• CURRENTLY: what I’m up to and how I’m spending my free time…currently

  • July travels

  • What I'm adding to my TBR list

  • Rest Easy, Glen Hansard

• In case you missed it: Notes saw it first

  • I would love some advice on where to stay in Puerta Vallarta - yes, we’re talking honeymoon!

  • An analogy I’m using to show patients why it’s important to consistently fuel yourself

CURRENTLY

traveling

More specifically, roadtripping! For the long weekend in July, Chris and I drove to Tahoe from San Francisco to spend time with friends by the lake, playing games, and making some wonderful food.

Traveling was a large part of July and an important theme of the month that I wanted to lean into after a tumultuous June for us.

reading

I’m still reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl series: currently on Book No. 3, The Anarchists Cookbook - it’s SO good! I think my favorite of the three so far.

I wanted to share some new adds to my TBR (to be read) list:

Eat What You Love Love What You Eat with Diabetes by Michelle May, MD & Megrette Fletcher, MEd, RD, CDE

Intuitive Eating for Diabetes by Janice Dada, MPH, RDN

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH

listening

I'm writing this section on the 29th of July. This morning, I woke up to horribly sad news that Glen Hansard passed away suddenly and tragically. Glen Hansard grew up in my favorite place in the world, Dublin, busking on Grafton street and playing an integral part of Irish and even more specifically, Dublin, culture. The grief I have feels strange given it’s for someone I’ve never shared a conversation with nor knew I exist, but I feel like I grew up with Glen Hansard on my screen and in my ears. My mom and I were also lucky enough to see him live not once but twice in the last four years. They were intimate concerts, I swear he even smiled at me once. And they were concerts that connected me with my mom, which I’ll always cherish and be grateful to Glen for.

So today, and for the rest of my life, I will cherish every note of every Glen Hansard song I can as we’ll never have a new one bless our ears.

Here are some of my favorites:

well, duh. this song made Glen an Oscar winner

a song for his son, the lyrics hit a little deeper now

In case you missed it…

Thank you for reading, friend! Leave a comment below to say hi and I’ll be back in your inbox next week.

xoxo

Ciara

• Dietitians, I have a question for you - how do you feel about these high-fiber tortillas and bread products?

• High-fiber recipes for breakfast and lunch this week

  • chia pudding

  • warm farro and artichoke salad

    Subscribe now

What’s a high-fiber bread product?

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, these are flour products such as sliced bread, tortillas, or even bagels that include a giant amount of fiber with very little net carbohydrates. Some examples are ones such as the carb balance soft taco flour tortilla or keto breads like this one.

I'm seeing more and more patients walk into my office excited to tell me they've found products like these and more often than not, their interest in them was piqued by the “low carb” marketing. However, when looking at the label they realize that they’re getting about 70% of their fiber from just one serving! I love that they're thinking about nutrition between visits, and I love that they're reading the labels. What I don't love is that their diet still includes minimal whole grains, beans and legumes, and fruits and vegetables, and as a result, they're not always reaching their nutrition goals.

I think what's really driving this is the negative discourse going around that carbohydrates are "bad" and need to be avoided at all costs! So when someone sees 2 teensy weensy grams of net carbs on a nutrition label, it feels like a win. My concern: if the majority of someone's daily carbohydrate intake is coming from fiber, their body is taking in very little glucose. Glucose is what fuels everything from walking to the mailbox to your favorite workout. Without enough of it, people tend to feel more fatigued and, ironically, crave more carbs — the opposite of what they were going for.

I’ve been a bit stumped in my patient visits on how to address this with patients. On one hand, they’re getting fiber and we know that’s great! Plus these products aren’t having a negative impact on their health. And on the other hand, they might not be getting fiber’s benefits (satiety, gut health, cholesterol support) from a variety of sources, alongside enough carbohydrate for actual energy.

So what do you do?

I would love to hear any advice you might have on counseling patients to continue to explore other high-fiber sources while affirming their success in reading labels and prioritizing their health through their food choices.

Leave a comment

*Net carbohydrates are total carbohydrates minus total fiber and sometimes sugar alcohols. Since fiber isn’t fully digested and has minimal impact on blood glucose, the idea is that net carbs are what actually affect blood sugar.

my favorite high-fiber recipes:

super basic vanilla chia pudding: ~7 grams of fiber per serving

makes 3 servings

• 1.5 cups soy milk

• 1/4 cup chia seeds

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• pinch of salt

Whisk ingredients together and pour into 3 jars. Leave overnight in the fridge and enjoy the next morning.

warm farro-artichoke salad with chickpeas: ~8 grams of fiber per serving

makes 4 servings

salad:

• 1 cup of farro, cooked

  • Trader Joes has a super convenient 10 minute farro!

• 1 can of quartered artichoke hearts

• 1/4 cup crumbled feta

• 2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

• 1/2 red onion, chopped

• 2 loose cups of kale, chopped

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed and mixed with 1 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp cayenne plus a generous amount of salt and pepper

dressing:

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup

• 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

• salt and pepper

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• sprinkle of red pepper flakes for heat

In a pan on medium-high heat, heat olive oil and add chickpeas. Cook until they start getting crispy and add red onion and cook until soft. Add in farro, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes and mix together until all is warm. Mix in kale and cook until the kale softens. Add in feta and dressing last!

This recipe is about 10 grams of protein so I like to add 1/2 a can of smoked trout, tuna or sardines! A soft boiled egg would be super yummy, too!

Thank you for making it allllll the way down here! I hope you were able to take something away from this newsletter, maybe a new vocab word or food to try!

Keep an eye out for the next newsletter with everything I’ve been up to for the last month!

xoxo

Ciara

• What I tell my patients as a clinician versus what I do as a patient

• In case you missed it: Notes saw it first

  • To charge or not to charge? Reducing charges in the wedding budget

  • More food, less judgment - meals of the week without the protein content

  • Food for thought as a growing clinician

What I tell my patients:

Eat a meal that includes protein and fiber within two hours of waking up. This can be breakfast foods such as eggs and toast or more atypical breakfast foods like chicken and a tortilla. I’ve seen how including a meal earlier in the day encourages more stable energy levels (meaning less sudden hunger pangs and constant snacking and an easier time concentrating) and allows people to feel more calm around food the rest of the day, most likely because their body feels nourished. This is also what the research backs up.

What I do:

I always eat breakfast, but I don’t always eat breakfast first thing in the day. I’ve been enjoying the longer mornings lately; waking up earlier to journal and breathe, have my coffee and not rushing. Like I hear from many of my patients, my appetite likes to sleep-in, which makes the idea of cooking eggs at 6am feel genuinely offensive.

So what do I do instead? I kind of flip my mid-morning snack and my breakfast. I have a small snack with my coffee and an hour or so later, I make a more balanced meal. I have found that by eating something before or with my coffee, my blood sugar responds much better to my eventual larger meal.

