Notice to Readers

Notice to Readers:

 

The content of this blog is for entertainment purposes only. 

It may or may not apply to your personal situation.

I am not a medical doctor. Please contact your own physician, or health care provider for any issues or concerns about your diabetes, health and well-being and before making changes in your care plan.

Glucose Tablets: An Essential Safety Measure for Insulin Users

Essential Safety Measures for Insulin Users

Something we all need once we start using insulin

 is a quick fix if our blood glucose goes too low.

If you're a type 2, and on oral meds, diet and exercise, your blood glucose may go low occasionally. However, when you start insulin, you'll experience more severe lows, that have a sudden onset, and you may not have the physical strength and presence of mind to deal with it, if you fail to prepare ahead of time.

One item you must have on hand is glucose tablets.

There are several brands, but I find the least expensive and most widely available brand is Dex4.

You can buy Dex4 in large jars of 50, which will treat about 15 lows, and there are also 10 tablet tubes. The tubes will only treat 3 lows or possibly 4.  The larger bottles are more economical. 

There are other brands of glucose available, these are simply the brand that I prefer, as it is easy to find, and not as expensive as the other ones. 

You should always carry glucose tablets with you when you go out, even in your own backyard. You should keep some in a small jar in every room of your home too. They should be easy to see at a glance, and easy to reach from whatever chair you normally sit in. For example, you should be able to reach them at your desk, your living room chair, kitchen table, in your car, your place of work, and where you sleep.

They should never be out of reach! 

Take the time now to break the seal on the bottle and open the lid, then screw it back on just enough to close, so its not tight. You need to keep moisture out, but have the lid loose enough for a weakened person to open in an emergency. If you go low, you will be weaker than normal, and probably confused as well.

If you take the time now to put at least 6 to 8 glucose tablets in small jars, label them, and put one in each location, it could save your life someday. It will certainly give you some security, knowing that you're prepared for the lows that will occur.

Why got to all this trouble you ask? Well, when a real low strikes, you may be too weak to walk, let alone hunt for and open a new, still sealed jar. You may not even have the strength to open a lid if its screwed on too tightly. Confusion is part of extreme low blood glucose, so be prepared now, so you can deal with it when it strikes.

Family members need to know what and where your glucose tablets are too. They need to know how to help if you get so low you can't even think of taking glucose tablets.

Here's a handy product that can be used to carry them when you're away from home, at work, etc.

This is the Quick Fix Key Chain for glucose tablets. The Dex4 tablets fit into these perfectly.

I rotate mine, as they do absorb more moisture when stored in these key-chain holders. You can find this product at  Quick Fix Key Chain

I've also seen these on Amazon.com 

 Dex 4 is available in tablets, gels and liquid form. The 50 count jar of tablets is the most economical form, and easier to find too. Other brands may be more readily available in your part of the world. The important thing is to get some, and have them on hand, where you'll need them, not stuck in the back of a cupboard somewhere, collecting dust!

Take the time now to get some glucose tablets and put them where you can easily find and use them, when the need arises.

You won't be sorry that you did! 

 

Control

 Control


What is this circle of testing,
counting carbs, and injecting insulin?


What does this tight control gain?
Why do I test over and over,
repeating the endless cycle of blood?



I celebrate each little victory,
a lower A1c, creating a new recipe
that doesn't send my glucose soaring,
finding a few moments of peace
when I actually forget my diabetes
and just live in the moment.

Control - I never knew
how much I would learn
to value that word.

I control my blood glucose 
as much as humanly possible,
instead of letting it...

Control me.


No comas, blindness, amputations,
no suffering like my grandmother,
had to go through.

Who am I to complain
about a few finger sticks,
counting carbs, injecting insulin,
getting labwork done,
overcoming my fear of needles,
when it can save my eyes,
save my feet, save my very life?

So what if I have to count carbs
and feel like a pincushion?
I'd rather count 

than die a little
every day...

Wouldn't you?


Control...

Its worth every moment that I give,
every day, month after month,
to stay here and enjoy
the spring blossoms on the apple tree,
the crash of waves on the shoreline after a storm,
the voice of my sweetheart in the starry dark,
my daughter's smiling face,
and someday...

the laughter of my grandchildren.


Petra

Low Carb Pie Crusts - Two to Choose From!

 

Low Carb Pie Crusts: 

Here's a couple you can choose from:

Healthy High Fiber Pie Crust

2 C. Fiber One cereal ground/crushed
3 T. melted butter
2 T. granular Splenda

Mix ingredients well, press into a lightly greased pie plate.

Bake 10 minutes @ 350 degrees F

Cool. Add filling of choice. I like to add a sugar free vanilla pudding filling with some fat free cream cheese stirred into it to make it taste like cheesecake. Then I top with strawberries if they are in season.


Almond Meal Pie Crust

This works best for a 9" pie pan. If you have an 8" one, the crust will be a little thicker, or you can cut back on the ingredients a bit. Very easy to make, tastes a lot like shortbread and its gluten free too!

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups almond meal or almond flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
Artificial sweetener equal to 3 tablespoons sugar

Preparation:
Heat oven to 350 F. Melt the butter (if the pie pan is microwave safe, melt the butter in it) and mix the ingredients up in the pan and pat into place with your fingertips.

Bake for about 10 minutes until the crust is beginning to brown. After 8 minutes, check every minute or so, because once it starts to brown it goes quickly.

Nutritional Information: The whole pie shell has 11 grams effective carbohydrate2 plus 17 grams fiber and 30 grams protein.

