A Little Penguin
This Galapagos Penguin Stands up
on Bartolome Island on July 31, 2012
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My New Diabetes Articles for HealthCentral:
Last month HealthCentral published four more of my diabetes articles about all aspects of the condition:
Think Like a Pancreas To think like a pancreas is to come as close as possible to matching your insulin level to what your body actually needs. This is what your body would do automatically if you didn’t have diabetes. But with a little help from insulin injections or an insulin pump and a lot of guidance about how to use insulin you can do it.
Nectresse Challenges Stevia I have started using Nectresse myself, and while I have a few reservations about it, this new sweetener promises to be big. It comes from McNeil Nutritionals, which also markets Splenda, the nation’s top selling low calorie sweetener.
A New Way for People with Diabetes to Lose Weight One cornerstone of this new way to lose weight and maintain weight loss is a twist on a standard dieting recommendation. But instead of weighing myself once a week, I weigh myself every morning. The other way that works with daily weighing is easy when you follow a very low-carb diet.
The Crunch Factor for People with Diabetes We have at least three foods that won't raise our blood sugar level and are nevertheless crunchy. Can you think of any others?
- Fitness and Photograph for Fun:
Last month I published nine more of my articles on staying fit by getting the activity we need. Photography gets me to hike, and hiking keeps me fit:On July 27 I flew to Quito, the capital of Ecuador high in the Andes. I was headed for the Galapagos Islands, and flying from Ecuador is the only practical way to get there. But I was glad to see that ancient capital city.
Arriving in the Galapagos: San Cristobal (Chatham) Island The Galapagos Islands have been a part of Ecuador since 1832 when the then newly independent country annexed them. Many people consider the Galapagos the world's premier destination for viewing wildlife for several reasons.
North Seymour Island and Islote Mosquera Our second day in the Galapagos got off to a strong start and stayed that way. We saw some of the world's most colorful birds and strangest iguanas.
Santiago (James) and Bartolome (Bartholomew) Islands Of all the birds in the Galapagos the one that I most wanted to see was the Galapagos Penguin. No other species of penguin live so far north of Antarctica. But I really didn’t expect to see any penguins in the Galapagos, because it is an endangered species with only about 1,500 individuals remaining.
Santa Cruz (Indefatigable) Island The Galapagos giant tortoises found only in the Galapagos are this island's most famous residents. They are the largest living species of tortoise and one of the heaviest living reptiles. They can weigh up to about 900 pounds and can grow to be up to about 6 feet long. In the wild they can live for more than 100 years, and in captivity one individual lived at least 170 years.
Rabida (Jervis) and Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz (Indefatigable) Island My fifth day exploring the Galapagos Islands started with a dinghy ride to the red beach of Rabida Island, where we made a wet landing. As we approached this little unpopulated island we saw more members of a species of birds that most everyone loves, the Blue-footed Booby.
Floreana (Charles) Island and Champion Islet The biggest thrill I got during my sixth day exploring the Galapagos Islands was to see and photograph a little mockingbird. But this one is special for several reasons. This Charles (or Floreana) Mockingbird figured large in the thinking of Charles Darwin when he encountered it in 1835 as a young naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle. This was a different species from the Chatham Mockingbird that he had found earlier on Chatham Island, and this triggered his thinking about the origin of species. But nowadays, people rarely get to photograph this endangered Charles Mockingbird because only about 150 birds remain, all of them probably on a little islet named Champion off the coast of Floreana. Champion is uninhabited and only researchers may land there. The only way for visitors to see a Charles Mockingbird is to take a dinghy, which can make viewing difficult. But I was lucky.
Española (Hood) Island The main reason why naturalists like me come to to Española, one of the Galapagos Islands, is to see the Waved Albatross, the only species of albatross that lives in the tropics. Found only on the island of Española, the Wave Albatross has near-threatened status. But we also saw a pile of marine iguanas and some spectacular birds.
Leaving Ecuador Leaving Galapagos on August 5 was a cause for me to celebrate. Not because I wanted to leave, but because it was my birthday -- my 77th. I celebrated it that morning in San Cristobal Island of the Galapagos Archipelago and that evening in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
- New Flickr Site
I keep added some of my favorites nature photographs on Flickr.com. In the past month I have added several more. You can find them the easiest way by clicking here.
- 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 available free either on the Internet or by phone. You can click here to register http://www.diabetes911.net/askdrb/index.php.Dr. Bernstein's next live webcast will be on Wednesday, September 26, 2012, at 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. MST, and 5 p.m. PST. He designed it to answer your most important questions concerning diabetes and to offer his thoughts on the latest developments in this area.
- Searching for My Articles
Whenever you want to find anything that I have written about diabetes -- whether on my website or on HealthCentral Network -- the easiest way is to use the search tool on my site. You can search for all of the articles on my site or for the "Diabetes Developments" blog or the "Fitness and Photography for Fun" blog or what I have written at HealthCentral, which is now a part of Remedy Health Media.Just go to mendosa.com/search and check which one of the four sites you want to search and enter what you want to find in the search block.
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.”
- This Newsletter:
- Is and will remain free.
- Will never include advertising (except targeted Google ads at the bottom of the web page and not in the email newsletter).
- Nor will I ever sell, rent, or trade your email address to anyone.
- I will link sources of information.
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- 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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- Fitness and Photograph for Fun:
