What's the Best Route?

When I was first diagnosed more than 23 years ago certain aspects of diabetes were easy. As a family, we did what the doctor told us to do. Everything seemed to be based off of what the American Diabetes Association recommended. Today, that is not the case.

The last few years I have tried to educate myself as much as possible with reading different material from a range of sources. The one thing I have learned is that so many studies and recommendations contradict each other. 

Every diabetic is different. We participate in different activities and have different dietary choices. 

For me, I have the most success with staying under about 60 grams of carbohydrates a day. My control is tighter and I feel pretty well. When I do this, my blood sugars vary from the mid 70s to about the 130s. 

What's the most confusing and frustrating part is that I have doctors that agree and disagree how I have decided to eat. In the last 7 years, I have been through a total of 5 different doctors. Some of them moved out of my town while others weren't open to hear how I felt about caring for my disease. I would like to find a doctor that is a type 1 diabetic that is fit. I find it very difficult to listen from someone on how to manage health if it seems as though they are not very healthy themselves. Sorry for being honest. They need to have walked in my shoes.

As a patient, I want to be trusted and listened to by my doctors. I don't want to be told that I can eat whatever I want because it can be covered with my pump. My goal is health and longevity with this disease. 

For those of you that are type 1, don't let this disease beat you down! We need to bring attention to it. The general public needs to be educated about what we deal with on a daily basis! Break Diabetes!

All Day Seminar

I spent the day at an Olympic Weightlifting seminar hosted at the CrossFit gym(www.crossfitgp.com) I coach at. The seminar was with Diane Fu. If you are interested in Olympic Weightlifting, I couldn't recommend a better person to take a seminar from. She was very thoughtful and approachable. Overall, it was a great day and I learned a whole bunch that will improve my coaching and my own ability. 

Going into an all day event like this as a T1D can be a bit nerve racking. For me, I feel like I have to test all day long and be paranoid about highs and lows. I knew I would spend most of the day being active.

I used a temporary basal rate most of the morning and a normal rate for the afternoon. The reason I did this is due to the fact that the snatch was worked on in the morning portion and I would be just working form with light weights. This movement is my biggest weakness. I lack the mobility and technique. The afternoon was bit of a different story because the clean and jerk I can go a little heavy in. 

During the clean and jerk portion, I wanted to find a new personal record. This required a lot of effort and I tried to get psyched up a bit. My blood sugars bumped up to 247. I bolused with a normal dose and the evening went fine despite pigging out on a cheeseburger and fries for dinner. I wanted the calories.

Normally, after a day like this I would be high all evening and then crash sometime. This would get me a ticket to ride the diabetes roller coaster until the next day. I am glad that I was not issued a ticket!

www.crossfitgp.com

www.fubarbell.com 

Workout and Potato Starch

I worked out at CrossFit GP today. It was a lot of fun to work out with others. I coach a few classes a week there. I would like to be able to attend more classes, but my schedule doesn't work the best at times. I am going to try to make it into classes more often. Everyone is very supportive. Blood sugars were great. I haven't used much insulin at all today. 

I am starting to consume potato starch mixed with water. There has been a number people with diabetes see great results with their control and exercise while consuming potato starch. We will see how it goes. 

Deadlifts

Today I deadlifted and the blood sugars were great afterwards. Pre lifting, I was at 204. I required hardly any insulin at all to cover my dinner and at 8:00pm my level was at 89. 

The Pump

I have been on my style of insulin pump for about eight years now. Like anything, there are negatives and positives. It does make life easier. I fought the idea of having a pump since the early 90's. I didn't want some wire sticking out of my body all the time and have to carry a pump around. 

Now as an adult, my thoughts are completely different. Part of me wears it as a badge. The best thing about wearing it is when my students think I have a beeper or playing some video game device. It amazes me that 9 and 10

year olds even know what a beeper is. Overall, my control stays pretty consistent unless I calculate carbs incorrectly.  

There are some days when the site is bad with the infusion set. This last weekend I was frustrated with this and unplugged my pump for a day. Things went well, but I was paranoid about where my numbers were. I figured that being plugged back into my pump was the best choice for me.

What control for me comes down to are the choices I make. I make good choices and my diabetes treats me nicely. I get a bit sloppy and the diabetes slaps me in the face. Life is all about choices. 

Reset

The last few weeks I have not been very disciplined with keeping a routine with diet or exercise. This has led my blood sugars to be on a roller coaster. I know what I need to do to feel good and have control of the blood sugars.

For me, I have found that a very low carb diet with lifting weights seems to do the trick. I know I have said this in the past. I have to accept that the fact that some routines are not the best for me. I am not going to put my health at risk. I need control. I have restarted 5/3/1 with low maxes and I am going to keep things simple. For conditioning work, I will push the prowler and train strongman events. I am also keeping my eyes peeled for any in state powerlifting or strongman events.

I admire those type 1s that can pull off the high intensity activities and still feel well. There is a type 1 athlete's page in Facebook that is very motivating. People that are a part of this group push the limits of being a T1D. More importantly, people offer help to each other and are very supportive. 

80 Burpees

November is Diabetes Awareness Month. I have mentioned this to people and they have no idea. I can't blame them. If it doesn't touch them in any way, it's not a big deal. 

On Friday I wore a Type 1 Design shirt that said cure T1D. My 4th graders that I teach thought I was wearing a One Direction shirt. It was pretty funny. 

One thing I am doing all month long is each day I will do 80 burpees to support an all T1D CrossFit team. I came by this through a type 1 athlete page on Facebook. The group is very helpful and very supportive. The group has made me question CrossFit again.

For me, if I have some carbs and some insulin before a high intensity workout like so many are in CrossFit things are okay. Would Fran(thrusters and pull-ups, 21-15-9) be the best workout for me? Probably not! Is it fun? Yes! This where I need to check the ego and use my brain. I have to build in rest or slow down my pace. The blood sugars have been kept in check. 

The last few days I have done partner workouts. Friday's was done in my garage with my friend Sean. He is great with understanding the diabetes and never let's me use it as an excuse. I think the rest while my partners were doing their part has helped.

Saturday, I worked out at CrossFit GP(www.crossfitgp.com). The atmosphere and community were great. Everyone supports each other and helps each other out. Finding CFGP, has helped me in so many ways it can't be measured. A huge thanks goes to the owners Chris and Corrie Dunkin for providing our small town with something special. The magic of CrossFit is the community. 

I know in the past I have said that CF isn't the best thing for me, but I think if I approach it appropriately things will be okay. One mistake I made in the past is not having enough fuel in my system before and after a workout. I still will be lifting heavy 2-4 days a week, but with a more rounded approach. 

I am interested to see how the 80 burpees a day improve my conditioning. If you would like, please feel free to join me for the rest of November with the burpees.

Please leave comments or questions. Thank you for reading my blog!