Diabetes Restaurant Month is a program that strives to educate people with diabetes about the importance of making more informed dietary choices when eating out.

Diners are encouraged to visit local restaurants in select cities to try featured diabetes-friendly dishes during the month designated as Diabetes Restaurant Month for that city. Earl will visit each city participating in Diabetes Restaurant Month to sample diabetes-friendly dishes with a lucky local fan and a certified diabetes educator during an educational discussion about diabetes.

Restaurants participating in Diabetes Restaurant Month have created delicious diabetes-friendly dishes with the help of a registered dietician and an endocrinologist.Restaurants in Denver, Raleigh, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Detroit, Cleveland, Phoenix, Orlando, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale/ Miami/ West Palm Beach. To check out which specific restaurants are participating, click here.

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The researchers say that babies born to diabetic mothers are exposed to more glucose and free fatty acids in the womb compared to children of non-diabetic mothers. Those babies tend to have both higher birth weight and higher percentage of fat mass. They had higher body mass indexes (BMIs), thicker waists, and had more fat stores around their midsection.

The exact reason for the reduced risk of obesity for those children that were breastfed is not known, but researchers hypothesize that babies that are over-nourished in the womb have a higher satiety point. In other words, they only feel full when they are overfed and therefore consume more food during their lifespan.

Studies also suggest that breastfeeding may benefit the mother as well. Women with gestational diabetes that breastfeed have a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes down the road.

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The article notes that users can receive artificially high blood sugar readings due to remnants of fruit or fruit salad on their fingers. Apparently, sugar from remain on the fingers even after alcohol swabs are used. The only way to fully eradicate sugars on the fingers is to thoroughly wash them with tap water.   

This study rings true with me because in the past I have had some sugary residue on my finger from a piece of candy, like Sour Patch kids, and gotten a reading that as extraordinarily high. After I washed my hands more thoroughly, the readings came back in the normal range.  

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Once Pascoe is fully trained, he will be give to a family with a diabetic child. There he will service as a diabetic alert dog, warning the family and child of errant blood sugar levels.

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Although it is widely known that blood sugar monitors are not exact, the recent data taken from pregnant women with diabetes, confirms the disparity. Such inaccuracies are concerning to doctors and researchers because poorly controlled blood sugar levels can have serious health consequences for mother and baby.

The most recent test compared readings from 102 women in both lab tests and portable monitors. All of the women in the study had diabetes – either gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy, or other forms of the disease.

Stat-Strip, which was the most accurate of the portable monitors, differed from lab results by an average of 6%. Optium Xceed, which was the least accurate, was off by an average of 16%.

All monitors must be approved in the U.S. must be approved by the Food & Drug Administration. U.S. standards recommend that the monitors should produce results within 20% of lab results.

Higher levels of blood sugar during pregnancy can result in miscarriage, more difficulty giving birth and larger than normal babies.

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Also, for additional photos from last year, check out the following post: Monuments Go Blue for World Diabetes Day

Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Australia

Assembly House, Kolkata, India

West Bengal Assembly

Torre da TV Cabralia, Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil

Sun Trust Building in Tampa Bay

Sao Jose Catherdal – Itabuna, Brazil

Qatar Diabetes Association in Doha

Millennium Stadium in Wales

Martyr’s Monument, Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan

Castle, Bragança, Portugal

Catedral Antigua, Guatemala

Lake Pavilion of Taichung, Taiwan

Lake Pavilion of Taichung, Taiwan

City Hall, Oradea, Romania

166 Chayssee de la Hulpe – B-1770 Brussels, Belgium

Hopewell Centre in Hong Kong

I was traveling for business in Europe four years ago. I was traveling, alone. While in Nice it appeared that I was bitten by an insect. Above my eyebrow, this “bite” began to itch and by the time I arrived in Rome three days later, had morphed into an unpleasant burning, tingling bump. Three dermatologists misdiagnosed it as an insect bite and pumped me full of cortisone; orally, by injection and with a topical cream.  Turns out I had shingles. 

By the time I returned to the US, it also turned out, I was told, that the large amount of cortisone had activated a gene for Type 2 diabetes. Who knew that when people said my father had high blood sugar, they actually meant he was a diabetic. He didn’t seem to know and no one passed this tidbit on to me! Nevertheless my glucose was 213. It had been 90. So, diabetes is a sneaky disease, I learned.

Having been a sugar-hound my entire life, the idea of giving it up became surprisingly easy. For me it was about, and continues to be about, creative visualization. A month after my diagnosis and still really angry about this turn of events, I went for a pedicure. While in my seat I noticed a middle-aged, overweight, woman come into the salon, using a cane. She looked to be a little older than me, but really looked “older.” 

The pedicurist was taking special care with her, seating her carefully and then bent down to remove the woman’s shoes and socks. I thought “wow, how sweet they’re being to her,” until I saw her feet! At first I wasn’t sure of what I was seeing, but as my eyes adjusted I realized the woman only had two toes on one foot and three on the other.  It was difficult to look at. 

In great deference to anyone reading this who has suffered a similar fate, I want to say I am truly sorry. But please know that this woman was such an inspiration in my life. I looked at her disfigured feet, assumed, and perhaps incorrectly, that this woman had diabetes. I knew about some of the more extreme potential consequences of the disease, which includes amputations of extremities. It scared me.

I promised myself that the next time I was tempted to eat something sweet, I would remember this. Four years later my AIC is usually between 5.8 and 6.2, my glucose between 90 and 130. 

