What's Your Diabetes Strong Point?
By David Spero
What about diabetes do you do best? If you were going help teach a diabetes self-management class, what would you be most qualified to teach? Let's share our strong points.
How are you with food? The demands of eating a healthful "diabetes diet" drive some people pretty mad. Counting carbs and measuring portions may be skills you're good at, or you may have learned how to do without them.
How are you at reading food labels? Could you teach us the best ways to use those labels? One good way is not to eat anything with a label, but that doesn't work for everyone.
Coping with food choices is another major issu...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 12, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Canned vs. Fresh vs. Frozen
By Diane Fennell
Hardly anyone, least of all anyone with diabetes, hasn't heard the message: Eat more fruits and vegetables. Consuming a hefty dose of produce is recommended by virtually every medical and nutritional organization, for benefits ranging from cancer protection to aid in weight loss and maintenance. But some of the common advice on how to increase your fruit and vegetable intake — visit farmers' markets; shop around the outside (rather than in the center) of the grocery store — ignores the possibility of consuming produce largely in canned rather than fresh or frozen form. And in today's freshness-...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 12, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
Six Fish Facts to Know Now
By Amy Campbell
We've been hearing for a long time now that fish and other types of seafood are good for us. Current recommendations tell us to aim to eat "two fish meals a week." But fish has some fishy aspects to it, like mercury. And what about all that cholesterol in shellfish? Do fish sticks count towards your two weekly fish meals? Let's find out the facts about fish.
Fish fact #1: Frozen fish can be just as good as fresh fish.
Frozen fish has often been frozen on the boat right after being caught. The flash-freezing process that's used keeps the fish at temperatures lower than your home freezer. Some "fresh" fish, o...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 11, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
Taking an Unwelcome Guest Along for a Visit
By Jan Chait
I went to Texas to get away from winter but, as it turned out, I took winter with me. The cold came along. The ice came along. Even some snow followed me there. The daughter of the house had come home for the weekend, but had to leave early to get back to campus in Waco before the worst stuff hit. She later sent video of herself scraping a passel of ice off her car.
All kinds of creatures were seeking warmth. Even Thor, a Siberian Husky, stayed inside for the most part and one lone scorpion tried to sneak in to soak up some heat.
Thor, who had never met me before, greeted me as soon as Nancy and I pulled into...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 10, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
Resources for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month
By Web Team
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States among cancers that affect both men and women, and people with diabetes are known to have an increased risk of developing the condition. In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, which is dedicated to spreading awareness about preventing and treating this condition, we'd like to present the following resources:
This page from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes information about reducing your risk of colorectal cancer, symptoms of the condition, resources that can help pay for screening tests, qu...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 8, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Saturated Fat Linked to Accumulation of Dangerous Belly Fat
By Diane Fennell
Eating saturated fat leads to the accumulation of more visceral fat and less muscle mass than eating polyunsaturated fat, according to new research published in the journal Diabetes. Visceral fat, a dangerous type of abdominal fat that wraps itself around the internal organs, has been linked to metabolic disturbances such as Type 2 diabetes.
Saturated fat is known to raise blood cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. This type of fat is found mostly in animal foods, including meat and dairy products, as well as in many baked goods and fried foods. Polyunsaturated fats, on t...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 7, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
The Problem With the Problems With Obamacare
By Scott Coulter
That's not a typo you read. I want to talk about the problem with how we talk about the problems with Obamacare. I know this is a topic not directly tied to diabetes, but health insurance, and our rather precarious health-care system, certainly has a LARGE impact on all of us living with this preexisting condition. And so the debate on Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act as it's actually called, is something I've tried my best to follow.
Here's the issue: It seems like we are almost incapable of addressing the problems in any way that can lead to anything constructive. It seems to me that what we have is...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 6, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
Diabetes or Weight — Which Comes First?
By David Spero
"Everybody knows" that being fat leads to Type 2 diabetes, even though it's not true. That idea has been pretty well debunked.
Reporting on a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, Diane Fennell wrote "General measures of obesity, such as body-mass index, total body fat, or [fat under the skin] were not associated with an increased risk of developing Type 2."
