Katie Bartel, Registered Dietitian

10/08/2025

I had an appointment with my endocrinologist this week. And while I love my endocrinologist, I don’t love some of his office’s practices.

The first thing the case manager said to me:

“Let’s get your weight to start off.”

I said: “No. I’m not gonna do that.”

I was very polite, but also very forthright.

She looked back at me, a bit quizzical, and said: “Excuse me?”

I said: “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not getting on there.”

I wasn’t sorry for my refusal to be weighed, but maybe she didn’t hear me the first time.

She said: “Ok.” And that was it. No further pressure or requests. We moved on.

My endocrinologist is quite familiar with, and respectful of, my resistance to being weighed and the many reasons I don’t believe it’s a valid tool for my T1D care.

The case manager is new. She didn’t know. And while I suspect that she was taken aback initially, she didn’t challenge me.

I respect that.

Friends – we have the right to say no when it comes to our care. If we don’t agree with something, we can absolutely say no. We are a valuable part of team-based care. Our voice matters.

10/01/2025

I’m generally a pretty active person, but yesterday I made a point of being super active:

Two walks + a 50-minute intense peloton ride. All for the purpose of…

COOKIES!!!

The boy and I decided to make a couple batches of creative cookies:

🍪 Batch 1: Reece’s Pieces Pretzel cookies

🍪 Batch 2: Marshmallow Coffee Crisp cookies.

If you know me, you know that I love cookie batter, probably more than I love the actual cookies! And if I’m baking cookies, I knew that I’d be eating a good amount of batter along the way.

I needed my blood sugars to be primed in order to feel solidly comfortable doing that.

Hence, all the activity with and without the boy (who I swear got a human case of the zoomies at one point 😆)

The cookies turned out great. And the experience with the boy was even better 🥰

09/07/2025

Disordered eating in the T1D community is about more than just food.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to explore and navigate in my upcoming Disordered Eating and T1D virtual workshop on Monday, Sept. 8.

Today is the last day to register.

This workshop is all about understanding the potential causes for increasing our risks for disordered eating as T1Ds – and then building strategies to challenge and conquer those risk contributors!

And yes, we will be working on improving food relationships too 😍

A few spots still remain in both the 4 pm and 7 pm PST slots.

Cost is $60. Receipts will be provided. You may be eligible for reimbursement through your extended health plan.

Email info@katiebartel.ca to register.

09/04/2025

Life with T1D:

It's not just remembering to take insulin.

It's not just adjusting insulin doses.

It's not just watching the foods we eat.

It's not just calculating carbohydrates.

It's not just treating low blood sugars.

It's not just managing high blood sugars.

It's all the other – many – little things in between.

My day today (and yesterday) was freaking out over whether my delivery of insulin pump infusions would arrive before my current one expires at 10:28 pm this evening.

I cannot go to any pharmacy to obtain these. I have to order online. Normally I order three boxes at a time, which is about a three-month supply, and when I'm about a quarter to halfway through the second box, I reorder.

Life these last few months have been busy.

Really busy.

We've had social engagements, big family decisions, travel, new and increased work projects, birthdays, huge career decisions, and more – all happening in the background.

Somehow, I missed the insulin pump order cutoff.

My last pump change was on Sunday. I have three full days before the pump expires, plus an eight-hour grace period with alarms beeping every hour on the hour during that grace period, which would have fallen over my sleeping hours.

I ordered as soon as I saw I was on my last pump. The order confirmation said it would take 1-3 days to be delivered – but it was a long weekend. Oh. Frig.

I held out hope as long as I could, but the full on stress came on strong early this afternoon.

Friends – T1D is hard, but when you have a T1D community it becomes less hard at times.

I posted on a local FB group for people with T1D and had a couple responses within minutes ❤️

While those responses were filtering in, I was on the phone with the online pharmacy. They told me that I'd likely not get my order for 1-2 more days. But they did not leave me hanging; they transferred me to my insulin pump company's product support, who had me set up for 2 emergency pods within 5 minutes of the conversation. Two hours later, I've got my pods ❤️

Long story short: please give our people with T1D grace – they've got a crud ton of stuff going on and sometimes screw ups happen!

Send a message to learn more

08/28/2025

𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 🐘 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭 🐘 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞-𝟏 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬…

I went for a walk the other day (𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵? 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘵 🔥), and the whole time I was thinking about my upcoming workshop on disordered eating and type-1 diabetes – and who it’s really for.

The answer?

👉 Pretty much everyone with T1D!

Stats say that more than 30% of people with T1D experience eating disorders, disordered eating, or diabulimia. But honestly, I’d bet most of us with T1D have struggled with food or insulin in some way.

Why 🤔

Because many of the cornerstones of T1D management are actually 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬.

In this workshop, we will:

✨ Unpack the reasons why disordered eating is more common in T1D
✨ Share real-life tools + tips you can use to protect yourself and feel more at ease around food and diabetes
✨ Build a supportive space where you can connect with others who “get it”

If you have T1D – or care for someone who does – this is for you.

