A potential nightmare

I was on the edge of sleep last night and I felt a little odd. When I checked my blood glucose it was a tad too low so I popped a hard candy into my mouth and....... the next thing I know I'm coughing, choking and spluttering. I must have fallen asleep while sucking on the sweetie.
Luckily all was well, but it did make me think, if I died while treating a hypo this way would the authorities record it as a death caused by diabetic complications?

Doing What You Have To

I finally had to give in today and do something I'd been putting off for almost a week. I've been unable to get a work out at the gym since December 1st because I can't walk fast, pedal or sit without it being literally a big pain in the butt. Consequently my BG has been rocketing skywards for the last few days. I've been correcting with extra units of Humalog to keep it in check during the day but the morning levels have been above 270 since Friday.
So this morning I took an extra 10% Lantus and like magic my BG has been below 126 ever since. I don't know why I'll take an extra bolus here and there but upping the basal rate makes me feel like the diabetes is getting worse. That's truly crazy, right?
I'm sure this is just a temporary thing until I can get back to the gym but it goes to show that exercise makes a big difference to glucose levels, mine at least.

Diabetes-friendly recipes?

I'm surfing the web looking for inspiration for this year's xmas meal when I hit upon this recipe on the dLife website. It's a Kwanzaa Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I'm intrigued because I don't have any Kwanzaa recipes in my repertoire and when I was at school Pineapple Upside Down Cake was the first thing I made in Home Economics class.
I want to see what makes in specific for Kwanzaa and how they adapted a high carbohydrate recipe to fit in with the dLife guidelines of small amounts of sugar and less than 30 grams of carbohydrates per serving. From what I remember of my cake it was pretty high on both counts.
Well, it turns out there is little difference from the recipe I know. It contains both molasses and honey and of course the canned pineapples in fruit juice. My mouth is already puckering with distaste from the excess sweetness. Then I read the nutritional information:

Exchanges per serving: 3 Carbohydrates, ½ fat
Calories 237
Calories from fat 36
Total Fat 4g
Saturated fat 1g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 156mg
Carbohydrates 48g
Dietary fiber 1g
Sugar 29g
Protein 4g

You have to be kidding me. 48g of carbohydrates for a slice of cake? I could have four delicious Whole Foods Chocolate Truffles for half the carbs and 5g less sugar.
Could someone please explain to me what makes this recipe diabetes-friendly?

Mad Cow Disease May Solve Diabetes Riddle

I don't know what all the implications are but scientists at Ottawa Health Research Institute in Canada have discovered that a prion that causes Creutzfeld-Jakob disease might be involved in regulating blood glucose levels and could possibly affect the development of Type 1 diabetes.
It's probably not a major breakthrough, more another piece of the puzzle that will lead to an answer to why some of us get diabetes and others don't. And that's an important question to address when you are looking for a cure.

Sinterklaas

I'm still sore from slipping last week but it served me right for putting up the lights before Sinterklaas has visited. This is one of the traditions we bought with us from Belgium and I violated it at my peril.
The Sint (known as St Nicolas in the francophone part of the country) arrives on a boat from Spain at the end of November then treks through the low countries on his horse, accompanied by his helper(s) Zwarte Piet(s). On the evening of Dec 5 he leaves oranges, a chocolate initial and presents in the shoes of good children in The Netherlands, and arrives in Belgium on the morning of the 6th to do the same.
As most Mamas in Belgium work, families celebrate St Nicholas the weekend before but Sintaklaas always visits nurseries and schools on the right day. Only after Sinterklaas has passed through can the xmas decorating begin, and December 25th is more a family celebration than the culmination of retail frenzy.
I shall be singing these songs and a few others until I drive everyone demented and they beg me to stop. It's a happy holiday.

Getting in the holiday spirit

What's worse than Achilles tendonitis that won't go away? Crashing down on that ankle while you are attempting to hang xmas lights, that's what. I now have a swollen ankle, a bruised coccyx, cut right thumb, black and blue arm and a nasty gash on the left hand to go with the sore ankle.
I should have stuck to plan A, which was to leave the poor trees and shrubs alone. But it is yuletide and a few lights make the yard so pretty. Next year I'm going with something manageable like this.

Worth the bolus?

Candy with butter and salt? A celtic girl's dream delicacy. And who would be naughty enough to tempt Jane to eat candy? Whole Foods Market, that's who. Not only are they selling French chocolate bars filled with caramel and fleur de sel but they also have this recipe for chocolate truffles on their website which is so pure and decadent- just chocolate, cream, butter and salt.
All natural and pure evil.

Happy Birthday To Me

It's that time of year again. No, not the two turkey pig-out that is Thanksgiving/Christmas but the annual reminder that I have failed to accomplish even half my goals and I'm one year nearer to never doing so. Some people save this day for Jan 1st and make resolutions to do better next year. I do it on my birthday, without bothering with the "do better next year" bit.
I've always hated this day. Every year when I was small, my mother would host a party at our house. Normally I loved to have other kids over but there was something about the pressure of my birthday: dressing up, choosing games, that would have me hiding out on the stairs, usually crying.
It hasn't got better as I've gotten older. I no longer dress up and I never tell anyone that my birthday is approaching, but I still have to deal with the loved ones bearing cards and gifts. I'd really rather crawl into bed, put the covers over my head and not get up until the next day. The day after the birthday I am fine, a pleasant rational human being. On my birthday I am Satan with toothache. Anyone with any sense would avoid me. I would avoid me if I could.
So this year I set out to do just that. I left my long-suffering husband with the unopened cards and presents and took myself off to the gym for two hours, then, as the weather was phenomenal, I spent an hour on the beach alone and finally I went to the movies on my own. It was quite the best birthday I have had.
Now, as long as no one asks me how old I am, I should be fairly sane for another twelve months.