Little things that brighten your day

[The_Senator_From_Glu]

Thanks!

I am happy and indeed privileged to be able to take care of individual patients, to the extent I do. At the same time, I feel like I should be involved in a larger effort, on a larger level. An effort that involves waking people up about the crass commercialization of our food-health supply which is damaging to us all, but most especially to those of limited means. I need to start focusing on that part much more.

Here’s an example, sort of, of how an individual is affected by a poor food supply and his own diabetes.

A new patient with T2D is talking a lot about the dangers of bread and rice regarding diabetes, which is otherwise music to my ears, but not necessarily so great if he plans on continuing to take insulin. We are not in a position to run all of the tests to get a complete picture of his diabetes (fasting insulin levels, antibodies, etc). So there’s a lot we don’t know about just where he is in terms of existing insulin production, for example. When a patient on insulin in our setting starts talking about forgoing carbohydrates, well, without more guaranteed support, it’s a bit scary. I wish that weren’t so.

I do know, very generally speaking, either you commit to a low-carb life, 100% of the time, and lower your dose of, or if you’re extraordinarily lucky, quit your anti-diabetic medications, including insulin, or you continue to take insulin and are mindful that it will be necessary to keep on eating an appropriate amount of carbohydrates. To my mind, if you do one, you have to do that other. If you do one without the other, there is too much of a risk of hyper or hypoglycemia, with hypo being more immediately dangerous and much more potently so, especially in this person’s case with a history of hospitalizations due to lows.

I will try to talk to this person, using some of the above verbiage. When I see just how dedicated people on this site are, and yet still occasionally have problems, I can get down about people of limited means who aren’t prepared to commit to a course and dedicate much time and energy to their condition. Occasionally we do have patients who do, but they are the exception.

Hence, my desire to get involved at a more macro level. This one by one thing ain’t cuttin it.

[Robyn_H]

I’ve got the cutest, hardest-working, cow/chicken/duck/cat-herding pup ever, and she brightens every single day.

Not to mention the bravest pup ever, who just lives to defend me from errant stuffies.

[Terry4]

@Robyn_H – You have a cute and talented dog, even more lovable with the mischief. The second photo begs for a caption: “What stuffies??!”

Here’s my almost 12-year old constant companion, Norm.

He’s lounging on my rebounder.

[Robyn_H]

How cute @Terry4. I’m a big fan of the fur babies. We’ve got one that looks identical to yours that comes round from the neighbors’ every day around dinner time. He’s supposed to be guarding their alpacas, but he shirks his duties long enough to get a few pets and go for a quick swim. lol

[Yve65]

@Terry4

The second photo begs for a caption: “What stuffies??!”

Like a line in a mystery novel, “He (the toy) was already dead when I got there.” LOL

[pancreaswanted]

my cycle along the Guadalquivir River and over the bridge on my way to work, my dog nice and warm and curled up in my bed, guacamole, dark chocolate, MY coffee, the smell of orange blossoms in the streets when winter is over and through the summer, a good book, rereading a favourite novel, talking to my mom and my best friend, waking up before the alarm clock and turning over for a bit more kip before getting up, the smells and sounds of the beach. so much good stuff!

[Trying]

@Robyn_H

Not to mention the bravest pup ever, who just lives to defend me from errant stuffies.

This brave pup seems to be exhibiting a guilty expression for some reason, or is it, “you love me no matter what I do, and you can pet me!” expression! lol

[Terry4]

I enjoy learning new words like stuffies and kip used in this thread. Thank-you to @Robyn_H and @pancreaswanted for stretching my vocabulary this morning. It’s one of the pleasures I take when visiting other English speaking countries

[Dave44]

If you want to learn LOTS of new words, move to the UK. LOL! I spent three + years there as a kid. I can remember most of the British words I knew then, after many decades back in the US. I came back from England in 1956.

[Terry4]

I find it interesting that Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Scotland are more in the UK language orbit, but each have their own flavor. I also think all those countries tend to use a wider vocabulary than the typical American English speaker. Learning new words and writing styles does add to my day.

[Dave44]

Gotta love their accents! Especially New Zealanders and Australians.

