Mans Camp 2010

Just a little look into Dustin's weekend at Man's Camp with our church!!  Lets see if you can spot him, Robin or Zak, Matt Bialy or Matt Kline in any of the video!!! ** They are easier to see if you click the button that makes this video full-screen ** Here are some hints... they played 7 games of paint ball. And in the scene where there are people in boxes running around, Dustin and Zak are in the box that has spray painted yellow stuff on it! And look for Matt Kline in the scene where he is catching stuff in the middle of a field (just him and another guy). Dustin said last night that he was thinking of writing a post about his weekend... so keep your eyes open for that just in case he gets inspired!!


Man Camp 2010 from NoBoxFilms & NoBox Productions on Vimeo.

20 in 2010??

What started out as a very noble goal, to read 20 books in 2010, has fallen by the wayside. In the wake of Dustin's diagnosis and our search for a natural and God-patented cure, there seems to be very little time for reading. Unless of course you the countless articles on Type 1 in relationship to wheat and dairy allergies. Or maybe you would be so kind as to count the number of hours I spend searching the internet for a DF recipe (DF is my new term for Dustin Friendly, or maybe it could count for Diabetic Friendly or Dustin Friedman). Regardless, the idea of reading for pleasure hardly seems to exist anymore. Outside of the Type 1 whirlwind that is our lives, Dustin is busy in his first semester at school and I am using every free moment not at work post-processing images for the fabulous Cristi Owen. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day ;o)

BUT... I have managed to read three books so far in 2010. And they all have been SO good!!

Most recently I read The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
I had to check out this book since the movie is out. I don't really have any desire to see the movie, but really wanted to check out the book. I love Nicholas Sparks' books, even though they seem to all be written in a very similar formula. This book was a heartwarming story of teenage romance, and the struggles between a daughter and father. It was heartwarming and made me cry. But by no means do I think that this was one of his best books. Overall, I would categorize this more as a young-adult book









Prior to that, I read Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand.
I must confess that I originally bought this book to take on our honeymoon.  I saw the cover with three women and their feet in the sand and it looked like a good beach book.  And I wasn't wrong... unfortunately I read it from the comfort of my own home long after our fabulous honeymoon to Kauai.  This book is about three women who are trying to escape from different areas of their lives by taking a summer trip to Nantucket - with two small kids in tow.  One of the characters was recently diagnosed with cancer, and chooses to undergo treatment in Nantucket instead of in NYC where her husband is.  She takes their two kids with her and her friends, because she is coming to the reality that this may be her last summer.  The next character is a English Lit professor and is fleeing from a tarnished reputation at the university she teaches at.  And the last character is taking time to get her life in focus after she learned that her husband has been having an affair.  This book does a phenomenal job of intertwining all the characters into an incredible story of love and friendship.



The other book I read in 2010 was Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
Words can't even begin to describe how much I loved this book.  If you do read this book, be ready to have the way you look at life and faith absolutely transformed.  Shane Claiborne does a phenomenal job of showing what it means to live as an ordinary radical while walking in faith.  After all, Jesus was quite the radical and challenged almost everyone's way of thinking.  This book made me realize that sometimes we get so caught up in the political and legalistic views of what it means to be a Christian, that we forget Christs first commandment to us... to love!!  I can only imagine how the world would be today if we as Christ followers loved the world in the way that God intended us to!!  Talk about transformational!!   And for anyone who thinks that the idea of social justice can not go hand in hand with Christianity, please read this book!!  Maybe I will send Glenn Beck a copy  ;o)






And there you have it.  3 down.... 17 more to go!!

Farmers Market

A few weekends ago Dustin and I went to the Gila Rivers Farmers Market with a dear friend of ours, Kim Brown, who is walking us through this Type 1 Diabetes journey. She has shared sooo much great information with us and has really been the main reason that we haven't starved to death. She has been more than willing to share with us how to shop, what new veggies we should try and has even shared with us some incredible recipes. Kim asked us if we wanted to go to the Farmers Market with her and her daughter and one of their friends, Melissa, who happened to be a photographer. Kim is in the process of documenting thier type 1 journey through pictures so that she can share her experience with others. And on this day, we were lucky enough to be with her and have our experience documented as well. We snagged up my cute little neice, Kaelin, from her parents so they could have a peaceful morning and headed to the farmers market.

Dustin and I got so much fabulous produce - and it was really the first time that we did the majority of our shopping at a farmers market. I wish I could share with you a picture of our fridge because it was STUFFED with veggies. All the processed and sugary garbage was gone - and the color green was exploding from every inch of our fridge!! Hope you enjoy these few pictures from our day. If you want to see more, just click here.







Oh yeah... just in case you can't see in the picture below, Kaelin is holding a piece of Spinach. She absolutely loved it and didn't let it go the entire day :o)

Greece

Dustin and I just booked our 2010 trip to Greece!! He has about a bazillion frequent flyer miles, so we were able to get our tickets for almost nothing. Finding the dates we wanted was a little more challenging, but it all worked out!! We are headed to Greece on Wednesday, Sept 29th and return late Tuesday, October 12th. Our goal is to spend some time in Athens but spend A LOT of time on the Greek Islands!! I am so excited I keep giggling!!! YAYYYY!!!

Dustin Update

I was just 80 after Mexican food (Beans, Meat and rum and Diet Coke)!!!!!! And here is the latest graph above (click on it to enlarge)




This is the first time I've been under 100 after a meal in I can't remember and I think the first clear evidence that this is working. I did increase my insulin on 3/26 to 15 units from 12, however, I still see improvements every day. Unfortunately I still have days like yesterday where I had a Lara bar (consists of beats, coconuts and nuts) and I jumped to 180, so apparently its a give and take thing. I have started to also feel really low right before lunch and one day this week I just had to stop working and go eat because I knew I was an hour (maybe more what do I know) away from being too low. Days like that make me wonder if I need to start fending off insulin not increasing, until I jump to 180 after taking insulin before breakfast then eating that bar. Oh well

FYI for those that have been reading, Its been almost 2 months now since I started changing my diet, and about 5 weeks since I went in full force to stop all the foods that could be affecting me. Still not yielding, even when I go to dinner or lunch with people that have foods I used to love (the precious sandwich I would give anything for!). It really doesn't even cross my mind to want it, I just look at it, acknowledge that I know that tastes good, stop looking at it and I completely forget it's there. Crazy what a bit of diligence can do.

For those that haven't seen Food Inc. stop thinking about it and go do it. It's not a movie like Super Size Me or a book like Skinny Bitch. It simply focus on a few key foods in our diet and shows how messed up America's food is. It makes me wonder what would happen if I left the Country for a year. I think I would be cured without even trying. the bottom line is that everything we eat now days could be genetically modified without us even knowing, from Soy beans (90% of soybeans in U.S. are genetically modified to resist round up so they can yield more per crop), to tomatoes ( that are picked in South America green and ripened on the trip over in chemicals). Did you know that >70% of all ground beef in the states has a portion of it that was processed through a pressure heater and is cured with a chemical to kill all bacteria (forget which one). By adding this to the beef it kills most the Ebola viruses preventing major recalls, at the expense of our bodies ingesting a certain % of poison. (BTW Yes I know we already posted on this a week ago but I'm reiterating for those that still haven't listened and gone and to watch it).

That's about it from me. All in all I'm please with the results of all this, have a long way to go, and seeing baby steps of improvement towards the ultimate goal of diabetes freedom. I truly don't see how I could possibly not win this battle....

Dustin

Teach Every Child About Food

Thanks to Living Without Type 1 for bringing this video to our attention!! Now its our chance to share it with all of you!!