunity and calming aggressiveness.” Yay!

Why does this matter?

Have you tried to manage your blood glucose during periods of stress?  It gets incredibly difficult, which in turn adds stress, which in turn raises blood glucose… ah, yet another vicious cycle in our lives.

Even if you aren’t living with diabetes, have you noticed how much better you feel after you spend an hour outside around some green trees?

Given that all research points to nature helping us humans to fight stress, boost our immune systems, and even lower our blood pressure, I yet again suggest we all GET OUTSIDE for some great healing through outdoor activities.

Check it out:

  • go for a hike
  • walk with your dog
  • walk with your neighbor’s dog
  • walk with your neighbor
  • have a picnic in the park
  • climb a tree
  • stop at a vista point and get out of your car
  • walk around for 20 minutes after dinner at a restaurant
  • volunteer at a neighborhood road race
  • go camping!
  • throw a Frisbee
  • walk through the ritzy part of the neighborhood and see if you can get some good ideas for your yard
  • hop on a bike and see where you end up (remember to bring glucose for this one in particular)
  • get a little dirty
  • plant some flowers
  • plant some vegetables
  • meet some new neighbors
  • say hello to a stranger

Spend just a moment when you’re outside to reflect on how long those trees have been growing, and how much they’ve seen and survived (not to mention how little the trees care about all of the things we do every day).  It can be pretty humbling!

Nature can give all of us some much-needed perspective about the world.

Maybe that’s the thing we’ve all been missing.

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Posted in I Can't Believe Someone Got Paid to Conduct This Study, Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized

Pouting and Crying

August 2nd, 2011

If you saw yesterday’s blog you know I pretty much pouted my way through the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday.

I think that is pretty lame of me, and someone at the finish line (I thankfully did reach it on my own two feet) put me so squarely in my place it’s almost embarrassing.

The last mile was fortunately flat, and I knew where I was by that point because I knew roughly where the finish line was compared to the ball park.  So, when I got to the ball park I knew I could make it.  (I’ve walked it many times to attend SF Giants baseball games!)

And then, d’oh!, they had us run BEHIND the ball park instead of in front of it (adding maybe a half mile to what I expected).  AND we had to get up a 14 inch curb to do it.

(Let me tell you, it might as well have been a mountain by that point; 14 inches is super duper high after 25 miles.)

So here I am, trying at this point to pick up my pace so I can finish under five hours.  It doesn’t even matter to me anymore what happens, really; I want to get out and be done.

As I am what feels like sprinting but probably looks like just huffing to the finish line and I cross the line, I stop my watch and start looking for my husband, and collect my medal and heatsheet (this is my second one of those and wow do you feel cool when you get one of those!)  and I would
say I’m completely in a daze.

As I’m in this daze, I look to my left just briefly and everything I’ve been rolling around in my brain makes a clank.

I see a woman in tears. 

She just FINSIHED A MARATHON.

Who am I to pout when someone next to me just accomplished this HUGE thing that she has been working for for several months, maybe years, and maybe she was running it in someone’s honor or maybe she was just going after a goal of her own.  I have no idea what she gave up in order to cross that finish line.  I have no idea what she gained along her way. 

I only know that whatever it was she lost and gained was enough to make her cry when she earned that medal around her neck.

And that was enough to (at long last) shut me up. 

I’ve had a number of people applaud what I did on Sunday, which feels so strange.  I don’t see how keeping on going despite how much I was hating it was all that big of a deal that someone should pat me on the back!

But, I guess if it were easy, everyone would do it and it wouldn’t mean that much at all.

I feel like I should apologize to that lady for in some way minimizing something that was such an accomplishment for her; when I was thinking to myself that it didn’t matter I was wrong. 

I don’t like that I in a way felt this marathon was “no big deal.”

I guess we all have our paths and we all have rocks and surprise turns and unhappy detours along the way, and it definitely gets complicated when things like blood glucose levels or body weight or cholesterol levels feel like they aren’t on our side.  We certainly don’t all make it to each finish line with a smile on our faces.

But that shouldn’t stop us from setting goals and working hard and always keeping some sort of finish line in view. 

ESPECIALLY when we get a medal.

We each earn THIS one after 50 years with type one!

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Posted in Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, My Workouts, Random Musings, Uncategorized

The Diet Soda Debate

July 29th, 2011

It was not unusual for me to go through a six-pack of Diet Cokes in my years in high school and college.  I used to call Diet Coke the “nectar of the gods” I drank it so much.

It’s embarrassing and a little frightening to think about it now!

What made me give it up?

When I went on Weight Watchers and really started to try and lose my excess weight, I started drinking a heck of a lot of water.  What a difference that made in my life!  So in part I gave up so much soda because my bladder just isn’t that big.

And then a few years later I started to really get into being fit.  And I started thinking about how what I put into my body really was making my body what it is.  I’m not all the way there yet, at all, but I realized just how many chemicals, particularly aspartame, that scared me.

When I see news reports linking diet soda consumption to higher weight and risky waist to hip ratios I wonder even more.

Sure, I am at zero risk of developing diabetes as a result of diet soda consumption.  But that doesn’t mean I want to taunt unknown other effects of those chemicals!  (And no, I never had diet soda or aspartame or anything close before I was diagnosed with type one diabetes.)

One group studied the body measurements of people who drank diet soda and those who did not.  After nine and a half years:

Diet soft drink users, as a group, experienced 70 percent greater increases in waist circumference compared with non-users. Frequent users, who said they consumed two or more diet sodas a day, experienced waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than those of non-users.

Why does waist circumference matter?  It signals the amount of abdominal fat, a major risk factor for a whole host of chronic conditions that include cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The other study reported was conducted on mice: they gave half the diabetes-prone mice (how did they know that?) food with added corn oil, and the other half received food with added corn oil and added aspartame.

After three months on this high-fat diet, the mice in the aspartame group showed elevated fasting glucose levels but equal or diminished insulin levels, consistent with early declines in pancreatic beta-cell function. 

Oh dear.  When someone starts discussing beta-cell function it’s already too close for comfort in my world.  (Pancreatic beta cells, responsible for insulin production, are what my body attacked to cause my type one diabetes and why type one is an autoimmune disease.)

As someone already living with a chronic condition, I want to avoid any other reasons to be under a doctor’s care.  So for me, the choice to avoid artificial sweeteners is a good one.  Now I drink a lot of water, a lot of tea, and soda water.  It works, and I don’t feel deprived.  It feels like a great healthy and simple choice to have made for myself and my body.

We’re all doing the best we can, after all.

Here’s to you and the healthy choices you make for you and your body!

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Posted in I Can't Believe Someone Got Paid to Conduct This Study, Living with Type 1 Diabetes, My Soapbox, Random Musings, Uncategorized, Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me-- Does it have to do with what I eat?