I have a what I call a great irony in my life.

I am a type 1 diabetic. And I love food.

I don't just love food. I love talking about food. I love cooking. I love driving 3 hours to find some weird, unknown ingredient. I love new, unique restaurants. I go to farmers markets and grocery stores for fun. I revel in the colors, the textures, the tastes, the beauty of in season produce.

As you can probably guess, or know by experience yourself, "food as entertainment" doesn't always go real well with diabetes. Have you ever tried to guesstimate the carbs in a family shared dish in an Ethiopian restaurant? Or tried a delicious looking new recipe out of the new popular cookbook and discovered it offers no nutrition information? Or tried to tell yourself that right this very instant is not the best time to try that polish paczki because your blood sugar is already in the 250's? (I'm really, really bad at that last one. Instant gratification gets me every time.)

That being said, I'm kind of "type A" personality when it comes to my diabetes management. (Ok, except for that last instant gratification comment.) I get nervous when I'm not wearing my CGM. I've been a pumper since one of the very first minimed models, and literally from the day I was diagnosed. My fingers have dead spots and bruising from multiple fingersticks daily.

I'm no where near perfect in the diabetes realm, as none of us are. Some days it kicks my ass. Some days I go from 45-350 with no explanation. One day my basal setting works. The next I'm low all day. When I change it, I skyrocket back again on that fun ride known as the glucoaster.

What I'm striving for is some kind of balance. Balance in the daily ups and downs, balance between my love for food and cooking and the response of my pancreatically-challenged body. I hope to chronicle those challenges here.

I want to use this blog to talk about both sides of my life. So, there will be some posts about diabetes and the challenges those with type 1 face while living with a chronic disease, and the frustrations associated with it. And there will be posts about what I'm eating, what I'm cooking, and what is interesting me in foodie land. Hopefully I'll be posting some recipes as well. (FYI - they won't always be "diabetic" recipes. I don't tend to cook or eat low carb.)

Here's to a delicious journey!