People, celebrating with birthday cakes, often say to me “one bite won’t hurt you,” but they don’t realize that it might. One bite, with no consequences, could lead to several bites with consequences. I don’t want to risk getting derailed from my healthy eating routine. I say no. For me, this works.

I have also made sure to take care of my feet. I avoid tight-fitting shoes that might cause blisters and I see a podiatrist once a year. I also use a line of creams designed for diabetic concerns from Triderma.

The company provides free sample packs to anyone who is curious about the products. To get one, click here. If you like it, the site has agreed to offer a discount to customers of Diabetes News Hound until the end of the year. 

(Diabetes News Hound does not have a business relationship with TriDerma, nor does it receive any form of compensation from the company.)

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The researchers examined 15 of the social network’s 15 largest diabetes-related communities, which averaged 9,289 participants. They found that 27% of the comments on the pages were first-person testimonials of promotional in nature for items that are not approved by the FDA. There are many people that swear by natural remedies, or methods that are not approved by the FDA. Its important to note that just because a method is not FDA-approved doesn’t necessarily make it bad. However,  it is also unregulated and is more likely to be a scam.

However, there were positive findings as well. Two-thirds (66%) of the posts were written by individuals relating personal experiences managing diabetes. Meanwhile, 29% of the posts provided some sort of emotional support.

William Shrank, the study’s author says that such sites do provide a benefit, but that visitors should be aware that it’s “really the Wild West out there.” He said the sites lack quality control and suggested that policymakers should take note of what is happening on the sites.

For full disclosure, Diabetes News Hound was not a part of this study and both www.diabetesnewshound.com and the publication’s Facebook Fan Page is actively monitored and vetted. 

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The idea came about because many women in Northern climates, such as Canada, are limited in the amount of outdoor activity they can participate in because of the cold climate during the winter months. Wii games, such as Wii Sport and Wii Fit Plus, can help them get exercise while avoiding the elements.

Gestational diabetes occurs in 22% of pregnancies and can cause complications with the mother and baby, according to the article. Doctors often recommend diet and exercise, such as walking, to keep gestational diabetes in check. If that doesn’t work, insulin is prescribed.

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The 12 winners of The Challenge contest, which was launched in February, each receive a $2,500 prize. The plan is to tap the Harvard research community to submit proposals that further some of the winning submissions.

The winning submissions include:

* ‘The Diabetes Triangle’. This submission is  a classification system that seeks to better identify the types of diabetes beyond just Type 1 and Type 2. The idea was submitted by someone with an uncommon for of the disease. The Diabetes Triangle, an easy to use scale, would help grade the type of diabetes in a much more “fine-grained, personalized way.” This would then help doctors take a more personal approach to understanding and treating the disease in each patient.  

* ‘Lipid Autoreactivity in Type 1 Diabetes’.  Much about the underlying chemistry behind the development of Type 1 diabetes is unknown. Harvard College undergrad Megan Blewett, a chemistry major, proposed studying how the immune system interacts with lipids in order to lead to possible new treatments.

*‘Synergistic System Targeting for Type I Diabetes’. This submission suggested approaching diabetes management from several angles at the same time. This proposal calls for increased understanding of how various parts of the immune system impact the pancreas. This, in turn, could lead to better treatments that can target the different parts of the immune system at the same time.

*‘A Quiet Role for Platelets and Eosinophils in Pathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes?‘. This submission calls for focusing on various parts of the immune system, not just the T-Cells, which are the primary focus of most research. Learning more about whether cells and proteins, which play a role in the body’s response to allergies, may also be involved in the development of diabetes, could be an important line of research.

*‘In depth analysis of T-cell repertoire during the development of type 1 diabetes in pancreatic islet infiltrating and peripheral CD4 T cells’. This submission from an endocrinologist proposed utilizing T-cells in the blood in order to see what is actually going on inside the pancreas of patients with diabetes. Better understanding could lead to new treatments and a better assessment of whether current treatments are working well.
are working.

* ‘A cell-electronic approach to insulin therapy’. A submission by a post doctoral fellow at Harvard, proposed linking pancreatic beta cells to an electronic insulin pump.

*‘Integral treatment of type 1 diabetes using smart liposomes’. Submitted by a doctor, this proposal suggests using “smart liposomes”, or microscopic spheres that can deliver proteins to lessen the autoimmune assault on beta cells in patients with Type 1 diabetes. This will allow the delivery of drugs directly to the pancreas, potentially making them more effective.

*‘Family-based Association Studies to Identify Gene-Environment Interaction and Genomic Imprinting in Type 1 Diabetes‘. A biostatistician at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, hypothesizes that by taking a new look at genetic studies using improved statistical techniques, it may be possible to decipher the genetic versus environmental factors that lead to diabetes.

*‘Hunting for microbial genomes in type 1 diabetes by next-generation sequencing’. This submission echoes the belief that a germ of virus may be to blame for the development of diabetes. This submission from a team of researchers from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and Yale School of Medicine says that viruses leave behind telltale clues and that probing for those clues may give a better understanding whether viruses and germs, do, in fact, play a role in the development of the disease.

*‘Post-Gastric Bypass Nesidioblastosis as a Model for Understanding Beta-Islet Cell Neogenesis’. This submission says its important to understand why beta cell undergo ‘an explosive period of growth in the wake of gastric bypass surgery?’ Many consider the surgery a cure for Type 2 diabetes. Understanding the changes in the body after the surgery could lead to new treatments and a possible cure.

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