The best makeover recipe ever!

Okay, so the whole point of this is to put together improved recipes made over to be more diabetic friendly.  This is one of our favorites.

Chocolate Cherry Crisp

1 can no sugar added cherry pie filling
2 cups frozen cherries (I use sliced apples, cranberries, or blueberries, depending on what's around)
1/4 cup brown sugar splenda

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Place fruit in an ungreased 8x8 pan.  Cover with pie filling; sprinkle with dash of salt. Mix brown sugar, flour, oats, and cocoa. Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over fruit. Sprinkle with mini chips.
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes till bubbly.
(Originally from a Pilsbury cookbook)

I often double the recipe and use a 9x13 pan to take to church dinners. It's a huge hit (and many people don't know it's diabetic friendly! Someone was eating it once while telling us he could always tell when something had that fake stuff in it.  I didn't tell him.... till much later, anyway ;). I think my favorite is with cranberries, but then I'm a bit of a cranberry freak. Ask my brother.
I've also made it without cocoa or chocolate chips, substituting no sugar added apple pie filling and sliced apples. A bit of cinnamon in the topping is good, or sprinkled with caramel bits.
Whatever ingredients, it's fabulous with whipped cream (cool whip) on top. It melts a little like ice cream and doesn't have anywhere near the carbs.

Our journey

We started out hoping to manage Charles' diabetes with diet and exercise. He took oral meds for a while, but we hoped that would be short-lived. He had some success, but then something would get out of whack and a new medication had to be used. This was the pattern for a while. Then one medication was recalled, so the doctor prescribed new ones- the recalled medication was a combination of two, but somehow taking the same doses of the two medications separately didn't work.
Shortly after our son was born, and less than a year after we found about diabetes, Charles went on insulin. Another blow. Another struggle. But we figured, okay, we'll get this to work and that'll be the solution.
Charles was relatively young when he got his initial diagnose- he was 26. Too young to be typical Type 2, too old to be typical Type 1. So he has many years of potential complications to develop. We wanted and hoped to get his blood sugar levels under control to push back as long as possible the complications that would come.
Eventually, even the oral medications had no effect and Charles was completely insulin dependent. So we figured, hey, no oral meds to remember. Just pens and needles!
Finally, a couple years ago, his blood sugar levels were over 500, sometimes 600, and the doctor put Charles on a pump. It has helped some, but has been like our experience from the beginning. The current solution works for a while, then, out of nowhere, craziness ensues. I've always joked that it's like his body is saying, "Oh, I see what you're doing. Think that will work? Ha! Try this!" And we get another curveball.
But, a step at a time.
Our steps have led us off the path of healthy habits we had been trying to follow, and I hope to get us back on track once again. Other health and life issues have been interfering. Now it's time to get serious again.  We have two children whom we want to teach and model healthy eating habits, not to mention that the other health issues that have cropped up will certainly be improved with good food choices. Sometimes it's actually easier preparing healthy meals for the kids. I find myself eating the unhealthy stuff I won't give to anyone else. (And since I'm the one doing the shopping..... hmmm... what's the solution there? I wonder.) Knowing what we're supposed to do is easier to do for someone else. Go figure.

Our story

Shortly before our first anniversary, we were changing health insurance providers, so we set up an appointment for physicals with a new doctor. Charles went first while I waited. When the doctor came in, he said, "Hi. I'm Dr. ****. Your husband's a diabetic."
I felt like I was waiting for a punchline, even though I knew there wouldn't be.
Thus began an entirely new life for us.
There were several signs that we didn't recognize- but things we'd noted to ask the doctor about- that were pretty much dead giveaways for a diagnosis of diabetes. Of course, the clincher was a fasting blood glucose level over 200. Charles had lost a good bit of weight the previous year, mostly intentionally. I remember standing in the kitchen, though, griping about how easily he was losing weight and still eating whatever he wanted (as he was eating a cookie, even!). He'd been having trouble with leg cramps at night. We had no idea they would be caused by diabetes.
We spent the day reeling a bit from the news, talking about how our lives would change, whether it would change our decisions and goals. We had planned to embark on the journey to parenthood, so we had to talk about how Charles' news might affect our children. We don't know his personal health history, but since we'd already planned to have children knowing that diabetes was in my family, we decided to stay with our previous dreams of having a family.
Later, we visited the diabetes educator and learned about carb choices, acceptable blood glucose levels, and the benefits of exercise for maintaining healthy glucose levels. I started looking for diabetes cookbooks (they're everywhere!) and trying to figure out how to adjust favorite recipes to fit new requirements. And I had to say farewell (mostly) to a favorite hobby- I love to bake. It's not just something I enjoy, it's part of me. It was like losing a body part.
I've altered and adjusted and modified, trying to make the best of it. I've had some great successes (the ones no one realizes are diabetic-friendly) and discovered lots of new treats and tricks. That's the purpose of this blog: to share things we've discovered over the last few years. (And hopefully to get us back on the right track!)