Diabetes Sisters has a new look – and a forward looking agenda. They are working to be THE support organization for women and their health, and they’re well on their way.

The photo above documents their offerings. Among them are weekly virtual meet-ups. While a few years ago the groups were run locally face to face, the pandemic brought the groups online where they have stayed. The advantage is now you can attend any group, anywhere, and as many as you like.

I’ve been doing a lot of work with the leads of Diabetes Sisters, Donna Rice, Michele Polz, Shelby Kinnaird and Kristy Farnoly since last November when I wrote an article in their December newsletter that we can’t control blood sugar. I can vouch that these women’s concern is you. To bring you everything in their power to help you thrive.

I can also vouch that flourishing with diabetes lies very much at the foundation of Diabetes Sisters’ new platform. There are regular expert series on issues that affect women’s health. Some are given by medical experts, others by patient experts.

I delivered a webinar last month on flourishing with diabetes and May 29th I’ll be showcasing live guest Amy Jordan and her amazing triumphal story. Amy lives with type 1 diabetes, blindness, a damaged leg due to being hit by a New York City bus, and she leads a dance company, her lifelong passion, and has never stopped taking giant-sized bites out of life. You can watch her documentary, Amy’s Victory Dance, and I strongly suggest that you do. Then join us on the 29th for the conversation.

While the organization has put on a new face, much hasn’t changed. Founded by Brandy Barnes in 2008, and then run by her successor, Anna Norton, and including the women who have run the meet-up groups over the past years, everyone has held the same desire, to help women with diabetes not feel alone, not be alone and live their best life.

There’s a lot going on and there’s a warm community waiting with open arms. Come take a look, I’m sure you’ll find something of interest.

Admittedly I’ve never used Levemir, a basal insulin from Novo Nordisk. I used Lantus for a long time and now use Tresiba, which frankly I love. Flat profile, once a day, just works for me. That said, maybe it’s never been truer than when a medication goes away, YDMV — Your Diabetes May Vary. What works for one may not work so well for another.

I wanted to post this article from diaTribe today, “Switching Away From Levemir: What Are the Options?” for those who use Levemir. I can imagine your distress. It’s ridiculous, potentially harmful and uncaring for pharmaceutical companies to always let their bottom line weight more heavily than their morality.

That said, as the old Chinese fable of the farmer tells us, some who will switch from Levemir to something else will actually find a benefit in having to do so. No matter which camp you fall into, I wish you well.

Join me for an utterly conversational, yet paradigm shifting talk below. I had the pleasure to kick off Diabetes Sisters‘ Lifestyle Webinar series with a half hour look at flourishing with diabetes.

You’ll learn how our treatment approach for people living with diabetes evolved. How it’s aimed at coping rather than flourishing. Why you can’t control your blood sugar. What you can do instead to better manage your numbers. And why you’re responsible for your effort, but not your outcome.

If you live with diabetes it’s time you took yourself off the hook. If you’re a health professional, you’ll see you need never put your patients on one.

“I just thought your presentation was absolutely wonderful, and I think everybody, everywhere, needs to watch it. Not just PWD, but family members and medical professionals. Your insights give a wonderful and positive perspective on something that’s a serious topic.” Anne Dalin, Type 2

To find out why controlling blood sugar is a myth, check out my recent articles in Diabetes Sisters’ newsletter and diaTribe.

Drs Edelman and Pettus share important information about glucagon from its early days up to the much easier remedies that came out a few years ago. What’s exciting for me is at the end, hopeful news about glucagon mini dosing so you don’t have to eat everything in the fridge when you have a low.

Join me tomorrow at noon, EDT. It will be my pleasure to share with you how we ended up with our current treatment approach, which is aimed at coping, and how we can flourish instead. If you have diabetes, type 1 or type 2, pre-diabetes, a loved one with diabetes, or are a health professional, you’ll learn something valuable.

Register here. If you can’t attend, a recording will be sent out afterward.

This webinar kicks off Diabetes Sisters new Lifestyle Webinar Series.

Join us March 21, noon EDT. I’ll be giving you a short but impactful look at why our treatment approach to diabetes is set up to help us cope, and not flourish, and how we can do so. Whether you have diabetes, pre-diabetes, are a loved one or health professional, join me bringing you this insightful look with the wonderful peer support group organization, DiabetesSisters.

Register here. I’ll cover:

Shift Your Perspective: Discover why the current diabetes treatment paradigm focuses more on coping than flourishing and how to change that narrative.

Practical Strategies: Gain valuable strategies to cultivate flourishing, whether you’re directly affected by diabetes, caring for someone, or treating people with diabetes.

The Myth of Control: Discover how people with diabetes are set up for failing rather than flourishing and how to reverse this.

Take 30 minutes to learn something new. Join us.

Okay, call me crazy, I really don’t care. But every time I have this I say to myself – this tastes like vanilla ice cream! So I figured I’d tell you. Pour unsweetened vanilla almond milk in a glass. Add a few drops of stevia to taste for a bit more sweetness. Drink.

No, it’s not the consistency of ice cream, but if you just want an absolutely clean treat it can’t be beat. There is 1 carb in a glass of the milk, 1 gram of protein, 2.5 grams of fat and 30 calories. There’s 0 carbs, 0 protein, 0 fat and 0 calories in the Stevia. I get these both at Trader Joe’s. Enjoy.

I wonder if there’s any synchronicity between Facebook crashing today and so the article I have pushed tirelessly to get published, which did get published today, I couldn’t even link on Facebook. Ah, man plans and God laughs.

The article was published on diaTribe – “Why ‘Controlling’ Blood Sugar Shouldn’t Be the Goal.” I’m indebted diaTribe. A variation of this article was published in Diabetes Sisters’ newsletter in December, “The Myth of Controlling Blood Sugar, And a Better Way to Manage It.” I thank Diabetes Sisters too.

That said, there’s a back story worth noting I think. It took more than four months, pitching to three organizations, push back, rejection, and numerous rewrites before these two articles were published. That’s not anyone trying to give me a hard time; that’s the power of an idea that is so entrenched, even though it is not true.

You see the sentry that stand over this myth believe that if we tell people with diabetes the truth – that we can’t control our blood sugar – that we will set our hair on fire. That we will be so dismal, disappointed and depressed, so frustrated and disempowered, that we will give up entirely on our management, and ourselves.

What I know is that when we tell people the truth, they feel validated, un-wronged and seen. They feel more powerful. Every time I tell someone that they can’t control their blood sugar, that they are responsible for their effort but not entirely responsible for the outcome, they practically cry in my arms from relief.

We’ve heard “control” and “blood sugar” in the same breath for so long so often, it’s so obsequious in the language of diabetes, that no one thinks to question it. I questioned it and I’m telling you, outright, it’s not true, and its falsity is supported by science, particularly neurobiology and complexity science.

Read the article and share it. I hope it takes you off the hook too many people, with all good intentions, have hoisted us upon.