Diabetes & Me: What's In My Bag?

Back in November, after months of thinking about and struggling to find a way of dealing with diabetes-related problems, I shared a bit of what I'd learned in Diabetes and Me.  I was both surprised and grateful for the public and private responses I received to that post.  Given the demographics -- half of amateur golfers are over 50 and age is one of three major risk factors associated with the onset of Type II diabetes -- I shouldn't have been surprised.  Those responses helped me understand that I'm not alone on the golf course and that was a comforting awareness.

Then I recently had a conversation on Ricky Potts' Friday Foursome that has pushed me to revisit the very practical problem all of us who are living with diabetes confront and manage with greater and lesser degrees of success every time we tee off: How can I maintain a relatively stable blood glucose level and sustain my energy through 18 holes of golf?

Diabetes & Me

I walked out of my doctor's office about a year ago with a diabetes diagnosis.  It actually wasn't much of a surprise.  My family medical history has been working against me on this one for most of my adulthood.  But I've lived an active life, watched what I put in my mouth -- most of the time -- and held off the inevitable for as long as I could.  So I received the diagnosis gracefully, asked to be sent to diabetes education, and was convinced that this wasn't going to change my life.  I was very mistaken.