freitag favorites + moving forward

A lot has changed about my life in the last few weeks, and I’m happy to say that all the little positives of the last few weeks, along with all the love and support from all of you, are really helping to outweigh the one big, life-changing negative that is diabetes.

You see, at least I ended the summer in the sun listening to gentle waves, reading a good book on the beach next to the man of my dreams (see above). At least I returned home to weather just warm enough that I’m still able to leave for work with damp hair, thus drastically shorting my morning routine. At least dark chocolate is generally low in sugar, and at least diabetes means that I may have to eat a few gummi bears every time I go for a run to keep my blood sugar more stable along the way. Really, it’s the small things that matter.

Perhaps it is also somehow helpful that the overpowering sinking feeling of shock I still have when I really remember I’m diabetic that makes even little negatives–like getting attacked by more than 20 bloodthirsty Turkish mosquitoes in one evening–much more manageable.

I don’t want to live my life defined by this diagnosis, nor do I want to be the person that always looks at food and complains about what they can’t have, but it is going to take me some time to get there. In the meantime, I still feel a little sad when I think about how easy it was to just live my life without wondering how many grams of carbohydrates/sugars were in everything that crossed my lips.

I guess the only other good news about my diabetes diagnosis is that I have late onset type 1 diabetes (LADA) and so far it seems my pancreas is still sort of functioning and producing some insulin which will make this transition period a little easier. Right now my time is mostly absorbed in lots of finger-pricking in order to learn how different foods affect me, the impact of exercise, and what my body can still do. Who knew so much math would be required to read the side of a box? Well, I can already tell you that one Turkish delight (ha) contains about 3g carbs and that two Turkish Delight is just a little too much fuel for a 5km run.

So, on that note, I have one critical question I need you to help me answer: what kind of sugary candy should I have available on runs, or in my purse, in order to prevent hypoglycemic moments? The answer is certainly not the Medtronic-labeled mysteries currently floating around in the bottom of my purse.

While you think about the answer, I hope you enjoy some of my favorites from around the web over the last few weeks…

• I love the sound of all the bells around Switzerland, especially the cow bells on Alpine hillsides, but apparently not everyone in Switzerland feels that church bells make a joyful noise and apparently even cows don’t like their bells.
• I’ve always loved beautiful maps and I was excited to read about all the time, thoughtfulness, and good design that went into this beautiful award-winning map of the US made by a cartographer from Eugene, Oregon.
• Since I unfortunately won’t be making these Cinnamon Sugar Popovers this weekend, then someone else should.
• We devoured this Marinated Chickpea Salad (with arugula and pearl barley in lieu of quinoa) this week and I highly recommend you add it to your dinner to do list.