P.S Research from the University of Bath confirmed what my CGM was already telling me — coffee before breakfast can increase your blood glucose response by around 50%.

What I tell my patients:

Add a source of fiber with meals and snacks. While protein is having its moment in the spotlight right now, fewer than 1 in 10 adults in the United States are getting enough fiber — and the consequences go beyond digestion. Research shows a positive correlation between fiber intake and reduced risk of colon cancer, and the more fiber consumed, the stronger that association appears. The recommended intake is 25-40 grams per day, which sounds manageable until you realize most people are getting closer to half that.

When I look at where my patients are missing fiber, it’s rarely the fruits and vegetables — it’s the whole grains and beans and legumes that tend to be missing from the plate. And those two food groups pull double duty: they’re high in fiber and a meaningful source of protein.

What I do:

For me, getting enough fiber starts with making sure a complex carbohydrate is on my plate — something like brown rice, lentils, quinoa, a sweet potato, or whole grain bread or pasta. These minimally processed foods are where the bulk of my daily fiber comes from.

But I also have two small habits that quietly do a lot of heavy lifting. I add chia seeds to my oatmeal or let them sit in my yogurt for 10-15 minutes before eating, and I stir ground flaxseed into my salad dressings. Neither requires any real effort, but together they can add around 5 grams of fiber to my day without me thinking much about it.

Honestly, I didn’t always care this much about my own fiber intake — but as I was assessing patients’ food intake and looking for area for improvement, fiber was what was lacking most of the time. So as I started helping them build behaviors around their diet that would improve their fiber intake, I started implementing those same behaviors in my own life.

In case you missed it…

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter! What questions do you have about breakfast, fiber or just nutrition in general? Post them in the comments below and they’ll be featured in a future newsletter answering subscriber questions!

xoxo

Ciara

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I recently spent three days in the desert scrambling around rocks, wearing sparkly outfits and dancing the night away with some of my closest and bestest friends for my bachelorette - this was unsurprisingly the best weekend of my life and made me even more excited for this next chapter as a bride-to-be. But things got heated…

Let’s first start with the itinerary designed by my Maid of Honors to ensure I was the most spoiled bride:

Day One: Arrival & Western Attire

I was greeted by eleven of my closest friends at a rental in Joshua Tree, California on a Thursday. At this point, I was one very strong spicy margarita deep and just ecstatic to see all my friends. The decorations were above and beyond anything I could have imagined; there were stickers, temporary tattoos, banners, and lots of balloons. I had friends traveling from all over the world just to celebrate me. After we were done screaming and hugging, we put on our finest western-wear and went to Pappy and Harriets for some barbecue to kick things off.

Day Two: Ciara’s Shroom Scramble & Pool Day

Due to the heat of Joshua Tree (subtle foreshadowing), we were up early to get our butts to the park before the sun fried us like sunny-side-up eggs. After some delicious breakfast burritos from Mas o Menos, we spent a few hours scrambling up rocks and doing a chaotic version of hiking (getting lost, making up the route as we went etc.). When the heat started to become just too much, we got in the car and drove around the national park ooo-ing and awww-ing over the beautiful trees, and making a stop to admire some funky cacti and look for some pretty gems.

The rest of the day was spent in the pool at our rental, drinking wine and drenching ourselves in sunscreen. Pool day was followed by a pajama party and bachelorette games such as “Is it Chris?” And some sweet messages via video from Chris himself!! So many tears of pure happiness this day.

Day Three: Disco Brunch & Dancing in the Desert

After a day in the sun, I think a lot of us were quite thankful for some cloud coverage and more relaxing on our final full day! Brunch was catered from Kitchen in the Desert and my friends put together the most wonderful spread to fit the disco theme. Then we put on our most colorful bathing suits and had ourselves a day by the pool.

By four o’clock in the afternoon, it was time to wash off the sunblock and put on our sparkles to get ready to disco in the desert. Mas o Menos (the same place we had breakfast the day before) was coincidentally hosting a disco night with a DJ and a giant disco ball the same night. All my friends looked AMAZING in their disco outfits (most gifted to us from Nuuly - thanks Nuuly!).

OKAY BUT, when did things get heated?!

While this itinerary was playing out — while we were laughing, bonding, eating and drinking to our hearts content — I was unaware that my insulin supply was starting to break down and become incredibly less effective. Over three days, I noticed my blood glucose (BG) levels go rogue and become extremely difficult to manage.

Why did my insulin become less effective?

When insulin is exposed to extreme temperatures of heat or cold, its molecular structure breaks down rendering it less effective at lowering your blood glucose (which is kind of important re: extremely important). This has NEVER happened to me in my 24 years with type one diabetes. But while driving from tepid San Francisco to blazing Bakersfield and then from Bakersfield to Palm Springs to Joshua Tree, the bag with my diabetes supplies was exposed to the heat beating down from the sun in the back of the car. The air conditioning could barely keep up with keeping us cool, there was no way it was cool enough in the car to keep the insulin at a safe temperature.

When did I figure it out?

I hadn’t come to this conclusion, which is still a hypothesis, until after arriving back in San Francisco and cracking open a cold one (a vial of insulin straight from the butter compartment in the fridge) and my blood glucose immediately returned back to normal range and I could breathe easy again.

I noticed on Thursday that my BG was behaving strangely, not responding to insulin as quickly and staying elevated for longer than usual. At this point I had spent nearly 10 hours sitting in a hot car dehydrated and giddy with excitement. This combination of being sedentary with a slight stress coursing through my body was a perfect cocktail for stubborn BG so I didn’t think much of it and instead focused on what I felt like I could control which was drinking more water, moving my body and having fun being present with my friends.

Friday was pretty active which I think kept my BG in just a slightly elevated range and then after housing a giant burrito at the end of the day, I didn’t think much of it when I woke up with my blood glucose > 250 mg/dL Saturday morning. But all day Saturday, my BG just went higher and higher, and the funny part was that I had very little, if any, symptoms. No ketones, no nausea, no extreme thirst; I did feel tired, though that was expected due to the fun we had the day before. I shed a few tears out of frustration and just let myself rest, with my friends doting on me making sure I had water and whatever I needed.

What did I do?

When my blood glucose is behaving strangely, my first course of action is to change the pump site - sometimes the cannulas are bent or absorption is decreased as the site approaches three days of wear. So I changed my pump site Thursday and then changed it again Friday and this time changed out the reservoir as well (in case the pump got overheated in the sun). On Saturday….I changed the site three times - and a couple of the cannulas were actually bent. But in between all these site changes, I opened up a brand new vial of insulin to do injections.

I realized the heat from Bakersfield to Palm Springs to Joshua Tree must’ve penetrated the insulin once the injections were a no-go. The insulin was still working but it seemed like it was working at about 50% effectiveness if I had to guess. Enough to stave off ketones and major symptoms but not enough to bring my BG less than 250mg/dL.

