I made the oatmeal this weekend and can confirm that it lives up to my sister-in-law’s hype. The delicious mixture of golden oats, fruit and walnuts is the perfect way to start the day. I topped mine with plain Greek yogurt for added protein (I usually top oatmeal that way as it seems to help prevent a blood glucose spike). I tweaked the recipe slightly (including doing away with two bananas) to reduce the carb count. My version of the recipe is below.

If you haven’t seen Super Natural Every Day, I recommend checking it out. It’s a beautiful book filled with delicious-sounding dishes made from whole, natural ingredients.

Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup walnut pieces, toasted and chopped
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Scant 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries

Set the oven at 375 degrees. Generously butter the inside of an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, half the walnuts, baking power, cinnamon, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, milk, egg, half of the butter, and vanilla.

Sprinkle two-thirds of the berries in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Cover the berries with the oat mixture. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats. Gently shake the baking dish to make sure the milk moves through the oats. Scatter the remaining berries and walnuts across the top.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Drizzle the remaining melted butter on the top and serve.

Serves 6 generously, or 12 as part of a larger brunch spread.

One of the things that drew me to this program is my fascination with humans’ relationship with food. Food is often overlooked as something to study because it is such a necessity, so everyday. But I find the way people relate to and identify themselves through food to be an extremely interesting subject area.

The relationship with food is even more complex for people with diabetes. Thinking about food is constant – from counting the carbs of everything consumed to guessing how something will affect blood glucose. For those with diabetes, food can fluctuate between being seen as the savior and the enemy depending on the latest blood glucose reading.

Because of my interest in the relationship people with diabetes have with food I decided to study this area further in one of my classes last semester. My research focused on how cultural food identity, or how people identify themselves culturally through their food choices, affects the management of type 2 diabetes.

I read through study after study that discussed how people with type 2 diabetes struggled to change their diets after diagnosis because the health professionals they were working with did not take their culture into consideration when offering nutritional advice. Too often the health professionals did not understand the patients’ cultural background or did not think about it when discussing dietary options. Because culture influences everything from the ingredients someone uses to the way they prepare and consume food, however, this is crucial.

I discovered a couple of successful type 2 diabetes pilot programs, including one on the southern border of Texas and one in rural South Carolina, that were designed to fit the needs of the specific communities. Every aspect of each program was developed based on the participants’ culture. For example, when talking about food the health professionals used food items and ingredients that the participants were accustomed to and presented cooking demonstrations of healthier versions of traditional dishes. This focus on culture had an extremely positive impact. The pilot program participants had much more success improving their dietary behaviors and lowering their A1Cs than those in traditional programs.

I could go on and on about my research (and I did in 20-plus pages), but I don’t want to be a bore. However, I will say that as I continue in the program, and continue to be faced with daunting research papers, I hope to look at the diabetes community again. There are so many areas related to diabetes and food worth studying that could help health professionals work with diabetes patients in more effective ways.

As a refresher, LADA stands for Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults and is a slowly progressing form of type 1 diabetes. It also is sometimes referred to as type 1.5. LADA is the type of diabetes my endocrinologist suspects I may have, along with 10 percent of other people with diabetes. If you’d like to learn more about LADA, there is some great information on TuDiabetes. I also recommend checking out “Faces of LADA” on dLife, a slideshow that shares the stories of people diagnosed with LADA.

Despite feeling stretched for time, things are going great. I started classes at the beginning of September and have been exhausting my brain daily ever since. My courses are fascinating – I’m studying everything from food policy to food marketing to the meanings of meat. And while being a full-time student has its challenges (including being expected to read more than seems humanly possible!), I’m finding it to be extremely rewarding. It’s so mentally stimulating to be back in the classroom focusing on a subject I love.

When I haven’t been studying, I’ve tried to take advantage of being in Boston. It’s amazing to have the opportunity to explore a new city – and sample all of the food it has to offer. It helps that I’ve had a number of visitors, including my parents and my boyfriend, who have wanted to see the sights. And it also helps that I’m living with my sister who forces me to take breaks from my books. I’m pleased to report that she and I have stumbled upon some amazing restaurants…and ice cream shops.

I’m hoping to get back into the swing of updating my blog more regularly again. I’ll have to add it to my to-do list…right after “take a shower.”

In less than three weeks I’ll be packing up my little apartment in LA and heading to Boston to start a full-time graduate program in food studies. After more than six years of working in communications, and having some wonderful opportunities to work on food, nutrition and wellness campaigns, I realized I want to focus my career on food. I want to excite and educate others about their food options, and help them make choices that are healthy for their bodies and the environment. The multidisciplinary program I’m enrolled in explores everything from anthropology of food to food policy to nutrition. As I read the syllabuses for my courses, I can’t help but get excited. These are topics I love.

