International Girl’s Day – October 11th

Here at Diabetes Education Services we believe in female empowerment and want to do everything we can to support the growth and well-being of our future generations. On International Girl’s Day, we want to celebrate our amazing sister organization Just One Person.

Just One Person is a model sustainable program that prepares girls in rural Kenya for post secondary opportunities, helping them develop economic independence that will guide them on the path out of poverty.

Diabetes Education Services partners with Just One Person to manufacture our Pancreas Partner. All profits from Pancreas sales are donated to Just One Person to help the girls pursue ongoing education and gainful employment. 

Mwanaidi, pictures here, helped create some of our beautiful Pancreas Partners, read her amazing story below:

“While Mwanaidi was waiting for admission to college she earned money by sewing the “pancreas pillows” that Diabetes Education Services sells in the US. She used a donated treadle sewing machine, a pattern designed by Just One Person (JOP) executive director, Emma Sisia and traditional “leso” cloth. After paying Mwanaidi for her labor, Diabetes Education Services donates the profit from the sale of the Pancreas Pillow to help fund school scholarships and seminars for other deserving girls in rural Kenya.   Other alumnae of JOP have followed suit and are continuing to produce these wonderful pillows to help ensure the sustainability of our program.”

 

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Pancreas Partner – A Fun Teaching Tool

All profits are donated to www.justoneperson.org

This pillow is soft and stuffed. The beta cells are represented by sparkly balls of different sizes. One side of the pancreas has a normal amount of beta cells, while the other side only has a fraction of normal cells to demonstrate the natural history of diabetes and beta cell loss. A great teaching tool when demonstrating the normal function of basal and bolus insulin. Kids, adults and health care professionals love the Pancreas Partner.

 

New Knowledge Byte!

“FDA approves first continuous glucose monitoring system for adults not requiring blood sample calibration” – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved the FreeStyle Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System, the very first continuous glucose monitoring system that does not require a blood sample from the fingertip.

The patients will have a small wire implanted underneath their skin which will give them continuous access to their glucose levels via a mobile reader. This development in technology could have a very positive effect on how patients manage the disease. 

Read the full article below:

“FDA approves first continuous glucose monitoring system for adults not requiring blood sample calibration“

To learn more about the FreeStyle Libre, please click below to visit their website:

FreeStyle Libre – Flash Glucose Monitoring System

 

Victoza FDA approved to reduce heart attack and stroke! 

This medication update is available on our “Injectables that Lower Glucose” PocketCard.

You can download all of course medication PocketCards here:

To purchase our laminated accordion version please click here!

This new format will provide you and your staff easy access to all 4 cards at once!

Now get all 4 of our medication Pocketcards in a new accordion style format with 4 Insulin medications on one side and 4 Oral medications on the other side. 

Get your NEW pocketcards today – No shipping!  Each Accordion style card includes each of the following cards:

• Insulin Pocket Card
  • Front side: current insulins, including action times and dosing information
  • Back side: concentrated insulins with important teaching tips

• Injectables that Lower BG, Injectable/Insulin Combo and Inhaled Insulin
  • Front side: Listing of injectables with dosing and side effects info
  • Back side: Injectable/Insulin Combinations and Inhaled Insulin

• Oral Diabetes Medications – Complete listing of oral medications including dosing range and considerations.
• Combo Oral Medications –  Complete listing of all the combined oral medications including doses available

 

Resources From Dana Armstrong – Nutrition Related Information

• Diabetes Exchange List » a brief summary of serving size and carbohydrate counts for common foods. Excellent study tool for the exam.
• Nutrition Lecture References » from Dana Armstrong
• Carbohydrate Factors; A Precise for Method for Meal Planning » an incisive article by a leader in nutrition therapy, Dana Armstrong, RD, CDCES^®.  Dana describes an easy and accurate method for determining carbohydrate content of food beyond label reading.

Plant Based Resources for your own information

• Plant Based Diets Guide
  
• Nutritional Update for Physicians
• Canadian Plant Based Research Study
• Healthy Eating Plate
• Diabetes and Nutrition Support Services Newsletter and Recipes – April 2015
• The Plant-Based Diet – 20 page booklet published by Kaiser
• Is a Mediterranean diet best for preventing heart disease?
• Nutritional Update for Physicians on Plant Based Diets
• Diabetes and Diet » Food can be powerful in preventing and reversing diabetes. However, dietary approaches have changed as we have learned more about the disease. Published by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
• Preparing to Prescribe Plant-Based Diets for Diabetes Prevention and Treatment » Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Plant-based eating patterns combined with exercise have been found to improve diabetes control and reduce the need for medication in intervention trials as far back as 1976.
• Avoiding Grains is a Mistake » Neil Barndard, MD
• Plant Based References » a great resource
• Vegetarian Starter Kit » a easy to read and colorful handout for patients interested in learning more about a vegetarian diet. Published by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
• Plant Based Cooking Recipes for Class
• Nutritional Update – Plant-Based Diets – This is an update on plant-based diets 
• Plant Based Diets Guide – This article provides physicians and other health care practitioners an overview of the benefits of a plant-basd diet.
• Plant-Based Diet for Type 2 Diabetes – Recommendations from the Canadian Diabetes Association for the use of plant based diet for management of type 2 diabetes.

