{"id":44033,"date":"2016-08-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/a-better-a1c-fitness-guru-with-diabetes-shares-her-own-evolution\/"},"modified":"2016-09-15T05:19:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T09:19:58","slug":"a-better-a1c-fitness-guru-with-diabetes-shares-her-own-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033","title":{"rendered":"A Better A1C: Fitness Guru With Diabetes Shares Her Own Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fitness<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to assume that anyone who\u2019s comfortable standing on a stage in a bikini in front of hundreds of people has probably always<\/em> been really fit, especially if they have type 1 diabetes\u2014it\u2019s just \u201cgood genetics.\u201d Eating a healthy diet and getting to the gym just comes naturally to them\u2014at least that\u2019s often the assumption.<\/p>\n

But the pursuit of fitness is merely a challenge that we all<\/em> face. We all work <\/em>on achieving or maintaining our health. Certainly, determination and discipline play a tremendous role in one\u2019s ability to reach their health goals, but another huge piece of this puzzle comes to down to gradually creating your own<\/em> health plan\u2014rather than trying to fit yourself into someone else\u2019s or change who you are and your habits overnight.<\/p>\n

Small Steps\u2026Really!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cYou start out with small steps,\u201d explains Christel Oerum, co-founder of a diabetes and fitness website, TheFitBlog.com<\/a>. Today, at age 38, Christel is a competitive bikini athlete<\/a>, and a personal trainer and nutrition coach<\/a>. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1997 at age 19. But Christel wasn\u2019t always lean or buff or a master of her own nutrition and exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we moved to Santa Monica, CA, I was suddenly immersed in this environment where I was seeing all these really, really<\/em> fit people and fitness professionals. I said to myself, \u2018That is what I want.\u2019 It didn\u2019t start out as having anything to do with my diabetes, it was more that I simply wanted to be as badass about my fitness as those people are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to moving to Santa Monica, Christel had spent over a decade trying to find an approach to managing her health and fitness that actually worked for her<\/em>\u2014an approach in which eating healthfully and committing to her workouts was just a natural part of her life.<\/p>\n

\"Fitness<\/a><\/p>\n

This time, she started out slowly. Instead of buying pre-made products or packaged things, Christel began cooking more of her own food, preparing meals to take to work for lunch, and asking herself simple yet pertinent questions: \u201cWhat is \u2018good\u2019 food? Is what I\u2019m about to eat processed junk or real food? What about how much<\/em> of the food I\u2019m eating? Avocados are good for me\u2026but that doesn\u2019t mean I should eat as many as I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

The more gradual and simple improvements Christel made to her diet, the more she saw the changes in her blood sugars, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden I realized that by doing all of these things my blood sugars were better,\u201d explains Christel, but adding more intense fitness goals to that mix added another level of complexity to managing her blood sugar and insulin doses. \u201cI’m very analytical, so I wanted to make sure I performed optimally…but how do I do that with type 1 diabetes?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI Didn\u2019t Want to Go Back to That\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember how I felt before I started really making fitness a bigger part of my life. It becomes your norm when you’re tired from rollercoaster blood sugars or constantly thirsty from highs or constantly eating more food to treat lows. When you get hold of your diabetes management, you realize how crappy you felt. I knew I didn’t want to go back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to this point in her life, Christel\u2019s A1C had generally been in the 7.5% to 8.0% range, which, according to the American Diabetes Association, translates to an EAG (estimated average glucose) of about 183 mg\/dL (10.1 mmol\/L), which is a range of 147 to 217 mg\/dL (8.1 to 12 mmol\/L).<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this realization: I can actually do better<\/em>,\u201d explains Christel. \u201cAll of a sudden I realized that 180 mg\/dL (10 mmol\/L) is a very high blood sugar compared to non-diabetic levels. I had always thought 180 mg\/dL was fine. Sure, I knew it was the higher end of the range but I still thought it was acceptable for my<\/em> health. Now, I see that number as very<\/em> high, the way I used to see 250 mg\/dL (13.8 mmol\/L).\u201d<\/p>\n

But Christel didn\u2019t just change her eating habits, her workouts, or blood sugar goals, she also changed her healthcare team<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was seeing this doctor who would just do my blood-work, give me my A1C and send me on my way. I thought, \u2018Why am I coming here every 3 months? I\u2019m getting nothing out of this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When Christel tried to explain to her doctor that she wanted more<\/em> from her appointments\u2014such as more insight into improving her diabetes management for the sake of tighter control and blood sugars closer to non-diabetic range\u2014her doctor simply didn\u2019t understand what she meant. Today, Christel works with a doctor who understands that she wants to improve<\/em>, that she has goals, that she\u2019s eager to learn and eager to do the work to keep her A1C where she wants it, in the 5.0 to 6.0 range.<\/p>\n

In addition to fine-tuning her insulin doses, Christel says the biggest and simplest thing she did to improve her A1C was to test her blood sugar more often and take small correction doses of insulin whenever necessary to keep her blood sugar in non-diabetic ranges as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care if I have to take 10 to 12 shots a day\u2014I\u2019ll take as many as I need to,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

*Coming tomorrow: Christel’s nutrition tips<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI was seeing this doctor who would just do my blood-work, give me my A1C and send me on my way. I thought, \u2018Why am I coming here every 3 months? I\u2019m getting nothing out of this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":44034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1457],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Better A1C: Fitness Guru With Diabetes Shares Her Own Evolution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ginger Vieira\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033\",\"name\":\"A Better A1C: Fitness Guru With Diabetes Shares Her Own Evolution\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Fitness-Guru-With-Diabetes-On-Stage.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-09T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-15T09:19:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cac8b210943900c3d548b9dc0c316698\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Fitness-Guru-With-Diabetes-On-Stage.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Fitness-Guru-With-Diabetes-On-Stage.jpeg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1021,\"caption\":\"Fitness Guru With Diabetes - On Stage\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=44033#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Better A1C: Fitness Guru With Diabetes Shares Her Own Evolution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/cac8b210943900c3d548b9dc0c316698\",\"name\":\"Ginger Vieira\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5f6995be3282da4742ad3c0535d1d0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5f6995be3282da4742ad3c0535d1d0a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ginger Vieira\"},\"description\":\"Author of \u201cYour Diabetes Science Experiment\u201d and \u201cEmotional Eating with Diabetes,\u201d Ginger Vieira has lived with Type 1 diabetes and Celiac disease since 1999. 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