At this point, my friends rallied around me and got me to move around by teaching me some line dancing and even doing a squat and plank contest with me. This helped immensely.

What would I do differently next time?

Next time I leave the comfort of my room-temperature city, I will be bringing ice packs, coolers, lunch boxes, mini fridges - all of it.

I own one of these Frio coolers designed specifically to keep insulin and other temperature sensitive medications cool so I'd start here. Then maybe I’d bring one of my lunch boxes I use for work that goes in the freezer and holds cool for almost 8 hours. I’d also be better about putting the insulin straight into the fridge upon arriving to my destinations - I do always think about this but I’ve left my insulin in far too many random hotels and rentals over the years.

Resources for those with diabetes:

Managing Diabetes in the Heat from the CDC

How to Help Keep Your Insulin (and other Diabetes meds) Cool from Diatribe.org

Well, if you made it to the end of this, THANK YOU for reading/skimming/just looking at the pictures.

The main takeaway:

I include resistance and weight training as part of my weekly activities, I walk everywhere I can, and I spend a lot of evenings deep in my couch or sitting in my favorite reading chair. I eat all the food groups as well as my favorite pastries and processed foods. I’ve reduced my alcohol intake and I stay hydrated.

I’m so happy with the balance I have achieved because it has allowed me the freedom to think less about my diabetes management by focusing on my…human management. This balance has also allowed situations like the one above to roll off of me with more ease. This doesn’t mean I’m forgetting about my diabetes or not taking care of myself, it means that I don’t ruminate on every obstacle or mistake and instead, I find acceptance with being imperfect.

xoxo

Ciara

• CURRENTLY: what I’m up to and how I’m spending my free time…currently

• In case you missed it: Notes saw it first

  • Help me design my wedding invitations

  • Can I interest you in something off the Dopamine Menu?

  • Living in your body instead of fighting it

CURRENTLY

reading

I just finished the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and am onto the second book in the series!

Once I finished Yesteryear (our book club’s June pick), I went straight to the dungeon with Crawler Carl and your highness, Princess Donut. I found myself laughing out loud and loving the world building of a video game meets reality television show. Quite the switch-up from Yesteryear, which highlights a weird corner of social media where women capitalize on the idealization of living a “traditional” lifestyle and brings up the question of whether or not these influencers are turning back time on how far women have come with independence and autonomy.

watching

re-watching* GIRLS on HBO Max / I listened to some of Lena Dunham’s memoir, Famesick, and was loving the behind the scenes drama unfolding throughout the seasons. This extra intel makes watching the first couple seasons extra juicy.

Love Island! UK because USA was getting so boring (though I was entertained by Melanie’s character arc)

eating

My favorite snack has been a combination of cottage cheese, raspberries and a drizzle of tahini and maple syrup with flakey sea salt on top! Savory with a little sweet - YUM.

For something more savory, cottage cheese with kimchi + avocado - I found this kimchi chickpea salad that works really well too and I get extra carbohydrates/fiber out of it.

listening

Just started a new audiobook because I was at the dentist and was desperate to hear anything that wasn’t a drill going into my mouth. So I clicked on The Missed Connection by Tia Williams, the same author of Seven Days in June which I read in 2021 and have been craving a luscious love story like it ever since.

In case you missed it…

Notes saw it first

Is it okay if my wedding invitation doesn't include our middle and last names?

Dopamine Menu inspired by Mia - check out her post about dopamine menus here

My bff, Sydney, wrote this wonderful piece on celebrating her body rather than punishing it

Thank you for reading this little update! If you enjoyed, please share with a friend or leave a like below.

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P.S I am starting a series where I answer subscriber questions re: nutrition, dietitian life, and diabetes - and how I balance it all. Drop a question below to be answered in future newsletters or via notes!

xoxo

Ciara

• Closing the door on Instagram content…why I stepped back from sharing life on instagram

• The Itch I’m trying to scratch… the hopes for this newsletter and what you can expect from subscribing and following along

• Life updates… bridal era in full swing!!

Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️

I have been absolutely itching to write another newsletter… Sometime in January, I stopped posting on @balanceandbolus on instagram - an account I started in 2017 to document my life becoming a registered dietitian with type 1 diabetes while also being a twenty-something trying to get on my feet - for no real reason other than I could not figure out what the point was. This is not as bleak as it sounds, I promise!

When I started Balance & Bolus, I wanted to help others by sharing my perspective, my story, my view on life with diabetes. I was fresh out of college, single, living with my parents, working the odd job as a cashier, bartender and nanny while taking online classes towards my bachelors in nutrition. I had time, I had energy, I had a lot to say. Over the years, that life has evolved into 40 hour work weeks, life planning, and tending to life long relationships with loved ones. What I had to say on the internet felt less important, and I felt like I was only disappointing those who had interacted with my content for years with anything I posted that wasn’t nutrition advice or over-the-top pep talks about living with diabetes. So instead of forcing it, I decided to take a step back and focus more on the patients I get to help in a whole different way than I ever have before as well as focus on the life that happens outside of work that has nothing to do with diabetes or nutrition (most of the time anyway). Also, it turns out that not being on social media 24/7 is magnificent for mental health! Who knew!

But then I started to get that itch. That itch to continue sharing the odd bit of my life as well as the things I find interesting (and hopefully you do, too) in hopes of continuing to “help” others in a sense. After all, part of what got me to launch Balance & Bolus as well as pursue a career in diabetes education was that I’d survived nearly two decades living with diabetes so I must be doing something right and maybe people would benefit from whatever that something was. I also pursued all this extra education for a reason - so might as well max out that use as well.

One coal in the fire of keeping Balance & Bolus alive was that I wanted to make my younger self proud. I wanted to create something that she would have not only been impressed by but would have learned from and therefore made her life just a little bit easier and less lonesome. So as I ask myself what the point is - of sharing my life or thoughts in a newsletter - I guess it’s for her first and foremost and all the people who emulate the parts of her that wanted to work towards self-improvement and self-care, happiness amongst inevitable sadness, and feeding her ever-curious mind.

So let’s catch up!

I’m currently working full-time in outpatient nutrition counseling; I work with a variety of patient populations but I am finding myself specifically drawn to women’s health (specifically PMOS and menopause), eating disorders and those wanting to improve their relationship with food, and diabetes - the last two are not that surprising but I find it important to note because I see such a strong connection between these three! I have found that my style of practice aligns to these noted populations and I want to follow that comfortable feeling because this truly feels like the exact role I was meant for.

