Pirate’s snack boat


When I think of pirates, I think of scurvy. Scurvy was popular on the 7 seas and it was because they didn’t eat their fruits and veggies so no vitamin C. With the kids at diabetes camp, I did a boat balance with them. This boat had the food groups and together was 15g carbohydrates.

The chex represented “wood,” baby carrots were the “pirate pegs,” cheese was the “plank,” the grapes were the “cannonballs,” and the sunflower butter was the “ocean.” It was very interesting what the kids did with those items. One kid spread the butter on the bottom of the boat and then glued on the chex to make the deck! He used the string cheese to make a flag. It was so adorable and so cute.

Worm is dirt cup - Mad Scientist Day


Instant pudding only solidifies with milk. If you plan on using any other liquid, you can either mix it with milk or add casein protein. In this experiment, the instant pudding didn’t solidify with neither soy milk or coconut milk. It did with lactaid and regular milk. Turns out that casein and calcium together interacts with an ingredient that is found in the instant pudding to solidify.

One instant pudding package uses 2 cups of liquid. Mix it together until well blended. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to solidify. Scoop out about 3 oz. of the pudding. Add in one crushed oreo and one worm. This individual cup is about 15g of carbohydrates.

This is one of the snacks we made for the diabetes camp

In case you didn’t know, this is an insulin pump. I believe it’s a mio. One of my most fondest experience was being asked to put a pump in me so i can somewhat capture how it feels to have an insulin pump like those with type one diabetes. The whole process of setting it up was painless. Mine had saline in it instead of insulin. This method was so much easier to manage than insulin pens or injections. It took my friend with type one diabetes (also her first time on a pump) to figure out her bolus and basal, but once she got the hang of it, she enjoyed it much more. The setback to this is that it’s quite expensive, but i heard the insurance could cover it. Whats neat about the pumps is that you can set it so that insulin is constantly being put through your body, almost like another pancreas. It’s also very useful during the night too. This is great before and after meals. :)
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In case you didn’t know, this is an insulin pump. I believe it’s a mio. One of my most fondest experience was being asked to put a pump in me so i can somewhat capture how it feels to have an insulin pump like those with type one diabetes. The whole process of setting it up was painless. Mine had saline in it instead of insulin. This method was so much easier to manage than insulin pens or injections. It took my friend with type one diabetes (also her first time on a pump) to figure out her bolus and basal, but once she got the hang of it, she enjoyed it much more.

The setback to this is that it’s quite expensive, but i heard the insurance could cover it. Whats neat about the pumps is that you can set it so that insulin is constantly being put through your body, almost like another pancreas. It’s also very useful during the night too.

This is great before and after meals. :)

A Day of a Diabetic

My metabolism lab professor gave each of her students a glucometer to measure our own blood glucose level. I was skeptical at first because A.) I hate knowing a needle is going through my body B.) I didn’t think I had enough courage to poke myself C.) All of the above. In the back of my mind, I knew I had to do this. I was thinking how there are so many people in this world who rely on glucometers to check their glucose level so that they could remain healthy; however, I never knew what I was up against.

October 22, 2011

I woke up and checked my blood glucose. Before and 2 hours after a meal, I would have to check my glucose level. I brought the glucometer wherever I went that day. It was shopping day with my lovely friend Jackie in the city. At first, I thought it was pretty cool to carry it around, but then I realized how much of a hassle it was because I lose things really easily, so I was afraid of losing it. What would happen if I lost it? How are you suppose to check your blood then? Could you imagine if you were really truly a diabetic and you lost it?

I checked the time constantly, making sure I didn’t miss checking my glucose level. I had to watch out what I was eating because I was getting tired of poking my fingers, that I was willing to eat less that day just to ignore the inconvenience of checking my glucose level. At this point, I just wanted to check it, jot it, and be done with this project. It gave me an insight of being a diabetic.