What seems more likely is that Type 2 diabetes makes people fat. The connection is insulin resistance. Nurse practitioner Laurie Klipfel writes, "Even thin people who are insulin resistant are at risk for the things associated with ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 5, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Exercise and Sleep
By Quinn Phillips
It's no secret that exercise has extensive benefits for people with diabetes: improving insulin sensitivity, lowering heart disease risk, and helping maintain weight loss, among others. But while any exercise may be good from a health perspective, in reality many people can be very particular about when they exercise. Some people may find that a morning workout gives them an all-day energy boost, while others might spend the day fatigued by the same workout. So a new study that claims evening exercise doesn't harm sleep may leave many people skeptical.
Published last month by the journal Sleep Medicine, t...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 5, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Oral Insulin Study for Those at Risk of Type 1
By Web Team
Do you have Type 1 diabetes? If so, your relatives may be interested in an actively recruiting TrialNet study that is testing whether oral insulin can prevent or delay the development of Type 1 in people who are at increased risk of the condition.
Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet is "an international network of researchers who are exploring ways to prevent, delay, and reverse the progression of Type 1 diabetes." Type 1 is an autoimmune condition in which the body's immune system creates proteins, known as antibodies, that destroy the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. People who have relatives with Type 1...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 4, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Are Endocrine Disruptors Disrupting Your Life?
By Amy Campbell
I've been seeing a lot of references to "endocrine disruptors" lately, and not in scientific journals, but rather in magazines and online newsletters. If you're scratching your head and wondering what the heck an endocrine disruptor is, well, you're not alone. The term may not be a topic of dinnertime conversation yet, but it's something to get familiar with.
What are endocrine disruptors?
According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, or NIEHS (part of the National Institutes of Health), "endocrine disruptors are chemicals that may interfere with the body's endocrine system and produ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 3, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
2014 Weekend for Women
By Web Team
If you're a woman with diabetes, you won't want to miss the 2014 Weekend for Women in Washington, DC, organized by the nonprofit group DiabetesSisters.
Scheduled for April 25–27, the Weekend for Women conference aims to "educate, inspire, and transform women's view of their diabetes so that they can live full, happy lives with the disease." The weekend includes a variety of educational and social events, such as breakout sessions featuring diabetes experts, a lunch/dinner program dedicated to celebrating the strength of women living with diabetes, a "Partners Perspective Program" for the partners of t...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - March 1, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Study Links Pollutants, Metabolic Complications; Glucose Meter Recall
By Diane Fennell
Study Links Pollutants, Metabolic Complications
A type of environmental contaminant known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is associated with the development of certain metabolic complications of obesity such as Type 2 diabetes, according to researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway. Previous studies have highlighted potential links between diabetes and a variety of chemicals, including bishphenol-A, phthalates, air pollutants, and perflourinated compounds (PFCs).
Although there is a strong association between obesity and conditions such as insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes, there ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 28, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
It's the Season
By Scott Coulter
Most of you have probably never heard of Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Heck, the computer just underlined “Naropa” to inform me I misspelled something! But it’s a real place. It’s where my mother taught for many years, and where I spent a lot of time as a youngster. It’s a wonderful place, founded in the mid-70’s by a Tibetan Buddhist scholar and former monk.
As with any institution, there’s a whole backstory, some of it good, noble, and inspiring, some of it shady and disconcerting. But that’s not the point I’m bringing up. I mainly bring th...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 27, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
Farewell to Rachel
By David Spero
My mother-in-law died last week. It wasn't a tragedy. She was 93 years old and died peacefully in her sleep, without apparent pain. But it got me thinking about death and other scary things.
Rachel was living in a board and care facility 60 miles away when she died. For various reasons, including my own disability, she couldn't stay with us. We couldn't afford four-star care, but the staff was very caring and skillful. She actually got to do more socializing and seemed less lonely than she had before she got there.
She made two friends and the three of them had all their meals together and hung out in their...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - February 26, 2014 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