Choosing to go back to school was not an easy decision. I am happy and settled in LA, where I’ve lived more than five years now. My boyfriend is here, my friends are here, my full-time job (you know, the one with good health insurance) is here. But, if diabetes has taught me anything, it’s that I need to seize the moment and live life to the fullest.

While my emotions have been jumping from excited (school!) to sad (long-distance relationships!) lately, I’m really looking forward to embarking on this new adventure. I’ll continue to share more about my transition in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please send me happy packing thoughts.

The big difference in my experience this year at AADE was the number of people I knew in attendance. While a couple of them I had met in person, like Scott and George, most of them I had only talked with online. It was so nice to meet people like Allison and Alexis in real life.

On Wednesday night, Alexis, who lives in Vegas and has an eight-year-old son with type 1 diabetes, organized a meetup. For a full recap of the night, check out her post. Alexis wrote that she is happy her son Justice has such awesome diabetes role models. Even though I’m 20 years older than Justice, I’m happy to have awesome role models too. I’m still new to diabetes and seeing people living well with it is an inspiration.

Diabetes Meetup (photo courtesy of @curemoll)

On Thursday night, I got to see many of the same people from the meetup, plus others, including Manny, Bill and Ginger at a dinner hosted by Roche. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many smart and influential people who are doing great things in the diabetes community.

I returned home from AADE exhausted, but re-energized. While Twitter and blogs are a great fix day-to-day, I find it so powerful to connect with people face-to-face. I talked with so many people with diabetes who are doing incredible things to support others with diabetes and advocate on behalf of everyone with the disease. It’s inspiring to see how these people have used diabetes as a catalyst to make a positive difference.

I’m really looking forward to attending the conference again, especially because there are going to be a number of really awesome d-peeps there. I can’t wait to see old friends and meet new people. Despite the “What happens in Vegas…” saying, I’ll be sure to write a post about my experience there.

You would have thought I was having major surgery judging by all of the activity prior to the procedure. I had to have two pre-op consults, one with my surgeon and one with my endo, and talked to the hospital at least three or four times. The day before my surgery, my surgeon called in a bit of a panic to report my blood sugar had been 210 during my pre-op labs. This prompted her to ask if my diabetes was “well controlled.” I reassured her it was, but that I still have some highs and lows. I had likely had a snack before my appointment and was probably stressed out.

The procedure itself wasn’t bad – I was under general anesthesia – but the recovery hasn’t been fun. I was in so much pain following surgery that I had to get serious pain meds (and subsequently, anti-nausea drugs). The drugs knocked me out so much that I basically slept through to the next morning.

I’ve been experiencing quite a bit of abdominal pain since and feeling generally rundown. I’m trying to take things slow and get as much rest as possible in hopes of feeling 100 percent by next Tuesday when I’ll head to the AADE Annual Meeting for work.

One thing I’m thankful (and frankly, surprised) that I haven’t had to worry about has been my blood sugar. It miraculously hovered around 115 during the day of the surgery and has been pretty much in range ever since.

I know…black beans in brownies? It doesn’t sound good. But after reading Heidi’s positive review and many glowing comments, I thought it was worth a shot. The recipe is much healthier and lower-glycemic than most brownie recipes. It calls for no flour and agave nectar takes the place of sugar. And the beans add fiber and protein.

The result? Delicious. The brownies are really dense and fudgy with a hint of coffee. Curious to see if others liked them as much as I did, I brought some to work the next day. I told my coworkers they were healthier than most brownies, but didn’t share the secret ingredient right away. Everyone that tried the brownies gave them two thumbs up – and then were shocked to find out they contained beans. They all agreed they couldn’t taste them.

While I doubt I’ll make these every time I’m craving brownies, they’ll definitely be added to my rotation. I used a calculator to try to determine the nutritional data and was impressed with the results. One note, the database didn’t include agave nectar, so I substituted honey.

My endo was encouraging, but told me to watch what I eat the next few months. It was frustrating to hear that because I always watch what I eat. I put so much thought and energy into planning my meals, snacks and workouts, that sometimes I get exhausted just thinking about how regimented my days are now.

I know a 6.6 A1C isn’t bad, but I can’t help but feel disappointed that it went up. I question if I ate as well and exercised as much as I could have. I wonder if I need to cut my carbs down even more. I wonder if this is a sign that my pancreas is producing less insulin and if oral meds are beginning to lose their touch. Whatever the cause, all I can do is keep moving forward and trying my best. Sigh.