About Me

My name is Sylvia and I'm a "brittle" type 1 diabetic. Currently, I am 18 and an American living in Australia. So, I guess this is where I talk about how I got into eating healthy, exercising, and cooking. Okay, well a lot of this goes back to being a "brittle" type 1 diabetic. So, I'll just give you a bit of information on diabetes first. Type 1 diabetes is a autoimmune disorder which results from the destruction of your insulin producing beta-cells in the pancreas. Basically, this means your body goes "Holy crap! The pancreas is worshiping Hitler or someone awful, we'd better destroy it!" for absolutely no good reason. There is no known cause. Meaning, I do not have diabetes because I ate too much sugar or because I am/was overweight (I was overweight but that was after I was first diagnosed with diabetes). There is also no known cure. The disease is chronic. So, I'm probably going to be stuck with this forever (there are some amazing charities that are funding really important research though such as JDRF, looking for a cure and coming up with big improvements in treating diabetes). Basically, my body stopped producing insulin (a hormone that deals with the metabolism of carbohydrates and glucose) so I've been taking shots/using an insulin pump (sort of like a portable IV that gives you insulin constantly) for 8 years, since I was 10.

You're probably thinking "Oh, I see where this is going. You got sick and then you decided to be super-duper healthy so your disease wouldn't affect you as much, or so you won't have complications down the line." Well, you'd be wrong. I was 10 when I was diagnosed. Some dietitian came into my hospital room and used plastic models of food to show me how much I was allowed to eat at each meal, and what a serving size is, and told me I could only have cake at birthday parties and it would need to be a 2 inch by 2 inch slice. I also needed to start exercising regularly. Did I listen? Of course not! I was 10, diagnosed with an un-curable disease, and taking shots multiple times per day. As if I was going to start eating right and exercising too.

For awhile, that was okay. Obviously not the best, but nothing terrible happened. However, my blood sugars were always really unstable. That's where the "brittle" label comes from. According to my doctor, the erratic-ness of my blood sugars wasn't normal. Most diabetics don't have as much trouble as I do trying to keep their blood sugars in a normal, healthy range. Then puberty hit, and I was eating loads of junk food, constantly stuffing my face with refined carbs and hardly ever eating fruit or vegetables or whole grains. As happens with most girls during puberty, my metabolism slowed down and I gained a significant amount of weight (apprx. 50 lbs/22.5 kg). Weight affects the absorption of insulin, which is why most people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or have been overweight. So, my diabetic control got even worse. I also just felt awful about myself, how I looked, how I couldn't control my diabetes, etc.

That probably went on for about 2 or 3 years. My blood sugars consistently got worse, I took more and more insulin, and I kept gaining weight. Then suddenly I just decided I didn't want to be overweight anymore and that I was going to do something to change. It wasn't a decision based on my health at all, to be honest. I didn't even know how much it would improve my diabetes. I was just tired of being overweight. I was tired of feeling huge and unattractive. I know that's shallow, and I know a lot of people are going to be shaking their fingers at me right now, but it's the truth. So, I started using Weight Watchers online which restricted the insane amount of calories I was consuming, but also started encouraging me to eat healthier foods. Ultimately, I lost 10 kg and got back into the healthy weight range.

Little did I know that my diabetic control would change so drastically. I went from taking 150 units of insulin a day to taking around 60. My Hba1c levels also dropped back into an acceptable range, and I just felt better about everything.

Now, at some point I discovered the healthy foodie community on Instagram and the raw vegan movement. To be honest, I started getting interested in this to lose more weight (There goes the finger shaking and disapproval again), because although I was in the healthy weight range, I would have still benefited from losing a few more kilos. So, I decided to try raw veganism for awhile. It actually made me really sick. I know that I was "probably not doing it right," and there's the "detox phase," and that it works just fine for most people, but it just was not right for me. What I did discover though, was that things like dairy and refined carbs would spike my blood sugar and throw my control completely out of whack. I'd also feel inflamed whenever I consumed dairy.

So, currently I have eliminated those things from my diet and I am exercising regularly and eating lots of fruit and veg. My insulin requirements have dropped again (from 60 to 30 this time). I haven't lost any more weight, but I have learned a lot about how having diabetes makes it incredibly hard to lose weight and incredibly easy to gain weight (which I'll probably write about at a later stage, that and eating disorders associated with type 1 diabetes). I also just feel healthier than I have in my entire life and a lot happier than I did a few years ago. My last few Hba1c levels have been perfect and a lot of the fears about future complications I have are less intense. I still struggle with "brittle" type 1 diabetes, but changing my diet (and incorporating exercise) has helped more than I ever could have imagined. I've also discovered a deep love for cooking and found an outlet for my photography interests. Obviously, eating right benefits everyone (not just sick people) and everyone has different dietary requirements (which is one reason I really don't believe in being moralistic about veganism). So, while eliminating refined carbs and dairy and losing weight has made an insane difference for me, it probably won't be as significant for every diabetic or for every non-diabetic person, but I fully believe that eating healthier will benefit everybody to some extent (and some of us to incredible, unimaginable extents). Again, I was the kid who ate a gigantic carton of Goldfish every day so I'm still not perfect in terms of eating healthy and I don't think that anyone else needs to be perfect either, but even a small change helps. So, try eating more veggies. Try eating less oil. Try eating buckwheat or oat flour instead of white flour. See if it helps you (odds are, it probably will). If it doesn't, don't bother doing it (unless you enjoy it, then go for it!). But sometimes making a small change, like eating a few more veggies or eating a bit less junk food, will lead you somewhere incredible. Give it a shot. There's not much you can lose.