You can find lots of ideas for pie crusts and even recipes without crust, that are lower in carbs. Just Google it! 

Em's Diabetic Friendly Bran Muffins

Em's Diabetic Friendly Bran Muffins   Here's my recipe for Bran Muffins, for diabetics or those on a low carb diet.  These muffins are not as large as regular muffins, but this means that they also don't have as many carbs per muffin as regular muffins either!    1 1/3 cups prune juice 1 1/2 cups Fibre One cereal , OR unprocessed bran 2 cups Buttermilk OR 2 cups milk + 4 tsp white vinegar 1/2 cup Vegetable oil 2 whole eggs (or egg whites to make same quantity) 1 tsp Vanilla extract 1 Tbsp Ground cinnamon 2 cups Whole wheat flour 1 cup Oat Bran (the type you have to cook) 1/2 cup Splenda (granular Splenda for baking, no sugar added) 1 Tbsp Baking soda Optional flavours to add 2 Tbsp Unsweetened cocoa (substitute for 2 Tbsp of the flour) OR 1/2 tsp Powdered ginger 1/2 OR cup Unsweetened coconut flakes OR 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (must be thawed  first) To make the batter: Heat prune juice in microwave until hot but not boiling, in a large Pyrex measuring cup. Add bran and let sit 10 minutes. Stir in buttermilk or milk with vinegar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. In separate large bowl stir together cinnamon, flours, oat bran, sugar, Splenda, and baking soda. Mix together gently and pour into greased silicone muffin pans suitable for your microwave. To use: Medium muffins: Spray microwavable silicone muffin pan with Pam, and measure 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup. Microwave on high for 3 to 5 minutes or until done. Each muffin will have approximately 15 EEC (carbs minus fibre) or less. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from pan. For mini-muffin pan: measure 1/8th cup of batter into mini-muffin cups, and cook on high for 3 to 4 minutes. Each mini-muffin will have about 8 carbs each, (EEC – carbs minus the fibre). You can freeze after cooled, in  a ziplock bag. Just thaw in the microwave when you want a treat. Or you can bake in a regular oven, set at 375 F for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. Spray the muffin pan first with a non-stick spray such as Pam and fill each muffin cup about 2/3's full. Enjoy!

Low Carb Chocolate Almond Torte

Low Carb Chocolate Almond Torte

 (Also known as Chocolate Cake!)

This is a yummy treat for diabetics, or anyone on a low carb diet. I adapted this recipe from one I found on the web years ago. Sorry, I don’t recall where. Its not only rich and delicious, its also gluten free!

You can make this in just one bowl if you prefer, or even your food processor.I like to use two bowls, one for wet and one for dry ingredients. Either way, it doesn’t take long to mix and it tastes great. It has a slightly different texture from cake mixes and scratch cakes, but is still delish!

This torte (cake), is made from almond meal, which can be bought at health food stores and sometimes can be found in the bulk food section of your grocery store. If you can’t find ground almonds, you can use ground pecans. I store my almond meal in my freezer to keep it fresh. Since my diagnosis of diabetes, this is my favourite birthday cake.

DRY INGREDIENTS:

2 cups ground almonds or pecans
1/3 cup cocoa 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 cup granular Splenda for baking 

WET INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs 
1/2 cup (I stick) butter, melted 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1/2 cup water

PREPARATION:

Heat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan or spring-form pan with PAM. If you don’t have Pam, use margarine or butter to grease the pan well.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, using with a spoon.

Mix all the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, and mix until well-blended.

Pour mixture into greased pan and bake. The exact time will vary with the size of your pan, and the material (metal, pyrex, etc). Start checking at about 25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cut when cool.

If desired, serve with home-made whipped cream sweetened with Splenda.

NOTE: I like to use a Pyrex cake pan that has a snap on plastic lid, so I can leave it in the pan and just cut and serve as needed. It’s a bit crumblier than regular cake, so serving it in the baking dish is easier than trying to turn it out onto a plate to serve. Do not store it in a metal cake pan, they can go rusty.   Once its baked and cooled, cover and keep it in the fridge. It freezes well, as long as you wrap it well to prevent drying out.   If you plan to freeze it, cut into serving size pieces and freeze 2 per package so you can thaw out only what you need.   The following is only an approximation - nutritional Information: Serves 8, each piece has approximately 2 grams of NET (effective)  carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, 334 calories.


Low Carb Chocolate Icing

Mix one tub of Philly 95% fat free cream cheese, with 3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder and 3 to 4 packets regular Splenda (to taste). Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and stir in well

This spreads better when at room temperature, but it must be kept cold after spreading. You can soften it slighlty in the microwave on the lowest setting, till it becomes more spreadable.

This icing must be kept refrigerated, so once you have iced your cake, cover and put in fridge right away. This is great on the low carb Chocolate Torte. Spread it thin, its rich tasting. If you need to make it go further you can mix in a couple of tablespoons of soft margarine, which also makes it easier to spread.  If you don’t care about the fat content, you can use regular Philly cream cheese, instead of the low fat version.

Please remember to store the torte, (especially the iced version),  in your fridge, so it won’t go bad. Cream cheese must be kept cold, and almond meal tortes do not stay fresh as long as flour based cakes because of all the eggs, and the nuts. This is not a flour based cake, so keep it cold!

I like to freeze about half of the torte (cake) it for another occasion. This torte is low carb, but still pretty rich, so I don't eat too much of it at one time. Its also a bit pricey to make, but well worth it and you can make it last quite a while if you freeze most of it and just thaw out a piece or two for a special treat now and then.

 Enjoy!