Tip of the Week:

Did you know that warm weather can affect blood sugar levels?  The effect of outside activity on blood sugar numbers can be compounded in warm or hot weather.  Playing or exercising outdoors in the summer may cause your blood sugar vary more than you expect.   Remember to take into account the weather when planning your day or vacation this summer and pay special attention to how the heat affects your blood sugar levels.

Caring for a child with Type - 1 is a lot of work, every day, 7 days a week.  When my wife is out of town on business, it is so challenging to take 100% of the responsibility for that care - particularly when it must be handled along with monitoring homework, taking kids to practices and all the “regular” parental duties.  Flying solo for a while reminds me how lucky I am to be sharing this responsibility with my wife, and how stressful it is for her when I have to be away for work. I have immense admiration and awe for single parents who have to shoulder the full responsibility for caring for their Type - 1 kids.   

- Jay (father of a pre-teen son with type 1 diabetes)

Everywhere I turn there are articles about the farmers markets in my area.   This is probably as much a sign of the “eat local” movement as well as what appears to be a trend towards eating less processed whole foods.  Either way, there is a rainbow of fruit coming available at this time of the year both at your grocery store and if you are lucky, from your local farmers.  Not only is fruit healthy and full of nutrients, but it is often relatively low in carbs…something never far from your mind if you have diabetes.  Check out some fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, watermelon, or look for your other favorites. 

Need some assistance with counting carbs in your fresh fruit?  Try Calorie King:  http://www.calorieking.com/

With all of this talk of swine flu, I am reminded that my son was diagnosed with type 1 a few weeks after having the flu.  He tested positive in December of 2000 for the flu then in January of 2001 was showing symptoms of type 1.  We didn’t know at the time that he had a genetic predisposition because my husband and I are both adopted.  Later when we found my birth father’s family, we learned that he had a brother who had type 1, giving our family a genetic predisposition to the disease.  The flu was the trigger that sent the white blood cells off to attack the pancreas.  I know we could not have avoided all sickness and thus avoided type 1, but it does make the flu an especially negative thought for me!