today is a day to celebrate. to celebrate all things diabetes. the ups and downs. the restrictions and indulgences. carb counting. bolusing. journaling. life.
take today to let someone with diabetes know how much you love them. how strong they are for their hard work.
take today to think about others living in far off lands and what it might be like to have diabetes in a different country.
we're all in this together.
juntos somos mas fuertes!
here are some great links you should check out:
http://www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday/
http://volunteers.ayudainc.net/site/PageNavigator/homepage.html
http://www.access2insulin.org/
14 November 2012
30 October 2012
my life, my style
[this was caught in my draft box but read over it and still thought it was worth sharing]
So, I got some flack in the dlife blog world for my comments that diabetes is a lifestyle and not liking the words "diabetic" or "disease". Here are my thoughts and opinions on the above... There are so many more aspects to diabetes than most people could ever possibly imagine. Diabetes is a part of my everyday life, it is what I do, it is what I want to teach people about, it is a part of who I am [note: I did not say who I am - just a part]. Together we rise and fall like the sun - constant, sometimes glorious, sometimes dark - but definitely always around. Aside from the injections, glicemias, glucotabs, etc., the part of diabetes some don't venture to talk about is the psyco-social aspect. In one of my college psych classes we watched a film called "What the bleep do we know?". Some parts were good, some were just ridiculous, but one part has stuck with me. Dr. Masaru Emoto is a Japanese scientist who has studied the effects of water and our consciousness, sounds silly I know but once you've seen it, it's hard to forget.
The gist is that positive reinforcements or negative actions have either postive or negative effects on ourselves. The example in the movie is the main character constantly telling herself that she is ugly and awkward and stupid. Dr. Emoto believes this changes our bodies ability to function properly and becomes more susceptible to illness. On the other hand, when you think highly of yourself and have daily positive reinforcements our bodies are healthier because they are stronger. I have brought this concept into my daily life and my diabetes management. If I were to wake up daily saying how much I hate diabetes, how this disease is going to kill me, and/or how I wish I for some other body than the one I have with functioning organs, in essence, I'd be making myself worse. These negative thoughts and ideas have a profoundly harmful effect on our lives and how we perceive ourselves. So no I don't say I have a disease, but a condition. I don't say I'm diabetic, but have diabetes. This is why. In all logic, yes, it means the same thing but the way I think about my condition doesn't have to have the same effect. Diabetes is my lifestyle because it is the way in which I choose to live. Happy, peaceful, calm, proud, healthy. I did not choose diabetes, it has chosen me - like a stray animal never wanting to leave your side... sometimes you're friends, sometimes you want to kick it in the head. Oh sorry, off topic, please don't kick animals that's just mean and bad karma and I really love animals. Because of diabetes, I have found some amazing people and an inner-strength I may have never needed or found otherwise.
We all have trials and tribulations but to add diabetes on to all of that, it can either make you or break you [sorry to be so cliche]. I choose to think this way about diabetes because I don't see any other way to do so. Diabetes is not something you can fight. In battle someone always loses and diabetes is going to be around for awhile. You must learn to live with it, to accept it, to rise and fall and rise again.
Feel the love. http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto
So, I got some flack in the dlife blog world for my comments that diabetes is a lifestyle and not liking the words "diabetic" or "disease". Here are my thoughts and opinions on the above... There are so many more aspects to diabetes than most people could ever possibly imagine. Diabetes is a part of my everyday life, it is what I do, it is what I want to teach people about, it is a part of who I am [note: I did not say who I am - just a part]. Together we rise and fall like the sun - constant, sometimes glorious, sometimes dark - but definitely always around. Aside from the injections, glicemias, glucotabs, etc., the part of diabetes some don't venture to talk about is the psyco-social aspect. In one of my college psych classes we watched a film called "What the bleep do we know?". Some parts were good, some were just ridiculous, but one part has stuck with me. Dr. Masaru Emoto is a Japanese scientist who has studied the effects of water and our consciousness, sounds silly I know but once you've seen it, it's hard to forget.
The gist is that positive reinforcements or negative actions have either postive or negative effects on ourselves. The example in the movie is the main character constantly telling herself that she is ugly and awkward and stupid. Dr. Emoto believes this changes our bodies ability to function properly and becomes more susceptible to illness. On the other hand, when you think highly of yourself and have daily positive reinforcements our bodies are healthier because they are stronger. I have brought this concept into my daily life and my diabetes management. If I were to wake up daily saying how much I hate diabetes, how this disease is going to kill me, and/or how I wish I for some other body than the one I have with functioning organs, in essence, I'd be making myself worse. These negative thoughts and ideas have a profoundly harmful effect on our lives and how we perceive ourselves. So no I don't say I have a disease, but a condition. I don't say I'm diabetic, but have diabetes. This is why. In all logic, yes, it means the same thing but the way I think about my condition doesn't have to have the same effect. Diabetes is my lifestyle because it is the way in which I choose to live. Happy, peaceful, calm, proud, healthy. I did not choose diabetes, it has chosen me - like a stray animal never wanting to leave your side... sometimes you're friends, sometimes you want to kick it in the head. Oh sorry, off topic, please don't kick animals that's just mean and bad karma and I really love animals. Because of diabetes, I have found some amazing people and an inner-strength I may have never needed or found otherwise.
We all have trials and tribulations but to add diabetes on to all of that, it can either make you or break you [sorry to be so cliche]. I choose to think this way about diabetes because I don't see any other way to do so. Diabetes is not something you can fight. In battle someone always loses and diabetes is going to be around for awhile. You must learn to live with it, to accept it, to rise and fall and rise again.
Feel the love. http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto
29 October 2012
long lost letters
this quote means so much to me right now. i can't help but think about the daily ups and downs of living with diabetes and how difficult it can be. quite frankly, it can be exhausting. i'm exhausted. but still we must carrying on.
i started logging my blood sugars again (yes, again, i know i should never have stopped... to err is to be human... and all that jazz) because i've been slipping and need to maintain tighter control. i need to take care of my body. every other aspect of my life is in some way recorded. i write down my exercise routines. i photograph my life. i make lists for just about everything... except for the biggest part of my life... my diabetes management. so for almost two weeks now i've been logging and realizing how out of whack i've been allowing myself to be. one of my biggest concerns is going low while i work out so, for some reason, being high was my option. that is not a good option. so i'm taking control. writing down my food (and being very boring about what i eat for now) and blood sugar levels, testing way more frequently to get a better sense of a pattern that might emerge.all the necessary things. i've also enlisted an amazing friend (nurse and cde) to be my coach. he's such a help... an inspiration that we can do this.... i mean he knows the drill too he's had diabetes for nearly 50 years. asking for help is also something i'm not too good at but i think we can all use the extra motivation, schedule time to talk with someone about what's going on in our lives. we must take care of our bodies.
as far as my 'diet' is concered i'm following the paleo diet. no grains. no legumes. only heavy cream/butter, if at all. i've also cut out coffee because it seems to make me go high and have switched to unsweetened green tea with lemon.
i'm starting to feel more in control of myself but not in an ocd way that will make me go crazy. i have reached the point where i do love my body and that the outside noise is just that, noise. the temptation to eat outside of my chosen lifestyle is fading. (but that's not to say people with diabetes can't eat whatever we want, because we can). i just choose not to because i'm trying to stay physically fit and lower my bmi and really change the way my body looks by increasing my muscle mass. anyway. it feels good to be back and i hope to continue to find time to write more about my journey in this crazy life. and i hope you continue to find it interesting.
i'm open for questions/comments so please feel free to ask me anything.
to our health.
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