Just spent the morning cleaning up my desktop. It’s like I can’t see what’s in the fridge if it’s not in the front, I don’t know what files I have if I can’t see them.

But I figured before I tossed this one, since it does make me feel a little lighter when I see it, I’d post it and then chuck it back in my docs.

Was one of my early drawings when in the 80’s I was designing inspirational cards. A smile doesn’t just make you feel closer to others when you share one, but happier yourself when you share one just with you.

My amazing friend and fellow type 1, Daniele Hargenrader, is running her second diabetes summit. This time, she concentrates on empowering yourself to live with diabetes – and she’ll have 25 experts help you do just that.

It’s FREE and it runs from November 1 through November 6. Tune in here.

I can’t help but add, my book, “The ABCs Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes” is a perfect tool to support you in your self-love and self-care. And now, it’s less than $10 on Amazon.

About the summit from Daniele:

How well do you take care of your emotional health around living with diabetes?

People with diabetes were asked about how they nurture themselves. 60% stated that they do NOT have tools to help build consistent habits around creating a mindset of empowerment around living with diabetes. Are you one of them?

Join 25+ myself plus other top doctors, experts, coaches, authors, and more, most of whom live with diabetes, and learn our best lessons, systems, and frameworks to help overcome the mental and emotional barriers of living with diabetes.

Most medical professionals never mention the incredible importance of fortifying our emotional health practices while living with chronic disease, because they truly don’t/can’t understand the true day to day lived experience of diabetesthemselves.

We took matters into our own hands to bridge that gap by creating The Diabetes Empowerment Summit!

WHY ATTEND?
Your host, Daniele Hargenrader, BSNS, CHC, CPT created The Diabetes Empowerment Summit because conventional medicine failed her on her journey with type 1 diabetes because nobody ever mentioned how crucial it was to address the extreme emotional side of living with chronic illness, or how to find a peer support system to learn from and grow with. This led to many years of an eating disorder, clinical depression, obesity, and an overall sense of helplessness.

It’s now her mission to help make sure it doesn’t fail you!

Join us if you have ANY TYPE of diabetes, or you love or care for someone who does. Health care providers very much included and welcome! Will you be there?

The Diabetes Empowerment Summit will help you:

• Learn how to succeed in life with diabetes emotionally, physically, spiritually, and mentally through learning HOW to cultivate the mindset of empowerment around day to day choices through education & easily actionable self-love/care practices

• Understand how to build life-long friendships and accountability partners, gain the support of medical professionals & coaches, and create and empowering, dependable network of peers who truly “get it” when it comes to living with diabetes

• Finally understand what the term “psychosocial” (that, as of late, gets thrown around clinically but is never put into terms all of us can first understand, and then do something to improve once we do) really means regarding living life with diabetes, WHY it is so important to understand as a patient, caregiver, or clinician, and learn a wide variety of proven tools we can all use to change our psychosocial experience with chronic disease for life.

• Learn how to navigate the intense emotional overwhelm and loneliness that often comes with feeling alone in our lives with diabetes and other chronic diseases

• Understand how to massively increase self-confidence & the internal desire (inspiration) to participate in the necessary day to day, hour to hour practices that it takes for people with diabetes to live happy and healthy

The Diabetes Empowerment Summit is online and free from November 1-5, 2017!

Register for FREE here!

If you learn even one bit of information or a different perspective from one presenter that changes the way you think for the better, it will absolutely be worth it!

Looking forward to seeing you at the summit!

 

Dr. Mark Hyman interviewing Dr. Richard Perlmutter, author of Grain Brain

I’ve been watching a new online series of Dr. Mark Hyman’s called Broken Brain. Dr. Hyman works in functional medicine – which aims to treat the cause of disease – not the symptoms, and is famous for debunking the myth that carbs are better for us than fat.

Turns out the health of our body directly affects the health of our brain. Inflammation in the body, much of which is caused by insulin resistance – the cause of type 2 diabetes – causes inflammation in the brain, which in turn leads to dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, MS and other diseases.

It’s a great informative series, Hyman interviews brain experts, neurologists and nutritionists, and it’s well worth watching. The quick take away is – cut the sugar, refined carbs, grains and processed foods, get more healthy fat and fiber in your diet, more sleep and less exposure to toxins.

But, do yourself a favor and spare the time to watch the series – http://brokenbrain.com/trailer/. Sign up now, there’s only 8 days left to watch.

I was in a studio in Chelsea – no, not London, shucks!, New York. Digital video publisher, HealthiNation, is taping six “real” people with diabetes for a series of educational diabetes videos.  The videos will be online end of the year at ComCast Connected Health. The videos will share info from doctors and other experts  – and patients, to capture the feelings of living with diabetes and help others feel less alone.

I am not a novice in front of the camera. In fact one of my two majors in college was Mass Communication. As an independent study project, I hosted a cable TV talk show. I was the host, interviewer, script writer, guest-finder, producer…you get the idea.

But it’s been awhile and I forgot how everything – in the making of short videos – gets edited down into one minute “memorable, you nailed it!” statements. Oh, did I say one minute? I meant thirty seconds. No, fifteen.

I actually had a lovely time. The interviewer pictured here in black and white stripes was from Australia and I enjoyed her accent. I just find cinema amusing.

So, since I’m sure what might be salvaged from my 1:15 minute interview, might be three :15 soundbites, I’ll give you ten from my 45 years of living with type 1 diabetes wisdom that I shared last Friday on 17th Street off Fifth Avenue:

1. Learn everything you can – everything – and keep learning

2. Ask for help when you need it. It’s not weakness but strength.

3. Carry glucose tablets in everything so you’re never without – including on your husband

4. Per above, do your best to prevent going low, but it will happen. Try as we might, we can’t “control” blood sugar.

5. Don’t beat yourself up for anything. Learn from it.

6. When you’re out of familiar surroundings, let those you’re with know how to help you should you go low – and it’s not a cookie!

7. Make d-friends in person, online, chat, hang out – they “get” it

8. I tell everyone diabetes has made me healthier than I would be without it. It’s given me the incentive to eat healthy and walk an hour a day. Otherwise, I’d be a slob and have multiple conditions. (I didn’t really say the last sentence, but who knows)

9. The public doesn’t know: 1) diabetes is about more than not eating cake and cookies, 2) diabetes is serious and can lead to debilitating complications 3) there’s such as thing as type 1 diabetes

10. You can have a great life not despite but because of diabetes. It has brought me some really, really good stuff: friends, work, strength, health, purpose

4:14 PM – Lights out

Time to go celebrate my budding new career, sound-bite songstress