Mindful Monday | Passing the BC-ADM
The BC-ADM certification is an ever-growing field in diabetes care. It’s an advanced certification which validates a health care professional’s knowledge of advanced clinical practice and diabetes skills. This certification verifies a health care professionals expert ability to adjust medications, identify, treat and monitor acute and chronic complications, and more!
Find out more about the BC-ADM on February 17 for Free:
Join Coach Beverly as she reviews test taking strategies, study tips, and eligibility requirements of the BC-ADM in this FREE webinar.
Preparing for the BC-ADM Webinar airs February 17 @ 11:30 a.m. PST
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Mindful Monday | One Drop: Expanding the Reach of CDCES’s
A new company called One Drop is helping people self-manage their chronic conditions.
The program connects each participant with a dedicated Certified Diabetes Education Specialist or personal health coach to help them navigate and manage their diabetes.
One Drop offers 3 monthly memberships for either a Digital Membership, a supply membership, or a membership with both.
The Digital Membership includes goal setting, coaching, and tracking your healthcare goal progress. The supply membership includes items like blood glucose meters, a lancing device, 50 test strips, 10 lancets, and a carry case supplied every few months.
One Drop offers some interesting new features on glucose monitors that make it a bit unique in the marketplace. The subscription comes with a free app that provides real-time support from professionals and education on diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
One Drop is helping to give access to people who are not able to physically go and see a health care professional. Another unique feature of the app is it can give you an eight-hour glucose forecast based on your behavior and One Drop’s AI. One Drop’s monitors are now available in Walmart (for $69.95) and at select Apple retail locations.
Read more about it here.
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Thank You for Celebrating a Week of Kindness
What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Thank you for being a part of our seven days of kindness. Each post reminded me of the power of kindness to improve the lives of our fellow humans. Even the smallest gesture can leave a life long impression. Each spark, each light, each moment of humanness connects us with a hope that when we really see each other, we can do anything. With love, Coach Beverly
7 Ways to Make Kindness the Norm
- Send an uplifting text to a friend or family member.
- Let that guy next to you merge into traffic with a wave and a smile.
- Include intentional moments of kindness, laughter, and delight in your daily routine.
- Go slightly out of your comfort zone at least once a day to make someone smile.
- Share a compliment with a co-worker or friend.
- Reach out to a family member you haven’t spoken to in a while.
- Treat someone to a cup of coffee.
Read more about the kindness movement at Random Acts of Kindness.
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Sugar Sweetened Beverages: Out of Sight and out of Mind
In a study conducted by University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) Elissa Epel and colleagues, Epel wanted to evaluate the relationship between access to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) in the workplace and total daily consumption.
Epel and team banned the sale of all SSBs at UCSF for 10 months. Her team found that in employees deemed “frequent” SSB drinkers, consumption went down from 35 fluid ounces to a startling 17 oz.
Even though the employees still had access to SSBs outside of the campus, their consumption decreased significantly, highlighting the impact of eliminating access to SSBs in the work environment.
“This shows us that simply ending sales of sugary drinks in the workplace can have a meaningful effect on improving health in less than one year,” Epel said in a statement. “There is a well-known pathway from soda to disease. High sugar intake leads to abdominal fat and insulin resistance, which are known risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, cancer and even dementia. Recent studies have also linked sugar intake to early mortality.”
But this correlation was not enough for Epel. Before the ban went into effect, her team recruited 214 full-time employees who were self-reported “frequent” SSB drinkers. Epel and her team then randomly separated the employees into two groups: one group would receive a motivational intervention along with the SSB ban, while the other group wouldn’t receive any intervention. The motivational intervention included a 15-minute motivational session to begin and 5-minute calls one week, one month, and sixth months after the ban was put into effect.
The results were astounding; the participants in the intervention group consumed 25.4 oz less compared to the control group who only consumed 8.2 oz less.
Epel and her team had successfully proven a correlation between banning SSBs and consumption as well as a correlation between intervention and consumption. To read more about Epel’s study click here.
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Retrieval Practice Can Protect Memory From Stress
Getting ready to take a test in the future? Many adults find test taking stress inducing, both in the study time leading up to it and during the exam itself.
Tufts University reported on a study on learning methods, particularly retrieval practice (learning by taking practice tests), and how this strategy can protect against the negative effects of stress.
The researchers analyzed two approaches to learning:
- one group was given multiple study periods to memorize a set of images and word (memorization)
- the other group took timed practice tests, attempting to recall as many items as they could (retrieval practice).
After a 24-hour break, half of each group was exposed to and experienced an episode of acute stress.
After this, both groups were given two memory tests to recall the words or images studied the previous day: one immediately after the stress scenario, and one twenty minutes after.
The stressed group who practiced retrieval practice remembered more items than their non-stressed counterparts who simply used multiple study periods (memorization). Those who used memorization and were exposed to a stressful scenario remembered the least out of the groups.
This study suggests that retrieval practice can help with long-term memory retention and guard against the adverse effects of stress!
Are you enrolled in our Diabetes Ed Online University?
We are proud to be using “retrieval practice” as the mode of studying for our practice tests and courses based on these scientific studies.
Our test results let students know if they chose the right our wrong answer. This approach encourages review of the material and retesting for better recall in finding the right answer. By omitting the answer key and encouraging retesting, we provide the opportunity for students to enhance long term knowledge retention and incorporate “retrieval practice” into their studies.
Read the full study here.
We hope you all appreciate and enjoy the test questions we come up with for our Question of the Week, Free Quizzes, and for all of our courses!
Interested in more practice? Our Test Taking Toolkit offers over 200 practice questions for the exam! You can purchase that here for only $49.
