Friday Favorites, Honestly

Happy Friday! ( Although when you are on summer vacation everyday is like Friday :) )

Favorite Place: Aruba

 

 

Favorite Essie Color (This Week): Bottle Service

 

 

Favorite Gym Motivation: Keep Going!

 

 

 

Favorite Song: The Way - Ariana Grande

 

 

Favorite Trait: Honesty

 

 

Favorite Diabetic Meme: Ryan Gosling <3

 

 

Favorite Gluten Free Meme: Again, Ryan Gosling <3 <3

 

 

Favorite Thing I am Looking Forward To: St. Thomas (Tomorrow!)

 

 



 



 

 

Any hoot, I am off! Enjoy the long weekend, but remember to take a moment to remember what Memorial Day is all about. See you all when I get back from vacation. :)

 

What are some of your favorites??

Throw Back Thursday - Growing up Type 1

So we come across another "tbt." As a request from my gym friend, Carolyn I thought I would throw it back to the adolescent years (yikes) and share some experiences growing up with T1D.

 I was diagnosed the summer going into the 6th grade so not only did I have a new school to worry about, but this new diagnosis. Looking back on it I think I feel more nervous now reflecting on it than I did living in the moment. I never asked "why me" I just kind of accepted it and incorporated testing my blood and taking insulin into my daily routine. Although I would have rather never been diagnosed to begin with, having T1D made me a more sensitive person, especially towards other people's feelings. I was never bullied or anything like that, the worst I dealt with were the ignorant comments (from people of all ages, not just my peers).  Being asked if I got this because I ate too much sugar, was fat before, etc. the list goes on and on. (I will do a post about the dumb things people say to T1D's). Even my teachers at times made me feel badly. A lot of times I was singled out during class when "treats" were being had for birthdays or other celebrations. Being told "Oh no you can't have this" or "I don't want to have to give you mouth to mouth if you pass out." Like seriously?! Or bringing in cookies for everyone else and a sugar free sucking candy for me. Call me crazy, but shouldn't teachers think about their actions beforehand? Isn't that what they tell their students? I am sure these things weren't said or done maliciously, but I mean COME ON. My advice is to educate teachers. Not just to notify them that they have a T1D in the class, but reassure them that you are like everyone else and want to be treated that way!


The best part of adolescence and having T1D was the school nurse connections. It almost makes you feel like God when you get to walk into the nurse's office and not have to sign in or wait in a line of people who are there to get their temperature taken when all they need is a band-aid. LOL :)

As far as control, I felt like back in the early stages it was "easier" and I always had the perfect blood sugar. These days I experience more of the unexplained highs/lows which gets extremely frustrating. Thinking back I do not remember going through anything too crazy as far as growing up and dealing with T1D. Like anything else I had good days and bad days.  Over the years you learn different tricks to manage based on what works for you. A great family support system helps also! (Thanks :) ) Although I had 11 years without having to test my blood, take insulin and basically learn walk on a balance beam I do not remember much from those days. By now what I have to do is just second nature. Hopefully one day we can all say that we USED to have to do all of these things, but I always try and tell myself that it can always be worse.


So as I said earlier, I have become a more sensitive person and learned to think before I act in various situations. (However even before having T1D I was raised to not say stupid things "props" to mom and dad).

WIAW - Taco Tuesday!

Being a new blogger I figured I'd try my first "What I Ate Wednesday" post (WIAW). I love seeing what everyone else eats, especially my friend Ashley since we can share our gluten free favorites!

The day started with my usual pre gym breakfast: Egg white veggie omelet with 1 piece of gluten free Paleo toast (boring I know, but it works). I love this bread because it is low carb and low calorie! This is the coconut flavor, 6g of carbs and 40 calories per slice. Perfect jump start to the day as I don't like to feel too full when I go to work out.

 

I topped my eggs with some salsa.....

 

 

And the toast with cinnamon. Cinnamon helps to stabilize blood sugars. (Sometimes I find this to be true, other times not so much.)

 

 

(McCormick's, the taste I trust)

 

And Breakfast would not have been complete without my Starbucks. Hooray for Kcups, but nothing compares to the actual Starbucks experience. 

 

 

 



 

The whole cinnamon theory seemed to work because after my 4.3 mile run (Yeahh!!!) this is what I got...

 

 

 

(Yay!)

 

I can't believe I am about to do this, but my first "post work out victory blood sugar blogger shot"

 

 

My favorite post gym fuel is an apple with peanut butter. Oh how I love peanut butter. <3 I stick to the reliable Skippy. I tried the almond butter, but it didn't tickle my fancy. Also all of those other organic pb's I don't understand because when I compare the two they are about the same.  

 

The afternoon was filled with stocking up on groceries. Mom and I hit Costco and King Kullen. Needed to stock up on, yes you guessed it ...

 

(49 Protein Bars purchased)

 

It is always hard passing the Entenmann's shelf at the food stores. What I wouldn't give to just indulge and not have to worry about getting a stomach ache or counting all of those carbs.

 

 

Like they say, "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips." No thanks!

