Since getting my hands on a review copy of Jenny Ruhl's new book, "Blood Sugar 101: What they don't tell you about diabetes" (Technion Books), I haven't been able to put it down.

Finally, an intellegent book about type 2 diabetes that tells it like it is and offers practical advice without talking down to me or engaging in quackery. Reading it, I feel like I did when met best friend Sue in middle school or when first found Diabetic Mommy. There's someone else who gets it! (READ MORE)

So I was at work the other day and one of my co-workers and I had the, "diabetes talk". Let's just say she acted as if she knew all about diabetes. I was sitting there humoring her as she dove into topics of nutrition, exercise, and stress. And right as I was about to completely tune her out and continue what I was doing, she caught my attention with a few words that I HAD NEVER heard associated with diabetes. Chromium Picolinate.
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When it comes to sitting down to eat a meal, I've always been a bit of a shoveler. Growing up we ate in front of the TV and we still do from time to time. I'm embarrassed to admit I usually go in for seconds too. Sometimes, if I'm eating something particularly tasty, I'll start planning my second bowlful before I'm even halfway finished with my first round.

So trying Paul McKenna's concept of eating conciously has been a bit of an eye opener. What really convinced me to give it a go is when he explained how many of us spend so much time thinking about food yet so little time eating it. It's true. I spend a lot of time thinking about food, planning meals, craving things I won't allow myself, etc. But when it comes time to sit down to eat, I shovel it in so fast I barely taste it. (READ MORE)

Did anyone catch the new TLC show, "I Can Make You Thin"? I saw the commercials for it and thought it sounded a bit wacky, but I wanted to check it out anyway. I set the DVR to record it, but it recorded Jon & Kate Plus 8 instead.

I watched part of the show as a rerun this weekend and I have to say it really does sound like such a common sense approach to eating. On the first show, he premiered his 4 Golden Rules, which are:

1. When You Are Hungry, Eat. This sounds like such a no-brainer, doesn't it? But I have to admit, there are plenty of times when I'm hungry and don't eat because it's not meal time and I'm "on a diet." I didn't see the whole show, but I have to guess part of this is if you aren't hungry, don't eat. And I'm sure many of us have eaten when we weren't hungry. (READ MORE)

millenium_nyati's

What kinds of exercises, hobbies, or activities do you enjoy doing and what kinds of things do you do to navigate around blood sugar issues? This was my random thought of the day so far, so I thought I would share it with you guys and see if you would tell me your stories in return.

Personally, one of my most favorite passions is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I am training about 5 times a week or so, it makes me feel great and I love it. But one thing about Jiu Jitsu is that it's very intense and it's difficult to find the balance between having good sugars and being able to participate fully, say for example, like any non-diabetic person would.
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I am going to begin this, my very first blog post here, with a confession.

I have fallen off the wagon.

Not the booze wagon; even before my type 2 diagnosis in February 2006, my drinky drink days were mostly behind me. (College was fun, from what I remember.) No, the wagon I have fallen off of is the healthy living, weight-losing, diabetic-under-control wagon.

When I was diagnosed last year, my a1c was hovering above 10, and I was about 35 pounds overweight. I was also terrified. I was 38 years old, with that big number (let's call it "thirty-ten") lurking in the near future. My own father died at the age of fifty-one after about twenty years of poorly managed diabetes. I was determined that this wouldn't be me. (READ MORE)