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| @The Rising Womxn Zine / Balance and Bolus |
Written by Emily Stephens (she/her) for The Rising Womxn Zine
Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood to become to high. It happens when the body can’t produce enough insulin, a hormone which controls blood glucose. Those who suffer with the illness need daily injections of insulin to keep blood glucose levels under control and managing type 1 diabetes can take a long time to get used to.
Diabetes has long been associated with being overweight and obese by the media, but this simply isn’t true – people leading a perfectly healthy lifestyle are also exposed to diabetes.
Balance and Bolus - created by Ciara Cray (she/her) started as a website to show how she balances life with Type 1 Diabetes. ‘I wanted to share my experience studying to be a Registered Dietitian and eventually Certified Diabetes Educator mixed in with my experience as a Type 1 Diabetic. I took these two goals and ran towards them while just being myself on Instagram. I have always been a very positive but emotional person, so I share a lot of my ups and downs. A lot of the ups include my humour and weird dance videos that make people laugh, my emotions are shown through serious talks about life and diabetes. I basically try and show everyone what my life is like and that just so happens to involve being diabetic. I also love to talk, so this gives me a place to have conversations with diabetics like me every single day.’
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| @balanceandbolus |
Ciara created Balance and Bolus after she graduated with her first bachelor’s degree and was feeling a little lost. ‘I wanted to combine this passion I had behind food with the knowledge I had on Type 1 Diabetes so I started a blog that I thought would be a good outlet for me while I sort out my next move. I ended up deciding to pursue being a Registered Dietitian (R.D) and wanted to talk about that mixed with living with Diabetes on what became Balance and Bolus. It wasn’t until a friend of mine suggested I share my blog posts on Instagram that I decided to start an account there and was amazed by all the diabetics in the community who were helping others. So, I decided to put myself out there, share what I knew and what was learning.’
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| @balanceandbolus |
Long standing stigmas surrounding diabetes can make it very hard for sufferers, especially younger girls in particular. With the constant assumption of diabetes being linked to being overweight or unhealthy, this creates a whole problem surrounding body confidence and body positivity. ‘Women are constantly under the microscope. We can’t be too skinny, but we can’t be too fat. We can’t have too small of boobs but if we have big boobs then we’re...promiscuous? Being a woman is hard and to have a disease as a woman that is stigmatised as being from an unhealthy weight can definitely grind the gears a bit. We walk around already feeling judged and now this? But I also think that this disease with the carb counting, and body awareness can make it difficult to ignore food and the effect food has on our body which has definitely led to bouts of disordered eating for me. All the more reason to start a brand that works to help people with this and the stigmas around the disease.’
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| @balanceandbolus |
Ciara has managed to grow a big following on social media, reaching 10.3k on Instagram. When asked about how important it is to share her experience with diabetes as a newfound influencer, she said, ‘I really had no intention of building a following like this. I had no idea what it would entail or the lives I would touch. But now that I’m here, I can’t help but think that I must be doing something right. I must have something worthy of saying or else why are all these people here? So, I have to use that. I’ve always had a bubbly and at times loud personality. I love to talk. I need to use that now. I didn’t always know what I wanted to do in life, but this just feels right. Keeping the conversation going is how we educate people, how we bring awareness and allow those diagnosed with this disease (and weren’t given a say in the matter) to live the best life they can be.’
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| @balanceandbolus |
Much like the breast-feeding in public debate, we wanted to know if Ciara had ever faced similar backlash from checking her bloods in public. ‘I will check my blood sugar absolutely anywhere I please. I haven’t personally been told to do my blood checking elsewhere, but I know people who have. I’ve also felt guilt around checking in public before, so I’ll excuse myself to the bathroom. I don’t think we should have to do that though. This is our body; we’re trying to stay alive. Look away.’
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| @balanceandbolus |
Ciara’s main focus is to normalise the conversation around illnesses, in particular diabetes. ‘I think I actively normalise my illness by showing my weird, wild, sometimes just boring and relaxed life with diabetes. I do all the things that someone who produced their own insulin would do. I exercise, I work really hard, I study, I watch hours of Netflix, I go on vacations and travel. But I do it all with a broken pancreas. So, I hope that people can see that, I mean people without diabetes too, and be like oh, I guess having that disability doesn’t stop someone from living a life to the fullest.’
To find out more from Ciara and her amazing work, visit her website www.balanceandbolus.com or follow her on Instagram @balanceandbolus
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