Thursday, May 13, 2010

To carb or not to carb...







Carbs. Oh carbs. I didn't know much about you and your crazy ways before Grace was diagnosed. Now I know way too much about you. How much you are in number, how long you take to make a blood sugar rise, how you convert to sugar, how you react in my daughter's body. It's really more than I ever wanted to know. I love you and I dislike you very much at times.

Grace is a typical 7 year old. She eats what she likes and if she don't like it, she won't eat it. Now don't get me wrong, the girl will practically eat anything, her diet is varied and wide. But she knows what she doesn't like and is very clear about it. Once she has tried it and decided it's not for her, that's it. End of discussion and no turning back. She dutifully tastes them, then makes the final call.

She eats what 7 year olds eat. We count the carbs and we bolus for them. I am lucky that she likes fruits and veggies. Carrots and peanut butter are a favorite snack of her. Apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, strawberries and assorted other fruits are her friends. She happens to like peas too, and corn.

I feel as if I make her world low-carb and deny her all the things that 'non-D' kiddos eat, then I am setting herself up for some serious eating problems later on. I don't want her to be the candy hiding pre-teen. You want the candy, well, bolus for it and know how it will effect your blood sugar. Go ahead, have at it. Let's get the most knowledge we can about all the foods in this world and then make good decisions. But candy is not inherently bad, it's just a food we make a choice about.

You know what? It's like a friend of mine who had a baby the same time I had my first. She swore her child would never watch TV. It was mind-numbing, waste of time, blah, blah, blah, etc.  I remember distinctly her 18 month old and her coming for a visit and that child staring at the TV for more than an hour because he had never seen it before. Gorging on TV. Mine could have cared less, was playing with blocks in the other room. When we say 'never' to our kids, we make some hard lines in the sand. When we learn about everything in moderation, we learn about life and our choices.. For me and for Grace, living with D means that we learn about food and choices. All foods.

Everything in moderation. Every. Thing. And surprisingly, when I present Grace with an array of food to eat, because she has been exposed to it all, she choose wisely. She chooses the fruits, the veggies, the tuna. And she has the cookie too. And she boluses. And all is well in D-land. (And I knocked on wood as I typed that last statement, cause now I jinxed myself...)

6 comments:

LaLa said...

I so totally agree. Everything in moderation. If we restrict it then what are we teaching them? To go and hide in the closet and sneak it later. Hey - it's harder to bolus when they are hiding in the closet!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh agree agree agree!

I don't want Caleb to grow up and gain some freedom and run to the grocery store and gorge on every thing he felt he was restricted from as a child, so I don't restrict. But, as you said, teach him (and all my kids) moderation!!

Amen!!

Jules said...

Sound advice. I agree with everyhting you have said and try to do the same. We let Frank have dark chocolate if chocolate is wanted and we use it as dessert with berries. It's full of iron (that reason worked for me during my pregnancy as I inhaled Green & Blacks!) so it's good for us...

Meri said...

Great post! I agree agree agree!!!

Wendy said...

I think it's hilarious what a perfect mother I used to be. You know. BEFORE I had children!!!

My first baby...she was breastfed for 2 years (as were my other girls), I made all of her baby foods from scratch using organic fruits and veggies, she never had a bite of white bread or pasta, and ONLY saw "educational programming" for less than an hour a day after the age of 18 months...ahhhh...

She was dx with T1 3 weeks after her 2nd bday...and celiac disease at the age of 5.

Alot of good that did her.

Bring on the carbs. And some TV while we're at it!!!!!!!!!! You only live once :)

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