I’m getting married in October!!!!!! Since October 2025, Chris and I have been planning our wedding for fall 2026. Well, one might say I’ve been planning this in my head for even longer, since shortly after I fell head over heels for Chris in 2021. This, along with work, has been making me feel like way more of an adult — and sometimes I just have to giggle with Chris about the absurdity that we’re driving long distances to pick out table linens and go to menu tastings where we’re treated as guests of honor and stuffing ourselves silly with free food. This process has been an unexpected amount of fun and as we’re just under 4 months out, not as stressful as anticipated…yet.

the proposal - Alamo square park 7/25/25

I have my hours towards becoming a CDCES (Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist) but need to take the test - I don’t know why I thought I could study for this exam while planning a wedding at the same time but here I am. I didn’t pass my exam to become a ~registered dietitian~ on the first try and I was so upset, talk about bleak! I also am allowed to practice as a diabetes educator under the requisite of 25 CEU (continuing education units) annually, so this exam doesn’t feel as emergent or as if it is holding me back from progressing in my career. However! HoWevER! Being specifically a CDCES was my original dream when I first had to seriously think about what I wanted to do with my life; becoming a registered dietitian as just a stepping stone.

So there it is - consider the itch scratched. I hope I can continue to fill up your inbox with life updates and what I learn through the ups and downs as well as the little joys I find in life that hopefully bring you joy as well.

xoxo

Ciara

• How do we show ourselves love through food? In honor of the upcoming Valentines holiday, I thought it could be kind to remind us of all the ways we can show ourselves love through…food. Plus, what get’s in the way of a positive relationship with food?

• CURRENT: Long-time B&B friends will remember this page from my blog. This is just a recap of what I’ve recently been up to (eating, listening, reading, etc.)

  • Loving: Meet the newest member of our family.

  • Eating: I’ve been to two amazing restaurants in the last few weeks that have truly blown my stomach and I out of the water.

Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️

How do we show ourselves love through food?

Self-care’s intention is to practice a positive relationship with ourselves in retaliation to all the negative thoughts that might zoom through our heads through the day. Similarly, a lot of us have been subjected to the negativity of diet-culture talk leading to harmful and negative relations with food. So my natural response is to think of ways we can appreciate food and thus foster a positive relationship with the very stuff that keeps us alive.

Two (of many) things can impede the ability to practice self-care through food: diet culture and chronic illness. Whether it’s an unsolicited comment on how much you ate or living with diabetes, both hinder the ability to strengthen a positive relationship with food.

The highs and lows of living with diabetes dysregulate my hunger cues and make practices on the self-care list feel like a Survivor challenge. Here I am trying to discern my fullness and hunger levels, and my blood sugar is going low and pushing me towards the pantry and telling me to eat the entire box of cereal, or my high blood sugar is making me nauseous, and now dinner is untouched (but don’t worry, I won’t be able to sleep at 11 PM when my stomach is growling and I’ll get up to make a midnight snack in the middle of REM).

At the height of my worshipping of Diet Culture, I was encouraged to ignore my hunger cues constantly and would spend hours staving off hunger because of DC’s war on snacking. Since I felt snacking was a sin, I wasn’t practicing self-care through food and, instead, was nurturing a painful and harmful relationship with it. Diet culture also demonizes the foods that connect us to friends and families. I’ll never forget when I succumbed to the paleo diet for barely a month and had to refuse potatoes ( !!!! potatoes !!!! ) at my family dinners to my father’s face*!

Has diet culture impacted your relationship to your culture by demonizing foods? And if you live with a chronic illness, how has it effected your relationship to food?

Let me know in the comments ☺︎

*Fun fact: my dad immigrated here from Dublin, Ireland in 1989! I lived in Dublin for most of my first five years of life, and it’s my favorite city in the world!

Current

Reading

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yaros - who isn’t?! Book #3 of The Empyrean Series, or known as “that new Fourth Wing book.”

Up Next:

• Finish The Will of the Many

• The Teacher by Frieda McFadden - I am very excited about my first McFadden book 🔪🍎

Loving

My heart has grown threefold since my last newsletter when we welcomed Rhubarb “Ruby” or “Barb” into the family!

After seven days of slow introductions, she and Rutabaga, “Rudy,” are getting along…fine. I’ve never owned cats before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they haven’t killed each other yet. They sleep close to one another occasionally and play together, but they are still learning one another’s boundaries.

P.S this is the exciting news that I was teasing in my last newsletter - whoops! Cat people are excited and the rest are disappointed.

Eating

The Progress

I’ve actually been here twice in 2025 - whoops! sorry, wallet. But I enjoyed it so much the first time, that I immediately made a date with my mom and brought her back for this wonderful dining experience. The menu is constantly changing (so many new items just 3 weeks apart!) so I can’t recommend too much or that might just be a tease!

Vibe: Tropical, modern with really light wood and large plants creating shadows over the tables.

Price: I’d say it’s easily $50-$75+ per person without drinks.

Food: The cuisine is like modern American fusion with different cultures: there are Japanese style dishes, masa and mole based dishes, and then things like the large BBQ duck platter.

Reservations: Yes! Get a reservation. Based on my last couple times there, I’d recommend 2 weeks or more out depending on day of the week (longer for weekends, shorter for weeknights).

Mr. Pollo

So Chris and I have been trying to go here for over a year now. We have made a couple reservations that we unfortunately had to cancel due to illness. But we finally made it just last week!

This wonderful little hole in the wall is located in our neighborhood, the Mission District of SF. The name has been unchanged as the owners and food have changed.

Vibe: This place is tiiiiiiny! The windows are blacked out so you can’t see in or out. It’s quirky but feels like you’re in your friends kitchen while they make dinner for you.

Price: It’s a pre-fixe menu that’s $49 per person. This is the only option!

Food: Graham is the amazing chef here and the only one! Him and William, the owner, run the whole establishment on their own. Graham has studied food all over the world from Malta to Italy and back to his home in the Bay Area. His food is based on what looks good at the farmers market and ties in flavors of his time abroad. But just like the farmers markets, it’s ever-changing.

Reservations: YES. and so far in advance! Like maybe 1-2 months to be sure. The place only seats 12 people! I recommend getting a seat a the bar so you can see Graham in action and hear his stories. This always makes the food better.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s first newsletter! I’ll talk to ya later - gotta go turn 30 in Denver 🎉

xoxo

Ciara

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• The Fear of Not Being Productive: creating a game plan to soothe burnxiety

• CURRENT: Long-time B&B friends will remember this page from my blog. This is just a recap of what I’ve recently been up to (eating, listening, reading, etc.)

Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️

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The Fear of Not Being Productive

“167 productive things to do when you’re bored.”

“100 extremely productive & fun things to do when you’re bored.”

“Useful things to do when bored.”

The titles of these articles caught my eye recently when I was scrolling through Pinterest. Some time ago, the temptation I would have felt to absorb every single bullet point within these articles, adding them to my never-ending mental to-do list, would have been primal. Luckily, in the last month or so, I have done enough self-reflection and venting with friends to figure out that a lot of my anxiety and burnout (I’m still not sure if I’m using these two words synonymously and I’m only feeling one, or both) comes from making my happiness and enjoyment in life depend on whether or not I reached max productivity.

