Intermittent Fasting: Not So Fast
By Amy Campbell
I'm sure that at least a few of you have heard or read about the latest trend in weight loss called "intermittent fasting." The very word "fasting" is probably less than appealing, as it pretty much means you don't eat or drink anything (except perhaps water) for a specified amount of time. Starvation is not exactly recommended among health professionals. But intermittent fasting is different. Is it something you should try?
What is intermittent fasting, anyway?
Intermittent fasting has been the talk of the town, so to speak, thanks to two recent books to hit the market: The Fast Diet by Dr. Michael Mosley ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 12, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
Type 2 Study Looking for Volunteers
By Web Team
If you've been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes within the past five years, then you may be eligible to help researchers test treatments in a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Current guidelines typically recommend the oral drug metformin as a first-line treatment, along with a healthful diet and exercise. If metformin isn't enough to control a person's blood glucose levels, doctors will sometimes add another medicine, but no long-term studies have been conducted to determine which combination of drugs works best and has the fewest side effects.
To address this, NIH has launched a l...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 10, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Exercise to Reduce Stroke Risk
By Diane Fennell
Regular physical activity can decrease the risk of having a stroke, according to a large new study from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death among people with diabetes.
According to the National Stroke Association, controllable risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, atherosclerosis, circulation problems, tobacco use and smoking, high cholesterol, alcohol use, diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity. Uncontrollable risk factors include age, gender, race, family history, previous stroke or transient ischemic a...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 9, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
You Know What?
By Scott Coulter
You know what? I don't like diabetes. I was going to write about perspectives today — about the meaning of individual suffering and the greater good, about attachment and our ability to rise above it, and so on. I've been on a very philosophic kick lately. A lot has been changing in my vocational life, most of it very much for the better, and I've been inferring all kinds of things about what it must "mean" — in other words, trying to interpret these events to understand what it is the "universe" or God wants me to do. And that's all well and good. I often relate to diabetes in this way.
I have...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 8, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
Skipping Breakfast
By Quinn Phillips
As we noted two years ago in a Diabetes Flashpoints post on meal timing, one common piece of advice for people with diabetes — and for the general population — is to eat a large breakfast, a medium-size lunch, and a small dinner. The reasoning behind this advice is that consuming more calories earlier in the day gives the body more time to burn them off before sleep, when the metabolism slows. Although not all dietitians agree with this advice, as we noted in the post, there is evidence that eating later in the day leads to metabolic changes that result in fewer calories being burned.
But as i...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 7, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Afraid of Diabetes
By David Spero
Does diabetes scare you? I know multiple sclerosis (MS) scares me. Both diseases can progress and cripple our lives. How does fear of diabetes affect your life, and more important, what do you do about it?
In May, Quinn Phillips wrote here about the scare tactics used by the American Diabetes Association and others trying to raise money or prevent diabetes. Many readers agreed with Quinn that being scared was not helpful for most people.
"Scare tactics are in my opinion a waste of time," commented Jim Snell. "Finding positive/reassuring and corrective tactics seem far more productive in my mind." Most psych...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 7, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
"First, Do No Harm"
By Jan Chait
My granddaughter is packing up and will be moving out Monday, off to college and to her first apartment, which she'll share with two other people. Grandma is experiencing a bit of empty-nest syndrome, although my grandson will still be here. He's talking about moving out, too.
Today, the granddaughter has a doctor's appointment. Just a checkup, although she does have a suspicious-looking mole.
My husband had his checkup last week, which is kind of what this blog entry is about.
When I was writing last week's piece, about how doctors in the United Kingdom were real casual about adding medicines for people with...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 6, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
Omega-7: The New Fat in Town
By Amy Campbell
Just when you thought you had the whole fat thing down, along comes another type of fat to think about. This fat (actually, fatty acid) is known as omega-7, and you might consider it to be a cousin of the omega-3 fatty acids (sometimes referred to as fish oils, although they're found in plants, too).