Type 1 diabetics don’t have the freedom like average people do. They just can’t go grab a hot dog whenever they want because they have to go through extra measures. Type 1 diabetics have to calculate how much insulin they have to inject before eating their meals. That would mean they have to estimate how much carbohydrates are in their meal. Could you imagine going to a restaurant and asking the waiter the portion sizes and the food and from there calculating the amount of CHO and then calculating how much insulin you have to inject so that you don’t go above the glucose level? It sounds so tiring and such a pain in the neck. For me, it was already annoying trying to figure out how much food I ate and estimating the amount of CHO is in my food. At this rate, I just wanted to eat it. I didn’t want to go through the extra steps just to eat my food. You don’t get to enjoy it.

From this experiment, I grew a new appreciation for every thing that insulin-dependent diabetics have to go through. I can’t imagine having to monitor what I eat and making sure I’m injecting enough insulin in my system before I eat. You’re more restricted eating whatever whenever. And I guess, you never really know how it feels for someone to go through a situation like that until you kinda go through it yourself. It’s tough.

How about type 1 diabetic children? I don’t think they can experience Halloween or even have a real lunch time because 1.) school nurses have to inject insulin in children 2.) they have to eat in front of their nurse and not with others to make sure they’re eating the right carbs. I was able to eat candy after trick-or-treating and share foods with friends, so to hear that someone may miss that, it makes me feel bad that they’ll be missing something I loved doing.

So, support diabetics either by walking or by donating. The money could help research to find improvements in a diabetic’s life.

Today is experiment day. I’m measuring my glucose before and after every meal. This is the first time I’m using a glucometer. You really get a sense of what diabetics have to go through minus the insulin injections. I didn’t eat breakfast because the directions said not to. I felt soo woozy and dizzy. Less glucose = dizziness. I couldn’t wait to eat my grapes, yogurt, and sandwich! I was skeptical at first because I don’t like the thought of needles going into me, but once you do it once, you get used to it for the rest of the time.  Finger puncture count: 8 Most of them were from puncturing fingers that didn’t give me enough blood :[
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Today is experiment day.

I’m measuring my glucose before and after every meal. This is the first time I’m using a glucometer. You really get a sense of what diabetics have to go through minus the insulin injections.

I didn’t eat breakfast because the directions said not to. I felt soo woozy and dizzy. Less glucose = dizziness. I couldn’t wait to eat my grapes, yogurt, and sandwich!

I was skeptical at first because I don’t like the thought of needles going into me, but once you do it once, you get used to it for the rest of the time. 

Finger puncture count: 8 Most of them were from puncturing fingers that didn’t give me enough blood :[

Diabetes

Definition of Diabetes type I -  When not enough insulin is produced so that means your glucose level increases. Insulin is important in balancing glucose level. More glucose, more insulin produced. Not enough insulin, too much glucose

Definition of Diabetes type II - When there is production of insulin but the insulin is malfunctioning so it doesn’t do a good job of balancing glucose level.

So, it is a misconception that diabetes is by eating too much sugar. Sugar doesn’t directly give someone diabetes. It indirectly does by being stored as fat. Some studies think that fat has a way of affecting insulin resistance. This goes for consuming way too much calories. When someone isn’t exercising enough and their fat cells are already full with fat, the extra calories start being stored as fat elsewhere. This can be turned into visceral fat, muscle fat, and etc. Visceral fat is shown to be most affected towards diabetes.

Keep in mind that smoking, lack of exercising, and genes can play a role in having diabetes as well.

I don’t know if you have tried splenda or any of those diabetic sugar, but those things do not taste very good. They have 0 calories but are suppose to be sweeter than the basic sugar.

Surprisingly, some studies have shown that coffee, vitamin D, and whole grains could decrease risks of diabetes. Fish may increase.

Keep in mind though, these are studies and nothing is final yet.

So, there’s your 101 on diabetes. I just want you to understand it’s not all about sugar. It’s more on your insulin production and function.