This week in the American Diabetes Wholesale newsletter, Dr. Wendy Rapaport takes a detailed, step-by-step approach to controlling your stress by one of the healthiest methods available: exercise! Sometimes it is difficult to get started on an exercise regimen, but the benefits to a condition like diabetes and your mental well-being are well worth it. Check out Dr. Rapaport’s article on Destination Diabetes “An Antidote to Stress” for more information.
Don’t forget about our new “Share Your Story” website and contest, GlucoStories featuring professional race car driver Charlie Kimball. We are asking you to share your inspirational stories with the online diabetes community and even win great prizes, including the Grand Prize – a trip to Charlie Kimball’s Championship Race in Florida!

©2009 Keeping Diabetes Management Affordable. All Rights Reserved.

.

This week, diabetes educator Marci Sloane gives us “The Scoop on Stevia” in the latest edition of the American Diabetes Wholesale Newsletter. There’s a lot of buzz in the US about this sugar-free sweetener as some major companies such as Coca-Cola, Cargill and PepsiCo are releasing products containing stevia such as Truvia and PureVia. Find out more about where stevia comes from, a brief overview of the historical worldwide use and with the FDA as well as its relation to the diabetic diet.

If you are interested in trying stevia or are already enjoying it, American Diabetes Wholesale carries products like Stevita Simply Stevia packets for sweetening your morning coffee or Stevita Spoonable Stevia – 16oz Jar for cooking or other uses. In addition to stevia, ADW also carries other sugar-free sweetener products such as the EZ-Sweetz Liquid Sucralose Sweetener or DiabetiSweet Brown Sugar Substitute.

©2009 Keeping Diabetes Management Affordable. All Rights Reserved.

.

Tonight I have my first coaches meeting for the upcoming football season.  I must admit, I am a little nervous here since this is the first time meeting these people, and well several of them are former NFL players.  But beyond that, do I tell them tonight that I am diabetic or do I just let them find out on their own?  I’d rather be safe, so I will mention it tonight I believe.

Then after that, I must go home and do some laundry and pack up for Children with Diabetes, Friends for Life Conference.  I will be there Wednesday evening, Thursday all day, and Friday until later afternoon.  So if you are going to be there, stop by ADW’s table and say hello and introduce yourself.  I have not met too many fellow d-bloggers, so it would be nice to put a face to face to your blog and picture you may have up there.

I’m posting late in the day so I don’t really have much time to talk about anything, so I hope you all have a great day.

Hope everybody have a great Fourth of July.  I can’t really complain about the whole weekened.  Golf Friday, relaxation and fun on Saturday, golf on Sunday.  But then back to work on Monday.  Which is also the last day to submit your story on GlucoStories to win a trip to meet Charlie Kimball.  GlucoStories is excited to have as 2 of the 5 judges the local West Palm Beach JDRF chapter and also Kerri.

On to the next thing.  At golf on Friday, I had a pretty bad low, 65.  It was extremely hot so it came out of nowhere.  It is almost impossible to hit a golf shot when your blood sugar is low.  It’s hard enough to hit a good shot when it is normal, ha!  I have 1 of the largest bags of Mike n Ike’s in my golf bag, so I was pretty good.  I ran out of Gatorade, so that was not an option. I recovered in about a hole and a half, but at least I had a good excuse for shooting an 8 on the 15th hole.

On one final note, I am setting a goal of reading 1-2 new diabetes related books a month.  So, I need all your advice on which I should read.  Please help.

Have a great day everybody!

It is a nice day in the morning down here in south Florida.  Too bad it won’t be this way later tonight after I get out of work and want to go for a swim.  On my drive home last night it looked like a hurricane was coming through, it was nasty.  So instead of the nice refreshing swim I had to go on a dreadful run, well jog and walk.  I just came inside right now from taking my mid-morning walk and now I am sweating bad and sitting at my desk, not fun!

I have just finished reading the latest Diabetes Forecase magazine and once again I am motivated to start eating healthy again.  All the articles in there about heart disease and blood pressure, etc.  My mother and grandmother both have blood pressure problems, so I better start taking care of myself now.  So that means I will have a salad tonight and some pasta tonight.  I forgot to sit out the pork to thaw out, so I won’t be eating that tonight.  Some wheat pasta will do the trick though.  Also a nice salad for dinner, $0.77 for a bag at the local grocery store, can’t beat that.

I am not the biggest yogurt fan, but I can do parfaits with some strawberries and bananas cut up in them.  What is the best cereal or oats or granola bar or whatever it is that you put in?

By the way if you’re interested, you can follow me on Twitter now.

This morning was very weird.  When I first woke up I felt extremely dizzy.  I couldn’t figure out why.  I went to test my sugar and it was 80.  Which is great because I normally wake up in the 200 range.  So maybe that could have had something to do with it.  But then I ate, and I guess I started to feel a little better, but I still felt really light headed.  Very weird.

