A No-Chocolate Valentine's Day

This was our first Valentine's day without chocolate.  Naomi doesn't really like chocolate, so this isn't a big deal for her.  But to me candy and every holiday, Christmas, Valentines day, Easter, 4th of July, Groundhog's day, go together.  So this Valentines day with out candy is a symbol of how different the little things are in our life.

Addicted to Carbs
As those who know me are aware I am a pretty good baker.  I used bake at least once a week, mostly muffins, cookies, nothing fancy but I have to say I am pretty good.  In fact, when my name came up on the Seahawks season ticket wait list, I chose a blue kitchen aid mixer, instead of football. 

Not only did I bake muffins for Naomi every Saturday morning, but Naomi and I -and later Oliver- regularly indulged in "treats."  Our relationship has always been rooted in Northwest culture.  That means regular visits to coffee shops. When we lived in Spokane we would walk to this great little coffee shop that made the best cookies and chi-tea.  When we lived in Houston, where you have to drive 20 miles to find a Starbucks, we even found this great Italian coffee shop.  They had great coffee and pastries.  When we bought our first house, we bought a house less than a block from a bakery and we would walk 3 miles just to get a coffee and a twice baked chocolate croissant at Bakery Nouveau.  We of course completely took it for granted that we could at any time walk up to Cafe Ladro and get a huge piece of pie and a cappuccino.

Then diabetes happened.  Now almost all snacks, treats, and late night desserts are out.  Unless Naomi's blood sugar is low.  Some people think that if you have diabetes you have to eat a low card diet.  That is true of most people with Type II diabetes.  But in theory, people with Type I diabetes can eat as many carbs as they want, but they have to match their carb intake with the amount to insulin they take at each meal.  Too many carbs and not enough insulin and your blood sugar gets too high.  This isn't immediately dangerous (unless your blood sugar is dangerously high), but causes long term complications. If you don't eat enough carbs and your take too much insulin then your blood sugar can get dangerously low.  Ironically then you have to eat candy and other sweets to get your blood sugar up.  This is the scary part for me because you can die from low blood sugar.  In fact Naomi carries a glucose pen at all times.  I or whoever is with her has to inject her with the pen when she is unconscious because of low blood sugar.

A Balancing Act

So to control diabetes, carbs (not just sugar) and glucose have to be balanced.  This means that before you inject your insulin you have to know exactly how many carbs are in what you are going to eat.  If you are off a little, not a huge deal.  But if you are off a lot you can be in trouble.  So if you inject insulin only at meals, you can only eat at meals, unless your blood sugar gets low.  This means that when you are at a meeting and your co-worker brings her famously delicious Christmas cookies and puts them down right next to you, you have to just sit there, staring at them, smelling them, hoping someone will pass them to the other end of the table. Maybe you can take one with you, drop it in your purse.  But you will have to wait until either your blood sugar is too low or you eat your next meal.


Of course not knowing how many carbs are in your food is something you have to be able to figure out at every meal.  So that means when you cook you have to do wicked math, especially if you are making a complex recipe or baking.  So for Valentine's Day this year, Naomi didn't get chocolate, she got 2 gourmet diabetes cookbooks that have exactly how many carbs are in each dish.  So this that for the first time in 2 years I made blueberry muffins for Naomi and the kids.  Now I have hundreds of recipes I can make for Naomi.  Maybe next week we will even have flambeed pears or black forest mouse cake.

Training Update
Well I have to say that my training has picked up. I ran 18 miles over the 3 day weekend, including 8 miles today.  I am also getting the push-ups done. I did 85 push-ups on my run today.  I am looking for a short, 8 week half-marathon training plan.  If anyone has one please shoot it my way.  My next target race is going to be the Vancouver Marathon (half-marathon).  Check out http://www.bmovanmarathon.ca/ if you are interested in joining me!

Fund Raising
Big shout out to Chantelle, Ivan and Miral, and an anonymous donor. We have raised $200 so far towards the goal of $5,000!  Special shout out to Ivan and Miral who are expecting a new addition to their family, Michael "John Elway" this week.  Congratulations guys!!!!  Also thanks for everyone for checking out the blog.  Please pass it on to anyone who might be interested.

Remember you can donate money to the JDRF through the link below.



Mike's JDRF Fundraising Page.


Thanks again to everyone.  Have a great week!