Monday, May 30, 2011

Throwback to diabetes camp

I had the BEST idea last night. Ever. Didn't want to go to bed hungry but couldn't find anything in the dining hall that was just right to satisfy my snack attack. Cookies and milk might have done the trick, but then I thought of something even better: smoochies! What are smoochies, you ask? Sounds like I'm talking about kisses - nope, I'm talking about the best bedtime snack they ever served at diabetes camp.
I went to Camp Glyndon at Lions Camp Merrick in Nanjemoy, MD for maybe four summers in a row. Always lost five or ten pounds during the week-long session because the counselors were so careful about measuring every little piece of food we ate, and we ate six carb-counted meals a day: breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and bedtime snack. We were also super active, playing water polo and capture the flag, canoeing, zip-lining and ropes-course-ing, etc., so we all had to lower our basal rates. And we never overtreated our low blood sugars, because low bgs were treated with four glucose tabs, or 1/2 cup of orange juice, and only if our blood sugars were under 100 fifteen minutes later could we have extra juice or eat a few graham crackers. Counselors checked our blood sugars every night at midnight, when we were (supposed to be) asleep, and middle-of-the-night lows were treated with CIBs - Carnation Instant Breakfasts. Your counselor would open a carton of milk, pour in the CIB powder, shake it up, and hand it up to you (I was always on the top bunk). Only if you were really low would you have graham crackers with your CIB! And that was it. We lived off of graham crackers, glucose tabs, orange juice, and CIBs when we weren't in the cafeteria.
Anyhow, I freakin' LOVED diabetes camp! Back to the smoochies...
Snacktimes at camp were never very exciting, except for the very last night, which was campfire/sing-along night. I remember my first year at camp I was shocked that they didn't give us s'mores at this campfire - because what is a campfire without s'mores? - but was placated by the campfire night bedtime snack: smoochies.
Smoochies are made when you put sugar-free chocolate pudding and peanut butter in between two graham crackers, and you freeze it. Doesn't sound awesome, just tastes awesome. The graham crackers become super soft and when they come out of the freezer these treats are so smooth and sweet and satisfying! So, last night, I walked into our student center's general store and purchased graham crackers and chocolate pudding (if only they'd had sugar-free pudding... oh well). A big jar of peanut butter was sitting on my desk in my dorm. And I made smoochies. And all was well.
Sorry I just get really excited by food :)

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