Have you heard of DAFNE?

Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating or DAFNE is a Nationally funded programme for people with T1 diabetes. The DAFNE slogan "Like what you Eat/Eat what you Like" reflects the heart of the programme which is teaching people how to adjust insulin to food (rather than the other way around):

"Participants acquire the skills and confidence to adjust insulin to suit their lifestyle rather than being told to adapt to the timing and content of meals to to fixed doses of insulin"

By counting carbohydrates and adjusting insulin to match (as well as maintaining normal blood sugar levels without food intake) a person may embark on a whole new world. During the 5 day course, attendees learn the skills involved in insulin adjustment without guess work and have many opportunities to practice.

I have been counting carbs for 30 years, but I may sign up for this.

The DAFNE programme was developed by Michael Berger, a diabetologist in Germany during the 1980's and then adopted throughout Europe. After assessing the evidence-based study, the British Medical Journal published its findings and then the NHS (National Health Service) via NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) adopted the programme. DAFNE supports the NHS rationale that patient education is a central part of treatment in diabetes. Sounds good so far.

I am going to try attend a course and report my findings here. In the meantime, I am curious if anyone in Continental Europe, Asia or the US has attended a similar workshop.

There is also a programme that is being trialed here in the UK for T2 diabetes patient education called DESMOND (Diabetes Education and Self Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed.) This year the trial ends and a report should be ready for press review.