So when I read these titles now, I clutched my pearls and thought, “Why can’t we just be bored?! " Then I had to switch that around and ask myself, the girl who tries to do a million things at the same time, “Why can’t YOU just be bored?!”

My burnxiety, if you will, has been highly apparent and, for lack of a better word, inflamed, since finishing school, then internship, then certification exam, then getting a job… and I’m starting to get extremely sick of it. Before I get into how I’m soothing this feeling, I want to share some signs that have brought me to this self-diagnosis of a made-up word…burnxiety.

• It feels like there’s always something more productive I could be doing. If I have an hour free, my mind first goes to wanting to sit down and enjoy the book I’m reading. Still, I think about something that needs cleaning, emails that need responding to, more educational/self-improvement books I should be reading, and exercises I should be doing—you get the point. The list goes on.

• I feel defensive, as if the entire world is viewing me under a microscope and calling me lazy or unproductive. This causes me to close up and become short with those around me (more so, my incredibly patient and supportive partner).

• Productivity actually takes a severe drop 📉 I’m not fueling anti-productivity propaganda here. But productivity shouldn’t be the goal of every minute of every day. When I spiral through the list of more productive things I should be doing (as said above), I feel paralyzed by all the tasks I’ve created for myself. The result? Doomscrolling on my phone to avoid disappointing myself by not choosing the most productive thing to be doing, staring off into space, and even breaking down into tears.

These are a few poignant signs of the burnxiety I’m feeling. This isn’t a new feeling, but I feel like the feelings have come to a head more recently. I was able to shove them down as I got wrapped up in the excitement of moving, starting a new job that absolutely exacerbated the burnout from school and my internship, and so on. I can feel the dust settling a bit and this feels like a good time to start dabbling in some ways to soothe the burn, if you will. Here’s what I’m trying:

• Therapy: This is self-explanatory! Therapy is a resource I could’ve really leaned on in 2024, but figuring out how to get my diabetes supplies covered by my health insurance was enough of a headache, so I put the search for a therapist on hold until now. I’ve only done one session, which is more of an intake and assessment. Still, I’m already really excited to start exercising my mental muscles and learning how to respond more healthily to feelings of anxiety.

• Twenty-minute timers: This idea was courtesy of my dear friend (and unrelatedly, an AI ethicist), Olivia Gambelin. For the moments when I freeze up and feel paralyzed by all the tasks and activities I want to do, I’ll set a twenty-minute timer. I’ll try a task in those twenty minutes and see if it sticks. If it sticks and I’m into it, I’ll go past the twenty minutes, and if I'm still feeling unfocused by the time the timer goes off, I’ll go for a walk or deep breathe to reset before trying another task for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes feels so doable to me!

• Redefining “productivity”: My least favorite part of my burnxiety (not that there’s a favorite part) is that my internal dialogue is trying to tell me that doing things like reading, writing, crocheting etc. is not productive. I’m countering that dialogue by reminding myself how I got here (troubleshooting anxiety and burnout) in the first place: by not allowing myself to do the activities that bring me joy, relax me, and make me feel good. When I make time for these activities, I find that I’m more present in patient calls, have more mental energy to put towards patient care, and have a more gentle internal dialogue with myself. And that is productive.

Current

Reading

for pleasure…

Title: The Will of the Many

Author: James Islington

Progress: 40%

for work…

I’m also re-reading Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach as I continue to work towards my Intuitive Eating Counselor Certification.

The last time I read this was in 2021, when I did a mini-mentorship with a private practice RD specializing in Eating Disorders/Disordered Eating. I was a student with zero patient experience, and now I’ve been an RD for over a year with over 1,000 hours of patient experience. I’ve applied many principles in patient care, and patients have been so receptive!

Watching

Traitors Season 3 just premiered so you knoooooooow I’m drooling over Alan Cumming’s outfits and the way he says “murder.”

Eating

Here’s what I’ve been living off this week:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cans of white beans (cannellini, Great Northern)

• 2 bags of spinach, chopped

• 1 cup of dried farro

• 6 oz crumbled feta

• 1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes

• 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

• 3 oz can of sliced olives

• Handful of sliced almonds

• 1.5 cups of chicken broth

• Salt and pepper

• Splash of milk

• Optional: add chopped Calabrian chiles!

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients in a large baking dish! I used a 9x13 casserole dish.

2. Bake in the oven at 350 F for 45 minutes, mixing halfway through, or until farro is cooked!

This recipe makes about eight servings. For my diabetic friends, each serving contains 25-30 grams of carbohydrates, more than 8 grams of fiber, and 15 grams of protein!

This has lasted me all week! Chris and I paired it with canned smoked trout for lunch on Monday and smoked mackerel (also canned) for dinner on Tuesday. I’ve brought it to work for two lunches and am still not sick of it.

Disclaimer: I know this does not look appetizing per say 😂 as it looks like a pile of mush but I promise that the flavors are SUPERB and it’s so comforting and cozy!

That’s all for now! I have some exciting news to share with you all soon 👀, which will be in the following newsletter. Keep checking those inboxes, and as always, thank you for being here ☺︎

xoxo

Ciara

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• Three tips for balanced blood sugar at your next holiday party!

• Nutrition and the Holidays: deflecting diet talk and non-diet related resolutions for 2025 + some breathwork ideas

• No Outs, Only Ins: Here’s what I’m bringing into 2025

Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️

Balancing Blood Sugars

This advice might have been more appropriate earlier in the month than on the Sunday before Christmas! However, the center of gravity for many events is food…lots and lots of food. So, use these strategies as you see fit to help achieve more balanced blood sugars!

Disclaimer: these strategies are entirely OPTIONAL! This means that if you decide to forego them at your next food-focused event, this does not make you a “bad diabetic,” if the stress of implementing them is too much, then drop them. Prioritize enjoying yourself and making memories with friends and loved ones <3

1. Bring on the veggies! Having non-starchy veggies as part of your meal will provide fiber without adding extra carbohydrates. Fiber will get nice and comfy in the tummy and slow down digestion, including the breakdown of carbohydrates → into → glucose, which will then raise blood sugar. This also means more time for your insulin to get to work and bring down the blood sugar. If you’re unsure if the event will have vegetables, ask to contribute some! Some higher-fiber veggies include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, artichokes, and brussels sprouts!

2. Veggies first, Dessert last! I know that part of the joy of being an ‘adult’ includes having the autonomy to have dessert whenever you’d like, not needing your parent’s permission, and not eating any vegetables. BUT if we’re trying to balance them blood sugars… let’s start with the vegetables; the fiber in the veggies will act like a sort of buffer in the stomach and once again, delay the carbohydrate digestion! On the flip side, having dessert within the first hour after eating can help prevent a considerable rise in your blood sugar compared to having the dessert on an empty stomach.

