Katie Bartel, Registered Dietitian

08/24/2026

What I would tell this girl:

Try not to be soooo scared.

Try not to think of all the what ifs. We know that’s what you’re doing. It’s hard not to when you’re constantly being told what you should and should not do to stay healthy. But seriously, stop. It’s sending you in a spiral. A silent spiral. Sometimes you have a fake smile on your face. Most often you have a scowl. Underneath both, there is doom splattered in your head and your heart, constantly affecting your pubescent mood, emotions, actions.

The anger, the fear, it doesn’t help.

It’s okay to be scared. Type-1 diabetes is a scary condition. But don’t let that fear stop you.

Type-1 diabetes will not define you. But it will shape many parts of your life – a lot of good parts, and some pretty awful parts too.
You will survive those awful parts.

If you rebel, and we know that you will, that’s okay. Don’t waste time regretting the rebellion. Again, put the “what if” thoughts away. You are going to come out of that rebellion stronger and more fierce than you ever could imagine.

You are going to go to camp – that's where you'll meet your first T1D friends.

You are going to take up blogging – that's where you'll meet your forever T1D besties.

You are going to run your way into a free trip to Minnesota – that's where you will discover the ins and outs of T1D tech, and help influence future tech too.

You are going to experience some incredible adventures with type-1 diabetes, and because of type-1 diabetes.

And through all of these experiences, you will become a go-to advocate and champion for others with type-1 diabetes.

Getting type-1 diabetes absolutely sucked balls; there is no doubt about that. But dear Teenage Katie, just you wait, you are going to become the Queen of T1D. I know – I'm the future you!

Today is my 39th year with type-1 diabetes. Holy shikers – my T1D is older than me 😜

Over the years, I have gone through massive amounts of distress, burden, and rebellion related to my T1D. I have also thrown my hands up at the cookie cutter recommendations and essentially said screw it, I’m gonna do this my way. Fun fact: my way ended up being “the way” for me. For more than 20 years, I have thrived with T1D. Yes, there are still some days where I’ve struggled, but overall, I’ve become the Cleopatra conquering my T1D empire.

And that, is pretty freaking fierce!

Dear Teenage Katie,

It’s okay to smile, it’s okay to laugh, and yes, styles do come back in style (although, not sure what we were thinking with those slouchy socks). You will survive. You will thrive. ❤

08/22/2026

After more than 70 km riding through a sauna, this salted tuna sandwich from The Lunch Doctor is exactly what this girl needed… and cold water.

Lots and lots of ice cold water 💦

Ps. I saw vultures. They may be cool, but they scare the heck out of me!

07/15/2026

I love the colour green. I love the sun. I love not having to wear a cardigun 🤣🤣🤣

Yes, I did just force that rhyme!!

This was me today on my lunch time walk – after I changed my insulin infusion set – which brought my blood sugars down to where I wanted them following a morning of heightened resistance.

Huzzah to small actions creating great results

07/14/2026

100 grams of carbs for 100 kms!

That's the stats from this week's bike ride into the Fraser Valley. Read the latest post on how I managed the carbs, the blood sugars (and the nostalgia) with my latest micro dose insulin sport strategy 🙂

Optimizing carbs and a micro dose insulin sport strategy for a 100 km bike ride to the Fraser Valley with type-1 diabetes

06/23/2026

The road to Mallorca continues 😊

In this week’s blog post I navigate the challenges (some pretty big challenges at that) of diabetes tech and T1D “gold standard” therapies while pedalling 74 km to Iona Beach and back.

A beautiful ride to Iona Beach, a failing CGM, unexpected insulin delivery, and a lot of gummies – real-life cycling with type 1 diabetes.

06/22/2026

Last week, I started a new blogging journey, all about my "Road to Mallorca" and more specifically all about cycling with T1D.

I hope you'll join for the reading adventure :)

I'm training for a 2027 cycling camp in Mallorca while managing type 1 diabetes. Follow my journey, lessons learned, and ride-day strategies.

06/21/2026

Today’s ride: 74 km

New West ➡️ Iona Beach ➡️ Steveston ➡️ Queensborough ➡️ Home

All the diabetes tech was working hard today!

And apparently my jersey was doing a whole lotta shifting 🤦‍♀️😆

Blog to be posted soon. Stay tuned 😊

04/29/2026

Needless to say, I’ve had a real “bent out of shape” kind of week with my T1D, and it’s really starting to peeve me off!

Not one. Not two. But three – THREE – freaking kinked insulin pump cannulas in a bloody week!

The first two, no clue why it happened. They just decided to get all twisted up inside me. The third one, located on my belly, was likely caused by the core work I did yesterday evening.

For those of you who don’t know, when a cannula kinks in the body and gets kind of a hook nose, it means I get no insulin or a very small trickle of insulin.

If I’m home, it sucks, but it’s manageable.

If I’m not at home, like today, it really bloody well sucks. Especially, when I don’t have backup supplies on hand 🤦‍♀️

No word of a lie, in the 17 years I’ve been on a pump, I’ve had maybe a handful of issues with my infusions… I more than doubled my previous history in less than a week! What is going on??

And then, add to that a wonky Dexcom that has been giving me numbers significantly different at times also. For example, that 3.6 was actually 7.7.

What the holy hell?????

Anyone else having these issues?

04/26/2026

First outdoor bike ride of the season.

First outdoor bike ride with a tubed automated insulin pump.

Still a few kinks with the pump to work out. I’m happy there were no lows, but if this were a stop and eat midway ride, I would not be happy.

I like my mid-ride stop and snacks after all 😆

Huzzah for the sunny warm weather – finally!

😉

04/09/2026

Exhaustion.

Last night I was scheduled to change my insulin pump infusion, but I was exhausted, so exhausted that I opted to push the needle (or canula) another night.

I had enough insulin to get me to the morning, but not enough to get me through the entire day.

That’s ok, I thought. I’m working from home. I can skip the hair washing and limit the makeup application, allowing enough time to change the infusion in the morning and still manage a cup of tea before the workday.

I was not expecting or planning to go outside today. But, watching and feeling that beautiful sun shining through my windows all day, I couldn’t not go outside.

Dirty hair (day 4) and prominent wrinkles be damned 😆

This is T1D.

Some days we sacrifice. Some days we prioritize. All days we manage.