📅 Sept. 8
⏰ 4 pm or 7 pm PST
💻 Virtual (join from anywhere)

✨ Save your spot here: https://www.katiebartel.ca/be-the-best-t1d-you-can-be/

08/26/2025

📣 T1D & Disordered Eating: Let’s Talk About It 📣

Living with T1D is hard enough 💙 Add food struggles, and it can feel overwhelming.

On 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭. 𝟖, join Katie Bartel – 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝟏𝐃 – for a virtual workshop designed to:

🔹 Explore why people with T1D face a higher risk
🔹 Provide tools and strategies to reduce that risk
🔹 Foster supportive conversations within our community

👉 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: https://www.katiebartel.ca/be-the-best-t1d-you-can-be/

08/18/2025

Did you know that eating disorders and disordered eating are 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 in the type-1 diabetes community?

👉 >30% of people with T1D
👉 1/3 females with T1D
👉 1/6 males with T1D
have experienced 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐚. And much of this is directly linked to the challenges of living with diabetes.

It's time to change that!

On September 8, I will be hosting a 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 designed by someone with T1D, for the T1D community.

We'll explore:
🔵 The history of eating disorders in type-1
🔵 Why our T1D community is so vulnerable
🔵 Practical strategies to overcome challenges and reduce risk

You do not want to miss this!

➡️ Learn more: bit.ly/4lwXo9G (located under 'workshop 3')
📩 Questions? Email me: info@katiebartel.ca

08/08/2025

Things I am loving currently:

🤩 Connection with my diabetes tribe!

I’ve been doing a lot of classes lately, both in my private practice, and the diabetes outpatient care clinic. I also recently attended Connected in Motion’s Western Slipstream. And have been trying to surround myself more and more around my T1D peeps.

I ❤️ love ❤️ our community. I love exploring and building our knowledge platforms together. And I love continuing to have this opportunity!

🤩 Being recognized as a go-to resource for T1D - not only in the T1D population, but also in healthcare.

Being an advocate for the T1D community has been a goal right from the start of my journey in becoming a registered dietitian. So, yeah, pretty fantastic that I am!

This year, my speaking engagements in healthcare has increased, and continues to do so. ❤️ Love that ❤️

🤩 Having a job that allows me weekly connections with family and dear friends - this chickie included!

Yesterday we resumed our tea talk visits after a bit of a hiatus. We were giggling the whole time, even as I was cursing the heck out of spilling my Irish tea all over my white skirt … pretty much seconds before this photo was actually taken. Seriously, I waited to grab clean up napkins until after we got the selfie 🤭🤣

There are many challenges in life., mine included. Taking an opportunity to reflect on the good things is always a good practice. These are a few of my great things 😍

08/04/2025

Sometimes tried and true T1D strategies just don’t work.

This ride was a whole lot of not working on the T1D front. It felt difficult for probably 3/4s of the 75 km done, due to stubborn highs for that same timeframe.

I suspect the strategy was altered from an early morning low that pretty much hijacked my entire system.

It was frustrating, there is no doubt, but I refused to let it ruin the ride.

The husband and I don’t often get to ride together. So you better believe I was gonna enjoy it. Yes, I’m a bit burred that he beat me up the hills (which doesn’t often happen - I’m a killer short hill climber) and even more burred that he keeps reminding me of his wins 🙄😆 but hey, I had my own personal photographer and great scenery all around.

Plus, now even more incentive to fine tune my strategies in the face of adversity — I will beat him up those hills again, T1D be damned 🤣

Ps. The second photo — Mario, with the help of Chat GPT, created an album cover and song entitled The Politics of Lycra using this pic 🤣

08/01/2025

Holy smokes. I am tired. Like, really, really tired 🥱 I cannot keep my eyes open tired 😴 and a brewing headache tired 🤕

I suspect the fatigue is caused by a multitude of factors - super busy life as of late, some recent added stresses, and poor sleep. It all crashed down on me today 🙈

Why am I sharing this, beyond the obvious complaints 😉 Well, you may have heard that poor sleep can affect blood sugars?

Potentially yes. But for sure, at least in my case, it affects hunger.

No word of a lie, I came down to the kitchen for lunch today and practically ate the entire kitchen - chips off my kid’s plate, spoon of ice cream, even ham slices when I already had a pre-made, well-balanced lunch in front of me. My husband was guarding his lunch, grilled cheese supreme, for dear life — my eyes were practically drooling over it!

I am proof that poor sleep does in fact increase hunger by:

💤 Disrupting the balance of our appetite regulating hormones

And

💤 Decreasing the hormone that signals fullness

Resulting in increased hunger and cravings 🤤

I forced myself out for a walk to prevent me from eating the entire condo!!

Here’s to working on improving my sleep habits 🫣

08/01/2025

Thursdays we hike!

Thanks for the great T1D and other things chats - and for convincing me there wasn’t actually a cougar/snake/Gary the Bear following us up the mountain 🫣🤣