Birthday Menu

Colin celebrated his 11th birthday last weekend with a touch football game and a food wish list that would have shocked me a year ago.

Colin was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes seven weeks after our first major exposure and has struggled with erratic blood sugars ever since. To accommodate his illness, as well as our own, we transitioned from a high carb/refined sugar diet to a diet high in proteins, fats, and vegetables. (Sugars and high-carbohydrate foods feed fungi, yeasts, and other unfriendly pathogens.)

Colin has had a tough time with the transition. His mind has been willing. It's his body that has fought the change. I now understand the harsh reality of carb/sugar cravings.

Slowly, ever so slowly, things have improved. This is reflected in the following wish list, which we happily granted.

Breakfast: Fruit smoothie with homemade goat yogurt, stevia, and frozen strawberries. Jicama fries. (Sliced and stir-fried jicama tastes just like hash browns!)

Lunch: Beef stir-fry (with Kaitlyn's special cauliflower rice and peas).

Dinner: Restaurant with Dad. A meal of grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli, and grilled zucchini.

Dessert: Crustless pumpkin pie with stevia.

The day's festivities required a total of 8 units of insulin. A far cry from the 20-30 we often needed on holidays and birthdays.

It was a great birthday for Colin. And not just because of his new favorite foods and his stable blood sugars.

It was the special NFL jersey he received. The one bearing the name of his hero, Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears quarterback with type 1 diabetes.

With Colin's new breakfast of champions, the NFL had better watch out.