Brussels, Belgium – A Belgian mother is leveraging social media to empower families navigating type 1 diabetes, sharing recipes and support through her Instagram page, “Diab de Romiโ Snacks.” Romina launched the page roughly aโฃ yearโฃ ago after developing โa collection of recipes tailored to manage carbohydrate intake for her son,โ who โwas diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at a young age โคand isโ now seven years old.
The initiative began as a personal project – a recipe book shared with family andโฃ friends – and quickly grew as Romina โconnected with other parents facing similar challenges. “So I started, on โmy own scale, to make a small recipe book with those that I reproduced, and with the calculation of carbohydrates. I shared it with family and friends. then, one thing led to another, meeting other parents experiencing the same problem as us, I also shared these recipes and these calculations with them,” Romina explained.
Her Instagram page features recipes for biscuits, cakes, pancakes, waffles, โฃand other treats, all with clearly calculated carbohydrate content. Romina emphasizes the importance of normalizing food enjoyment for children with diabetes. “It really responded to a lack, and it allows us to demonize sugar, in fact. From the moment we know the carbohydrate content, we can eat just like everyone else with type โข1 diabetes. And that was โsignificant to โshow,”โฃ she said. “Even with this disease, a child remains a child: he continues to laugh, grow, eat and flourish.”
Romina’s work comes as diabetes โdiagnoses, particularly among young people, are on the rise in Belgium,โค with increasingly aggressive cases reported. Organizations like the Belgian Diabetes Association are working โฃto foster community and provide resources for those affected. Romina hopes her page will remind parents of children with typeโ 1 diabetesโ that they are not alone. “I want to tell them that they will learn. They receive a huge load of information at the beginning, but after that things fall โinto place little by little. It’s true that it’s a long road, and on this path, there are ups andโข downs. But they will meet great people along the way.”
