Infographic: 6 Easy Exercises for People Living with Diabetes

Recipe: Greek Fusion Burgers

Yahoo! Sports: Sean Busby Becomes First Person with Type 1 Diabetes To Snowboard the Back Country on All Seven Continents

While a few of his former teammates were competing for gold, silver and bronze, Sean Busby was rounding out a set hardly any Olympian can dream of.

It started 10,500 feet high at a base camp and ended hours later on his snowboard in Morocco's Toubkal National Park.

Snowboarder, Sean Busby boarding through the High Atlas Mountains
near Marrakech, Morocco. 

By riding the highest mountain range in North Africa, Busby became the first person with Type 1 diabetes to snowboard the back country on all seven continents.

''When I finally got back, I got texts about Vic getting double gold medals and that sort of stuff,'' Busby said of his friend, Vic Wild, the American-born rider who won two snowboarding golds for his adopted country of Russia. ''But while I was up there, I had no connection to the outside world.''

At one point, Busby dreamed it might be him climbing to the top of the Olympic podium as a snowboard racer.

But his out-of-control and misdiagnosed illness that hit more than 10 years ago, at age 19, held him back.

Vomiting. Dangerous weight loss - 30 pounds in the span of 12 days. Pneumonia that set in as a result of doctors' inability to control the other symptoms. Busby lived with an incorrect diagnosis for three months - doctors first told him he had Type 2 diabetes. Turned out, he had Type 1.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and sufferers are dependent on insulin; Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for more than 90 percent of all diabetes, is often associated with older age, obesity and physical inactivity. Sufferers can often feel better by controlling their diets and don't always need insulin.

While Busby was in search for a correct diagnosis, his sponsors left him in droves.

''One of them told me they didn't want to support an athlete who was chronically sick,'' he said.

After he got the right diagnosis, and the insulin to combat it, Busby started looking for his second act.

In search of something different than racing, he took his cue from some of the great adventurers in his sport - among then, Jeremy Jones and the late Craig Kelly. To the back country he went.

''It's the reason I got involved in the sport when I was 12 in the first place,'' said Busby, who lives in Whitefish, Mont. ''It's the sense of adventure. The sense of getting away from it all. It's the true spirit of snowboarding.''

Busby founded a charitable organization, Riding on Insulin, that raises money to give kids with Type 1 diabetes the same chance at adventure Busby has enjoyed. Busby also touts the OmniPod, a tubeless insulin pump that allows him to regulate his insulin without the constant injections that many who have the disease need.

''If something went wrong while I'm in Antarctica, I might as well be on the moon if I need help,'' he said. ''I couldn't afford to have my gear fail on me. My life depends on my gear.''

Among other places, Busby has ridden the backcountry in Tasmania, Norway's Lyngen Alps, Kyrgyzstan, Patagonia and throughout the Canadian Yukon, Newfoundland and the United States.

Though the ascent in Morocco allowed him to cross the last continent off his list, he's not done with his adventure.

He plans on leading a backcountry trip through Norway for people who have Type 1 diabetes. There's a trip to Greenland in the works. He's surrounding himself with people who have the same disease he has - spreading the word that anything is possible.

''You're moving at your own pace and it's your own two feet guiding you through it,'' he said. ''I've been able to meet amazing people, see amazing cultures and learn amazing things.

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Forbes: New Sweetener From The Tequila Plant May Aid Diabetes, Weight Loss

By: Melanie Haiken

Could a new sugar substitute actually lower blood sugar and help you lose weight? That’s the tantalizing – but distant – promise of new research presented at the American Chemical Society (ACS) this week.

Agave plant. (photo: Wikimedia)

Agavins, derived from the agave plant that’s used to make tequila, were found in mouse studies to trigger insulin production and lower blood sugar, as well as help obese mice lose weight.

Unlike sucrose, glucose, and fructose, agavins aren’t absorbed by the body, so they can’t elevate blood glucose, according to research by Mercedes G. López, a researcher at the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados, Biotechnology and Biochemistry Irapuato, in Guanajuato, Mexico.

And by boosting the level of a peptide called GLP-1 (short for glucagon-like peptide-1), which triggers the body’s production of insulin, agavins aid the body’s natural blood sugar control. Also, because agavins are type of fiber, they can make people feel fuller and reduce appetite, López’s research shows.

“We believe that agavins have a great potential as light sweeteners since they are sugars, highly soluble, have a low glycemic index, and a neutral taste, but most important, they are not metabolized by humans,” read the study abstract. “This puts agavins in a tremendous position for their consumption by obese and diabetic people.”

