Month: October 2012

Glu, a social media site for type 1 diabetes, launches Nov. 1

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With the kickoff of Diabetes Month, November, a new social media site just for people with type 1 diabetes, loved ones and caregivers, goes online – myglu.org. 

Actually, it’s been online for some months with a handful of people testing it, but tomorrow it officially opens its doors. I also have a post on Glu about“Flourishing with Diabetes” which you won’t want to miss.

There’s something also revolutionary about Glu. Not only will it offer type 1-specific learning and information, and the typical sharing and support of members, but you will also be invited to respond to Daily Questions and short weekly surveys. 

The information collected goes to Glu’s MotherShip, the T1D (type 1 diabetes) Exchange. The T1D Exchange, will then disseminate the information to its partners: diabetes clinical, research, pharma, educational and outreach organizations, all who are working on better therapies and research toward a cure.

So now, thousands of us who live with type 1 diabetes, have a direct route to get vital and valuable information to the organizations that need it; those who are working to improve our quality of life. In fact, when you go to my post it will ask you two questions, as part of the information gathering.

To learn more about Glu and the T1D Exchange, check out my article on theHuffington Post.

If you have type 1 yourself, or you know someone who does, let them know Glu is open for caring, for sharing, and beginning to change lives.

A NYC Fundraiser for Dr. Jason Baker’s Marjorie’s Fund

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Marjorie at Mulago hospital, Kampala, Uganda, February 2011

We were pulled together by a common cause – the ravages of type 1 diabetes in the developing world, where access to medicine and testing supplies are in short supply. 

Thursday evening I attended a kick-off fundraiser for Marjorie’s Fund, the passion-fueled outgrowth of Dr. Jason Baker, NYC endocrinologist. Baker, who got type 1 diabetes himself at the age of 25 while in medical school, established the Fund after meeting Marjorie, one of the many children who through geography – being born and growing up in Uganda – got type 1 diabetes at the age of three, and died at the age of 29 waiting for a kidney she never got.

But now I was sipping something bubbly, standing (yes, still in my bootcast) in a glitzy art showroom in lower Manhattan, talking to the owner of New York City’s premiere cheese shop, Murray’s Cheese, (one of the evening’s sponsors), but we were all there to support the cause.

Meeting Dr. Baker for the first time, I found him as earnest and kind as you would expect. And now you know this mission he has set himself upon is personal as well as professional: to increase education, care and research of type 1 diabetes in the developing world. 

If you donate just $20 you can provide one person with type 1 diabetes a month’s supply of glucose test strips. And feel you did something to make a difference. You will be inspired just listening to Dr. Baker as he stands amid the urgent need for supplies in Uganda. 

For me it was also a rare evening of meeting up with my fellow diabetes advocates. You’d think it happens more in NYC, but everyone’s so busy, we rarely see each other. So it was also a wonderful evening to see the faithful, and remember that what we each do counts amid the massive need, whether here at home or around the world. 

My husband was strolling the room with his camera, so here are a few pictures of friends and fellow guests, amongst whom were – CDE Claudia Slavin, who’s worked with Dr. Baker, in center, with CDE/Dietitian Susan Weiner and me, below, CDE Joy Pape and Susan and me, DiabetesDad, Tom Karlya who played Master of Ceremonies for the Silent Auction (to which I donated a number of copies of my book, “The ABC’s Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes”), Merith Basey, Director of International Operations of Ayuda with Howard Steinberg formerly of dLife, and Tom putting on his don’t-kid-me-now-face for the auction. 

 

Six spiritual qualities to de-stress

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Celebrate the gift you are

Nan Huaijin, a Chinese spiritual teacher, died last month at the age of 94. He had many followers and popularized complicated spiritual ideas on living. 

Someone sent me this list this morning. It was titled, “Six qualities for being a person,” and just reading it makes me less stressed. Less stressed about my unending workload, too many emails, my temporary residence in my boot cast and the 24/7 news cycle. 

1. Be calm; speak less, listen more.

2. Be slow; do things unhurriedly, neither impatiently nor impetuously. 

3. Be patient; faced with injustice, don’t become angry or give vent to pent-up feelings.

4. Yield; step back, be as boundless as the sea and sky. 

5. Be light. View everything lightly, for many things will become smoke with the passing of time. 

6. Be even, which is being ordinary, being balanced.

I have to say I particularly like number 5 for its visual image that whatever I’m worried about right now will be nothing more than vapor a week from now. 

Works for me. Have a great weekend.

Mystery solved: Calorie reduction or exercise for weight loss?

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Now that I’ve been off my game, well feet, for the past 3 ½ weeks – graduated from crutches to a soft bootcast and crutches (due to a badly sprained ankle) – I can answer the essential question first hand: which is better for weight loss, reducing your calories or exercise?

Answer: Reducing your calories. And now I know first hand. For the past month my one hour daily walks are gone. Since I hurt myself I’ve been barely walking further than from the living room to the kitchen (and that’s a mere 10 feet), yet I haven’t gained any weight. In fact, I’ve lost a few pounds!

What’s true is I’ve been carefully watching what I eat. Remarkably, not letting boredom, restlessness or frustration plunge me into all day snacking, binging or eating with reckless abandon. Well, except for last Friday.

But after my first week of high blood sugars due both to the stress of my injury and the lack of exercise, I made a conscious decision to keep my food intake healthy and not more than usual, and reduced my carbs  a little more than usual (and I already eat a low carb diet.)

If you’ve read the recent literature it’s all confirmed: When it comes to losing weight, cutting calories is most important. Exercise helps keep the weight off. And, many recommend strength training twice a week to get the most bang for your exercise buck in addition to aerobics like walking, running, swimming and biking. Strength training has you burning calories most of the day.

Of course I had told myself I was going to start doing something to get some upper body strength this fall when I’d finished writing my due-out-in-October-book – Diabetes Do’s & How-To’s.

But, really, I never dreamed it would be dragging my poor body around on a pair of forearm crutches