A Diabetic's night out

This was basically the view from our table-I forgot to take a photo but filched one from online

Morning blood sugar: 5.8 -better! I adjusted my pump and am now taking more insulin-my poor pancreas is on it's last legs :(
Episodes of low blood sugar today: I took C to the park to meet some friends and started to feel a little funny-I then realized I forgot an emergency source of glucose. To be safe I ate C's fruit to go.
Cutting it close on the way home-before I drove I tested a 4.3-so I ate C's leftover crackers from lunch. Thank goodness for a 2 year old that never finishes his meals these days-I guess.
Workout today: 50 minutes of a Jillian Micheals Kickboxing DVD www.jillianmichaels.com with my husband-was going to do a tempo run on the treadmill but Jeff needed a workout buddy this morning so we sweated it out together.:) I have said it before but I will say it again-serious quality time working out with your man!
Clean Eating today: Isagenix Shakes for breakfast and lunch-I do a half vanilla, half chocolate shake that reminds me of a Wendy's Frosty (ie. A diabetic's dream with only 16 g carbs per serving) :)
Donations this week: A super sweet co-worker who is also a runner found 20 bucks on her 19km run this weekend and offered to donate it to my campaign-what a sweetheart!

I had the opportunity to go out last Friday night with two of my girlfriends. For anyone else who is a mother to small children, I don't have to tell you that this is a mighty big deal! I belly laughed a few weeks ago when another girlfriend of mine told a pregnant (for the first time) friend of ours that one of the things you should do before you have the baby is "go out after 6 pm!" This cannot be more true! I typically eat dinner with my toddler at 5:30 pm and am in bed before 10pm-so if the idea of going out for a late dinner (8pm!) with some wine and two great friends wasn't enough to blow my mind-I don't know what is!

The two ladies I had the pleasure to go out with are also physiotherapists. They are beautiful, strong, health conscious people like myself-what better company could a girl ask for? It was Laura's birthday and she chose The Beach Club Resort in Parksville, BC-www.beachclubbc.com I have been wanting to try this place forever-my parents are always raving about it. But as you can imagine with training, a two year old, and a husband that often gets stuck at work late-I don't get out much.

Eating out is not always the easiest thing, being a Diabetic. At home I can read labels and portion sizes to know exactly how much insulin to take. The carbohydrate I eat must be matched with an injection of insulin to ensure that my blood sugar does not go sky-high. Amazingly in a non-diabetic your pancreas does this for you. I currently don't have that luxury. In other words, often when I eat in a restaurant I am doing a lot of guessing as to how much carbohydrate is on my plate. Sometimes I guess right and sometimes I guess wrong-it's all part of the game.

The food was amazing at the restaurant (as well as the wine-I had a glass of Zinfandel with appetizers and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc with dinner-yes Diabetics can drink, in fact wine tends to lower my blood sugar. But just like you, it really isn't healthy to drink too much). I had the Sea Bass with a mango salsa and what was described as a "quinoa salad". I took my insulin with the appetizers-we ordered some mediterranean dips with pita bread, and guessed at how much quinoa would be with my dinner. Unfortunately when my entree came there was barely any quinoa on the plate. The meal was delicious! But now I was in a bind-I didn't want to end up with low blood sugar (ie. when you take too much insulin for what you have eaten). So I had to order dessert :) Alas!

Angelina and I ordered a fruit sorbet, also delicious. But as I was eating it I was thinking "this tastes really sugary" but again did not want to take too much insulin, so I decided to stick with what I had already taken and not top that up. I didn't want to go low on the way home after all.

I tested when I got home-13.2 (Normal is between 5 and 7, grumble, grumble)  Uggh! I could have smashed my blood glucose monitor.

It was still a fabulous night, with fabulous company, and fabulous food which I enjoyed tremendously. I have been told in books on Diabetic Management to "relax your standards once a month and enjoy yourself" or by some of the health care professionals on my team "don't worry about the odd high" which I feel is valid advice. But it still makes my Type A blood boil when I take all the info and technology I have, and think I am doing everything right, only to get it wrong. Oh well, you live, you learn. I must just be out of practice in the eating out department. If practice makes perfect, I need to go out more! :)