March Is Reading Month - And Apparently That Means Food!

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
― Dr. Seuss

I always say kids first, diabetes second.  With March Is Reading Month, the kick-off on Friday including a Dr. Seuss inspired green spinach and fruit smoothie.  Time to roll up my sleeves and employ that kids first, diabetes second theory, because every week also happens to be March Is Eating Month.  Not really, but it tends to feel that way when you are counting carbohydrates and dosing insulin.

The list seemingly grows day by day;

Smoothies, Green Eggs and Ham, St. Patrick's Day treats, Popcorn Tuesdays, etc., etc.!

For this particular treat, the smoothies were made fresh from a variety of fruits, including bananas - always a tricky one - and for a extra sweetness, included a syrup made from agave.  The only freebie was the spinach, which truly, was added for color and effect.  Nothing was carb counted or even labeled.  Everything came directly from mother nature.

And our youngest daughter LOVED the whole idea of it.  Yes, she is a silly one like that.  The more strange something sounds, the more she is bound to dive in head first to try it. 

Me?  Well, I was not going to disappoint her.

Obviously though, this type of smoothie makes for a little extra effort in enabling the kids first, diabetes second pledge.

So I put on red and white striped cat in the "thinking" hat (not really, but how cool would that have been?!) and thought about how we (the team of aide, teacher, replacement aide, youngest daughter and myself) could make it happen. 


And this is the email I sent:




Hi Catherine and Dawn,

'Youngest Daughter' really wants to try a March Is Reading Month smoothie and I want to help make that happen for her. So for Friday, since Dawn will be gone and Kelly will be stepping in, 'Youngest Daughter' and I came up with a good plan.

1.) Check blood glucose for 'Youngest Daughter' before lunch and dose her insulin according to her lunch carb sheet.

2.) 'Youngest Daughter' will purchase the smoothie and Kelly can estimate the size of the cup/contents.

3.) Before dosing ANY CARBS, 'Youngest Daughter' will try it. If she doesn't like the smoothie, nothing will need to happen. One or two sips will not require insulin.

4.) If 'Youngest Daughter' likes it, Kelly can text me or call to tell me how much 'Youngest Daughter' had and we can estimate the carb counts.

5.) Around 2:30 p.m., 'Youngest Daughter' will need one more blood glucose check to make sure we 'guesstimated' the carbs correctly. IF she is low, she can have a few glucose tabs and if she is high, the number can go into her insulin pump. Hopefully, her blood glucose will be just fine and no other action will be needed.

6.) Then we can all high-five each other for letting 'Youngest Daughter' be a 4th-grade kid and not allowing the diabetes monster get in the way:)



The response that I received back was an enthusiastic one.  Everyone wanted to help make that smoothie dream come true. 

And the result? 

Well, youngest daughter LOVED it.  She said it was "DEE-licious!" and said she was glad that she tried it. 

We ended up guesstimating about 20 carbs for 4 ounces of the fruit smoothie.  At the 2:30 p.m. blood glucose check, youngest daughter was 99 mg/dl.  Unfortunately, she did have quite a bit of IOB (insulin on board) and we felt it best that she have one glucose tab as she was heading out for final recess on the playground.

I am not sure if she really needed that glucose tab as upon pick up at 4:00 p.m., she was 137 mg/dl.  She probably would have been fine staying with the original bg and not eating that extra 5 carb tab. 

Regardless of that tiny moment, it thrilled me to hear her story about braving the green fruit smoothie and enjoying her 4th grade experience.  She'll have a memory of this moment to last her entire life - and not one moment was interrupted by the big diabetes monster.

VICTORY!!!!!



“Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!