Katie Bartel, Registered Dietitian

11/15/2025

Today is World Diabetes Day.

And on this day, I was given a microphone and asked to present on the topic of disordered eating in the T1D community to a large group of my dietitian colleagues.

Leading up to this presentation, I was:

⭐️ full on stress sweating

⭐️ repeatedly visiting the washroom with a nervous bladder

⭐️ trying to quell my racing heartbeat and shaking hands

⭐️ and instill some form of calm so that my blood sugars would stop shooting through the roof

But friends, despite all of the above, I’d agree to do it again – in a heartbeat!

The more non T1Ds learn about T1Ds, the better we will all be 😍

Today is all about T1D advocacy!!

11/13/2025

November 14.

World Diabetes Day.

November 14.

The day Sir Frederick Banting was born.

Sir Frederick Banting is a large part of the reason why I am alive.

Insulin was discovered in 1921 and Sir Frederick was a large presence in that discovery.

November 14.

Most definitely a day worth celebrating 🥳 🙌👏

11/05/2025

Hey friends! 💕

I’m hosting a 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝟏𝐃 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 on 𝐍𝐨𝐯. 𝟏𝟎 all about 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞-𝟏 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬.

This workshop will be interactive, supportive, and real – covering blood sugars, insulin, nutrition, activity, and mental health before and during early pregnancy.

If you’re 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭, this is for you!

📆 Date: Nov. 10
⏰ Time: 4 pm and 7 pm PST
💲Cost: $60 – receipts provided
📩 Register via 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐨

💙 I’ve been there, I get it.

✨ Let’s make pregnancy with T1D feel achievable and supported ✨

10/29/2025

I love Halloween, but Halloween hasn’t always loved my T1D.

Check out this week’s blog post for more on my younger Halloween life with T1D ;) and for strategies (beyond just carb counts) that I use now to happily eat my mini Oh Henrys and Butterfinger bars!!

If you just want the carb counts, Breakthrough T1D has a few great resources – see pic above.

Beyond the candies – I also love the costume making and dress up that Halloween allows. Stay tuned for pics on this year’s costume adventures

Link to blog post in profile and in comments. Or go to: bit.ly/3LwUrtd

10/28/2025

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝟏𝐃 – 𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞! 💪💙

On 𝐍𝐨𝐯. 𝟏𝟎, I’m hosting the first of two 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘛1𝘋 virtual workshops – designed to help you feel informed, supported, and ready.

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 #𝟏: 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝟏𝐃: We'll dive into:

⭐️ Preparing your body (and your T1D!) for pregnancy

⭐️ What to expect in early pregnancy with type-1

⭐️ Strategies for managing blood sugars before before conception and through the first two trimesters

⭐️ Protecting your mental health and quieting the extra “noise” that often comes with diabetes care

If you have type-1 and are considering growing your family, this is a workshop that you do not want to miss.

You'll walk away with:

✅ A toolkit of practical strategies
✅ A Pregnancy with T1D Cheat Sheet
✅ A sample menu plan to guide your nutrition

🗓 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: Nov. 10, 2025
📍 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Virtual (Zoom – join from anywhere!)
🎯 𝐆𝐨𝐚𝐥: Build your knowledge and confidence going into pregnancy
💲 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭: $60

👉 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰: 𝐡𝐭𝐭𝐩𝐬://𝐛𝐢𝐭.𝐥𝐲/𝟒𝟗𝐣𝐉𝟎𝐲𝐗

𝘈 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸-𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 – “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥” – 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘕𝘰𝘷. 24. 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 $100 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭!

10/24/2025

This is me making dreams come true over here - my dreams 🤩

When I made the decision to become a dietitian, I was in a state of frustration with the healthcare system.

I felt us type 1s were kind of a forgotten story. Our resources were extremely limited.

I wanted to change that. I wanted to become a resource.

Well friends, here is an update of my latest T1D bookings:

⭐️ One session with researchers providing insight into the lived experience of T1D at the end of this month.

⭐️Two T1D workshops and one healthcare T1D education sessions booked for November.

⭐️ Plus two additional requests this week for T1D education sessions – one for another healthcare group, and the other for a virtual workshop (with one of my favourite T1D organizations) for the T1D community.

This isn’t the lottery, but it is very much a life goal coming true.

I am a T1D resource 🥰

10/20/2025

Once upon a time I was judged quite significantly for my weight gain.

I was pregnant at the time. I was supposed to gain weight. But the mass at my belly was apparently frowned upon and highly criticized by some on my healthcare team.

This caused personal stress, anguish, self criticism 𝙖𝙣𝙙 had the potential for spiking blood sugars too.

Sadly, this isn't an uncommon story.

This post is a public service announcement for all healthcare professionals – especially those supporting women and people with T1D, pregnant or not.

This post is also a public service announcement for my T1D peeps – especially my female T1D peeps.

This is a story of a girl who was made to feel horrible throughout her pregnancy, which had the potential for causing an assortment of other health problems, worse than the weight ever did.

Instead of feeling supported, I felt shamed.

Do not let this be you.

Read the full story, and why compassionate care matters more than ever. Link to story in the comments👇

✨ 𝐔𝐏𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 ✨
**𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝟏𝐃 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐬**
If you are a woman with type-1 diabetes, considering pregnancy or in the early stages of pregnancy, you may be interested in the following virtual T1D workshop(s):

🤰Preparing for Pregnancy with T1D on Nov. 10, 2025 – exploring preparation and first trimester
👶 Third Trimester and Beyond on Nov. 24, 2025 -- exploring 3rd trimester of pregnancy, labour and delivery, and postpartum and breastfeeding
👉 Info + registration: bit.ly/4lwXo9G

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/