The caveat: The research was conducted in mice, and more study is necessary before we’ll  know whether agavins are effective and safe in humans. In other words, we’re a long way from agavins appearing on grocery store shelves.

That said, with almost 26 millions of Americans living with diabetes and another  2 million diagnosed each year, a sweetener that lowered blood sugar levels rather than raised them would be quite a useful discovery. Not to mention the potential for a sugar substitute with the potential to help people lose weight.

In the study, titled “Agavins as Potential Novel Sweeteners for Obese and Diabetic People”, López added agavins to the water of mice who were fed a standard diet, weighing them and monitoring blood sugar levels every week. The majority of the mice given the agavin-supplemented water had lower blood glucose levels, ate less, and lost weight compared with other mice whose water was supplemented with glucose, sucrose, fructose, agave syrup, and aspartame.

How Are Agavins Different from Other Sugars?

Unlike other types of fructose, Agavins are fructans, which are long-chain fructoses that the body can’t use, so they are not absorbed into the bloodstream to raise blood sugar. And despite the similarity in the name, agavins are not to be confused with agave nectar or agave syrup, natural sweeteners that are increasingly popular sugar substitutes. In these products the fructans are broken down into fructose, which does raise blood sugar – and add calories.

López has been studying fructans for some time, and has published previous studies showing that they have protective prebiotic effects in the digestive tract and contribute to weight loss in obese mice.

A 2012 study by another team of researchers published in Plant Foods for Human Nutrition found that fructans boosted levels of the beneficial probiotics lactobacillus and bifidus. And like many types of fiber, agavins also lower levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.

But the news isn’t all good; a 2011 literature review of human studies of the relationship between fructans (not agavins specifically) and blood sugar found that of 13 randomized studies of fructans, only three documented positive results. It remains to be seen whether – as López argues – agavins are distinct from other fructans in their action.

The downside: Agavins are don’t taste as sweet as other forms of sugar such as sucrose, fructose and glucose. And not everyone can tolerate them; like other types of fiber they have the potential to cause digestive problems.

Original Article: Forbes

Infographic: 6 Power Foods For Diabetes

Recipe: Grilled Chicken au Poivre

Infographic: 8 Ways to Enhance the Flavor of Water

U.S. News: 10 Ways to Prepare for National Nutrition Month

By: Bonnie Taub-Dix 


I'm always a little sad when February draws to a close – it's the month that holds National Wear Red Day to support heart health for women, Valentine's Day, National Almond Day and ... my birthday! But March brings a celebration that should last all year for everyone, everywhere. It's National Nutrition Month.
This year's NNM theme is "Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right," highlighting that nutritious and delicious can coexist. As the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics underscores: "This year's key messages for NNM focus on how to combine taste and nutrition to create healthy meals.”

Consumer surveys reflect that the number one driver for why we choose the foods we eat is taste, followed by variables like price, convenience and health/nutrition. Though each of these attributes are noteworthy, nothing seems to trump taste.

“Remember that we first eat with our eyes,” says registered dietitian Amy Myrdal Miller, senior director of culinary nutrition for The Culinary Institute of America. "So focus on making foods beautiful.” Myrdal Miller points out that “even a small garnish like some minced parsley on a pasta dish can make the dish look more appealing, which in turn affects our sensory response to the flavors, textures and temperature of the food.” Never underestimate the power of aesthetics, including the right blends of color and flavor. Such techniques are particularly important when it comes to serving vegetables.

Although most of us don't need a "National Something Month" to inspire us to change a faulty habit, campaigns like NNM bring to light the importance of eating healthfully and the ways it can make you look and feel fantastic, inside and out. To help you celebrate NNM, here are 10 simple tips to jump-start good habits that will hopefully become contagious and spread throughout your family:

1. Invite veggies to breakfast. Add some carrots, kale or sweet potato to your smoothie. Here’s an irresistible recipe that also doubles as a late afternoon snack.

2. Unless you’re eating at a very expensive restaurant, your portions are probably too big. If you eat everything on your plate, you're letting the chef judge how much you need.

3. Don’t confuse thirst and hunger. If you feel like eating when you shouldn’t be hungry, grab a mug of tea and step away from the kitchen.

4. Swap out fats that have no value (like mayo), and add fats with benefits like nuts and avocado.

5. Ditch the salt in the shaker and fill it with a blend of your favorite seasonings and spices.

6. Just eat when you eat. Multitasking at mealtime can pile on mega-calories without you even appreciating the bites you’re taking.

7. Don’t eat with your wallet. Yes, you're paying for the meal. But you wouldn’t want to pay twice by regretting that you overate.

8. Don’t let the scale dictate your mood. It doesn’t have a mouth, mind or means of communicating with you – you’re the only one who is in charge of your weight.

