I love this quote from Nina Simone: “The distance between your dreams and reality is discipline.”
Many experts believe that effectively managing diabetes requires discipline in one’s diet, self-monitoring and lifestyle patterns. But the truth is that even under the best self-care circumstances things can still go wrong. ‘Being gentle with yourself’ might be the most ‘radical’ idea yet for managing your diabetes.
Let’s face it managing diabetes is like a three-way balancing act: The medications you take (insulin or pills), the food you eat, and the amount of exercise you get all need to be in sync. We’re all human so there’s always a chance that you may end up experiencing an unexpected high or low blood sugar.
It’s still not a bad idea to be disciplined about your diabetes. According to the Diabetic Discipline website, the source of natural health, there are several basic rules that disciplined people with diabetes follow to stay healthy:
Be aware of what you eat. Diabetics convert everything they eat, even fat and protein, into sugar. The more they eat, the more sugar they have in their systems. The answer is to curb eating indulgence.
Treat all infections promptly. Infections, dysentery, localized infections (tonsils, teeth, gallbladder) can worsen diabetes because of the increased burden they place on the body. Localized infections must be cleared and chronic constipation overcome by means of healthy nutrition. Teeth should be brushed after every meal. Gums require massage. Skin must be cared for, dry-brushed and washed with alternately hot and cold water. Extreme cleanliness and foot care are important. All wounds should be disinfected and bandaged immediately. Lungs, eyes and teeth should be examined yearly.
Get regular exercise but don’t overdo it. Exercise and breathing are important. They increase the “fire” of the metabolic process and lower the elimination of sugar in the urine. Sugar can then be better utilized. Insulin production increases because the circulation in the abdominal organs is activated. Daily outdoor activity is essential, including exercises, walking and deep breathing. Diabetics should go to bed early and get up early. Avoid fatigue!
Nina Simone’s words, music and authenticity inspired our Diabetes Late Nite podcast a few years back. During the podcast we talked about what it means to be ‘RADICAL’ about your diabetes self-care.
Since the term ‘radical’ means very new and different from what is traditional or ordinary we talked about taking charge of your diabetes! Statistics state that there are 8.1 million people undiagnosed with diabetes (27.8% of total US population with diabetes). Why not be radical? Open up about your experience about living with diabetes to friends, co-workers and family members. Your words might just help stop a diabetes health-related complication from occurring.
Tune in to March’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast inspired by Gladys Knight & the Pipson Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 6-7:30 PM, EST. Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Stacey ‘The Diabetic Pastry Chef’ Harris, SleepyHeads Central and Mama Rose Marie. Our unique mix of music, games, prizes and expert advice hopes to encourage people who are afraid, angry, ashamed and/or in denial about diabetes to take the first step towards managing their diabetes health. GLAM MORE, FEAR LESS!
This year’s Annual Diabetes Mystery podcast, Gypsies, Tramps & Peas promises to be bigger and splashier than ever before! We’ve got more special guests, more suspense, more surprises and more sequins in store for you on Tuesday, September 12, 2017, 6 -7 PM, EST.
In fact, our cast of characters are set to begin rehearsals for September’s podcast next week in February.
This year’s mystery, “Gypsies, Tramps and Peas” is set at one of New York City’s most colorful and outrageous outdoor events in the 35th Annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, NY.
A completely original creation of Coney Island USA, the Mermaid Parade is the nation’s largest art parade and one of New York City’s greatest summer events.
A celebration of ancient mythology and honky-tonk rituals of the seaside, it showcases over 3,000 creative individuals from all over the five boroughs and beyond, opening the summer with incredible art, entrepreneurial spirit and community pride. The parade highlights Coney Island Pageantry based on a century of many Coney parades, celebrates the artistic vision of the masses, and ensures that the summer season is a success by bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the amusement area in a single day.
The MERMAID PARADE specifically was founded in 1983 with 3 goals: it brings mythology to life for local residents who live on streets named Mermaid and Neptune ; it creates self-esteem in a district that is often disregarded as “entertainment”; and it lets artistic New Yorkers find self-expression in public.
The main themes of our diabetes mystery podcast Gypsies, Tramps & Peas will include positive body image and summertime diabetes self-care tips.
