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Diabetes Update 129: On The Road

April 1, 2009

By David Mendosa


During almost all of the month of March I was on the road. I visited friends, relatives, and colleagues in California and New Mexico and national parks in Utah and Arizona.By taking a laptop computer with me I was able to continue writing my articles and staying in touch by email. While I wrote fewer articles than usual, I wrote a lot more photo essays for my "Fitness and Photography for Fun" blog. I added 22 photo essays -- one for almost every one of the 27 days I was on the road -- telling about my adventures in more than a dozen national parks as well as whale watching off the coast of Northern California and a helicopter expedition over the Grand Canyon and other beautiful experiences of nature.

Coyote in Death Valley

Coyote

Near Badwater in Death Valley on March 1

  • My New Diabetes Articles for Health Central:

    So far I have written 366 articles for the Health Central Network about all aspects of diabetes. In March this great website published seven more of my new diabetes articles:

  • The Best Herbal Tea. The best herbal tea is more a matter of personal preference than the other stuff that we put in our mouths. These are the ones that I think taste best. I drink them so that I will drink -- and eat-- less of the bad stuff.

  • Glucose Trumps Fructose. When heavy people drink fructose-sweetened beverages with their meals their triglyceride level goes up a lot, while glucose-sweetened beverages has only a moderate impact. That's because our livers metabolize fructose, which is relatively unregulated, according to the result of a new study.

  • Emotional Diabetes. When our emotional level is positive, we can more easily control our diabetes. And when we control our diabetes, we feel better. That's what a new study says.

  • Protein for Our Muscles. Few of us eat enough protein to succeed in losing fat rather than our muscles when we are losing weight. Participants followed a moderate-protein diet consisting of 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat lost 22 percent more body fat than those following a standar diet.

  • On the Road. A few days ago I returned from my first long road trip since learning that I have diabetes. I drove 4,500 miles in 27 days and took 1,800 photos, including one of this coyote that illustrates this message.

  • Three Thousand Steps in Thirty Minutes. The 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise we all need works out to about 100 steps per minute -- 3,000 steps in 30 minutes each of five days of the week.

  • Shameless. People who have type 2 diabetes often have an overdeveloped sense of shame. We buy into the conventional wisdom that with our degenerate lifestyle we brought on our diabetes ourselves. Shameful actions are one thing, but shame about our bodies is counterproductive.

    Dr. Bernstein's Webcast
    If you have any interest in controlling your diabetes by low-carb eating, one of the best resources is Dr. Richard K. Bernstein's monthly webcast. It's an hour of excellent diabetes education.

    Dr. Bernstein's next live Tele-Seminar is Tuesday, April 28, at 8:00 PM EST, 7:00 PM CST, 6:00 PM MST, and 5:00 PM PST. He designed it to answer your most important questions concerning diabetes and to offer his thoughts on the latest developments in this area. The seminar is free. You can click here to register: http://www.diabetes911.net/askdrb/index.php. It's also available as a live webcast both on the Internet and by phone.

    At the beginning of the call Dr. Bernstein will provide new information that is not in his books. For the April 28 call he will discuss relative mortality with different oral hypoglycemic agents and the correlation of A1C with the new standard, average blood glucose.

    Web Surveys

    Dick Rylander, the CEO of Enject Inc., tells me that his company has started the development of a new delivery system for glucagon for use in the treatment of severe (emergency) hypoglycemia. They have worked with Dr. William Polonsky in San Diego to create a patient and caregiver set of surveys to gather information about their worries and feelings regarding this medical emergency. They also will use the surveys to gather some information about a potential new product to replace the existing hypo-kits marketed.

    How does severe (emergency) hypoglycemia impact people’s lives?

    Is there a better way to deliver glucagon in emergencies? They have developed two surveys to help answer some of these questions. The first survey is for adults (age 18 and over) using insulin to treat diabetes and the second is for the caregivers and those who help and support patients using insulin to treat diabetes. The answers are totally anonymous. The responses will be used to better understand how you perceive and feel about this medical emergency.

    The survey should take 10 minutes or less to complete. Please complete only the survey that fits your situation/role. The surveys will be open until April 15, 2009. To complete a survey:

    You need to be connected to the Internet.

    Click on the link (below) for the survey you want to complete. Your web browser will open and take you to the survey. Note: If the link does not work, please type or copy and paste the address into your web browser.

    If you have any challenges accessing or completing the survey please contact them at: [email protected]

    Adult Survey (18 and over): http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/106580/adult-patient-survey

    Caregiver Survey: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/106642/caregiver-survey

    Web-Based Social Networking

    "I am working with a group of colleagues who are looking into establishing  web-based social network tools for people with diabetes," writes Russ Potts. "The objective is to promote positive behavioral modification.  Social networks have certainly brought about positive behavioral modifications in other endeavors.  We believe it can do the same for diabetes healthcare management.

    "This new project has been launched to collect information directly from people with diabetes.  The feedback on existing and needed tools from the very people who are most affected will guide the development of these tools.

    "We have established a website (www.EngagingDiabetes.com), which contains an online survey.  The survey takes 10 minutes to complete, and is completely confidential. People who complete the survey are eligible to win gift cards to Amazon.com."

    Announcements
  • Health Central
    The Health Central Network will now notify you by email of new articles (SharePosts) by me or anyone who posts at HealthCentral.com. Just click on "Subscribe" at the top of each of my articles or on my "Profile" page.

    Each month I describe and link my new Health Central articles here. But you can also use a blog reader to keep up with my articles more quickly. I use Bloglines, as I describe in my article, “Reading Health Blogs.” Go to bloglines.com, click on feeds, click on add, (both in left pane), then in center pane enter at “Blog or Feed URL” click on www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/rss/. Alternatively, you can subscribe to my new articles at Health Central by taking your browser to http://www.bloglines.com/sub/http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/.

  • This Newsletter
    Diabetes Update keeps you up-to-date with new articles, Web pages, and books that I have written about diabetes.

    I list and link most of these on my at Diabetes Directory and in the site’s menu at the upper left of all my Web pages.

    From time to time Diabetes Update may also include links to other Web pages of special interest.

  • HTML Format
    I send out Diabetes Update email in HTML format, which all Web browsers and most modern email programs can display. HTML has live links to all the sites named in the text so that with a simple click of a mouse you can connect to the site you have just been reading about.

  • My Guarantee
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    2. Will never include advertising (except targeted Google ads at the bottom of the web page and not in the email newsletter).
    3. Nor will I ever sell, rent, or trade your email address to anyone.
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    6. If and when I learn of any errors of fact, I will correct them.
  • Archives: I now send out Diabetes Update once a month.

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