Laying Blame: Why Do People Get Diabetes?<\/a><\/h2>\nby Alex O’Meara<\/p>\n
People get diabetes because they\u2019re fat. They get diabetes because they don\u2019t exercise. They get it because they\u2019re lazy and they lack discipline in controlling their appetites. They get diabetes because they\u2019re out of shape slobs. People get diabetes because they\u00a0deserve<\/em>\u00a0it.<\/p>\nMost people won\u2019t say this to your face, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not thinking it. The extent to which people believe that diabetes is the fault of the diabetic became very apparent, recently, after a finger pointing exchange about blame for the condition by two celebrity chefs. And what that reveals is an underlying societal discrimination of diabetics that could cost people their lives…Read More<\/a><\/p>\nThe Overweight Child<\/a><\/h2>\nby Jane Kokernak<\/p>\n
Dara-Lynn Weiss, a Manhattan mother of two who has recently become famous\u00a0for posing in\u00a0Vogue\u00a0<\/em>with her 7-year-old daughter, Bea, newly thin after a one-year weight loss diet, is under fire in the press and blogosphere for her methods and for showing and telling all about them. Just Google \u201cdara-lynn weiss and bea in vogue,\u201d and you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\nI\u2019m not a fan of her methods (reportedly she badgered and occasionally embarrassed her child). The\u00a0Vogue\u00a0<\/em>piece (not online \u2014 you\u2019ll have to buy the print issue) seems self-serving to me, as does Weiss\u2019s book contract.\u00a0 But helping her medically overweight child lose weight? For that, I applaud her…Read More<\/a><\/p>\nDiabetes and the New York Soda Ban<\/a><\/h2>\nby Catherine Price<\/p>\n
I just stumbled across this\u00a0video editorial\u00a0in the New York Times about Mayor Bloomberg\u2019s proposed ban on sugary sodas bigger than 16 ounces. It brought to mind the heated debate that followed Jessica\u2019s post about the\u00a0\u201cdiabetes ice cream social<\/a>,\u201d which encouraged diabetics around the world to celebrate their disease \u2014 or at least stick it to anyone who says that a malfunctioning pancreas need limit one\u2019s intake of refined carbohydrates \u2014 by indulging in a favorite scoop.<\/p>\nCorrect me if I\u2019m mistaken, but it seems that we at A Sweet Life have not yet engaged in a discussion specifically on Bloomberg\u2019s plan. The basic idea is that it\u2019d be forbidden to sell sugary sodas in sizes over 16 ounces. But within that simple idea hide a host of exemptions. Juice wouldn\u2019t count. Neither would coffee (since you add the sugar yourself). You could get as many refills as you\u2019d like, or simply buy two 16-ounce cups to satisfy your 32-ounce craving….Read More<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s Complicating<\/a><\/h2>\nby Karmel Allison<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" "\\"millaisopheliamed\\"")
<\/a>Like every diabetic I know, I don\u2019t like to think about complications. Heart disease, nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy. Foot ulcers. Ugh. Like most diabetics, I don\u2019t know what to say when someone tells me about the frequency of amputation or blindness.<\/p>\nMy reasoning is simple: I am afraid. The threat is real. I myself have cataracts due to my lack of glycemic control during my teenage years. Driving at night is hard and disorienting, because all the lights are diffuse and haloed.<\/p>\n
Even still, I am lucky\u2013 it could have been worse. And, I\u2019m not by any means out of danger, because I have a lot of years left to live….Read More<\/a><\/p>\nThis Diabetes Awareness Month Tell the World You Aren\u2019t Equal<\/a><\/h2>\nby Jessica Apple<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A few days ago, I heard about the\u00a0JDRF<\/a>\u00a0ad in the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>, but I didn\u2019t see it until my friend Laura Houston posted it on her\u00a0blog<\/a>.\u00a0 The ad shows a beautiful little girl with type 1 diabetes, along with a statistic that made my jaw drop.\u00a0 One in twenty people with type 1 diabetes will die of low blood sugar.\u00a0 One in twenty will die from hypoglycemia?!\u00a0 Seriously? 1 in 20?<\/p>\nMy first thought was that they must have left out the word \u201cthousand.\u201d\u00a0 It has to be one in twenty thousand.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be one in twenty.\u00a0 I read about diabetes all day, every day.\u00a0 And somehow I have never seen that statistic anywhere, not presented like that, at least.\u00a0 1 in 20.<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u2019ve always known the stakes are high.\u00a0 That\u2019s the reason when I wake up in the middle of the night, I sometimes touch my husband\u2019s forehead to see if there is sweat on his brow….Read More<\/a><\/p>\nThe Role of Profit in Diabetes Care: A Force For Good or Evil?<\/a><\/h2>\nby Catherine Price<\/p>\n
