The Corner Booth

Maple syrup is an American favorite, given its North American origins and delectable sweetness, and many find it to be the perfect complement to holiday feasts. But if you live with diabetes, maple may seem taboo. Thankfully, 20-something Darren Celley in Vermont is working to challenge that notion. Embracing his family heritage in the maple syrup business, he is fundraising to launch a new product geared specifically toward people with diabetes (PWDs): Maple Rise , a spreadable maple butter that can raise low blood sugars quickly and more pleasantly than powdery glucose tabs, juice, or large mouthfuls of candy. Diagnosed at age 12 in 2008, Celley is proud to be bringing a diabetes twist to the traditional concept of maple syrup and its spreadable offspring, maple cream. What is maple cream? Maple cream is simply whipped maple syrup , that turns out more condensed than syrup in the production process. It is heated, cooled, and then mixed until a "rich, creamy ...

My hands start shaking. Cold shivers creep in, despite the warm sweater I'm wearing. My vision blurs, to the point where I can't clearly see what's right in front of me... These are just a few of the symptoms I experience when my blood sugar dips too low, or in other words, when hypoglycemia sets in. As someone living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) since childhood, this is an all-too-frequent reality that I've learned to cope with. Technology can certainly help prevent these hypos, but it's not a guarantee and I still experience them quite often. Not everyone feels the same symptoms when their glucose levels drop, and many T1Ds — myself included — sometimes don't feel any symptoms at all to alert us of plummeting glucose levels. That's known as " hypoglycemia unawareness " and it's something particularly dangerous overnight, as we don't always wake up to treat a low with necessary sugar, which can lead to a seizure or even death. Fear and avoi...

  {Editor's Note: This post is not meant to make light of domestic violence , which is an issue that needs to be taken seriously. Rather, this post is just a guy relying on his sense of humor to help him cope with some of the worst effects of diabetes.} So, I beat my wife. Seriously. I've resorted to spousal abuse twice in the past few years and I can't guarantee it won't happen again. OK, hold on. Before I end up being the subject of police raids or adult protective services calls, maybe I should back up and explain. Don't worry: there've been good reasons. 1. I thought my wife was an alien trying to poison me with apple cider. If I didn't fight back, she might take over my body and clone me for nefarious alien invasion purposes. 2. She was a secret Communist spy trying to crush my patriotic views of the United States, evidenced by her trying to pin me down to confiscate my American-flag-skin-wearing insulin pump. Both situations led me...