Good diabetes management starts in the kitchen.

Unless you are a baby and you are being fed by your parents, you do have a choice when it comes to the foods you eat. 

Let me say this again: you do control and you have a choice regarding the foods you eat. 

Read that as many times as you can. 

I can not tell you what to eat; your doctor can not tell you what to eat. 

The only person who chooses what to eat is you.

I've been doing intermittent fasting for the past 4 years.

Great; another guy talking to me about the benefits of intermittent fasting.

Nah;I'm going to tell you here what I do and why it works for me as a type 1 diabetic.

Remember my promise is to give you simple, minimalistic advice.

No extra bags; no bullshit.

Life is simple. Sometimes we complicate things too much.

Last weeks’ Mindset Letter was about some of the most common causes of high blood sugar levels.

Today I will be explaining some of the most common causes of Low blood sugar levels.

Again, the main challenge we all face as diabetics is having in range or controlled blood glucose levels.

Last weeks’ Mindset letter was about the benefits of having in-range glucose levels.

Today I will be explaining some of the most common causes of high blood sugar levels.

Again, the main challenge we all face as diabetics is having in-range or controlled blood glucose levels. 

Everything that we do from eating, injecting insulin, doing exercise, and the daily habits we all have aim to have good diabetes management so we can avoid any future health complications.

The frustration or problem every diabetic faces is the following:

Uncontrolled blood sugar levels. That's it. Either too high or too low.

The constant game we have to play every single day is having in-range glucose levels.

That's it.

This week I was scrolling through my Instagram and I found a great post about reasons to workout.

The post is by @diabfitmind, she creates pretty cool content for diabetics.

I sent her a DM and told her I really liked her post and I wanted to write this weeks’ mindset letter using her ideas.

She gave me the approval, so here we go.

These are her ideas and I will be adding my own comments and thoughts.

Tomorrow Thursday January 9th, I will be turning 35 years old.

I was diagnosed when I was 24 years old.

I don't have a list of 35 things that successful people do that I can give you now. Sorry. 

I have learned that a lot of people who give advice are also trying to figure out this journey called life. 

Here are 10 things I hope can help you if you are a type 1 diabetic.

Recently diagnosed or not; some of these you might already know. 

Some of these are probably new to you.

Some might just serve as reminders.

That phrase right there is going to be my next tattoo. On the inner side of my bicep on my right arm.

Seems so simple; yet so hard to apply.

This is a line from the book BUDDHISM PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

That needs to be a constant reminder especially for all the distractions we have nowadays. 

The hardest thing we face today is the ability to live in the present moment. To be here, now. 

The problem we all face right now is the endless amount of distractions we have every single day. 

In this letter I will explain why this is important especially if you are diabetic.

This is what I do to stay lean and keep muscle all year round.

Do I have the biggest muscles? No. Do I care to have them ? No.

Do I like how I feel in my body? YES 100%.

A lot of people complicate fitness or nutrition in general.

Im a minimalist, so the less, the better. This is what works for me.

So many different eating methods or just so many training approaches.

Who has the right method ? Right answer ? I don't know.

Every time I get on Instagram or Facebook I'm bombarded with a bunch of ads of people and brands selling stuff. 

Everyone has something to sell and everyone has some sort of advice on how to live your life.

It looks like everyone knows you better than you know yourself.

Someone somewhere has a solution or the piece that is missing that will make you complete. 

Every ad reinforces the fact that there's something wrong with you or that you are missing something.

From what I've read online; people who struggle with their diabetes management lack one important tool; discipline.

Discipline is key when it comes to your diabetes management. 

What is Discipline ?

Mmm I don't really know the exact definition. 

Maybe it could be doing things you have to do even when you don't want to? 

Feel free and go ahead and google the exact definition.

There are also probably thousands of books about discipline.

Managing diabetes requires having the right mindset.

That's the most important part. 

If the mindset is not in the right place then it will be hard to take control of your diabetes management.

I've read thousands of the horrible stories of people who never took care of their diabetes and ended up with chronic pain and regrets living a miserable life or dying from diabetes complications.

If this is the one and only life I get to live; that's not happening to me.

That's not an option for me. Not today. 

I'm facing this head on.

And I'm going to help you because you and I are in this together.

Its Monday 10 AM, I’m drinking black coffee, no cream, no sugar, no bullshit…

This is the way I drink coffee every single day. 

Hot or iced, same way. Plain, painless black coffee. 

I can actually taste the flavor of the coffee.

A few days ago I was reading online about someone who stopped taking care of their diabetes for some reason.

That person has been a diabetic for some years already.

That person had to go to the ER because of very high blood sugars.

I know life can get complicated and things can get in the way so I'm not judging or criticizing this person.

I hate hospitals. And I'm guessing you too ?

Stress will definitely affect blood sugar levels.

I've read stories of people who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after a very stressful event or life situation.

This could have been an illness that put too much stress on your health or a traumatic event. 

I know this because I have been a type 1 diabetic for the past ten years; I've done a lot of experiments and I can tell you that being constantly stressed will have a big impact on your blood sugar levels. 

So the main purpose of a diabetic is controlling blood sugar levels right ? 

Well this is in order to avoid future health complications and the bad stuff that can happen if your sugars are not in control.

There are many things that can impact your blood sugar levels but I will not discuss those here. 

I will give you three tips that are very important for you to manage blood sugar levels.

There are many diabetics from what I've read online that still deny or not accept that they have a chronic illness. 

And I get it. I was one of them too.

I've been a type 1 diabetic for the past 10 years of my life.

And I remember being so frustrated at not knowing how to do this thing called diabetes.

The other day I was going through a diabetes support group on Reddit and someone posted a picture of a…

In this post I will be explaining how to manage blood sugars depending on the type of exercise we choose…