 

After all of that running around (and it was hot out!) it was bar time :)

 

Seeing a number like this always brings a smile..

 

 

 

Enough said.

 

Dinner was one of my new favorites, tacos! If you follow me on Instagram you already saw these.

 

 

Still trying to figure out the correct coverage as far as insulin goes for these. The box may say one thing, but sometimes your body reacts however it wants. Two hours later this was the result:

 

 

Not terrible, but could have afforded to take at least 1 more unit.

 

Dessert was a Costco purchase which I saw Ashley blog about.

 

 

These little sorbet treats are perfect! Only about 65 calories and 15g of carbs in the Pomegranate-Lemon flavor.

 

As you can see I LOVE food! Wait until the post about my favorite restaurant, Dazies. Oh boy that will be a long one with lots of pictures.

 

 



What are some of your favorite post gym eats?? 

 

 

 

Bar Time...Protein Bar That Is!

Yay for another summer like day! Since yesterday wasn't that exciting, (here see for yourself...)

 

(my mom likes picking out flowers wayyyy more than me)

 I am going to share my absolute FAVORITE snack. Have you guessed? Yes! My favorite protein bar (aka "bar time").


                                             
I have one of these (sometimes two) every single day. Usually between 3pm&4pm is "bar time." My quiet time where I can enjoy (and when I say enjoy I mean seriously enjoy..I tune everything else out!) my snack and my iced coffee (Starbucks, of course). The Creamy Peanut Butter makes a good combo with the iced coffee. My other favorite flavor is the Chocolate Brownie Crunch.

 

 

That goes with my hot coffee. I know this sounds really weird, but I am a little weird so when you think about it I guess it makes sense. The reason I like these so much is because they taste like candy bars. They do not leave that weird after taste that a lot of other protein bars I have tried usually do. Another plus is that they do not spike my blood sugar and of course they are gluten free! What more could I ask for?!



 

 

So if you are looking for something to try I HIGHLY recommend! With 230 calories and about 23g of carbs it is the perfect thing to hold me over until dinner. I treat these babies as if they were actual babies lol. I start to get anxiety if they aren't handled with TLC when checking out at the register or I happened to get stopped going through security at the airport since I travel with a large Tupperware filled with them. Stay tuned for a future post about what comes with Kim on vacation...not just clothes. :)

 

Speaking of vacation, 4 more days until Mom and I jet off to St. Thomas!!!!! I am so excited for this...

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

What is your favorite snack?

Do you have anything coming up that you are looking forward to?

 

I would love to hear so comment below! :)  



Sunday Recap

Happy Monday! At least it is happy (somewhat) for me because I am on summer vacation. It was off to a cloudy start, but warmed up pretty nicely and the sun always helps. I had a KILLER spin class this morning so I am feeling it now!

Yesterday on the other had was not as nice. It was one of those dreary, rainy November feel like days. Gross. This was something interesting I saw on Twitter...

 

 

Instead of trying to figure out some of those reasons, I headed for the gym. Nothing running on the treadmill can't cure (temporarily). I ran 4.2 miles straight! I am really getting better at long distance running. For the longest time I was into interval sprints, but in preparation for my first 5k in a few weeks, I wanted to prepare. Now I just have to start getting outside more. I mentioned yesterday that I woke up with a blood sugar of 129. Luckily I didn't crash during my run. Afterward I was 181 which is slightly high so I took 1 unit of insulin to correct that. Then before my "bar time" I was....

 

 

 

 

 So that definitely put me in a good mood and I was able to enjoy my iced coffee and protein bar along with one of my favorite movies before heading to work. He's Just Not That Into You has become one of my absolute favorite movies thanks to my best friend Tanya! :) This movie hits all of those dating issues head on. Seriously, it really opened my eyes and always comforts me to watch it. My favorite scene is at the end when Alex goes to see Gigi to "return" the pen she left at the bar he works at. (Haha what a lame excuse, but whatever it takes!)



I was really on a roll with good numbers which made me feel good since lately I felt like they were crazy. Maybe blogging has helped that? Lol. Before heading to work I tested and....

 

Hallelujah!

 

 

The top device is my Dexcom sensor. I wear a small sensor on me and then carry the black receiver around. It helps me to see trends and reduce the amount of in between testing I need to do. The bottom is my meter which I use to prick my finger and get a reading. I needed to capture this moment with how close they both were.

Off to work I went. Sometimes it gets hard always inhaling the smell of fried goodness and seeing amazing desserts. Ugh the chocolate mousse cake gets me every time. Its probably a good thing that they aren't gluten free because having easy access to them would probably be dangerous. I would have to start doing a lot more spin classes!!

That's all for now! I'll catch ya later. If you are on Twitter feel free to follow me @KimAvelin or Instagram, KAvelin19.

Sweet Saturday

Hey! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Yesterday was a great Saturday...I actually took the day off from the gym in order to give myself enough time to prep for my brothers graduation ceremony from Dowling College. I have been trying to get better at blowing out my own hair. I have no idea how the salon does it so well. With my thick hair that was like a workout in itself, but I think I am getting better at it. Eventually I hope to be able to get it to look like this...