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Mindful Monday | Meals Around the World
Happy Mindful Monday! Today we’re offering a new perspective by showcasing dishes around the world. This comes from the New York Times after they interviewed 18 families around the world to see what their typical weeknight dinner is:
In Bangkok, Thailand:
Omelet with carrots, stir-fried minced pork and eggplant, and Thai sour curry with cauliflower is a common meal. Family members are expected to clean up after themselves and help cook at least one night a week.
In Gurgaon, India:
The Osan family eats around 9 p.m., normally with palak paneer (spinach with cheese), raita, kadai aloo (potatoes with onions and spices), cucumber salad and roasted chapatis.
In Rome, Italy:
The mother normally cooks for the rest of her family, and an easy weeknight meal includes saltimbocca (veal rolled with ham and sage), homemade pesto with trofie pasta, and baked tomatoes au gratin.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
The Khojandi family eats a mix of prepared and homemade foods during the weeknight. This includes smashed beans, shakshuka (eggs poached in a tomato and green pepper stew with onions and garlic), and masoob (a mix of banana, bread, dates, cream, and honey.
In Port-au-Prince, Haiti:
Many Haitian families take their main meal at midday. The Charles’ family prepares avocado, white rice, sos pwa nwa (black bean puree), beef and blue crabs marinated in orange and lime, and lalo (boiled jute leaves and chopped spinach).
In Rehovot, Israel:
The Levy family eats Yemeni soup, chicken schnitzel, chraime (white fish in tangy and spicy tomato sauce with smoked paprika and cilantro), with challah (bread) and rice.
In Paris, France:
In Paris, roasted chicken and couscous were part of an early dinner for the Devouges. Their meal ended with various cheeses (Petit Suisse, Comte, and Emmental).
In KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa:
Chakalaka (relish made with fried peppers, grated carrots, and baked beans) is a South African favorite. Ujeqe (steamed bread) and braised oxtail is a common weeknight meal.
In Western Australia:
The Opie family eats pan-fried nannygai (red snapper), broccolini, and sweet potato fries for dinnr. Their children get extra fruits and vegetables like strawberries, raspberries, snow peas, and carrots.
In Amsterdam, Netherlands:
The Henkets eat a dinner of salmon with basmati rice and broccoli and a dessert of homemade custard with fresh raspberries and berry jam.
In Lagos, Nigeria:
In Lagos, their meal revolves around the sauces. With plantain flatbreads and chicken suya, condiments include peanut butter sauce, papaya chutney, hibiscus green chile sauce, mint and spring onion oil, tamarind ginger sauc, and beet and carrot sauerkraut.
In Monterrey, Mexico:
Huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs with chorizo and onions, served with flour tortillas) is a staple, even for dinner.
In Moscow, Russia:
Liza prepares dinner for her husband and six children. While she cooks, the children and her husband are in charge of setting the table. Kotleti (beef patties with bread, egg, and onion), rice, green salad, and an eggplant, red pepper, basil salad make for a perfect weeknight meal.
In Tokyo, Japan:
Fish, rice, and miso soup are a classic Japanese meal. Yasuko cooks for her adult son a few nights a week, with mebaru (rockfish) being on the menu that night. Fresh fruit serves as dessert.
In Istanbul, Turkey:
Kofte (meatballs), lentil soup, bulgur pilaf with tomato and bell pepper, dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) and red beans in olive oil make up the Terzi family dinner. A rice pudding called sutlac with tahini and walnuts is for dessert.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil:
In Brazil, the mom cooks the meal of picadinho (beef, potato and carrot stew) with rice and salad, while the dad sets the table. The children are expected to clean up afterward.
Read full descriptions and see in-home photography from the New York Times report!
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Mindful Monday – Soul Line Dancing offers exercise and connection
As lifestyle coaches and diabetes specialists, we all know how important regular activity is to improve well-being, glucose levels, and overall health. Yet, keeping engaged in an ongoing activity is one of the biggest challenges most people face.
Soul line dancing might just offer an unexpected solution.
Soul line dancing – like country line dancing – is really just choreographed dance moves that you do in a group, without a partner. “It’s a sneaky way to get exercise in”
Andrea powell – soul dancing devotee
This activity offers the benefit of connecting with friends, learning a sequence of moves (that is great for brain function) and having fun. It’s an efficient way to improve cardiovascular health and keep fit.
Soul line dancing is held in local churches, gyms, community recreation and senior centers. “There is such enjoyment and that is part of music and part of rhythm, and is almost innate in humans,” say Terri Lipman, a professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. Lipman is collecting data on the impact of soul dancing programs and says that the data shows that soul line dancing counts as moderate exercise.
Since soul line dancing is an exercise that is both fun and social, it creates a habit that is more likely to last for the long run!
Read more here from NPR Story: Soul Line Dancing: Come For The Fitness. Stay For The Friendships
And, if you want to learn the World Diabetes Day Flash Mob, here are the steps and a video. Just in time for National Diabetes Month in November.
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[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″]Height May Help Predict Type 2 Diabetes Risk
A recent study, analyzing more than 2,600 German adults, showed an association between height and diabetes risk. Specifically, that tall people may have lower risk for developing Type 2, while shorter people may be at increased risk for developing Type 2.
The study showed that for every 10 cm of greater height, the risk for Type 2 was 41% lower for men and 33% lower for women.
Research found that the association between height and risk for type 2 diabetes was a stronger association in people with normal weight, rather than those experiencing overweight or an elevated BMI above 30.
For men and women with normal weight, every 10 cm of greater height lessened the risk of developing Type 2 by 86% in men and 67% in women.
The study suggested that this association between height and Type 2 diabetes risk may be based on healthier cardiometabolic profiles attributable to height.
For full study details, read more on Healio.
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