About Type 1 Diabetes (also called Juvenile Diabetes)

I have type 1 diabetes and believe that I can still be healthy and active and live a full and rewarding life, if I make the right choices.  I have always known that exercise plays a key role in keeping my blood sugars in check.  So, I participate on the school varsity swim team, swim with summer club and on a year round team.  The next question I ask myself…  “In addition to exercise, how can food help me avoid high and low blood sugars, and keep my blood sugar in a healthy range?”  My research led to discovering that people with diabetes often get celiac.  So, I decided to cut out all gluten of my diet, which proved to be much easier than I thought it would be.  Dairy had always given me a stomach ache, so I also cut out dairy.  Cutting out nuts was easy, because I am allergic to them anyways (but seeds are still okay to eat in the paleo diet!).  Cutting out these things did help, but I still saw my blood sugars rise every time I ate even gluten-free grains.  At first, I searched and searched for gluten-free grains and breads, but as I continued to eat gluten-free, I found that eating vegetables and low-carb breads, in place of high-carb, but still gluten-free grains, made me feel much better and helped my blood sugars immensely. Then, my awesome and wonderful youth pastor introduced me to the Paleo Diet at my older brother’s graduation party!  He said, “If you still eat a restrictive diet, you have to hear the new way my wife and I eat. We eat Paleo.  Have you tried that?”  My family and I started looking for different Paleo recipes online, in cook books, and experimenting on our own, and sure enough, the effect that Paleo foods had on my blood sugars was amazing! So, now I eat this primal diet and it helps me to control my type one diabetes more than ever before. In addition to helping blood sugars stay in an optimal range, the Paleo diet, without so much refined foods and sugar, allows for less insulin-resistance to build up. Insulin-resistance directly results in type 2 diabetes and it also causes for an increase in weight gain. It is very common for insulin resistance to increase with age and with weight gain in anybody, even if they do not specifically have type 2 diabetes. The Paleo diet, as healthy as it is, helps to increase insulin sensitivity (opposite of insulin resistance) and maintain an optimal weight. My mom and I created this website so that we can share with you the best Paleo recipes that are satisfying, delicious, and low-carb!

For basics about type 1 and type 2 diabetes, check out the American Diabetes Association or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation websites. Here are a few links:

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-1/

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/type-2/

http://www.diabetes.org/

http://jdrf.org/