3. Please, Please, please don’t skip meals to save for later! Skipping meals leads to more significant blood glucose spikes at our next meal. Consistent carbohydrates throughout the day keep energy levels stable and prevent large swings in blood glucose. My biggest advice is to ensure you have a satisfying breakfast, including carbohydrates, fiber, and protein, on the day of any large event to provide stable energy going into an anxiety-filled day of party prep and errand running!

I shared this in my newsletter last December, but I wanted to give it a spot here in hopes it can help someone through any negative thoughts barreling through our minds this holiday season ☺︎

No Outs, only Ins

As I started to write my Outs, I felt like I was setting resolutions for myself in 2025. Something that has led to disappointment for me in the past. So, I’d instead focus on what I found in 2024 that I want to continue to bring into 2025!

• Movement without pressure or expectation: in 2024, I completed over 30 yoga classes through Core Power and 16 lagree classes at Core40. I also started working on strength training at home with weights and YouTube videos courtesy of @madfit.ig ! Though this may seem like a lot to some, my relationship with the movement was consistent and solid in 2024 without feeling overwhelmed and under pressure to do so. I plan to bring that into the following year. Moving when my body feels like it, resting when I want.

• More reading: I did not, in fact, reach my reading goal of 25 books this year. I was about 10 books short. This honestly kind of bums me out because I know the reason I didn’t read more was…this unsettling feeling of restlessness or fear of ‘wasting time.’ I started feeling like sitting down to read was “unproductive.” I felt like there was always something more “productive” (I'm beginning to hate this word) that I should be doing around the house. In reality, the most productive thing I could be doing at this moment was sitting my butt in my favorite chair and getting lost in a good book.

• Getting lost in a recipe: One thing I really enjoyed this year was setting up my iPad in the kitchen with a good recipe and a trashy show and spending hours in the kitchen getting lost in a recipe. I learned so many more cooking techniques and created a collection of staple recipes that Chris and I thoroughly enjoyed. Usually, these are the dinners where we sit at the dining room table and talk about the peaks and valleys of our days, which is a bonus!

I hope you all have an excellent rest of 2024 and a safe and happy New Year ☺︎ Thanks again for checking out my Balancing Act!

xoxo

Ciara

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• Virtual Holiday Card with my top positive three life updates of 2024

• CURRENT: Long-time B&B friends will remember this page from my blog. This is just a recap of what I’ve recently been up to (eating, listening, reading, etc.)

  • 🚨 What I’m reading: new favorite author alert

  • 🍜 Soup Season: ways to add protein to our soup-focused meals and the soups rotating through my kitchen this season

  • 🎧 What I’m listening to: This podcast has been making me laugh non-stop this year

    ---

    Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️

Subscribe now

• I started a new job! I’m a clinical dietitian working in outpatient diabetes education. This was an insane start to the year as I really wasn’t looking for a new job but knew this was an opportunity I could not miss out on. I work from home 50% of the time and commute the other half (we won’t talk about what that’s like - this is supposed to be positive). The transition from inpatient to outpatient has been wildly challenging, but I’m learning so much and quickly - there have just been a lot of growing pains along the way!

• We moved! So, the same day that I was offered my new position, Chris and I landed a new spot in San Francisco 🎉 At the end of December 2023, Chris and I decided to start looking for a place in the city in the New Year, and within 5 days of 2025, we were signing a lease. We could finally put our hours of scrolling on Facebook marketplace and browsing through thrift stores to use. Over the last year, we have absolutely loooooooved making this charming place our home.

• Meet Rutabaga, or Rudy/Ruty for short! Rudy wandered into our lives in August, and despite the wonderful things that had previously been noted, he quickly became the best thing to happen to me in 2024. I could feel my DNA turn into a cat lover within the first month (okay, it was more like the first week) of having him in our home. He is now very happy as an indoor kitty, so playful and very dog-like for a cat.

CURRENT

things that make me happy and don’t cost money:

• When Rudy’s meow sounds like “Mom.”

• Friends staying with us and having sleepovers cue the first line of Lover by TS

• My patient asking if she could hug me after our last session - we’ve been working together since May when I first started doing patient care and she has made such incredible strides towards her health. At this visit, she was so excited to show me her most recent lab work and to tell me how happy she was to have me on her team. After she left, I went back to my office and shed a little happy tear :’)

reading

I have been at Coco Mellors' feet lately, absorbing every word of her books and taking so long to read them.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein: I seriously picked this up for the name and cover art, and shortly after, I refused to put it down for Cleo and Frank, their tumultuous love story, and those who were caught in the crossfires of their love. For some reason, I cared so much about everyone in this novel and shed a few tears when finishing it, not because it’s blatantly sad but because I had to say goodbye.

I resonate with this review on Reddit: “This book is a definition of NO PLOT JUST VIBES. And mind you, it wasn’t all good vibes. The two MCs are toxic to each other and to themselves, personalities most of the times where pretentious with a lot of woke undertones. Nonetheless, I have underlying masochist tendencies and like to experience painful conversations and dialogues of entitled, privileged, pretentious people.”

Blue Sisters: I felt a mudslide of grief this year, but this book has been surprisingly comforting to read despite the story's proximity to death and loss. Once again, how Mellor writes her characters is so addicting to me?? This book follows the growth of three sisters working through the grief of their sister while coming face-to-face with one another’s imperfections. It’s dark at times, but a really beautiful read.

eating

Soup-tober sent me spoon-first into a bunch of autumnal soups! I have Chris to thank for this. He caught a cold in October, and it was the first gloomy weekend of the season, so soup seemed like the proper remedy.

I try to pick soups that include protein because without it, 1) it’s not very filling, and 2) any carbohydrate in the soup might spike my blood glucose without it. If the soup you’re making doesn’t already include meatballs or beans, here are some ways you can amp up that protein:

1. Grilled cheese on the side is a classic pairing, either dipped into the soup or just on the side. I make my grilled cheese with low-moisture mozzarella for higher protein, but any cheese will do!

2. Meatballs: Inspired by one of the recipes below (Lemony Chicken-Feta Meatball Soup), I freestyled my own meatballs to accompany some of the veggie-heavy soups. I used rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs. Then, I’ll mix flavors like herbs and spices that are already in the soup!

3. White Beans: When making a blended soup, white beans (cannellini, Great Northern, etc.) can add extra creaminess, protein, and fiber to sustain our energy and help balance blood glucose levels.

4. Greek Yogurt: If a soup calls for heavy cream or you’re looking for a way to make the soup creamier, add some Greek yogurt! One serving of Greek yogurt has about 10-15 grams of protein. I also use this in place of sour cream when having chili!

