Guys named Ed probably don’t feel honored to have one of the most devastating complications of diabetes named after then. But erectile dysfunction — or just ED for short — is both personally ego-destroying and all too common. At least they don’t say nowadays that ED is the same as impotence.

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Starting to exercise isn’t easy for anyone. It sure wasn’t for me, even though I knew all too well how important exercise is for controlling my diabetes.

It’s a particularly personal example of the universal problem called inertia, which Sir Isaac Newton told us about 321 years ago in the greatest single scientific work ever. Inertia means that a body at rest tends to remain at rest.

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As soon as I read the new study by Dr. James Levine, I was inspired to go right out for a four-mile two-hour walk over to the University of New Mexico campus. I’m in Albuquerque this week, where I am visiting my favorite Certified Diabetes Educator, Karen LaVine.
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We all know that diabetes is a risk factor for heart disease, and we do our best not to collect any more of these factors. Of course, it’s better not to take any other risks with our hearts. But what’s worse, to be fat or to be unfit?
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When I hike in the mountains, I prefer the sounds of nature to those coming from my iPod. But for the past month it’s been too cold and windy for me to enjoy the mountains. Not even snowshoeing. [Read more →]

Life is full of vicious circles. The opposite, virtuous circles, are all too rare.

The first virtuous circle I ever remember finding was the positive relationship between Byetta and exercise. “The more weight I lost and the more I exercised, the more energy I had,” I wrote in my forthcoming book, Losing Weight with Your Diabetes Medication. “All this feedback gave me more motivation than ever to keep on losing weight.”

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