As far as food goes, enjoy it! The holidays are a time when you are supposed to splurge a little bit. There is no need to be super careful about every little thing that you put in your mouth. Denying yourself causes feelings of annoyance and frustration, and that pressure will only heighten your stress.
Go to this article for more tips on facing the holidays with diabetes, from someone who lives with diabetes
http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2011/11/21/7357/the-holidays-with-diabetes/
Keep hydrated. Watch for signs of heat exhaustion. Exercise in a cool place. Check blood glucose levels at least four times per day, and more often if you are not feeling well. Remember that heat can cause blood glucose levels to fluctuate. Store your blood glucose meter, strips and insulin in a cool, dry place.
Small differences in diet, even without weight loss, can lower the risk for developing diabetes, according to a research. In this study, 69 healthy, overweight people who did not have diabetes - but were at risk for it - were placed on diets with modest reductions in either fat or carbohydrate for eight weeks.
"At eight weeks, the group on the lower fat diet had significantly higher insulin secretion and better glucose tolerance and tended to have higher insulin sensitivity," said Barbara Gower, professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at UAB and lead author of the study.
"These improvements indicate a decreased risk for diabetes," added Gower.
Read more: Low Fat Diet May Significantly Reduce Diabetes Risk http://www.medindia.net/news/Low-Fat-Diet-May-Significantly-Reduce-Diabetes-Risk-85295-1.htm#ixzz1NHTX6zQi
Those of us in North Carolina now know we are in the belt. Not the snow belt, but the diabetes belt. To those of us that educate and support people with diabetes, we're not surprised. It is a good reason for ALL OF US, to exhibit good health behaviors whether we have diabetes, pre-diabetes, or not. Go for a walk, skip the fries this time, garden or walk to visit a neighbor instead of watching tv as much and get behind community planning efforts that include bike paths and pedestrian friendly sidewalks. All it takes to prevent the onset of diabetes for many, is losing 5% of your weight and walking 15 minutes a day. If you can't do it for yourself, do it for your kids and grandkids- Now, what are you waiting for? It's North Carolina, it's Spring and lovely, so go take a walk!
According to a new study published in Diabetes Care, your finger-prick blood glucose test may be "abnormally and significantly high" if you test after handling fruit without first scrubbing your hands thoroughly and vigorously.
The Tokyo study, precisely titled "Glucose Monitoring After Fruit Peeling: Pseudohyperglycemia When Neglecting Hand Washing Before Fingertip Blood Sampling," tested ten non-diabetic volunteers who had normal blood glucose levels of approximately 90 mg/dL.
The volunteers were asked to peel an orange, a kiwi, or a grape. When they then tested their blood glucose without washing their hands, their blood glucose meter produced results of 170, 180, and 360 mg/dL respectively. Even after they swabbed their test finger with alcohol five times, the meter results were inaccurately high. It was only after a thorough handwashing with tap water that they got an accurate result from their meter.
The researchers concluded, "To avoid overestimation of blood glucose using portable monitors, the hands should be washed before monitoring capillary BG, especially after fruit has been handled."
Diabetes Health News, Feb 12, 2011
Abbott Diabetes Care is recalling certain lots of Precision Xtra, Optium, OptiumEZ and ReliOn Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips (sold at WalMart) Please call 1-800-448-5234 with your strips in hand to determine if your strips are affected.
Diabetes Management Solutions is seeking a full time Business Development Director. Job Description below. Please send cover letter and resume to erin@thediabetesbus.org.
Position Summary:
The Director of Business Development will be responsible for overall new business development management for established nonprofit organization focused on education and training in the health and wellness arena. Position responsibilities include new client identification and oversight, private and government database development, field sales organization and execution, key customer communication and all metrics reporting functions. The position requires the ability to effectively communicate at all levels, understand foundation and fee based funding models, establish new processes and systems, and deliver results in a private sector engagement structure with a critical social mission.
Compensation is base salary commensurate with experience, plus commission tied to contracted revenue. This position reports directly to the Company CEO.
________________________________________
Major Functions:
1. Client Identification/Oversight
a. Identify new NC geographic client/grant opportunities
b. Develop relationships with prospective clients
c. Maintain relationships with existing clients
2. Database Development/Maintenance
a. Establish database structure/system for client information/management
b. Populate and manage database of appropriate clients in target sectors
c. Identify and maintain database of grants in private and government sectors
3. Field Sales Organization/Execution
a. Define 2011 field sales strategy and tactics
b. Develop 2011 sales tools and presentations on Company mission and services
c. Deliver content specific presentations to targeted client base
d. Generate fee-based contracts with new clients
4. Key Customer Communication
a. Maintain regular communication with pipeline of prospects
b. Establish promotion campaign highlighting Company services
c. Document customer communication activity
5. Metrics Reporting
a. Establish reporting structure calendar
b. Outline regular report content structure
c. Participate in weekly team meetings
d. Report weekly with Company CEO
e. Report as needed to Company board
6. Additional
a. Understand and support Company social mission
b. Work in parallel with team staff members to meet overall goals and objectives
c. Attend company and industry sponsored events as required
d. Travel within targeted NC territory
e. Inject passion and enthusiasm into position
________________________________________
Education, Skill sets and Experience Required:
• Bachelor’s degree required, Masters degree preferred in related field.
• Dynamic interpersonal skills in with business experience in health sector required; education and training experience helpful.
• Strong communication skills with work history in nonprofit or medical service business development, customer support and grant development preferred.
• Strong organizational and multitasking skills are essential, along with the ability
to work under pressure to meet deadlines, manage development activity and interface with internal resources.
• Must be detail-oriented and able to work well independently, communicate effectively with team members and provide direction to key resources.
• Demonstrated passion for social enterprise is encouraged.
BCBSNC Foundation awarded Diabetes Management Solutions one of only ten $100,000 grants in honor of the Foundation's 10th anniversary. This award grant will be used to improve our capacity to extend diabetes education and support all over North Carolina.
It's Halloween today and I just received a tweet promising people that they can "REVERSE DIABETES" and the proof? well, this woman had drastically improved A1c and blood sugar readings via some unrevealed diet or supplement and she cites that diabetes did not exist prior to 1933 (insinuating that if it didn't exist in a medical journal no one must have had it and it is, therefore, a 20th century disease with an easy cure) Well, this logic is flawed -most cancers, heart disease, etc were not identified by name yet either, does this mean they didn't exist?
I am certainly not against safe natural remedies and I hope we will see more supplements studied in the future, so their benefit or lack of benefit is proven. But in the meantime, when you hear something about your diabetes that you want to believe but it sounds unbelievable, ask yourself two important questions and do your own research.
1. Are they selling anything? (book, supplements, exercise equipment)
2. Is there research to support the statement published in a well known journal?
If you have answered the above questions and you still want to give this suggestion a try, talk to your provider. In the meantime, enjoy your halloween with a few extra treats (you can bolus extra insulin or go for a long walk to reduce the effect on your blood sugars)
Live WELL with diabetes
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Spectroscopy Laboratory are working on a non-invasive way for people with diabetes to measure their glucose levels using light.
Go to this site to read the article http://tinyurl.com/23knmp7