Sun, Crunch and Sugar

The sun shone today for the first time in, seemingly, forever. Icicles on the edge of the metal roof were slowly melting. Time to go snowshoeing before the crust turned to slush. Instead of taking the driveway, I decided to cut through the meadow behind the house, humping up the first of the hills. My legs were tired from my workout at the gym yesterday, but the sun felt good on my back. I climbed slowly, from fatigue, the incline of the hill, and the crunchy snow.

This was something of a learning day. On Thursday, I went out at a fairly fast clip through the light, fresh snow. By the time I got home, I felt a bit shaky, and it wasn't from the effort of the exercise. In late July, surgery left me an instant Type 1 diabetic, and I'm still learning about how diet and exercise affect me. Thurday's exercise - and not enough food - left me with a blood sugar level of 57.0 mg/DL, below my hypoglycemic parameter of 70. A quick glass of apple juice, followed by a slice of no-sugar-added apple pie with sugar-free ice cream, got me back up. Determined not to let that happen today, I had 1/2 a whole wheat bagel with salmon before going out today, and age a Glucerna snack bar 20 minutes into my walk. My blood sugar when I got back was 237 mg/DL - 50 points higher than I'd like it, but not hypoglycemic. Getting this right is going to take some time.