As experts in the field of maths, seasoned Diabetics are expected to be pretty competent at carb counting. Carbohydrates are one of the dominant forces in the world of Type 1 Diabetes and you may have been given a crash course in carb counting at some point, following your own diagnosis. Some of you may have been on educational courses such as DAFNE and picked up your first in "Normal Eating" - whatever that is! All super, fine and dandy but what is a Carb Counting Assessment appointment?
As a part of my previous (and excellent) appointment, I agreed to attend a Carb Counting Assessment despite being a little confused at what to expect. I imagined a table, full of foods all of which would be challenging to carb count. Maybe a pot of rice? some pasta... random items from a Chinese restaurant?! all my favourites! This wet daydream was far from the truth and there were no foods on offer / to guess the carb content of. Instead, I spent a good 20 minutes talking about how I'm coping with dosing for foods and drinks, what my day to day meals might look like, snacky snacks, MDI vs pumping, Fiasp, exercise and tonnes of good stuff.
This was hugely unexpected. I thought I'd be tested, quizzed, marked on my competence. I even Googled the carb contents of various rices because I felt certain I'd be shown a portion and asked to estimate the carbs. No such challenges happened, I never felt assessed.
There was an immediate understanding that my HbA1c, time in range and longevity with T1D probably means that I'm getting along okay. Once we'd got through the main course of the appointment, I was given time to ask my own questions. Amazing! What has happened to Dietitian appointments in the last 30 years?
30 years?
Ah, yes. Possibly longer! but 30 years is in the ballpark. Rewind those 3 decades to a time when I was a teenager, angry at the world and especially angry at having this stupid condition. Diet? Pft! Yes, I know, eat more fruit and vegetables, good chat. My last appointment did contain that iconic piece of advice alongside many other fear provoking gems. I've spoken about scaremongering and how it's ineffective and a pretty mean tactic to use on children to get them to tow the line, actually! it's a mean tactic to use on a person of any age - don't do it. The dietitian appointments of old are one of the reasons that I hated attending clinic and a driving force in me not attending appointments for many years.
I've been offered appointments in recent years and declined, a carry over from the horrible appointments of the past perhaps. However! The new (around 5 years old, now) fully engaged with his T1D, version of me submitted to attending this one as a way of showing goodwill to my new consultant, the consultant who is recommending me for pump funding, it seemed only reasonable to meet half way and allow for a check in that particular box. And what would I have to lose? A few hours of my time at the most. I'm glad that I attended and I will certainly be checking in with the clinic Dietitian again in the future.
Should you?
I think if you can iron out any wrinkles in your chosen diet and lifestyle for a smoother time with T1D then you should. Ultimately, a Dietitian is there to help us and not judge and chastise. If the opportunity arises then I encourage you to at least give that appointment some of your time and go into it with an open mind. If it's awful then avoid for a while and shout at me about it on Twitter.
So, there's that for today's blog post. As you might have seen, a conflict has broken out in Ukraine as Russia has invaded that country. The scenes on TV and on social media are horrifying. What can we do? Well, I don't think there is a wrong way to help if you donate to charities who are active in helping the people of Ukraine. I support many charities but one which has always had my heart is MSF. Medecins Sans Frontieres translates as Doctors Without Borders. When it comes to the health of others in disaster areas, war zones and the like then I think we all have a duty to do what we can to help and help those who directly help! such as MSF. With that in mind, all donations to me via Buy Me a Coffee and all the pennies generated through the ads dotted around my pages will be donated to MSF. I will make up the different for the fees taken by PayPal and Buy Me a Coffee. That will run until further notice, no time frames and possibly until Ukraine is a free country again. Thank you for reading my blog.
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