Carb Crazy!

Janelle was always a really picky eater. She'd eat the same things every day. This used to make life with diabetes pretty simple for us.

In preschool and kindergarten Janelle would eat a pre-measured baggie of cereal for breakfast and the same lunch every single day. Once she hit first grade she decided to be a little more adventurous and try a few of the cafeteria's hot lunches.

Now that Janelle is in second grade she wants nothing else but to be with her friends and to do what the other kids do. Which means eating breakfast in the cafeteria every day and only taking her lunch box a few times a week.

I have always tried to make sure that diabetes doesn't make Janelle feel different. At least any more different than necessary. I am so happy she is becoming more adventurous and willing to try different things, but boy does it make carb counting more difficult!

I have such a great situation in that I am a teacher at the school Janelle goes to. However, I am not able to be with her all the time and unfortunately do not see every bite of food she puts in her mouth. To make matters worse, she doesn't even always know what the food she ate is called, let alone how much of it she ate!

It's never long after breakfast or lunch when I catch up with her to find out what she ate and to give her a bolus. Sometimes when I ask her what she had I can't help but laugh at the response I get.

For example, how many carbs would you say are in "half of that round brown thing that's really good"? And how much would you count for "two bites of that brown stuff you make sometimes"? Every thing she eats is always "half" of something.

So I have to guess. A lot! Usually I do pretty good if I do say so myself. But other times I am way off. Oh well. I guess you take the good with the bad right?