Mc Carbs

Sundays are what my kids refer to as "tradition day".  We go to church in the morning, but that's not what they're talking about.  The tradition they are referring to is that I work on Sunday evenings, they go with their dad to visit his grandma, and they all eat McDonald's at her house for supper.  They enjoy it and look forward to it all week.

Since Rosie is now tracking her own carbs, this morning she asked me to look up the Mc nutrition information.   Apparently she's going to change up her usual order a bit.  ;)   As I type she's carefully calculating what she can order tonight if she has a snack this afternoon. 

Hat tip to McDonald's here.... their nutrition page is easy to find, easy to read, and there's a PDF with all the info we need available from their website.  I'm not a huge fan of Mc food myself, but I do appreciate how easy they make it to figure out the carbs for Rosie's "tradition day"!

  I'm posting daily in November in honor of Diabetes Awareness Month and the WEGO Health's National Health Blog Post Month. #NHBPM

Food Logs

Rosie and I are keeping food journals.  Back when she was first diagnosed, we religiously logged every bite of food, every carb count, every drop of insulin given, all day every day. Rosie was only 5, so we as parents took care of the detailed log book.   But since she's been on a pump, we've stopped keeping a written log book.  The pump logs the carb counts, blood sugar readings, and insulin doses for us. It's easy to download her pump on the computer and have that information available when we need it.

Rosie is getting old enough now to make some of her own food choices, and her choices on the days she buys lunch at school, or when she chooses snacks, are generally pretty high-carb. After her endo appointment last week, we talked with the Dietician, who suggested that Rosie cut her carbs and increase her protein.   This was hard for me to listen to, because the meals that I fix for her ARE high protein and mostly low carb... I felt like I was doing something wrong.  In reality, though, The Dietician was seeing some patterns and is trying to help Rosie learn to make good choices on her own.

On the way home we talked about it, and decided that keeping a food log would be helpful for Rosie to see exactly what her choices add up to in a day.  I was telling her that they have been very helpful for me in the past.  We decided that we would do it together-- each day we log our foods and our carb counts into little notebooks.  Rosie is starting to notice things.... like a high carb breakfast means that she can't also choose a high carb snack in the afternoon if she wants to hit her target range for the day.  She's starting to plan ahead, knowing that if I'm making a favorite for supper (ie: homemade pizza), she needs to keep her carbs pretty low the rest of the day.   She's looking at it like a fun game to see what she can eat and still be in her target range.

It's hit me that this is yet another transition in our life with diabetes.  When she was little, we did all the meal planning and food choices for her.  I have always done her carb counts.   Now, at the ripe old age of 9, she's starting to take on some of that responsibility for herself.  I am a little sad that she has to learn this so young, but at the same time, I am so very proud of her.  
. I'm posting daily in November in honor of Diabetes Awareness Month and the WEGO Health's National Health Blog Post Month. #NHBPM

84 carbs: Saturday Snapshots

Click for the Saturday Snapshots - Saturday 5/19 Link List.
Back for the third year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like!  With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures.  Post as many or as few as you’d like.  Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.

 This is Rosie's lunch today. It's a pretty typical lazy Saturday lunch at our house: quick and easy. The kids love these trays with little compartments. They prefer to have something different in each section, which means they often eat meals like this with a few tomatoes, a few fruits, etc.

Today's menu: frozen pizza square, 5 crackers, 2 strawberries, 3 blackberries, a banana, 5 grape tomatoes, and sugar-free grape punch.    And yes, if you're wondering, that IS the last of the fresh fruit in the house... hence the odd portion sizes & browning banana.  Obviously I need to stop by the grocery store later, LOL!

The carb count is a little high on this meal, but it's ok, because supper (baked chicken, green beans, and some yet-undetermined side dish) will be pretty low-carb, and she had 43 carbs for breakfast.  We don't really limit carbs but I try to average out to about 60 or less per meal over a typical day.  Lunch is almost always her highest-carb meal.

Link up through the link above and share a snapshot from YOUR d-life today as a part of Diabetes Blog Week 2012!

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15 carb Juicy Juice Deal

EDITED 11/18/12: This is one of my most visited posts, but sadly, Amazon no longer offers this "subscribe and save" deal on Juicy Juice.    I'll update again if I find a similar deal.  

 Juicy Juice 4oz boxes are one of those things that it seems nearly every diabetic child I know always has on hand.   (If you're not familiar with these, they are the toddler-sized juice boxes... perfect for a diabetic who is low and needs about 15 grams of carbohydrates to bring their blood sugar back up.)  Unfortunately, they are not the cheapest thing to have on hand, and we go through a lot of them.

Locally, I can buy an 8-pack of the 15 carb Juicy Juice boxes for around $3.99.  I generally wait until they are on sale if I can, but if we're out of juice boxes for school, I wind up paying that $3.99.  Ouch. 

Amazon sells the Juicy Juice Apple, 8-Count (Pack of 5) for $11.12, which breaks down to $2.22 per 9-pack.  Other flavors are the same price, but Rosie is partial to the apple. Five packages of the 8-packs at my local store would be $19.95.... so we're already saving money, right?  

It gets better.   Sign up for the "Subscribe and Save Program" to save 15%, and your total price drops to $9.45.  You can set it to automatically ship another box to you once a month, every other month, every six months... whatever you choose.  Or, you can simply cancel after the first shipment.. you're not obligated to continue.

AND... you don't need to pay shipping!   The juice boxes are eligible for Super Saver Shipping, so if you spend $25 in that transaction, they ship for free.  Or, you can join the free Amazon Mom program (you don't need to be a mom) and get free shipping any time with no minimum purchase.

I am a member of the Amazon Mom program, so we're paying $1.89 per 8-pack  and we receive free 2-day shipping... or $9.45 in total for 40 juice boxes.   I've been doing this deal for a couple of months now, and it works out great for us!     Check out more Works for Me Wednesday tips HERE!

Disclaimer: Obviously I have included some Amazon affiliate links here.  Nobody asked me to link up or post about this deal.  I would make a few pennies if you choose to purchase something through my links, but that's not why I've linked up... I truly feel that this is a great deal on a necessary d-supply, and I wanted to share!