Everyone, you realize, has an opinion on the diabetes diet. They talk about their Aunt Sue who now only eats whole-grain cereal and “hardly needs insulin at all.” They point to their friend's father who ate too much “sugared food” and lost a foot. You know this is all hearsay and you know you understand what is best for your child. Dealing with this is a start to shifting to healthy living in a practical way.

What Folks Will Say

“But she can have all the fruit she wants without insulin because it's ‘natural sugar,’ right?” For just about ever now, you and your child will be charged with explaining what she is eating, why she is eating it, and why you are or are not worried.

True, such comments are an invasion of your privacy and there are times when if you could just shoot laser beams out of your eyes it would all be better, but think of it this way: A little education goes a long way.

So every time someone says something like, “I wanted to let you know because I think you should — I saw your child with diabetes eating a candy bar!” think of it this way: That family is lucky to not know all the information you know (since they've been spared a diagnosis of diabetes) and is lucky to have you to set them straight so they won't say the same thing to another family.

What You Should Say

The best response, while you'd really like to just scream sometimes, is to calmly explain that with Type 1 diabetes and new insulin and tools like pumps, you are happy that you can now feed your child in a healthy way and with few restrictions.

And what of the people who will tell you of folks they know who have “gotten off insulin” but are eating certain foods? Your answer to that can be short and to the point. “My child has Type 1, which is an autoimmune disease and no matter what he eats, his body will not make insulin. I appreciate your input, but please understand it is not an option for my child or any other child with Type 1 diabetes.”