A brief fat primer
Fat, in general, can be confusing. It seems like there are so many types to contend with. In general, there are two categories of fat: healthful and unhealthful. Healthful fats are called unsaturated fats and they include:
• Monounsaturated fats. Found in olives and olive oil, canola oi...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 5, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
Google for Carb Counting
By Web Team
Trying to figure how many grams of carbohydrate are in that food you're about to eat? Manny Hernandez — known to many in the diabetes online community as President of the Diabetes Hands Foundation (the group behind TuDiabetes) — has discovered a quick and easy way: Just enter the food and the word "carbohydrate" into Google, and the search engine will display the carbohydrate count per serving. Here's the example Manny gave.
Try it our yourself and let us know how it works!
This blog entry was written by Web Editor Diane Fennell.
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Copyright (C) 2013 R.A. Rapaport Publish...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 3, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Severe Lows Occur Often in People With Type 2
This study suggests that we should pay much closer attention to hypoglycemia, even in poorly controlled patients. Providers should explain the symptoms of hypoglycemia, how to treat it, and how to avoid it — for example, by not skipping meals. Most of all, providers should ask all their diabetic patients whether they've experienced hypoglycemia, even those patients with very high average levels of blood sugar."
The researchers also recommended that evaluations of the quality of diabetes care take into account side effects such as hypoglycemia that are associated with treatment. "While aggressive treatment of high b...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 2, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
Habit
By Scott Coulter
There was a comment on my previous week's blog entry, "there is merit in habit." The comment was in reference to building and maintaining healthy habits, both in terms of emotional health and in terms of physical well-being. It was a great comment, and one that stuck with me.
I think for most people, "habit" has a negative connotation. We often talk about "not slipping into bad habits," or "breaking the habit." When we DO talk about good habits, it's usually a suggestion for something we SHOULD do, but don't do often enough. "It would be a good habit if you'd try…"
Diabetes is full of good habits, ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - August 1, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
Top Fifteen Things I've Learned About Diabetes
By David Spero
I've been writing this blog each week for over six years now, so I've had to come up with a lot of ideas. Fortunately, readers give me many of them. Here are the fifteen best things I've learned. (To read more about any of them, click on the provided links.)
1. Type 2 diabetes can be reversed. Although some people have ongoing liver or pancreas dysfunction, these are mostly people who have had Type 2 a long time, and even they can get much better.
It may take years, but many people can actually stop their medicines and have normal glucose numbers. This is not the same as cure. You can't go back to eating ca...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 31, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Doctor Pay Incentives
By Quinn Phillips
Last year here at Diabetes Flashpoints, we discussed how changing the way Medicare pays for services — away from the current system of paying for individual procedures, and toward a system in which medical networks are paid a lump sum for each patient — has the potential both to improve outcomes and to lower the cost of care. For such a system to work, however, all doctors would have to join a network that can provide a full range of medical services. These networks, whose formation for purposes of Medicare payment was enabled by the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare"), remain in their inf...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 31, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
One Pill At a Time
By Jan Chait
Which is a better way of treating people with Type 2 diabetes: Starting with one medicine and adding more, or starting with multiple medicines and lowering doses or subtracting meds?
I'm a proponent of beginning with multiple medicines that target different areas, getting the blood glucose down, then lowering doses and/or subtracting medicines. I blogged about this in 2008, but had previously written about it in 2004, based on an interview with California-based endocrinologist Allen B. King, who calls the method "Blast and Taper Fast."
King explained that it takes more medicine to bring a high blood glucose le...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 30, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
More on Sweeteners: Stevia
By Amy Campbell
Due to popular demand, I'll conclude my series on sweeteners by writing about stevia. I actually wrote about stevia back in 2008, but times have changed (and I realize that perhaps not everyone had an opportunity to read my entry back then!).
Stevia
Stevia is an herb that belongs to the sunflower family (Asteraceae). It's grown primarily in Central and South America, and is sometimes called candy leaf. For many centuries, people living in Paraguay and Brazil have used stevia to sweeten a drink called yerba mate. In the early 1930's, scientists isolated stevioside and rebaudioside, the ingredients that give ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 29, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
