Sunday Serenity For Those Living With Type 1 Diabetes

Over the years, I have met some wonderful caring adults that live with type 1 diabetes.  Some newly diagnosed and others diagnosed as children.

As a friend and a mother, I listen with awe as they describe their daily life and at the same time, I try to imagine how my girls will be as they too, grow into adults living with type 1 diabetes.

Or until we have a CURE.

For that, I have HOPE.

In the meantime, I reflect on this saying and I realize that ALL of us, living with or without type 1 diabetes have an important responsibility to continue to stay healthy.

After all, I want to be there on that day that announcement comes in.

Take time today to do something kind for yourself.  It is your responsibility, not an indulgence.  Really.  It's what I am going to do today too.

Love,
The Naturally Sweet Sisters.

Fresh Food Friday

I spent most of this week in a hurry as the marking period for both daughters ended and as a result, they had tons of homework, quizzes, tests and projects due at the last minute.

Today's post is to show you all how I navigate a week like that while keeping us eating well.




First, I buy carrots and divide up the package into multiple grab and go sandwich bags.  My kids love the mini carrots and since they are so sweet and delicious, no other dip or sauce is needed.  Just crunch and munch!  This is the best way for the kids to be motivated into eating vegetables too.  I f you have it bagged up into an individual portion size, the kids are much more likely to choose that as a snack.  Going green?  At the beginning of the year, I bought several reusable sandwich wraps that double as place mats.  The carrots can be added to those as well.  Just make sure you dry off the veggies before placing them into the wrap. 





When the week is going to be very tricky, we take a dozen eggs and hard boil them on Sunday night.  When the girls were little, I would peel the egg and stick it in a bento box or a sandwich baggie.  However, somewhere around age 7, both girls said that the best part of eating a hard-boiled egg was taking off the shell.  What a bonus for mom as it made packing for snacks and lunches a hit!  The other nice thing is that on busy evenings, a quick meal can be lunch with a hard-boiled egg salad sandwich.  No fast food needed.




Baked Naturals by Pepperidge Farm are great!  Only 21g of carbohydrates in 17 crackers!  My cost was the regular price on the box which is $3.49 at most grocery stores.  One nice way to handle the preparation is to pull out your trusty Sharpie Marker and while you are waiting for the eggs to boil, make up several individual packages of crackers with the correct carb amount.  I have these handy for grab and go snacks, lunches and even after dinner treats.  We also like these crackers in soup or as a crumble on salads.  Delicious!




Lately, it has been just easier to buy the giant fruit bowl at Costco and bring it home.  Sadly, my kids tend to eat right through this, so I rarely have time enough to pre-bag for snacks and lunches before it is gone!  This is only $9.00 at Costco and very worth it!  I love that my kids choose this over most any other snack in the house.




Pickled ring bologna.  Have you tried this?  Zero carbs and so good!  My husband introduced this to the family as he remembered his grandparents buying it when he was a little boy.  The taste is a bit like a tart pickle but with the flavor of bologna.  $3.00 at Meijer.  Plain ring bologna is also available at most grocery stores.  Please note that I do tend to cut it and remove the outside skin before serving.  Once it is ready to eat, be prepared for it to be gone in about oh, 30 seconds!





Provolone by Sara Lee.  This is the one cheese that tends to beat out all others in popularity.  At just $2.50 (on sale this week at Meijer), the cheese is mellow and delicious.  The trick is to pop some cheese into the bag of Wheat Crisps as you are heading out the door.  No more need for the processed cheese-like snacks when you can have the real thing, and as a bonus, it is also carb free and light in calories.  Enjoy!



The Hygiene Theory of Causing Type 1 Diabetes

With so many studies out there regarding the cause of Type 1 Diabetes, very little has come to play in what we believe might have happened in our own family to bring about two diagnosis in two little girls at ages 3 and 8. 

Let me list a general overview and I am sure each theory that you might have been heard, can be disproved by what we have personally gone through.  Even though we have only two girls, we did do things differently for both.  Mostly because when the first daughter was born, I was still working full time in Marketing and I was completely new at parenting - which is a fun learning curve at times!

Breast fed - Yes
Not breast fed - Yes
Extended breast fed - Yes
Vitamin D Levels Ok - Yes
Vitamin D Supplements - Yes
Solids at 6 months - Yes
Not solids at 6 months - Yes
Water Tested - Yes
History of T1d - No
Immunized - Yes
Late Immunizations - Yes
Flu Shot before dx - Yes
Flu Shot after dx - Yes
Gestational diabetes - No


After reading that list, you can tell that not much of any of the theories seems to apply to us.

However, this study does... not just to us, but to most of the US and Europe as a reason to why type 1 diabetes is on the rise.

Study leader Professor Stephen Fava, Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Mater Dei Hospital, Malta & Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Malta, said:

"The global rise in type 1 diabetes is an unexplained phenomenon. Many suggest that the exposure, or rather the lack of exposure, to infectious disease when young might be linked to the development of autoimmunity."

"Our data show that type 1 diabetes rates were highest in countries where markers of exposure to infectious disease were lowest. Incidence of type 1 diabetes was significantly linked to mortality from a variety of infectious diseases and to the local susceptibility of a common bacterium to antibiotics."

"These data provide support for the notion that the immune system can somehow become disordered and attack the body's own cells if it is not trained by regular exposure to micro-organisms -- the so called hygiene hypothesis. More research is needed to try to identify other environmental factors that may be linked to the continuing conundrum of rising type 1 diabetes rates."


Interesting isn't it?  Because if this is the result of having a healthy world, how are we going to stop type 1 diabetes, or even other autoimmune diseases from increasing? 

One final thought, if you have been struggling with WHY this happened, I wanted to post this study to help you overcome those possible 'blame theories'.  There is nothing that any one of us did to bring about a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.  The only thing we should worry about is how research is going to END type 1 diabetes.

CURE, please.

Want to read more about the study listed here?  CLICK here for more details.