Dialoging about Diabetes: PWDs Offer Ways to Improve Communication and Care #6 Ginger Vieira
As a diabetes educator/healthcare provider (DHCP) I’m observing that the rapidly growing world of the Diabetes Online Community, the DOC for short, is helping people with diabetes (PWD) and their loved ones find support and feel supported. People are connecting, building relationships and feeling more positive about the challenges of managing their diabetes. I’m delighted to see this trend!
As a DHCP I’ve long realized that I can’t walk a mile in a PWD shoes. I can’t know what it is like day in, day out to deal with this challenging and relentless disease. But, what I do know is that we can learn from each other to change the dialog between providers and PWD to be more positive, more supportive.
Goal one with Dialoging about Diabetes interviews with diabetes activists is to help make living with diabetes…just a bit easier. Goal two is to enhance the two-way street – to help more PWD get connected and encourage more DHCPs to open the doors of social networking to PWD.
Got Diabetes? Necessary or Needless to Follow 'A Diabetic Diet'?
Is there ‘a diabetic diet’? NO!
According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and this has been true since 1994 – nearly 20 years, there is no one diabetic diet that represents THE prescription for THE way ALL people with diabetes should eat.
Are there ‘diabetic foods’ which people with diabetes should buy? NO!
Foods labeled ‘diabetic’ or ‘diabetic-friendly’ carry a halo of being better-for-you than unprocessed, unadulterated and unlabeled foods. But, it’s just not so.
So, then what’s the eating plan for people with diabetes today?
The nutrition recommendations from the American Diabetes Association, last updated in 2008, echo the healthy eating recommendations of the United States Dietary Guidelines for Americans last revised in 2010.
These recommendations reflect the growing body of evidence that a plant-based eating plan can help people achieve and maintain a healthy body weight and prevent and manage chronic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.
Prediabetes, But Nearly No One Knows
In early March 2010, a research article titled Diabetes Risk Reduction Behaviors Among U.S. Adults with Prediabetes published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, put in writing what many experts (including myself) conjectured.
Primer on Sugar Alcohols
Confused about, as a client referred them: “those sugar alcohols”? If so, check out my cut to the chase answers below:
What are Sugar Alcohols?
Sugar alcohols, also called polyols, are neither sugar or alcohol. They’re called sugar alcohols because part of their structure resembles sugar and part alcohol. Keep in mind they do contain carbohydrate.
How low should blood glucose go?
How low should blood glucose go? Recent news from two large studies in people (~ 10,000 each) with type 2 diabetes—the ACCORD and ADVANCE trials—raised this question…yet again. Perspective is pertinent! It’s well known that managing type 2 diabetes is not only about blood glucose control. It’s also about treating blood pressure (goal: <130/80) and blood lipids (LDL: <100 or less) to into the healthy zone.
Keep Your Eyes (and Mouth) on Healthy Eating Priorities
Bravo! I applaud Sally Squires’ (Lean Plate Club, Washington Post) balanced synopsis of the pros and cons of using glycemic index as a tool for healthier eating After 30 years, Glycemic Index Still Fights for Acceptance.