I just got a response to my\u00a0previous post about the ADA Scientific Sessions\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0that I thought would be worth reposting here and responding to, since I know it\u2019s an issue that lurks beneath the surface in many conversations about pharmaceutical companies and diabetes.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s the comment:<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been diabetic since I was 1, and my twin 15 year old boys got it when they were 8. It makes me sick to my stomach to read your posts and you sending praise to companies that are in business simply to manage the disease and not cure it. Let\u2019s get something clear right here and now; it\u2019s in their best interest never to find a cure. It amazes me the ignorance of bloggers like you and your colleagues glorifying the same companies that make money every time an a1c is over 7. Maybe the reason for such glorification is the fact these same companies pay you to be there. Let\u2019s face it, diabetes is the catalyst for all major diseases from kidney failure to heart disease. There is no monetary advantage by any company to set aside funds to find a cure. Instead of glorifying the accomplishments of companies that profit from the management of diabetes why don\u2019t you ask the real questions: \u2018How much money will you lose if there is a cure for diabetes?\u2019\u201d….Read More<\/a><\/p>\nDiscovering Diabetes Heritage<\/a><\/h2>\nby Michael Aviad<\/p>\n
When I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was totally shocked. Not only because I was unprepared for a life altering disease, but because as far as I knew no one in my family had ever had diabetes of any kind.<\/p>\n
At first I thought that it was simply not a hereditary disease and that anyone lucky enough could join this club. But as I learned more, read more about type 1 diabetes and met more and more people with diabetes, I learned that there is a hereditary component. Many people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have relatives with it too. But not me.<\/p>\n
Since my diagnosis I have answered many questionnaires, filled out forms and told people that no one else in my family has type 1 diabetes.<\/p>\n
I believed this to be true until last week. \u00a0Then\u2026Read More<\/a><\/p>\nBride Wears Insulin Pump in Pocket<\/a><\/h2>\nby Jane Kokernak<\/p>\n
While I am not much of a romantic, I love reading the Vows column in the Style section of the Sunday\u00a0New York Times<\/em>. Every week, the story of a couple \u2014 from their initial meeting, through their courtship, to the wedding \u2014 is described in a feature among all the other engagement and wedding announcements. I like the Vows column because it shows the diversity of adult love: some stories are admittedly like fairy tales, and yet many incorporate more realism in the setbacks the individuals or couples have encountered.<\/p>\nI know, I know: whether a fairy tale or heroic journey, these stories still reach the same conclusion, with a wedding as a kind of achievement. In these ways, the Vows column is not unlike a 19th-century novel. But I like Jane Austen and the Brontes, and I like the plots of these wedding tales too.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s story…Read More<\/a><\/p>\nAn Open Letter to Tim Gunn: I am a real woman!<\/a><\/h2>\nby Karmel Allison<\/p>\n
First things first: I am a big Project Runway fan, and you play no small role in that. You appear to be one of those rare people who is infinitely likable. Everyone should have a little Tim Gunn sitting on their shoulder. Thanks!<\/p>\n
And now to the meat of the matter: I just watched the \u201creal women\u201d episode of Project Runway, Season 10. Every season there is one such episode\u2013 where the designers have to design and fit a client who is not a professional model, and is instead a woman proportioned more like the rest of the country. The \u201creal women\u201d challenges are particularly interesting; they highlight some of the assumptions made by the designers, separate the versatile wheat from the one-size-only chaff, and also allow us viewers to connect more closely to the whole process….Read More<\/a><\/p>\nRunning a Marathon for Diabetes<\/a><\/h2>\nby Michael Aviad<\/p>\n
Last Thursday I ran the Tiberias Marathon (again<\/a>).<\/p>\nThe weather forecast predicted a storm for marathon day. On the drive up to Tiberias the day before the marathon the sky was gray and it looked as if a big storm was coming in. When I arrived at the hotel it was raining hard and it rained the whole night before the marathon. (Nervous, I woke up a few times during the night, checked my blood sugar, and checked the rain.)<\/p>\n
When I woke up at 6:00 a.m., three hours before the race, it looked like the forecast was right and that instead of a good fast race I had more of a survival run ahead of me. My waking blood sugar was 111, but an hour later, before reducing my basal rate, it was 165. Since I didn\u2019t eat anything, I assume the rise was stress related….Read More<\/a><\/p>\nThe Snapper, Painless Insulin Delivery Device<\/a><\/h2>\nby Jessica Apple<\/p>\n
Forget about needles.\u00a0 Forget about infusion sets.\u00a0 Forget about tubing and clunky pumps clipped to your jeans.\u00a0 Patch pumps are totally 2010.<\/p>\n