[Jen]

@Sarah_Moulton

light therapy

I’m interested in light therapy not so much for mood but for sleep. I struggle to get up at 6:00 AM during winter when it’s dark out, and it often means I end up catching a cab to work (meaning $$) rather than catching transit. I’ve worked a lot on my sleep over the past year and I sleep very well, but no matter what I try, I struggle in the morning to get up and going so early (but an hour later, at 7:00 AM, I am fine to get up and go). I saw one of those light therapy lights at Costco last week and it was very bright. I thought maybe if I turned it on and shone it in my face in the morning when I feel like hitting snooze and going back to sleep, it might help my brain and body turn to awake mode. I will probably purchase one of the lights, but am still doing some research.

I definitely do consider myself to be someone living with multiple chronic illnesses, even though some are more severe and impactful on my life than others. All vary over time and at the moment my health is at a high point, but that is through massive daily effort and could change at any time. I do not live with as severe chronic illness as many, but I definitely live with more than an average thirty-something-year-old does.

As for positivity, I often find it in my apartment when I have everything clean and put on some instrumental music and relax with some tea and a book. I did that last night and was SO relaxed and content and grateful for everything in my life.

[Terry4]

@Jen

I did that last night and was SO relaxed and content and grateful for everything in my life.

I think recognizing and acknowledging in the moment when we are content and happy is a potent happiness ingredient. Now, I need to get to work cleaning my apartment!

[Robyn_H]

It’s probably not PC to say here, but I love to bake… Especially bread! The divine yeasty aroma filling the house is definitely on my list of “little things”. Then dunking it warn, fresh from the oven, and slathered in butter into a bowl of homemade soup is another!

This morning’s ham and cheese rolls:

We do things a little differently around here, though. That bread itself is full of carrot, onion, roasted garlic, duck eggs, oat flour, oat bran, and whole wheat flour… Nearly all of which was home grown, and the wheat flour was locally sourced. The ham and cheese came from one of our co-op partners.

[The_Senator_From_Glu]

It’s probably not high on the list of “healthy” foods, but I always say if you make it yourself, it’s better for you than if you didn’t. You take a lot of the processed out of processed food.

[Robyn_H]

Actually I would consider it very healthy, it’s a perfect balance of fat, protein, vegetable, whole grains and high enough in fiber/fat/protein to moderate the carbs. We don’t actually eat anything processed (with a few exceptions for certain drink mixes because our reverse osmosis water doesn’t have typical minerals/electrolytes), kinda goes against our permaculture fundamentals. That said, we don’t consider the preparations we do ourselves as “processing”, nor anything locally sourced that was made in a way I would, if I had the resources myself.

Not to say that I don’t grocery shop. Once every month or two we go to town to restock, like olden days, and I buy out-of-season produce, salt, spices, other single ingredient items, etc… Sometimes i buy cheese because milk isn’t always plentiful. The nearest supermarket is 90 minutes away, though.

We’re fortunate to live in an area with a great homesteading community. We often barter with one another for what we don’t/can’t make ourselves… Or just because someone else does it better. There are still a few old-school rancher/farmers around here using the familiar practices, Monsanto chemicals, and non-diverse seed crop, but they’re aging out. Most of the up and coming generations work the way we do and share the same ideals. “Ham” means you salt a fresh pork primal, maybe smoke it… There’s no industrial equipment to grind it up into a meat slurry, adding things you can’t pronounce, gluing it back together again with transglutiminase, then extrudinh it into a plastic casing.

I used to be a big city girl, and never knew that food could come without plastic wrappings and non-organic ingredients (in the literal physical makeup definition, not USDA classification). I love my new way of life, though. It makes you appreciate everything more when you’ve been with your food through every stage of it’s life.

[Brianna1]

I’ve been feeling a bit melancholy today. The state of the world right now is too much and I feel like my existence is shrinking because I’m not going anywhere or seeing people that I know. It feels like this is never going to end. Not to mention the usual stresses of T1D…

@Terry4 's description of stopping to enjoy the sun was lovely, and it was a good reminder to enjoy the small things.

My dog is a constant source of joy. He makes me laugh and gets me out for walks everyday.

Some other things that brighten my day - the sounds of birds chirping in the morning, curling up with a good book, the taste of summer fruits and vegetables that are out now…

[Trying]

He’s adorable, so is his playmate with the pink nose. I totally agree with your sentiments. Dogs, birds chirping (even at 4am!), and taste of the summer harvest all brighten my day, too!

[Robyn_H]

Mine has a cow, too… But ours looks a lot more worse for wear than yours!

[Brianna1]

What a beautiful dog!