Food App Mis-H-App

 

If you will indulge me, I would like to complain for a minute or two about Food Apps. Yes, those apps on the phone that most of us use here in the United States to order food. Sometimes I use them for delivery and sometimes I use them to save time when I go to pick up our food for my family. Sometimes the app is one that orders directly from the restaurant and sometimes it’s from a delivery service of one kind or another. Most of the time these apps are a wonderful convenience. Unfortunately, there have been numerous times when various restaurants got the order wrong and using these apps was anything but convenient.

I once had a restaurant cancel my order without explanation and without so much as a text. They did send an email, but I didn’t see it until after we had waited way too long for our food. Then there was the time when the app confirmed the order, and even charged my credit card, but when I arrived to pick up the food, the restaurant had no record of the order. The cashier explained that they had been having trouble with the app all evening and said I had to call customer service at their national headquarters. Customer service directed me back to the local franchise. Eventually someone, or something, must have caught the mistake because they refunded my money. Still, the ordeal left me wondering if I would ever go back to that chain.

More often than not, my app mishaps do not involve entire orders that evaporate into the cloud, but I have had several deliveries where one or two items were missing. That happened the last two times I ordered delivery, from two different restaurants. Once again these were national chains, and their customer service departments were good about it. One gave me a credit towards a future purchase (better than nothing). The other (Chick-fil-A) gave me a refund for the missing item.

While I enjoy the convenience of using these food apps, I think I’ll go back to driving to restaurants myself. That will allow me to check the order before I walk away. Plus, I figure if I have to make any more claims to customer service, someone is going to investigate whether or not I’m pulling a scam. It definitely beats having to figure out which family member goes hungry because the order was missing their item. (Just kidding.) It’s time to avoid food app mishaps and that means doing things the old-fashioned way. Now, where are my car keys?

Continuous Glucose Monitors Are Game Changers

It has been almost two years since I was diagnosed with diabetes. Since that time I have made a number of life changes, all for the better. I’ve lost about 20 lbs and gotten my A1c down below 7. But during my last follow up visit my doctor still seemed a bit concerned. It seems that he still wants an A1c coming in below 6, plus my glucose reading of my last fasting blood test was still above 100. While these are big improvements, they are still not ideal, coming in the range of what someone would have if they had prediabetes. In response to his concerns I decided to appeal to my insurance company, asking them to pay for a continuous glucose monitor which I have received and it has been a game changer.

What is a continuous glucose monitor or CGM? Just as the name implies, CGMs are systems that give continuous, or at least close to continuous, blood glucose readings. I have the Dexcom G7 which sends a reading to my cell phone once every five minutes. The Dexcom sticks to my arm with a small filament tucked just under my skin, reading my glucose levels from my interstitial fluid (the fluid that is found in the spaces in between our cells). The G7 received FDA approval back in 2022 for use by anyone over the age of 2 and has replaced the previously approved G6 for use by people who have diabetes.

I had applied for the G6 a month or two after my diagnosis but was denied by my insurance company who sent a list of reasons for the denial. To be honest some of the reasons were insulting. For example, they accused me of not caring about my diagnoses, accusing me of not taking my own blood glucose readings. You would think that if this were true they would have wanted me to have a CGM in an attempt to get me to take these readings. They were wrong and I was taking my readings, poking holes in my fingers at regular (and painful) intervals. They also listed a number of other reasons most of which I probably could have successfully argued against on appeal but one stood out as a problem.

When I received my diagnosis my doctor suggested that I attend classes with a dietician. I declined because I’m a researcher at heart and I enjoy finding answers on my own. Over the last two years I have taken the time to dig into the topic of diabetes, including doing research on how to eat. It has been a lot of fun and I still have a lot to learn. (For the record, unless you are willing to put in the time to do the research, I do recommend going to the dietician if you are diagnosed with diabetes.) Because I would not take their classes, the insurance company initially said no to paying for a CGM. But this year something changed.

This year I asked my doctor to once again put in a prescription for a CGM and he did so just after my local pharmacist started carrying the G7. To my surprise the insurance company said yes without any push back (Thank God). It seems the insurance company’s policies concerning CGMs had changed and so this year I got my first Dexcom G7 and it is a game changer. In fact, based on my early experiences I think CGMs should be an automatic part of the treatment plan for people who are diagnosed with diabetes.