Most people won\u2019t say this to your face, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not thinking it. The extent to which people believe that diabetes is the fault of the diabetic became very apparent, recently, after a finger pointing exchange about blame for the condition by two celebrity chefs. And what that reveals is an underlying societal discrimination of diabetics that could cost people their lives…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Jane Kokernak<\/p>\n Dara-Lynn Weiss, a Manhattan mother of two who has recently become famous\u00a0for posing in\u00a0Vogue\u00a0<\/em>with her 7-year-old daughter, Bea, newly thin after a one-year weight loss diet, is under fire in the press and blogosphere for her methods and for showing and telling all about them. Just Google \u201cdara-lynn weiss and bea in vogue,\u201d and you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a fan of her methods (reportedly she badgered and occasionally embarrassed her child). The\u00a0Vogue\u00a0<\/em>piece (not online \u2014 you\u2019ll have to buy the print issue) seems self-serving to me, as does Weiss\u2019s book contract.\u00a0 But helping her medically overweight child lose weight? For that, I applaud her…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Catherine Price<\/p>\n I just stumbled across this\u00a0video editorial\u00a0in the New York Times about Mayor Bloomberg\u2019s proposed ban on sugary sodas bigger than 16 ounces. It brought to mind the heated debate that followed Jessica\u2019s post about the\u00a0\u201cdiabetes ice cream social<\/a>,\u201d which encouraged diabetics around the world to celebrate their disease \u2014 or at least stick it to anyone who says that a malfunctioning pancreas need limit one\u2019s intake of refined carbohydrates \u2014 by indulging in a favorite scoop.<\/p>\n Correct me if I\u2019m mistaken, but it seems that we at A Sweet Life have not yet engaged in a discussion specifically on Bloomberg\u2019s plan. The basic idea is that it\u2019d be forbidden to sell sugary sodas in sizes over 16 ounces. But within that simple idea hide a host of exemptions. Juice wouldn\u2019t count. Neither would coffee (since you add the sugar yourself). You could get as many refills as you\u2019d like, or simply buy two 16-ounce cups to satisfy your 32-ounce craving….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Karmel Allison<\/p>\n My reasoning is simple: I am afraid. The threat is real. I myself have cataracts due to my lack of glycemic control during my teenage years. Driving at night is hard and disorienting, because all the lights are diffuse and haloed.<\/p>\n Even still, I am lucky\u2013 it could have been worse. And, I\u2019m not by any means out of danger, because I have a lot of years left to live….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Jessica Apple<\/p>\n A few days ago, I heard about the\u00a0JDRF<\/a>\u00a0ad in the\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>, but I didn\u2019t see it until my friend Laura Houston posted it on her\u00a0blog<\/a>.\u00a0 The ad shows a beautiful little girl with type 1 diabetes, along with a statistic that made my jaw drop.\u00a0 One in twenty people with type 1 diabetes will die of low blood sugar.\u00a0 One in twenty will die from hypoglycemia?!\u00a0 Seriously? 1 in 20?<\/p>\n My first thought was that they must have left out the word \u201cthousand.\u201d\u00a0 It has to be one in twenty thousand.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be one in twenty.\u00a0 I read about diabetes all day, every day.\u00a0 And somehow I have never seen that statistic anywhere, not presented like that, at least.\u00a0 1 in 20.<\/p>\n Of course, I\u2019ve always known the stakes are high.\u00a0 That\u2019s the reason when I wake up in the middle of the night, I sometimes touch my husband\u2019s forehead to see if there is sweat on his brow….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Catherine Price<\/p>\n I just got a response to my\u00a0previous post about the ADA Scientific Sessions\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0that I thought would be worth reposting here and responding to, since I know it\u2019s an issue that lurks beneath the surface in many conversations about pharmaceutical companies and diabetes.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the comment:<\/p>\n \u201cI have been diabetic since I was 1, and my twin 15 year old boys got it when they were 8. It makes me sick to my stomach to read your posts and you sending praise to companies that are in business simply to manage the disease and not cure it. Let\u2019s get something clear right here and now; it\u2019s in their best interest never to find a cure. It amazes me the ignorance of bloggers like you and your colleagues glorifying the same companies that make money every time an a1c is over 7. Maybe the reason for such glorification is the fact these same companies pay you to be there. Let\u2019s face it, diabetes is the catalyst for all major diseases from kidney failure to heart disease. There is no monetary advantage by any company to set aside funds to find a cure. Instead of glorifying the accomplishments of companies that profit from the management of diabetes why don\u2019t you ask the real questions: \u2018How much money will you lose if there is a cure for diabetes?