Saturday, January 8, 2011

Valuable Lesson--Calorie King

Our family has learned a valuable lesson this week. We weren't aware that Calorie King comes out with yearly updated book editions. Did you? I'm sure we were probably told about this when Lenny was in the hosptial when he was diagnosed, but, so much information was thrown at us within such a short amount of time, I think we may have forgotten about this one.

Here at home, I typically use the Calorie King website for looking up carbs for things I don't know. However, the school uses a book that was given to them by the CDE that was called in to do the staff training over the summer break last summer.

Their book edition was from 2006. Mine was from 2007.

Lenny had a 3 oz clementine for morning snack one morning this week at school. According to the 2006 edition, it stated that a 3oz clementine was 15g carbs, so they dosed him for 15g carbs, as they should have.

However, because we didn't realize that the book was so outdated, and things had changed (including carbs in fruits!!!), he crashed hard within an hour and 45 minutes after eating them. According to the 2007-2010 editions, a 2.6oz clementine is 9 grams. That explains the low!

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, because, not only do I worry about my own T1 child, but I also worry about  yours! Please, check your book. See what edition you have. And be sure to purchase an updated book each year!

I was lucky enough to reach a lady in the research department at Calorie King to ask her a few questions.

The first question I asked was, why the drastic change in carbs for a fruit?

Basically, its like this. An apple in 1956 is not the same as an apple in 2010, according to the USDA. Why is this? Because of the preservatives and other things that are used while in the growing/packaging, etc processes.

I explained to her what had happened to Lenny in school this week. Told her he is the youngest type 1 in this school district that we are currently aware of. And, asked her how we could go about getting an updated book for the school, as I had no idea where to even buy one!

She really listened to our story, and sounded very sincere. She also told us that we could go to just about any nationwide book store (like Bordens Books or Barnes & Noble) and purchase the newer books. She also said that if the school would be interested in buying books at a discounted rate, they could. That they could get a great discount when they purchase 10 or more books. I explained to her that since the school district only had 4 schools, and that the agreement I had made with the school nurse was that if I purchased a book out of our pockets we would write his name in the book so that it would go back to him at the end of each year... but if I was able to get a book for free somehow, the book would remain with the school district so that other kids could use it as well. I told her I would call my endocrinologist first to see if they have any updated books they could mail me for free first, and if not, then I would go out and purchase a book for the school. She immediately asked me if she could put me on hold, then came back on the phone and asked me if they could send us an updated book!

Of course I said yes! She said, atleast this way, you know you have an updated book, and it will benefit other children as well. I told her that was a fabulous idea, because, as an "advocate" (and I use this term loosely because I personally dont feel that I do as much as I could to help the diabetes community lol), I do try to help other families living with this condition. And if we could get a newer book into the school, who knows, if another child would be recently diagnosed... that could be a lifesaver for them!! I also told her that I had planned to call the CDE that trained the school district to notify them that they had outdated books and explain the situation that we had experienced this week and see if they would order more updated books, but asked her opinion on that as well. She said that because of this, she thinks that I really should contact the CDE and inform them, as by getting more updated books, it could also help other families, not only in Lenny's school district, but all over the local community!

Anyway, we learned this lesson the hard way, but, all in all, it was a good experience. Stressful, but good, because now I can share this knowledge with you all.

Please, go check your Calorie King books. Check what versions you have. If you do not have atleast a 2010 version, please remember to pick up an updated version the next time you run errands!

Hope this information was helpful!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful information. I knew right when I saw the old carb count on that clementine that it would have been too high. I have been weighing them on the Salter scale and they end up being about 9grams every time.

Would your school purchase a scale too? Joe's did...I don't know how much they use it, but I do know they are worth their weight in gold in the fruit department.

Great post and you are an awesome advocate Dawn.

Sugar Free Candyland said...

Thanks Reyna! Yeah, as soon as I saw they counted it as 15g in our communication folder, I knew it was wrong, hense my "detective work" as one of the nurse put it LOL! They do have a scale, but its not the Salter scales, its just a general kitchen scale, kind of like the one I have at home. Until this week, we had NO IDEA that those Calorie King books get updated and published every year. Like I said, I'm sure someone said something to us about it while we were in the hospital at dx'd, just, ya know. So much info being thrown at us, something was BOUND to be forgotten! LOL! I must not be the only one that this has happened to though, because I know quite a few other T1 parents that didn't think about it either! I'm just glad to be of help to anyone that needs it :)