But now I feel perfectly fine and just came back from eating lunch and taking a quick walk around the block.  I just started my Twitter account for my personal stuff, so be sure to start following me today.  I can’t wait to do some live tweeting from the Friends for Life conference next week.  If you’re going to be there, let me know!

So last night it started to rain like a hurricane when I left work so I couldn’t go for a swim in the pool, but today it looks a little better, but of course the clouds are starting to roll in.  I plan on going and doing a few laps just to start burning off some calories here.  I’d like to get back fitting into all these summer clothes that I bought at the end of last summer when they all went on sale.  Plus not to mention, I have to be in at least some what descent shape for football season or else these kids won’t respect me as a coach.

Well you all have a wonderful day.

Yesterday I flew up to Jacksonville FL to attend the dinner reception for Camp JADA.  It was another great kids camps that I was honored to be able to attend.  You meet so many wonderful little kids and their excitement level is crazy!  But then there was the trip back home.

This trip consisted of, going to bed at 12:30 a.m.  Waking up at 3:45 a.m.  Going to the airport at 4:30 a.m.  Flying from 6:30 – 7:30 a.m.  Driving straight to work, and here I am.  I am on coffee # 4 already and it is only 10 a.m.  This should be an interesting day.

Anyway, on to other things.  My blog will be going through a complete re-design shortly.  So, when I update my blogroll, finally, and I missed your site, don’t hesitate to let me know.  The new blog will have a more personal touch to it, basically, a lot more pictures and interactivity.

Have a great day everybody!

Trying to get all my stuff together for my long trip to Jacksonville, FL.  An hour flight from here, put together some goodie bags (drawstring back packs, water bottles, glucose tabs), Camp JADA diabetes kids camp from 5-8 p.m. go to dinner, hotel for some sleep, alarm at 4:00 a.m., 6:30 a.m. flight back to Fort Lauderdale, drive to work around 8, go home around 6.  Fun filled day.

I love going to these camps though, they are so much fun to see the kids playing and having fun with other kids with diabetes.  I never experienced one until last week at Camp Koral Kids.

On another note, I broke off from my diet this morning.  I was rushing around, forgot the muffin that I had sitting out for myself, but I was starving, and the McDonald’s had buy 1 get 1 free, and i just couldn’t resist, but now I feel disgusted.  However, I did bring a small salad for lunch and also an apple.

Well today is a busy day, so I hope you all have a wonderful day.  Remember, GlucoStories submission period ends on July 6!

After dinner last night the heat wasn’t that bad so my girlfriend and I went for a walk.  I had planned on going on a long one, which probably would have been about 4-5 miles, but we ended up walking about 2 miles instead, we stopped short because she was on her feet all day.  I plan on doing that daily, but who knows.  It’s raining bad down here today, so I definitely won’t be doing it outside, but that is what the indoor gym is about.

Last night I had to take out my sensor because it was starting to hurt a little bit and then when I took the dressing off, I saw that the actual sensor was pretty much coming out anyway, so I think that is what hurt.  I didn’t re-insert a new one last night, so I just let the transmittor charge and I will put another one in again tonight.  That was one of the main things that I discussed with my endo, she said that if I have a CGMS and supplies for it, why not use it every single day?  So, I said, good call doc and trying to keep it on everyday.  Even on the days that I am not wearing it, I still test about 8-10 times.

My morning sugars have been coming down lately, except for this morning.  It was a 298 about 30 minutes after I ate breakfast.  I had a bagel this morning, and when I went there I pulled out the meter in my laptop bag and I was fresh out of strips (last night I forgot to remind myself to grab another box and put in there!).  So I couldn’t test before I ate, but I know that breakfast could not have raised it that much that fast, so it must have been around that when I woke up.  I went to bed with a 135 sugar and had a PB&J, which usually keeps my sugars level.

Well you all have an amazing day today!

Golf this weekend was an adventure, to say the least.  I put a sensor on Friday night so I could keep track of the levels of my sugar throughout the whole 18 holes.  I went early to go to the driving range, which was a bad idea in itself because I used up all of my bad shots.  It was 7:30 a.m. and about 90 degrees already.  Some from constantly bending over to tee up a new ball and the sweat, my sensor decided that it didnt want to stay on any longer.

Hmmm, if the sensor didn’t want to stay on, I could only imagine the plans that my infusion set had.  Luckily, the night before I thought it may be a good idea to bring another infusion set and iv pads and dressings and my insertion device.  Hole # 2, infusion set falls out.  I tested my sugar multiple times and it was staying steady around 120-140.  I made it to about the 8th hole where there ending up being a bathroom so I stopped in quickly and re-inserted the infusion set.  This one actually stayed in the rest of the course.

The group behind us caught up to us a little bit because of that stoppage, but oh well, that’s what happens when you play golf with a diabetic!

Well, have a great day everybody!