Here are the soup recipes I’ve been making in order from most favorite to least favorite:

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Harissa Tomatoes

Lemony Chicken Feta Meatball Soup

Spicy Carrot Ginger Soup

Taco Soup

Pureed Broccoli and Celery Soup

listening and laughing

A dear friend introduced me to this podcast, and the tea spilled in it has brought me so many one-hour increments of laughter and joy this 2024. I recommend starting with the episode above (for no reason other than it was the first one I listened to, making it the episode that got me hooked).

What’s it about? The host, Kelsey McKinney, delivers “juicy, strange, funny, and utterly banal gossip” submitted by listeners to comedically-inclined guests on the show for guaranteed laughs and a lot of “whaaaaat in the worlds” 😂

Some of my other favorite episodes are this one and this one!

Let me know your favorite podcast of the year in the comments!

I am giddy about finally releasing another newsletter! So much happened within the first few months of the new year that I found it difficult to articulate thoughts and feelings in such a public form, but I felt odd writing about anything else other than all the emotions I was feeling. Thank you for being patient with me, and as always, thank you for being here ☺︎

xoxo

Ciara

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• What’s Happening: some news and internet finds that caught my eye

• Nutrition and the Holidays: deflecting diet talk and non-diet related resolutions for 2024 + some breathwork ideas

• CURRENT: holiday movie recs, recipe ideas, Sunday Funday 🍄

WHAT’S HAPPENING

• canta-NOPE: Update from CDC on cantaloupe consumption

• G7 & Tandem T:SLIM update: integration of two systems

• How have I never heard of this Bionic Pancreas??

• I wanna make THIS dirty martini dip.

• Here’s almost everything I ate in Disneyland 🐭

  I don’t know where this goes in this newsletter, but I made a gift guide for the dietitian in your life here! These are all things that I either have or are good gifts for us RDs or the health care professionals in your life ☺︎

Nutrition and the Holidays

Rachael, angel-human-breathwork-facilitator-goddeess, and I are gearing up to host a workshop focusing on gratitude for 2023 and intention setting for 2024 in early January! She recently launched her membership program (sign up HERE), and included in this membership is access to breath sessions with Rachael herself, workshops with both her and me, and breathwork recordings 😮‍💨 Part of our workshops includes a downloadable PDF to keep in your back pocket for reference in time of need and this one 👇 might be perfect for you as we get ready for the holidays.

CURRENT

reading

I just finished Wreck the Halls by Tessa Bailey, and my, oh my 🥵 Let’s say I share a lot of book recommendations with my grandpa, and this will not be one of them. I found this one to be less romantic and way more…horny than I was expecting for a cozy holiday read. I still loved the plot and would recommend it to my festive smutty readers (you ho ho ho’s)

watching

FORGIVE ME, but I did just come out of my week COVID haze/quarantine, so I watched a lot of movies, and I’m only listing them to give you some inspiration if you’re trying to squeeze in a few more holiday flicks before Christmas!

The Night Before (Tubi)

Four Christmases (Hulu)

Happiest Season (Hulu)

Shop Around the Corner (MAX)

Meet Me in St. Louis (MAX)

Charlie Brown Christmas (Apple TV)

Holidate (Netflix)

The Holiday (rented on Prime)

Paddington (Hulu)

I’m also going to use this opportunity to show off my amazing partner in life, crime, and love, Chris: on day 7 of COVID, I was still pretty positive with the lightest of symptoms and super bummed out and living in self-pity when Chris kindly suggested a date night at the drive-in (Concord, CA) where we saw Wonka 🍫 - it was delightful, adorable, colorful and Timothee was not as cringe as I expected him to be in such a whimsical role. Neither was Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa - that’s a win in my book.

cooking

Chris did most of the cooking this month- luckily, he’s an incredible cook and made some delicious meals such as risotto and ELK stew, yes, like the deer with massive antlers, but no, it’s not venison, and yes, it was really good.

I did give my go at this delicious recipe, Marry Me Chicken; however, I turned it into “Marry Me, Divorce Me, then Marry Me AGAIN Chicken” by adding rigatoni pasta and globules of mozzarella before baking it for a minute {left photo}.

My second favorite meal recently was when Chris turned the leftover risotto into arancini (fried rice balls) and then served it with leftover pasta and chicken from Marry Me Chicken {right photo} 😋

👉 Tip: Turn leftover risotto into arancini. For this recipe, Chris rolled the cold risotto into balls with a bit of mozzarella in the middle, then rolled it in flour, whisked egg, and panko bread crumbs in that order!

laughing

This past Sunday, I was feeling significantly better and a little restless, so Chris and I went on a very long 🍄 walk 🍄 through our neighborhood and giggled like little kids the whole time (maybe not the whole time because some joyful tears of gratitude fell from our eyes at one point).

We started our journey in light rainfall, which turned into a more grandiose downpour as we ascended into our journey, but then the sun came out and brightened us up from the outside in! All week with COVID, I felt kind of…disconnected? I couldn’t participate in social activities or go to work. Chris and I had to limit physical contact… so spending a few hours channeling our inner child, not taking ourselves and life so seriously, felt like breathing fresh air for the first time. Well, for me, it almost literally was the first time after being inside for nearly a week LOL

One big takeaway I want to highlight, which tends to be a common theme for me on these walks, is this:

we’re so insignificant. that’s not self-deprecating, it’s empowering. we can, will, and do make a difference in this life, but we can do that without getting our knickers in a twist. ya know?

Thank you for making it this far ☺︎ as merry as this time of year is, stress tends to seep its way in through the cracks. Balancing the needs of family, friends, and yourself with a smile and relaxed spirit is d i f f i c u l t. I hope this newsletter takes you out of the real world for a moment and into my world, where we don’t count calories, eat plants (of all kinds), and giggle a little lotta bit.

xoxo,

Ciara

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In today’s newsletter, you’ll find:

• Nobody Asks About My Devices Anymore: a reflection on the service industry as a young twenty-something woman and diabetic

• Hiking: just me and my diabetes: some advice about how to hike solo safely with diabetes and how to adequately fuel yourself for your adventure

•CURRENT: Long-time B&B friends will remember this page from my blog. This is just a recap of what I’ve recently been up to (eating, listening, reading, etc.)

Feel free to scroll to whatever tickles your fancies! Meet you in the comments ☺️

Nobody asks about my devices anymore.

My mom recently asked if I still get as many questions about my devices (insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor) as I did when I worked in the service industry. There’s a chance I don’t as much because the advocacy of the diabetes community is working (🤘), or they’re becoming so common thanks (but no, thanks) to “wellness influencers” who are “bio-hacking” themselves with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs); this is a topic for another newsletter, but for now, I’m going to ignore those two possibilities and instead…complain about the patriarchy.

I have never been asked about my insulin pump or CGM more frequently than while bartending or waitressing. For some reason (booze), people (men) were much more brazen with their - what felt like - demands to tell them about the devices on my body.

