HOLD MY CARROTS

Taste the rainbow and diabetes bitchswitch, flipped.

I don’t know why some people are obsessed with carrots and diabetes - but get a fucking clue, learn the facts about diabetes, and leave carrots alone - and leave me alone when I eat or buy them - because I LOVE CARROTS. 
This happened right before Christmas.

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I stood there in the veggie aisle, enthralled by the display of 2 lb bags of large and organic rainbow carrots - guys, they were seriously gorgeous, dare I say stunning?  
A literal rainbow of colors - purple, orange, beige - and I couldn’t wait to embrace the rainbow of carrots, chop them up and get them in my belly!

Bonus, they were only 50 cents more than the freakish large and weirdly uniform looking Frankenstein carrots  - and I knew they were tastier, because no chemicals. 

I’d planned on making an amazing carrot ginger soup I’d recently perfected when I got home, these carrots would be perfect. I grabbed two, 2 lb bags and walked towards the produce scale a few feet away. 

 Side bar: Bagged produce doesn’t always weigh the same, so take a beat and weigh them. 

In this case, one bag weighed a 1/2 a pound more than the other - and that would be the one I placed in my cart with the other ingredients. 

As I turned to put the other bag of carrots back, I heard someone say, “You’ll get diabetes if you eat all those carrots.” 

I looked over towards the apple bins and saw a woman standing in that aisle and with what seemed to be an inordinate amount of kale in her basket, but that's besides the point. 
She stood catty-corner to the isle, looking at me and shaking her head. 

I silently uttered ”fuck,” looked at her and said, “I don’t know anyone who eats two pounds of carrots at once and that’s not how diabetes works." 

Then I did my best to extricate myself from the lecture I knew was headed my way.

It was like the baby carrot bbq incident of 2011 all over again - but different. 

Nine times out of ten, I try and educate about diabetes every chance I get - that's what most of us do. But not this time.

This time - on a rainy and damn near freezing night, all I wanted to do was get home, put on my PJs and create the fabulous carrot ginger soup I’d been craving and which ironically, always seemed to be followed by post meal unicorn blood sugars, every time I made it. 

Which when you think about it makes perfect sense because It’s all veggies - it’s like drinking a liquid warm salad, except that sounds gross and this soup is anything but!

I started wheeling my cart back towards the carrot wall, but Apple Annie followed my over. 

Apple Annie: Carrots are loaded with sugar - they're like donuts. 

Me: Ginger Donut soup doesn’t sound like it would be appetizing. 

Apple Annie: Carrots are loaded with sugar - they do more harm than good and mess with your insulin levels. 

And in my head, I panned left to the imaginary camera and said: HOLD MY CARROTS.

In real time and standing in front of the rainbow of veggies, I stepped on my diabetes soapbox and stated: I already have diabetes - I’ve had diabetes since I was a little girl - and not because my mom fed me carrots... or donuts... or donuts laced with carrots. 

I have diabetes because my pancreas crapped out and destroyed the part of my pancreas that makes insulin - STOP BLAMING PEOPLE WITH DIABETES AND STOP BLAMING CARROTS.

And instead of putting the second bag of rainbow carrots back, I tossed them in my cart in defiance and walked past her.

And Apple Annie just stared at me like I had three-heads, all of which were happily munching away on rainbow carrots. 

Taste the rainbow, and diabetes bitch-switch, flipped and dialed up to 11. 

Diabetes And The Little Things That Can Mess With Our Heads

It’s the little unexpected diabetes things that catch us off-guard...and can cause us to second guess ourselves in other ways and areas.

And we have to deal, acknowledge, shake it off and get on with the business of living. 

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Sunday night with spoon in hand, I headed for the fridge, grabbed a yogurt and some clean red grapes from a chilled glass bowl, closed the door and headed towards the TV room  to watch one of my favorite shows, OUTLANDER. 

Claire and Jaimie were about to get together for the first time in 20 years (and through the time and space continuum, which made it more like 200 years,) and I didn’t want to miss a thing. 

SIdebar: If you’re not watching OUTLANDER on Starz, rectify that situation, IMMEDIATELY.

Fresh out of the shower after a day out in the sun -vanilla yogurt and red grapes in front of the TV were the perfect light and easy dinner.

15 minutes to Claire and Jamie “officially reuniting,” I’d bolused accordingly, I was giggling like a school girl, and my yogurt and red grapes were hitting the spot. 

10 minutes to Outlander, spoon in midair, half way through my yogurt and out of the blue, I realized that I hadn’t actually heard the fridge door close behind me. 

I put down my spoon, got up, went to the kitchen and saw that the refrigerator door was more than slightly ajar - the damn door was wide open! 

I went over and went in, checked in the produce drawer to make sure my insulin supply was still cold. And of course it was - it had only been like 5 minutes. 

But for my peace of mind I had to double check - insulin was too damn expensive to leave it chance. 

I closed the drawer, shut the door, and watched it close shut. 

And then I brushed my hand over the door handle and gave it a little pat.

CRISIS AVERTED. 5 minutes to OUTLANDER and all I could think was what if I hadn’t realized or wasn’t home to realize that I’d left the fridge door open. 

I didn’t care about the food - there wasn't much in there anyway. 

But the “what ifs” re: 4 bottles of insulin going bad had me hyper focusing on diabetes.