\u2019\u201d….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Michael Aviad<\/p>\n When I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was totally shocked. Not only because I was unprepared for a life altering disease, but because as far as I knew no one in my family had ever had diabetes of any kind.<\/p>\n At first I thought that it was simply not a hereditary disease and that anyone lucky enough could join this club. But as I learned more, read more about type 1 diabetes and met more and more people with diabetes, I learned that there is a hereditary component. Many people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have relatives with it too. But not me.<\/p>\n Since my diagnosis I have answered many questionnaires, filled out forms and told people that no one else in my family has type 1 diabetes.<\/p>\n I believed this to be true until last week. \u00a0Then\u2026Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Jane Kokernak<\/p>\n While I am not much of a romantic, I love reading the Vows column in the Style section of the Sunday\u00a0New York Times<\/em>. Every week, the story of a couple \u2014 from their initial meeting, through their courtship, to the wedding \u2014 is described in a feature among all the other engagement and wedding announcements. I like the Vows column because it shows the diversity of adult love: some stories are admittedly like fairy tales, and yet many incorporate more realism in the setbacks the individuals or couples have encountered.<\/p>\n I know, I know: whether a fairy tale or heroic journey, these stories still reach the same conclusion, with a wedding as a kind of achievement. In these ways, the Vows column is not unlike a 19th-century novel. But I like Jane Austen and the Brontes, and I like the plots of these wedding tales too.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s story…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Karmel Allison<\/p>\n First things first: I am a big Project Runway fan, and you play no small role in that. You appear to be one of those rare people who is infinitely likable. Everyone should have a little Tim Gunn sitting on their shoulder. Thanks!<\/p>\n And now to the meat of the matter: I just watched the \u201creal women\u201d episode of Project Runway, Season 10. Every season there is one such episode\u2013 where the designers have to design and fit a client who is not a professional model, and is instead a woman proportioned more like the rest of the country. The \u201creal women\u201d challenges are particularly interesting; they highlight some of the assumptions made by the designers, separate the versatile wheat from the one-size-only chaff, and also allow us viewers to connect more closely to the whole process….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Michael Aviad<\/p>\n Last Thursday I ran the Tiberias Marathon (again<\/a>).<\/p>\n The weather forecast predicted a storm for marathon day. On the drive up to Tiberias the day before the marathon the sky was gray and it looked as if a big storm was coming in. When I arrived at the hotel it was raining hard and it rained the whole night before the marathon. (Nervous, I woke up a few times during the night, checked my blood sugar, and checked the rain.)<\/p>\n When I woke up at 6:00 a.m., three hours before the race, it looked like the forecast was right and that instead of a good fast race I had more of a survival run ahead of me. My waking blood sugar was 111, but an hour later, before reducing my basal rate, it was 165. Since I didn\u2019t eat anything, I assume the rise was stress related….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n by Jessica Apple<\/p>\n Forget about needles.\u00a0 Forget about infusion sets.\u00a0 Forget about tubing and clunky pumps clipped to your jeans.\u00a0 Patch pumps are totally 2010.<\/p>\nThe Overweight Child<\/a><\/h2>\n
Diabetes and the New York Soda Ban<\/a><\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Complicating<\/a><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/millaisopheliamed.jpg\" "\\"millaisopheliamed\\"")
<\/a>Like every diabetic I know, I don\u2019t like to think about complications. Heart disease, nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy. Foot ulcers. Ugh. Like most diabetics, I don\u2019t know what to say when someone tells me about the frequency of amputation or blindness.<\/p>\nThis Diabetes Awareness Month Tell the World You Aren\u2019t Equal<\/a><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/JDRF_1in20_Ad.png\" "\\"JDRF_1in20_Ad\\"")
<\/p>\nThe Role of Profit in Diabetes Care: A Force For Good or Evil?<\/a><\/h2>\n
Discovering Diabetes Heritage<\/a><\/h2>\n
Bride Wears Insulin Pump in Pocket<\/a><\/h2>\n
An Open Letter to Tim Gunn: I am a real woman!<\/a><\/h2>\n
Running a Marathon for Diabetes<\/a><\/h2>\n
The Snapper, Painless Insulin Delivery Device<\/a><\/h2>\n