(isn't she just perfect?)
Well anyway, I headed to the ceremony with my wannabe Kate Middleton hair.
Luckily the weather held out for the duration of the ceremony. Literally right as we got into the car for the trip home it began raining. I am so proud of my brother who received his MBA diploma!!



The ceremony was short, sweet and to the point. Good thing we had lunch before we left because as we got out around 3:30 I was STARVING. As future posts will explain, I am a very regimented person. Usually about this time I have my afternoon snack which consists of my iced coffee from Starbucks and my favorite protein bar (this will probably get it's own post eventually). So as it gets further and further past 3:30 I begin to get antsy, just ask anyone in my family.



So snack time, or "bar time" as I refer to it happened a little late around 4:15 (but it was worth it of course...maybe lol) :)

In the evening a group of us went out to celebrate at the restaurant I work at! (Oh yes forgot to mention I hostess at an THE BEST Italian restaurant, HI JOHN!!).

(Yes, I needed an outfit change!)


Boy was I STUFFED. I still have not grasped that whole concept of "giving your body a chance to figure out when you are full." So that belt on my dress needed to be loosened. Saturday nights are my cheat nights so I let it slide. ANDDD I did pass on dessert so I was proud of myself :)

Towards the end of the day the blood sugar was a little crazy, but that's what happens. I did wake up at 129 this morning (winning) so it seems to be back on track for today...so far. (I'll make a post with more detailed info about blood sugars)

Enjoy the weekend I will talk to you all soon!
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A little bit of Kim

Good Morning! So I figured I'd go into a little more detail about some things I mentioned in my first post. I had mentioned that I have a love for fitness and eating healthy. I am a huge gym go-er and 6 days a week do all different activities from running, spinning, yoga, and weight training. I was always active growing up since I was a figure skater, but around my senior year of high school it really became a big part of me. After I had to start eating gluten free (because of Celiac Disease) I really began paying attention to what I was putting into my body. With some determination I was able to drop about 15lbs and 2 sizes! (Sometimes 3 depending on the brand...I like those brands hehe) However like anything else it came with some obstacles along the way.
Something that I deal with everyday is Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). People find that surprising because you would never be able to tell just by looking at a person...but that is the thing, T1D does not discriminate against anyone. Often people get it confused with Type 2 Diabetes because the media discusses it much more because it is more easily preventable with a healthy diet and active lifestyle. T1D is an auto-immune disease which means there was nothing I could have done to prevent getting it. It was in my gene makeup and it was diagnosed almost 10 years ago on August 15, 2003 when I was 11 years old (One thing you will see is that I have an EXCELLENT memory as far as dates and remembering little things!) So basically my pancreas which secretes insulin to control sugar levels (or at least is supposed to) does not. Therefore I must check my blood sugar with a meter and inject myself with the necessary insulin (No I do not STAB or JAB myself with needles..it isn't that dramatic).






 So this all sounds pretty straight forward..haha think again. What is so frustrating is that this is not a science. It is not as simple as taking an injection and being done for the day. Everything I do from what I eat, how much activity I have had, if I am sick, stressed, hot, cold, etc. can affect my blood sugar. So what may work one day may be completely different the next day even if what I ate is the same. T1D is like walking on a balance beam and just trying to do the best to keep it in control. One thing I do want to stress is that Type 1 Diabetics can eat anything a person without diabetes can eat. It is all about counting the carbs in the food I eat and taking insulin for it. What makes it difficult is that we have to continuously be on top of it whereas someone else's body will correct their levels automatically. It has NOTHING TO DO WITH SUGAR. So the next time you want to pick up a "sugar free dessert" for the diabetic at the party, don't! Its just a money maker! Although the thought is appreciated, sugar free things most of the time have more carbohydrates than the regular items. So as I continue to blog you will get to see what really goes on behind the scenes. The highs, the lows, the frustrations, etc. My goal is to raise awareness to something that I feel is misunderstood. There is a lot of ignorance about it which I blame a lot on the media because many times they do not distinguish between Type 1 or Type 2.
In case you were wondering, Celiac Disease is also an auto-immune disorder. A lot of times T1D and CD come within a few years of each other.
Well I am off for a fun Saturday to watch my brother walk at his MBA graduation...the sun is shining too which just makes it that much better! :)

First Blog Post!

Welcome to my blog! This is my first post so I am still trying to figure out how this all works, so bear with me. I'm excited to give this whole blogging thing a shot after being inspired by my friend, Ashley who has been blogging for a few months now (hi!). I thought it would be a good way to connect with people who have the same interests and just a way to get some of my thoughts down. Things in this blog will be, yes you guessed it, all things related to me, Kim. Some of these "things" include my love for fitness, eating healthy (for the most part), being gluten free and a huge part of me which is living a life with Type 1 Diabetes (YES I CAN HAVE SUGAR..more blogs to come on that)..and just a bunch of other random things! Yes I can be pretty random. So hopefully if anything my blog will give people some insight and an education on a variety of things and maybe some laughs too.
Thanks for reading! I'll see you all soon. :)