Better Dibetes Type II control

With diabetes (especially Type 2) running rampant in our population, here is something that might help us control our sugar levels.

We all know exercise is a great way to help the body control our blood sugar but a recent study reported Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise reports that creatine supplementation for those who are exercising works better at improving A1C levels than does exercise alone!

Interesting, a relatively easy fix and worth talking to your doc about!!

Managing Diabetes without insulin?

A researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston is experimenting with a protein in the liver that, when artificially simulated, controls blood glucose levels without the use of insulin.  Research is providing an interesting potential option in the management of diabetes!  Click here for more information.

What are we doing to our children???

I am sure most of you have heard that Type 2 Diabetes (what used to be called Adult Onset Diabetes) is on the rise in children.  (Type 2 is the one where the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin just wear out because they have had to deal with so much sugar).  So...with all of the sugar in the American diet, children are wearing out their pancreas at younger and younger ages.  That is bad enough...

However, a new study suggests children (kids ages 7-11 ... so really! we are talking about young kids) with poor blood sugar regulation have 4-5% less bone mass.  This is the age kids should be building bones!  How are they going to be able to avoid having hip and wrist fractures at 50, let alone 70, if they have weaker bones at 11.

This makes me want to cry and gets me MAD all at once!!!  We are choosing to let our children drink sodas (that contribute to the diabetes)!  We are not encouraging them to drink milk (to provide the calcium and vitamin D necessary to build strong bones)!!  We are not MAKING them go outside and run around (to stimulate bone formation AND to make their bodies more sensitive to insulin in the first place)!!  We are not doing these things for ourselves (not modeling the behavior) and we are not creating an environment where they have to participate in the decisions that will allow them to grow up healthy and strong!!

What is wrong with us?  Are you mad about this?  Are you doing something about it in your own home?  Are you setting a good example for the kids who wouldn't otherwise have one???

Trying to decide on which diet to try next?

Okay -- if you originally started reading the Eating Coach blog, you will know I am an advocate of NOT DIETING to lose weight.  I will make the distinction here just to be clear -- I am not a fan of weight loss through cutting out things that you like to eat.  Honestly, if your strategy is to do without your favorites, how long are you going to last?  Forever?  I think not.

But -- if you are going to diet to lose weight as a means of addressing a particular health concern, this article provides some insight on whether to go low-fat or low-carb to achieve your goals.

The most important part:  pick areas of change you can live with.  Otherwise, you will put in all that hard work losing the weight only to gain it back when you go "off" your diet and return to your "normal" behaviors.

The 7th Leading cause of Death in the US is largely preventable!!

Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the US. 

When I was younger (and even though it was a while ago, I wasn't THAT young), I didn't think diabetes was any big deal.  So you got some diagnosis.  Your body could deal with the sugar you age efficiently enough.  You tested your blood sugar -- tried to stay away from some the the sugar in your diet -- things were fine -- no big deal.

Then I started learning that with diabetes, a person without good control dies by parts.  First is just the diagnosis.  But then some time goes by and you lose feeling in your feet .. then your hands -- Hello!  the nerves have died!  As in dead!!  --Because you don't have good blood supply.  And you know what?  If you don't have good blood supply there -- your whole system -- every part of you has decreased blood supply.

Blindness can occur from this tissue death.  Irreparable organ damage happens.

And then most impactful to the younger version of me???  The time I spent in the hospital with a family friends while their diabetic dad was in surgery and might not come out of it with both legs because he had a sore that wouldn't heal and each time they tried to surgically help him, they had to take more of his tissue -- until finally the leg needed to come off so the rest of him could live.

But here's the mind-boggling thing: