To Carb Or Not To Carb?

It's day 4 of Diabetes Blog week and our subject is...

TO CARB...OR NOT TO CARB...

In my house I love a good routine, my kids eat every meal and every snack at about the same time every day. I am not a super rigid D-momma, we do get spontaneous once in awhile, but I do love the way a regular schedule keeps my girls blood sugar levels happy...or happier, let's face it...some days you can do everything "right" and the big D will slap you in the face with a crazy high or scary low blood sugar number!

I do let my girls eat carbs but I like to do it in moderation, luckily for me my girls are HUGE veggie lovers!!! I am not even kidding you when I say that my girls would rather eat steamed broccoli then buttery mashed potatoes. They love carrots, celery, green beans and salad without dressing! OH...how did I get so lucky :)

The truth of the matter is this, before diabetes entered our lives I didn't really give my children junk food, juice or loads of high carb stuff. The carbs that I would feed my kids where things like whole wheat bread, brown rice and pasta, we also eat a lot of fruit which tends to have plenty of carbs in it. That was something that I wanted to do for them to set them up for a healthy future...who would of thought diabetes would be a part of our healthy future I envisioned?! But I am thankful for the choices we made, because when D became a part of our daily lives I didn't feel like I was depriving my girls of their favorite foods or drinks.

I like to let my kids have an occasional cookie, chips or pizza night, when we have pizza I always serve it with a healthy salad on the side and some milk. I don't want to deprive them or create a negative feeling towards the foods they want or like. A CDE once told us that it is better to let your kids have the occasional bowl of real ice cream or slice of birthday cake because we don't want them to have a future where they sneak these things and feel guilt over the food they eat. As long as we give them the appropriate amount of insulin, carbs are not a bad word in our home. I feel like for my family we can have carbs at every meal as long as I balance it out with veggies and protein.

This is how we roll in our house...everyone does it different and I respect the choices of others who are fighting the daily battle with D, we each have to find what works for us.