Sugar-Free Popsicles

It's #ThankfulThursday, and I'm thankful for sugar-free popsicles.

If you didn't know, I'm a Type-1 diabetic. Lesson time: that means that my pancreas is dead, and I no longer produce insulin. Insulin is what "eats" sugar in your bloodstream, so I need to inject insulin every time I eat. (To be more precise, I have an insulin pump. So I'm dripping insulin into my system 24/7, and adding extra every time I eat or if I need to make a blood sugar correction.)

I found out I was diabetic back in 2001. That would make me 26 years old at the time. I was advising yearbook at West Hills HS back in Santee, CA, and late one deadline night I noticed that I couldn't read the whiteboard from the back of the room. I went to Walmart to see an optometrist, and she checked out my vision. After doing all the normal tests, she asked me if I had to urinate a lot.

I thought it was a strange question, but had to admit after thinking about it that yes...I had been going to the bathroom more frequently lately. She asked me if I had to get up in the middle of the night for it. Yes. She asked me if my mouth was often cotton-y (dry). Yes. So she said, "You need to go to the hospital. I don't mean to alarm you, but you need to go now."

Awesome.

So I went to the hospital where they checked my blood sugar and found it above 400. (Yours is hovering around 80 right now.) Because of my age and my overweight status, they assumed I was Type-2 (where you still produce insulin, but your body has trouble processing it). They put me on oral medications, and I suffered for a while longer.

A ski trip with my brother to Banff (I'll post about that some other time...) where I simply could not get my blood sugar down led me to go back in and get re-checked. They discovered this time that I was, in fact, not producing any insulin. I may have been what is sometimes called Type-1.5...where, like mine, your pancreas slowly dies over a period of time. I'm convinced that I had a leaky gut (research that on your own, if you wish).

In any event, I'm a diabetic. But I live in the greatest time ever to be cursed with this disease! I mean:

• I have a pump that acts like an external pancreas, keeping me alive.
• My insulin didn't come from a pig.
• I have great health insurance, and having the disease is not a financial burden like it is for some others (although I wish they could make a generic insulin to bring costs down!)
• The paleo/primal/low-carb diet has gained popularity, and I have access to amazing cookbooks and recipes to eat well for my condition (and ingredients to make the recipes a reality).
• Like...tonight, Red Robin put my burger in a lettuce wrap. That wouldn't have happened 20 years ago!
• There are great diabetic communities online (https://www.facebook.com/type1diabetesmemes/) where we keep each other laughing about our disease (something about that being good medicine).
• Coke Zero
• There has been an explosion of unsweetened (but tasty) sparkling waters to hit the market. My personal favorite is the cherry-lime from La Croix.
• And, of course, there are sugar-free popsicles. The regular ones are good, but the tropical ones are great! And my favorite is the red one.

I keep some in my freezer in my office (yes, I have a freezer in my office...mostly so I can have a stash of these amazing popsicles on hand!). On a hot day in Selma, I can go through 3 or 4 in an afternoon.

I have no idea if you non-diabetics would like them (I've lost my disdain for diet things). But I LOVE them!