Back in November, Christopher Thomas of Diabetic Rockstar suggested that one of the reasons diabetes doesn't get the attention it deserves is that there are so many different diabetes-related organizations which seem to be so much at odds with each other that "they can't even decide on a color". By this, he was referring to the American Diabetes Association's (ADA's) use of red as its primary color rather than World Diabetes Day Blue, which is close to the blue used by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and not too far off the blue used by dLife® on its Web site and in the screens on dLifeTV®.
While I'm fairly confident the ADA decided on red and white long before World Diabetes Day became our national day of observance, so to speak, there are other causes correlated with the color red. AIDS -- signified by the single-loop red ribbon -- is one. Women's heart health -- signified by the iconic Red Dress (with a white or silver stylized heart) is another.
To ignore heart disease is to ignore the most common cause of death among women, regardless of whether or not (or how well) their islet cells function. And to ignore heart disease is to ignore the most common immediate cause of death among people with diabetes. February is American Heart Month, and its icon is the Red Dress.
I first found out about the Red Dress Campaign shortly after I was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure back in 2002. There was little publicity, and while The Other Half's mother was purchasing Avon Pink Ribbon Campaign items, I asked if they had a Red Dress pin. Other than the fashionistas designing or modeling Red Dresses at New York Fashion Week, hardly anyone seemed to have heard about the Red Dress campaign until probably 2006, when the campaign to wear red on the first Friday in February broke into public consciousness. Unfortunately, I had had the specific date of February 6 in mind that year, and had managed to wear purple that Friday, putting the potential of a red accessory into conflict with the Red Hat Society (while I'm not a member, I've been told that some chapters can get persnickety about anyone under 50 doing purple and red; I don't turn 50 until June)... Since then, I try not to forget. (Similarly, I try never to forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day.)
Other than diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, I'm not sure what my true risk factors are. My father's grandmother died from a succession of heart attacks, and my mother's father had a pretty serious heart attack in his late 50's -- but Alzheimer's is much the greater issue in my family tree. Still, the Red Dress means more to me than the Pink Ribbon.
Perversely, we ended up observing last Friday with Red Dress sugar cookies -- made with real butter, real sugar, and (only because that's all we keep in the house) skim milk. I had not thought of anything nearly like it until The Other Half spied a "Little Black Dress" cookie cutter in a local baking-supply shop, and realized that it would just take colored icing to turn it into the appropriate shade for the month. So I spent the latter part of the week baking and icing about six dozen "Red Dress" cookies.
As it turns out, even in companies that very publicly support the GoRed for Women campaign, a lot of people are still unaware of the red dress and its significance. So along with the cookies came some awareness discussion.
Thinking ahead, the same store sells donut cutters that could be used to make ring-shaped cookies that could be colored blue for World Diabetes Day. If offering folk Red Dress cookies makes a decent segue for making people aware of heart disease, I'm wondering if blue World Diabetes Day symbol cookies could do the same for diabetes awareness.
If nothing else, someone will berate me for using real sugar and real flour and real butter. But then again, it's all a matter of moderation and appropriate self-medication. And that, too, is a teaching moment.