9. Cook a meal with a kid. Whether it’s a brother, sister, friend, neighbor or your own child, sharing a meal from start to finish will teach a lesson for a lifetime and create a bond that will be shared and savored.

10.  Don’t wait until you’re at your goal weight to buy yourself a new item of clothing. Dress the body you have – not the one you hope to attain.

For more information on how to tailor your diet to meet your particular medical and personal needs, you can consult with a registered dietitian nutritionist. Visit the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics at eatright.org to find an RDN near you. And if you have questions about NMN, email the Academy at nnm@eatright.org.

Which healthy habit can you add to my list?

 
Original Article: U.S. News

Infographic: 8 Tips for Traveling with Diabetes

NPR: Diabetes Tip - Cinnamon Can Help Lower Blood Sugar, But One Variety May Be Best

By: Allison Aubrey

If I say cinnamon, you say ... sugar?

It's a popular combination, of course.
But if you're interested in the health-promoting effects of cinnamon, you may want to think anew about the spice.

For instance, says , executive chef at Bourbon Steak Restaurant in Washington, D.C., why not add it to savory dishes? He uses cinnamon to create a spice and herb rub for lamb loin. He also whips up a great spinach salad with raisins, pine nuts and cinnamon.

Critchley is a fan of the intense aromatics in cinnamon, especially in Saigon — a cousin of the cassia varieties of cinnamon most commonly used in the U.S. and Europe. And he says adding cinnamon to spice blends is a great way to layer flavors when you're cooking.

And when you start to look at the potential health-promoting effects of the spice, there's even more incentive to experiment with it in the kitchen.

Cinnamon comes from the bark of trees. It has long been considered a medicinal plant. There are several varieties, harvested from southern China to Southeast Asia.

For years, there have been hints that adding cinnamon to your diet can help control blood sugar. And a recent spate of studies adds to the evidence that the effect is real.

"Yes, it does work," says , a research nutritionist with the University of California, Davis. He authored a recent published in the Journal of Medicinal Food that concluded that cinnamon lowers fasting blood glucose.

"According to our results, it's a modest effect of about 3 to 5 percent," Davis says. This is about the level of reduction found in the older generation of diabetes drugs, he says.

That makes the findings of interest not just to the 25 million Americans who already have diabetes, but also to the 80 million other people — of us — who have elevated fasting blood-glucose levels. Doctors refer to this as pre-diabetes, meaning blood sugar that doesn't meet the cutoff for a diagnosis of diabetes but that does indicate a high risk of developing the disease.

There's also a recent concluding that cinnamon can help lower lipid levels, including LDL cholesterol (the unhealthy type) and triglycerides.

What's not well understood is exactly how much cinnamon is optimal, and whether the effect is transient. It's hard to tell from the studies whether it leads to a significant, long-term reduction in blood sugar.

For people who already have diabetes, cinnamon is not an alternative to medication. But for people with pre-diabetes who are interested in using diet to manage their blood sugar, it's one of many strategies worth considering, says diabetes educator of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

"The evidence is still inconclusive," Suhl notes, but cinnamon "is inexpensive," "and it tastes good."

So, is there an ideal variety of cinnamon to be sprinkling into your oatmeal, or blending into your spice rubs and salads?


Well, as we in The Salt, cassia cinnamon is the variety you are most likely to encounter in a grocery store. But cassia can contain high levels of coumarin, a naturally occurring ingredient that, when eaten in large enough amounts, can cause reversible liver toxicity in a small group of individuals sensitive to it.

"So the warning is, for cinnamon lovers, is to beware of excessive intake of cassia," says diabetes educator Angela Ginn.

And , a researcher at the University of Mississippi's School of Pharmacy who recently looked at the amounts of coumarin in cinnamon-flavored foods in the U.S., recently told The Salt that people who do want to use cinnamon for medicinal purposes should consult their doctor before taking large amounts.

Some experts suggest investing instead in Ceylon cinnamon, a milder — and pricier — variety of the spice that comes from a tree distinct from but related to cassia.

How much cassia is too much? For an adult who is sensitive to coumarin, the limit is about a teaspoon a day, according to the set by the European Food Safety Authority.

So if you're a cinnamon lover and your goal is to increase your daily intake, using Ceylon cinnamon can reduce the risk of consuming too much coumarin.

Another option: cinnamon capsules. In many of the studies evaluating the benefits of cinnamon, researchers have used cinnamon supplements. And as word has spread about the potential health benefits, sales of supplements have grown — about 20 percent over the past few years, totaling $32 million in 2012, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.

Original Article: NPR