Pump it Up Workshop – Resource Articles

Consumer Guides to Insulin Pumps – Concise comparison of the features of various pumps

Rate of Change – an article that provides useful info on insulin pump rate calculations

to enjoy up to six teaspoons of added sugar and increase sugar awareness in our communities.

The World Health Organization Guideline recommends adults and children to reduce their daily intake of processed sugars to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day to create immediate health benefits. 

Here at Diabetes Education Services, in addition to helping our students succeed as Diabetes Educators, we care about the health and awareness of our community. 

We have created the Joy of Six – Sugar Pledge Resource Page to raise awareness on the health risks of consuming large amounts of processed sugar and more so, the benefits of cutting back.

We are asking our community to pledge their support by signing the pledge below to minimize daily sugar intake to less than 6 teaspoons a day and get the word out about sugar.

? Pledge Now

The first 100 pledgers will receive a free Medication PocketCard in the mail. 

“We have solid evidence that keeping intake to less than 10% of total energy intake reduces risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay,” says Dr Francesco Branca, Director of WHO’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. 

Over the next three weeks, we will be sending out sugar facts via FaceBook and our CDCES Coach App.

Thank you again for joining us on the journey to making our communities happier and healthier. 

We have all heard the saying, “a calorie is a calorie”.  But, the latest science is calling this thinking into question.

Take almonds. In 2012 it was discovered that a one-ounce serving of almonds (about 23 nuts) has 129 calories as opposed to 160 that’s currently listed on the Nutrition Facts Panel. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with the composition of the almond—rather, how well we chew the nut and how the energy is used by our gut bacteria determines it’s caloric value.

Same concept applies to sugar.  It is true that one teaspoon of sugar equals 14 calories. And the more sugar a person eats, the more likely they are to exceed their bodies nutritional demands and gain weight.

How the body uses sucrose, is the bigger problem.

Sucrose – it’s worse than just an empty calorie.

Sucrose isn’t just about calories injested. Since fructose is a by product of sucrose utilization, the more sucrose consumed translates to the more fructose on board. Excessive fructose is metabolized in the liver and converted to fat. Excessive fructose intake wreaks havoc on health – leading to fatty liver disease, inflammation, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

How much added sugar is in that food?
Reading food labels to determine how much added sugar is in foods can be tricky.

In sugary beverages like soda and sport drinks, it is straight forward, since the only calorie source comes from added sugar or HFCS. In the label below, for 1 serving of soda, there are 39 gms of added sugar. Each teaspoon of sucrose is 4gms.
Take total grams of sugar 39gms /4 =  to get total teaspoons of sugar per serving.  There are ~ 10 teaspoons of sugar in 12 ounces of Coca Cola.

Fast Fact: 1 teaspoon of sucrose (table sugar) = 4gms.
1 teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories.

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Here is the tricky part. Let’s look at this container of Chobani Yogurt.

For one serving, the label states there are 16 gms of sugar. Does that mean there are 4 teaspoons of added sugar in this yogurt?
Not necessarily.

Some of the sugar is from milk sugar (lactose) in the yogurt that is included in this sugar count.

The difficulty of figuring out how much sugar is from added sugar and how much is from other carbs already in the food product is particularly mystifying.
Especially for mixed foods that contain both carbs and added sucrose like granola bars, cereals, jams and more.

In truth, this yogurt only has 3 teaspoons of sugar (12 gms), not the full 16 gms.

Until the New FDA Food Label that will list ADDED SUGAR is released in 2018, we have to be our own “added sugar” detectives.

The good news is that we have help with this FREE app from Fooducate. The Fooducate Sugar Rush App allows you to see how much sugar has been added to foods!
Just scan the barcode of any product and instantly see a breakdown of naturally occurring and added sugars.

How are you going to spend your 6 Teaspoons Today?

I love this campaign, because the goal is not to eliminate sugar, just to eat less. This 6 teaspoon a day recommendation is for all people, with or without diabetes. We have the opportunity to improve the health of our people, starting today.

Think of added sugar more as a special treat or a condiment to be used sparingly and enjoyed.

As for me and Anne, we are going to spend our 6 teaspoons of sugar on a yogurt (3), a few chocolate covered almonds and a little ice cream. What are you going to spend your teaspoons on?

Test your knowledge with our Special Sugar Questions of the Week and thanks for considering the Joy of Six.

“Providing babies with a specific probiotic along with some carbs to feed the microbes — reduced risk of death and sepsis by 40 percent. Wow!” – Coach Beverly 

Find out more by checking out the NPR article below: 

Probiotic Bacteria Could Protect Newborns From Deadly Infection

Check out our Plant Based Eating Resource Page

“The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist recommends plant based diet for people with diabetes, yet many people and educators are unsure how to get started.” – Coach Beverly

Check out our resource page full of ideas, recipes and more!