How Type 1 Diabetes Prepared Me For Marathon Training

How Type 1 Diabetes prepared me for Marathon Training

How Type 1 Diabetes prepared me for Marathon Training
Editors Note:Whitney is a part of the 2017 Beyond Type Run Team , sponsoredby Medtronic . She ran in the 2017 TCS New York City Marathon.
People ask me how I have the mental endurance for marathon training. They must never have experienced a blood sugar in the 40s in the middle of summer while running (walking) errands around a city by themselves, several blocks from home. Likely, that they havent experienced a few variations of that situation numerous times. Just as runners will play games to get from one lamp post to the next, one tree to the fifth one down, there have been more than enough times during a commute or walk around in a city that I have found myself whispering mantras to keep going, trying to ignore all feelings begging me to stop and to just make it to the finish line and then most often my couch. Just like hitting the proverbial wall in a marathon, getting hit with a low leaves you feeling depleted disoriented and with a blurry focus on the finish line. One foot in front of the other
Speaking of hypoglycemia , ask a diabetic how fast they can down a juice box. How fast they can devour a granola bar. How quickly they can chomp glucose tablets. Were done before you even got through the question. Diabetics know how to fuel on the go, our lives depend on it. A big learning curve in training among runners is how to fuel on their runs. Some are thrown off by the sudden need to chew on some gummies or open up packets of gel while in forward motion. Its a disruption to their movement but for diabetics its Continue reading

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20 Things to Remember If Your Loved One Has Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes is a life-long disease which affects one’s health, wellbeing, and overall lifestyle. Type 1, in particular, demands countless finger pricks and insulin shots to keep blood glucose levels in control.
But, besides insulin and proper diet, these people need their friends’ and family’s support and understanding. Here are the things you should remember if someone you know has type 1 diabetes.
20 Facts About People with Type 1 Diabetes
1. They Don’t Have a Lifestyle Disease, But an Incurable Autoimmune Disease
Don’t judge them for having diabetes, as type 1 is a result of improper function of the pancreas. They didn’t choose to have this disease, so help them by suggesting to start biking or quit sugar.
2. Their Life Has Changed Suddenly
Even though most cases are inborn, type 1 diabetes can often appear out of the blue. So, it changes people’s life completely without them asking for it.
3. Different Daily Routine Than Yours
They give themselves a few insulin shots a day, and some will use an insulin pump for the rest of their lives. It’s because they have to keep their blood glucose levels under control to prevent them from getting hypoglycemia or fall into a coma.
4. They Are Like You from the Outside
Although they look like any other person on the outside, their inside is different. Since their pancreas doesn’t produce insulin, they could fall into a coma and die. So, these people live in this reality every single day.
5. Insulin Pumps Can Help Their Diabetes Management
Insulin pumps resemble their pancreas by providing them with insulin on a set sch Continue reading

Diet Plan for Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease for which you are never prepared. For foodies, it is like a nightmare. They are worried if they can ever enjoy their favorite food again or not. The answer to all these queries is a diabetes diet plan. Also, you should be geared with a glucose meter to keep an eye at your sugar level on regular basis. Collecting data of sugar level is a good habit and help you lot in diabetes treatment.
Diabetes is critical but not hard to live with. Of course, you need to transform your lifestyle. But it is not out of your reach. Overhauling food habit is one of the greatest change you have to make. Thanks to the internet, knowledge about every food, their quality, and content is readily available. Using this information, you can easily plan your diet according to your body.
Why Plan Diet?
In diabetes, the body can not produce enough insulin (hormone) or a patient may not be able to use produced insulin to manage sugar level in the blood. Hence, you need to manage it by eating a balanced diet for avoiding sudden spike and decline of the sugar level. In both cases, consequences are hazardous for health. Ideally, you should concentrate on eating low-GI food for your diabetes diet plan.
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How to Prevent Diabetes?
What is GI or Glycemic Index?
Glycemic Index is a new way to analyze food. It measures carbohydrate content in food and its impact on blood sugar. This indexation is quite crucial for planning a diet for diabetics. The food is categorized into three divisions, viz. und Continue reading

Fit With Diabetes Meal Plan #1

Do you know the saying: You cant outrun a bad diet? Well, its absolutely true!
No matter what your health and diabetes goals are, your nutrition is one of the most important factors that will impact whether you reach your goals or not. Thats why Im sharing this Fit With Diabetes Meal Plan with you today.
We all have different calorie needs. Your daily calorie need depends on your size, fitness level, daily activity, gender, etc. When you are creating a healthy diabetes meal plan, your first step should therefore always be to calculate your calorie equilibrium, or how many calories you need each day to maintain your current weight. You can learn exactly how to find you calorie equilibrium with 5 easy steps in this post: How to Find Your Daily Calorie Need .
Once you know your calorie equilibrium, you can adjust your daily calories up or down to meet your goals. If your goal is to lose weight, I recommend that you eat up to 500 calories less than your equilibrium each day. That should lead to a steady and healthy weight loss.
If you want to gain muscle, start out with 300-500 calories more than your equilibrium each day and see what happens. If you find that you are also putting on a little too much fat, decrease your calories slightly.
Now that you know how to calculate your daily calorie need, you are ready to create a healthy diabetes meal plan. Well, I say create, but you can really just use the plan in this post as it is. I have already calculated all the macronutrients (calories, carbs, protein, and fat), so you just need to choose the calorie level that is righ Continue reading

Fiber Fights Diabetes & Related Blood Sugar Issues

Fiber Fights Diabetes & Related Blood Sugar Issues
Last month we took a look at one of the more overlooked nutrientsfiber. We discussed the ways in which fiber can control weigh gain or loss depending on your needs. This month we're taking a deeper dive into the importance of fiber and its relationship with metabolic illness.
Fiber is a great help in the fight against diabetes, metabolic disease and other related issues such as insulin resistance and high blood sugar level
One simple way that fiber helps with diabetes and metabolic disease is its ability to reduce the blood sugar response and consequent insulin spike following a meal. Over the long term, this improved efficiency and blood sugar control can improve the health of your cells, your insulin sensitivity and is closely correlated to obesity and diabetes risk factors.
Additionally, high fiber foods or supplements, such as our Quest bars, also have a lower glycemic load and index, which means they generally create a lower blood sugar spike, especially if combined with other macronutrients such as protein (6).
Two large review studies also found that those with a higher fiber intake had reduced risk and development of diabetes. In one of these, 19% of participants witnessed a protective effect, while another review of over 400,000 estimated that there was a 29% reduction in the development of diabetes (7)
Although these larger reviews and observational studies have limitations, smaller controlled studies have also seen tremendous benefits.
One famous study testing this placed over 500 overweight men and wome Continue reading