And diabetes was the last fucking thing I wanted to focus on. 

I took some deep breaths and did my best to shake it off. 

And I did. 

By the time the OUTLANDER theme music started, I was focused on a print shop in Edinburgh, Scotland, circa 1768 and on a reunion  20/200 years in the making. 

Also: SUCH A GOOD EPISODE.

Claire & Jamie back together!
Photo Credit: Aimee Spinks/Starz Entertainment, LLC

Cut to yesterday morning, after locking my front door and just as I was about to walk to my car, my thoughts went back to the opened fridge door from the night before.

I took a deep breath, unlocked the door, went to the kitchen and did a quick double check that my fridge door was right and tight like a drum. 

It was. 

I ran back outside, shut the front door without a second thought..... until I was about to put the car key in the ignition and drive away - and then I wondered out-loud if I had locked the front door.

I let out a string of F-bombs, removed my seat-belt, and opened my car door. 

For the record, I had locked the front door.

But after the Sunday night insulin “could have beens and thank God it wasn't,” I found my second guessing and checking, again - because diabetes had messed with my head and my confidence - and for the third time in 24 hours. 

Yep - it was a Monday vibe for sure. Monday vibes and diabetes be damned, I put the key in the ignition and like Claire and Jamie, I forged ahead~ 

Adulting With Diabetes

"Adulting with diabetes," buying what you need (and have just run out of,)
with your Target GiftCard, instead of splurging on something you want! 

If you are an adult living with diabetes, you are “adulting with diabetes,” every single damn day - I get it and I applaud you for it. 

Some days it seems as if we adult with diabetes, more than others.

Take last Wednesday - I swear to Gouda, it seemed that the majority of my day was all about “adulting with diabetes,” at least that’s how it seemed to me. 

And I was proud of myself for dealing with it and #adultingwithdiabetes. 

We - every single one of us adults with diabetes, are "adulting with diabetes," every single day, every single minute of the year - and there are moments that we want and should brag/bitch about it.

Also: BRAVA and BRAVO to every damn one of us! 

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Adulting with diabetes means NOT canceling your scheduled eye exam, even though it's happening on a beautiful Indian summer afternoon and you’d much rather be playing hooky outside than having your eyes dilated and all that goes with that, inside a crowded doctor's office.

And then continuing with adulting by stopping by the cable company to exchange your cable box (which you remember to bring with,) something you’ve put off doing FOREVER. But today is the day - even though you know that you’ll have to hook it with dilated eyes when you get home. 

After picking up said new cable box, you realize that Target is right across the parking lot from the cable company - and that you have a $20 Target gift card.

You finish up the 7 Tropical Fruit flavored glucose tabs in the emergency glucose tab bottle you always keep your car ( you're not low - but history has shown you that you will need the extra carbs for walking around Target,) and which you empty. 

And you save the bottle to use as a on-the-road sharps container. 

Then you decide to use that Target gift card on things you need, like windshield wiper fluid, cleaning suplies... and Target Glucose tabs. 

Not things you want or want to splurge on - like lipstick or new workout clothes.  

Sidebar: You score an additional 5% off said glucose tabs with Target’s Cartwheel app - and you don't go low in Target - thanks to the extra glucose tabs you downed in the parking lot.

Yes, TOTALLY ADULTING WITH DIABETES.

Afterwards, you come home, sit in your driveway and down the rest of the water in your 24 ounce reusable water bottle -and put some much needed Windshield wiper fluid under the hood - before you walk in the door. 

 Speaking of walking in the door - you go straight to the fridge, put away the cheese and yogurt (have I mentioned that my latest yogurt obsession is OUI, by yoplait?) purchased at Target. You put away t\the cleaning supplies, then sit on your couch and hook up your cablebox – even though you can barely read the directions with your dilated eyes. 

When all is said and done and you’re ready to make dinner... adulting with diabetes, continues.  

You do this by adding more frozen green beans to your leftover almost Bastard Almost Homemade Chicken Soup because you know that you haven't eaten nearly enough fruits or veggies, today. 

Speaking of almost leftover Bastard Almost Homemade Chicken Soup – you actually choose to eat homemade chicken soup instead of of caving into your takeout Stromboli craving.

And then as you eat your fantastic soup loaded with green beans, you realize all the damn adulating with diabetes you've done today - and everyday - and you tell yourself: WAY TO GO, GIRL!

More "adulating with diabetes," moments as of late 

• Calling up in dealing with care Centrix when it's the last thing you feel like doing 
• Checking your BG before putting the key in the ignition  
• Speaking of blood sugar, checking your blood sugar at an extended red light 
• Choosing a glass of red wine instead of a beer because
• Your Dr. told you that you should drink at least one glass of red wine and night, plus
• You don't feel like doing any diabetes math and beer confuses the hell out of you when it comes to bolusing. *CLINK.*
• Making sure you’re diabetes RX refills are filled on-time and no matter what. 
• Dealing with all the stupid diabetes myths and trying to educate the masses with diabetes realities - and without losing your temper! 

 I could go on and on, but enough about me, I'm hoping that you have an "adulting with diabetes," moment you’d like to share. 

If so, tell us about it in the comments section (if you want, absolutely no pressure,) WELL DONE, AND YOU ROCK!