I was very diligent with my finger sticks and thought I was doing a good job controlling things based on the numbers I was seeing. Yet, my A1c seemed to hit a plateau in the upper 6s and I couldn’t understand why. Within the first 10 days of wearing the G7 I figured out what was going on. (Each G7 can be worn for 10 days before it needs to be replaced.) In between my finger sticks things were not going as well as I thought. This was leading to an average which was higher than I anticipated and my A1c was based on that average. The G7 told a story that I could not have known without taking finger sticks every five minutes (not recommended). With the information from the G7 I now have a plan for getting my A1c down to where my doctor and I both want it to be.

I believe that living with diabetes and not having a CGM was living with one hand tied behind my back. I wish I had one from the start but all is in God’s timing and He knows why I had to wait. I suspect that had I not had over a year of finger pricks, I would not appreciate the technology and benefits that come with a CGM. This is a tool that will help me improve my health and I believe it is a necessary tool for dealing with diabetes. I’ll say it again: my CGM is a game changer.

A Meatball Sandwich, A Conversation and A Change of Heart

 Photo by Clem Onojeghuo from Pexels

We love our food here in Philly, which is why (according to apartmentguide.com) the city has about 422 pizza businesses. That's 26.6 pizza businesses per 100,000 people, placing us second among large cities according to Apartment Guide's list. And as BillyPenn.com points out, the number of pizza places could be much higher depending on how you calculate. Along with all those pizza businesses Philly has over 150 food trucks (according to roaminghunger.com) and a number of award winning restaurants. With plenty available at every price point, Philly is definitely a city that loves food.

From time to time, especially on Fridays, I find myself in front of one of the city's 150+ food trucks. Last week I chose the one on the corner just down the street from the day job, where I ordered a meatball sandwich with Parmesan cheese. As the owner of the truck prepared my sandwich, another customer commented on how good the sandwich looked. She said she didn't need to eat any more beef, having had her fill the night before, but seeing my sandwich changed her mind and her order.

If not for my sandwich the next customer would have stayed on course with whatever it was she had planned to order. I did nothing other than being there and paying for my meal. The sandwich spoke for itself without me interfering or making any changes. I believe the Gospel works in much the same way. God has given us a treasure that is attractive enough to change hearts and minds without our interference. We need only live it and be ready to teach it as the opportunity arises. People will be drawn to it simply because it is good. Such is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One, Two or Three Servings?

Have you ever gotten three and a half servings out of a bag of chips? I'm talking about one of those 3.5oz bags that look like one serving but say they contain 3.5 servings. Generally I finish those off in one sitting, two at the most. I doubt I've ever stretched one to three and a half servings. I just don't have that kind of self discipline. Do you?

The other day I looked at the serving size on a bag of crunchy style Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. (Never tried them? You must. Just save some for me.) The folks at Frito-Lay say that a serving size is “About 21 pieces.” That's an average of course. I wonder if they have a machine calibrated to measure out exactly 73.5 Flamin' Hot Cheetos per bag. And what qualifies as one Cheeto? The size and even shape of each crunchy Cheeto seem somewhat random, not like puffed Cheetos which come out fairly uninformed. Do I get one extra Cheeto for each one that is too small?

Once while babysitting I shared a bag of Cheetos with a five year old. (Not the flamin' kind. Don't think those were out yet.) Sitting side by side on the couch with the bag between us, I noticed she seemed to be putting her hand in the bag more often than I. I wrote it off to the fact that she was pulling out one Cheeto at a time where I was grabbing handfuls. Then I found a Cheeto that was wet on one end. That's when I realized she was biting them in half and tossing what was left back in the bag. I guess the first bite is always the best and this was a great lesson preparing me for when I became a parent.

Anyway, I am not very well calibrated when it comes to knowing how many Cheetos or potato chips are in a handful. I have no idea if I have eaten 21 or 73 Cheetos. I just know when the bag is finished. How about you? Do you get 3.5 servings or do you eat the whole bag in one sitting? Well, I’m up for a challenge. It will take quite a bit of restraint to pull it off. I’m going to try to get the right number of servings out of the bags of my favorite snack foods. Think I can pull it off? Can you?