To Carb or Not to Carb (Diabetes blog week day 4)

This is the prompt for today's blog "Today let's blog about what we eat. And perhaps what we don't eat. Some believe a low carb diet is important in diabetes management, while others believe carbs are fine as long as they are counted and bolused for. Which side of the fence do you fall on? What kinds of things do you eat for meals and snacks? What foods do you deem bolus-worthy? What other foodie wisdom would you like to share?"

I have incorporated both a low carb diet and the ability to eat whatever she wants into Bekah's regimen. We chose the Novalog/Lantus for that very reason. I want her to have freedom but learn moderation at the same time. We aim for less than 60 carbs per meal but I also believe every child, T1D or not should be able to have their cake and eat it too (every now and then).

When we first got home from the hospital, we just did 100 calorie packs because Bekah was afraid to eat. Bekah is a rule follower and loves routine. I wanted her to have freedom and not feel like D was in control so I went out and bought a bunch of 100 calorie packs. 100 calorie packs are nice because they (for the most part) contain 15 g of carbs. I was able to offer her a variety of food that she knew was safe. The nice thing about them each having about 15g of carbs is that at snack time she could just pick one and we wouldn't have to add an injection for it. We have graduated to making our own 15 g carb snack bags from larger bags (way more economical). We have discovered that 15 g of carb = 40 fish crackers or 40 puffs of pirates booty or 9 pretzels or 10 animal crackers.

Most of Bekah's meals average 40 g of carbs. She loves fruit and veggies so her carbs are usually from fruit. She has never been a big sandwich eater so for lunch she has a cheese stick or two and some turkey peperoni along with her fruit and maybe a snack bag. Breakfast is commonly scrambled eggs with cheese and fruit or toast with reduced calorie jam or rice checks and milk with fruit. Dinner is a challenge because Bekah is a little picky. My rule before D was make your own pb and j if you don't want what we are having. Bekah is a healthy picky eater (she'd much rather have strawberries and cucumbers than a casserole) so I tend to cater to her and let her choose. It's easier to let her choose than make her force down something she doesn't like and later having to substitute juice for what she wouldn't eat.




For special occasions, I buy the teeny tiny Hagen Dazs or Ben and Jerry's ice cream cups. That way they are pre-measured and everybody gets the same amount. The kids think the little cups are fun (way more fun than looking into a bowl with just a half a cup of ice cream in it). With an average of about 20ish g of carbs we are still able to stick with our goal of 60ish g of carbs for that meal. (A special occasion in our house could be as simple as Mom decided to buy ice cream at the store). For Bekah's birthday in July I will go all out on a yummy cake. She already told me she wants lemon so I'm thinking double layer with lemon curd filling and a lemony butter cream frosting. yummmmm =)



Bekah's favorite snack is Ritz Crackerfuls. They have a good fat/protein/fiber/carb ratio. The best price I have found on these is at Walmart although a friend gave me a tip that she found them at Grocery Outlet. I still need to go check it out. I buy a lot of these. Like I said in the beginning of this blog, Bekah likes routine. Once she finds something she likes and works well for her she sticks with it. I like these because for a bedtime snack they keep her BG level fairly even and she usually wakes up at about 130 and in the night 160s-170s although lately she has had these random highs at night. We are in the honeymoon phase still so high for us is anything over 200. Her numbers have been in the 230s for a few nights and then by morning she is back to 130.




We are still very new to all of this. I look forward to reading more blogs to get some great tips etc.