What’s that thing on your arm?!

Why is there a wire coming out of your stomach?

Why do you have a pager? This isn’t the 90’s

Now and again, I think about how I could bartend again on the side to make some extra $$$ if I needed to, but I kinda get the chills thinking about being in such a position where I feel cornered into answering these questions. These questions are only a small, very niche example of how women in the service industry are objectified by a population consisting mostly of men.

I imagine being a bartender at my well-seasoned age of 28, I would probably set better boundaries and worry less about if my answer was kind and charming enough for the place not to lose business. That’s not to say in my early twenties, fresh out of high school, was I inviting this behavior in any way by being “nice.” To some clientele at a bar, a young woman providing adequate customer service with a smile and some mascara comes off as an invitation, thus leading to this sense of entitlement to…for my very niche example… know about my medical history.

There’s always the “Well, why don’t you cover up your devices?” but isn’t that eerily reminiscent of hearing “Well, maybe you shouldn’t wear such short skirts”? I don’t owe a single person the deeply personal details of my life-long chronic illness that is probably the reason I’m sleep-deprived or fatigued while they’re asking. I’m not being paid minimum wage to give you a medical lesson in the middle of your third triple IPA.

“Oh gosh, now I feel nervous about asking Ciara more about diabetes!” Please don’t! I enjoy educating people about my diabetes and my devices because it helps clear up some nasty stigma surrounding the disease and allows the people around me to get to know more about me. I’m referencing scenarios that always occurred during busy shifts, a happy hour rush, or the most inappropriate times. Period. The lack of respect for my time and work made me feel like even more of an object to these customers. There were multiple times when I’d deliver food to my table when customers at a different table, in a different section, would grab me by the arm to ask what my pump was. The audacity!

I’d be interested in hearing your take in the comments on how you handle this extra thin layer on top of already being a woman in the service industry!

I found a Reddit thread discussing this that was interesting to read through; in the main post, the author even starts their post with “as I am sure many of you have experienced” and ends it with “I understand that this is a part of the territory working in the service industry.” I feel very fortunate not to be working in the service industry anymore, but for those who are (and good for you, the money is GOOD), I hope you know you’re not alone!

Hiking: just me and my diabetes

I took myself for my first solo hike in a while in November! I used to do this all the time before the pandemic when I was studying remotely, and my friends all had big girl jobs M-F, 9-5. I loved getting back out there, being solely responsible for knowing the trail and going at my own pace.

Some hikes I loved doing on my own were this one, because it’s super close to Cole Valley in San Francisco and I loved taking myself to coffee before and breakfast after, and this one in Marin because doing this with people would be hard since you can barely talk while climbing up so many stairs 🥵

When I posted about my hiking excursion on Instagram, someone asked how I felt comfortable as a diabetic going out there solo so I figured I’d talk more about it here!

For my recent hiking excursion, I did a 4-mile, 2-hour hike. I waited an hour after breakfast to get on the trail so I wouldn’t have too much IOB* (insulin on board), making sure to have a full breakfast: carbs, protein, fats, and some simple carbs like fruit to give me fast NRG ⚡️.

I bring 3-4 low snacks with me: I really like these fruit wraps (I guess they’re on Amazon now, too??) from Trader Joe’s because they don’t melt, are a perfect 15 grams of pure fruit sugar, and don’t take up much room. My boyfriend (Hi Chris 👋 !) also grabs me gels, pretty much for the same reason, and I do find these work faster than the fruit leathers because I can guzzle them down.

TIP 👉 : For every 60 minutes of vigorous exercise, 30-60 grams of carbohydrates are recommended to sustain energy. So bring snacks that aren’t just for lows, and they’ll actually help prevent lows since you won’t be experiencing an energy deficit.

Some of my recommendations are:

• Something like a Lara bar - not just carbs and sugar from the dates but also fat/protein from the nuts

• Peanut butter and apple - fast sugar from the apple to keep you going and peanut butter for fat/protein and longer-lasting energy

• Trail mix - so cliche, but oh so perfect

• Sandwich - you can’t beat a PB&J; jelly for fast energy, peanut butter for long-lasting fat/protein, bread for some complex carbs - booyyyahhh!

Hydrate 💦 I use this bladder that fits into this day pack, and it makes it SUPER easy to stay hydrated during the hike since I don’t have to stop to drink or pull out a heavy water bottle.

I use All Trails to find my hike and find the reviews helpful for figuring out how intense a hike I’ll be doing. There’s elevation gain available; sometimes, they’ll tell you if your phone provider has a signal there!

Always be aware of your surroundings when hiking by yourself. Please be safe and prepared ❤️

Hiking with a Registered Dietitian and Type 1 Diabetic Video

*if you’re asking yourself, what’s too much IOB? I don’t know, but I'll go low prettttty quickly if I have more than 1 U on board. This is relative to how my body works; this could be different for you!

Current

listening

Spotify wrapped 2023 was just released, and mine was oh so very sad 🎻 mostly because 1) I spent most of 2023 listening to study podcasts for the CDR exam, 2) I’ve been into audiobooks, 3) My account has been used by someone who REALLY enjoys listening to the Armenian Public Radio - no, that is not the whitty name of some hipster punk band; it is just the public radio of Armenia. So my number one song was Stars Are Blind by Paris Hilton, even though, on my account, I’ve only listened to it 13 times… Anyway, this has not been the year of music for me.

But I am loving this tune, and that tune

reading

25% through ❤️‍🔥 Iron Flame ❤️‍🔥 the sequel to Fourth Wing, the book that literally took over Bookstagram and Booktok with the ease of a fourth year crossing the parapet.

I’m sadly (like I’m so sad about this deficit of mine) a very slow reader, and this book is like ~800 pages. I’ll finish eventually, but so far, it is so good.

eating

I made this hearty bean and squash soup the other day; it was delicious the night I made it, but then we had it three days later….and oh my gosh, it just kept marinading in goodness and letting all the squash (I used delicata squash) and kielbasa (I used a smoked turkey kielbasa) flavors seep into the broth. My advice is to make it on a Sunday and eat it throughout the week. It will only get better.

following

I started following this Instagram account and this Instagram account and was motivated to try running again! I love my walks, but I go through phases where they can get really boring, and I love the idea of starting a new activity to watch myself improve. I still might end up hating it; I’ve only tried twice at this point, but let’s just run with it 🏃‍♀️

laughing

at this fur-covered trout at an estate sale

I had two shifts back-to-back Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, so my version of a crazy Friday night was door-dashing cookies (without telling Chris I was doing so) at 9 PM.

As Chris put it… “this is the silliest thing you’ve ever done.”

If you’ve made it this far, wow! What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Something I like about this platform is how it can foster a little community with commenting and sharing. So, please share with your friends and family, and let me know if you have any questions or topics you’d like me to cover in future newsletters ☺︎

xoxo,

Ciara

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