Type 1 Active - Active Living with Diabetes

Living with diabetes gives us a massive list of things to do, more than is possible to keep up with sometimes, but if you do any 3 things living with diabetes (aside from taking insulin, checking your blood sugar before eating and calculating carbs) do these. They will save you more energy in the long run and contribute to a better sense of happiness and wellbeing.

Be Kind to Yourself

Before anything else, be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up about unexpected (or even expected) highs or lows. This will only cause more stress which could ultimately lead to more unwanted numbers. Sometimes when I am harsh on myself I try to imagine how I would advise someone else if they were living in my shoes. For example, if my friend had diabetes and she felt bad / guilty about a hyper I would tell her how much of a great job she was doing and that acting like an organ in the body is not an easy task. I would also try to bring her focus to the last time she had a great blood sugar which would show her that it is possible. This is much better than calling her efforts poor. So, if I can treat someone else with such care and understanding, I should be treating myself with the same kindness. So should you. You do a fantastic job every single day.

Don’t try to guess, just check.

We’ve all been there… sitting down or doing something, and then along comes dry mouth, the shakes or a banging head ache; a feeling that is a clear indication that we are either high or low. We sit and question it for about 10 minutes, trying to guess what is happening before doing anything about it.

I’m guilty of it myself and want to stop it because it’s a waste of energy trying to analyse the symptoms when the meter can give me the answer. If we remove the deliberation as soon as symptoms becomes apparent we can move on quicker which helps us to think less about diabetes.

Workout

I don’t want to sound like a broken record because I know you probably hear this from your doctors (and everyone who thinks they know what diabetes is), but working out will help you with your management so much. It will be difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it you will find your way. You don’t have to go the gym if you hate the gym. Do something you love to do and you are more likely to stick to it.

Lots of people email me on a weekly basis talking about their fear of hypos and exercise. It seems to be a very common barrier amongst people living with diabetes who want to take part in exercise. Here is the advice I would offer them.

Rowena x

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I’m writing this post because I think there is a strong link between T1D and obsession with numbers. I often see or hear people talking about blood sugar numbers or pounds in weight they have lost in relation to their mood in a very obsessive way. Share photographs of their perfect blood glucose level, captioning it with “look at this number, it’s going to be an amazing day”. Or even worse, and unrelated to diabetes, I see posts like “another 2lb off, I’m finally getting somewhere”.

Whilst it’s great to stay positive and celebrate small victories it makes me wonder if we are too obsessed with numbers? What do these people think about their day if they wake up with a bad number, either on the scale or on the meter. Does a bad number (out of range or not what they were expecting) mean that they are going to have a bad day? If the number on the scale hasn’t moved do they feel stuck like they are getting nowhere?

Before I was diabetic I was very driven by numbers with regards to weight management. I would be happy if I was lighter or thinner and therefore a smaller size in clothing. But, of course, if those numbers went the opposite way I was very unhappy. It was very obsessive, exhausting behavior and one I knew I could not continue and link to diabetes management.

https://youtu.be/smi7xnFhDM8

Although I sometimes go back to that place with my weight I try my best to not let my blood sugar dictate the level of my mood or how my day goes. Some days my blood sugar is great all day, some days it isn’t. If I wake up with a good blood sugar, great. If I don’t, I fix it and then move on. That’s it.

If I were to let any of those numbers dictate the direction of my day I would probably end up very miserable all the time. Sure, I aim for tight control on everything, but perfection is unattainable, especially in diabetes management. For instance, this morning, I woke up and my blood sugar was 10mmols. I have rehearsals, research, work and loads of other things to do. Do I really want to start my day in a shitty mood because my blood sugar is out of range? Or do I want to move on from it as quickly as possible?

I have the choice and I choose to move on. What do you think? Is there a link between T1D and obsession with numbers?

Let’s not let anything control our happiness apart from us. Everyone has a choice.

Rowena x

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Finally, I can flex my arms and see some definition in my muscles. I know this might sounds like its coming from a place of vanity, but it’s not. I have always admired really toned arms on women (think Madonna) and I wanted some for myself.  After years of trying and getting nowhere near where I wanted to be, mostly due to inconsistent and weird dieting habits, I finally understand my body enough to see some progress. I don’t want to put it all down to eating all of the right things, but I would say that is where 80% of the progress has come from. The other 20% is down to specific upper body training including weight lifting and pole dancing.

Some of my up body training includes pull ups, dumbbell curls, shoulder press, pushups, lat pull down, bent over row, tricep dips and a few more. Plus, the pole training. Pole training really challenges upper body strength. Before I did my first class I couldn’t even do a chin up so I highly recommend it if you want to gain some upper body strength. It has its other benefits too.

My next physical goals is to work on getting those six pack abs. Every time I have tried this before I have just ended up looking skinny with protruding hip bones and ribs. However, because I have been building muscles and reverse dieting I am hopeful that once I cut some fat I will have some decent abs to reveal. I mean, they do say that abs are made in the kitchen. It’s a work in progress and we will soon see.

This week I have been nursing a bit of a shoulder injury which means I have been attempting to take it easy, but taking lots of pain killers instead. I’m totally guilty of never resting and I am working on getting better at taking days off. I find that any type of injury, even if it is small, aggravates my blood sugar. Saying that, my blood sugar, aside from the recent night time lows, has been really good this week. My seven day average was 6.7mmols which is within the non-diabetic range. I’ll take it!

How have your blood sugars been this week? Are you working out regularly?

Rowena x

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