“People with chronic diseases like diabetes as well as people taking certain medications, including heart disease medications and diuretics, which are often used to treat complications of diabetes, are at increased risk of experiencing difficulties in the heat, even though they may not be aware of it,” says Catherine Carver, M.S., A.N.P., C.D.E, Director of Educational Services at Joslin Clinic.
For insulin pump users, excessive perspiration can be a problem in hot weather or during strenuous activities. This can loosen the adhesive securing the infusion set, the part of the device that attaches to your body. If perspiration is a problem, try using a spray of antiperspirant on the insertion site after your usual skin-preparation routine. Others have success with skin-barrier preparations such as Mastisol, Skin-Tac H or a compound tincture of benzoin applied to the skin.
Throughout our Diabetes Mystery podcast we will be playing selected songs from the original cast record of ‘Gypsy’ with Ethel Merman courtesy of SONY Music.
Thirteen years after dazzling audiences as a frontier sharpshooter in Annie Get Your Gun, Ethel Merman mesmerized them again as an indomitable stage mother in Gypsy, the story of Gypsy Rose Lee and her performing sister June Havoc, which arrived at the Broadway Theatre on May 21, 1959, for 702 performances. With a percussive score by Jule Styne, and solidly crafted lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy stands out arguably as one of the two most perfect musicals ever created (the other one being Guys And Dolls). Over the years, it has been revived frequently, but Merman’s larger-than-life portrayal remains the standard by which all others have to measure up. Jack Klugman and Sandra Church were also in the cast. First LP release: June 8, 1959
Gypsies, Tramps & Peas Plot: Max arrives in Coney Island to host a healthy buffet dinner for Coach on the eve of the Mermaid Parade. Unfortunately Coach disappears before Max can serve the appetizers (a Chef Robert Lewis recipe)! The Coast Guard finds his body on the beach and assume he must have drowned. But how can that be possible if he’s a former lifeguard? Max jumps to his own conclusions and decides Coach was murdered. He begins to investigate with the help of Susan, Patricia, Tonya and Mama Rose Marie. Our team’s amateur sleuthing skills take them on a wild goose chase through Coney Island and includes riding on a ferris wheel ride, attending a burlesque dance class and participating in a séance as they try desperately to solve the murder! Along the way the team uncovers why it’s important to love yourself in order to take care of your health as well as several summertime diabetes self-care tips including properly storing insulin, preventing medical identity theft, and beach footcare and safe pedicure tips.
Here’s a list of characters: Patricia, Susan, Tonya, Mama Rose Marie, Max (playing themselves), Lorraine Brooks (narrator), Chef Robert Lewis (Fast Freddy), Asha Brown ( Coco Mimosa), Seveda Williams (Boom Boom LaRue) and Catherine Schuller (Nutrina – the Fortune Teller).
Cast of Characters:
Fast Freddy: longtime Coney Island resident, lower limb amputee due to shark attack, Coach’s good buddy, searches beach with metal detector
Boom Boom LaRue: ex-burlesque dancer, owns Big Bertha’s Shimmy & Shake Shack dance studio living with type 2 diabetes
Coco Mimosa: the newest star of the Burlesque at the Beach revue and part-time real estate agent living with type 1 diabetes
Coach: Max’s high school swim coach, former lifeguard and self-proclaimed ‘mayor’ of Coney Island, recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes
Kitty Champagne: former and legendary star of the Burlesque at the Beach Revue, currently living in Las Vegas
I know that coping with diabetes on a daily basis can not only be stressful but it can also be more time consuming especially in the morning. Sometimes you need a little ‘pick me up’ to get you through the day.
Self-pampering is a great way to reward yourself for being proactive about managing your diabetes and there’s no better way to treat yourself than by giving yourself a safe manicure!
I want to help you ‘Makeover Your Diabetes’ by sharing the best products in beauty/fashion, diabetes self-care and exercise to help you “GLAM MORE, FEAR LESS” with less stress this year!
For people with diabetes, it is vitally important that they learn to care for their nails. Your nails protect your fingers and toes from injury and trauma.
Did you know people with diabetes are prone to developing a fungal infection known as onychomycosis? This fungal infection accounts for approximately 50% of all nail infections.
To avoid infections go ‘natural’ and don’t use artificial nails. Artificial nails trap water under the nails and this moisture will promote fungus growth. The good news is there are still plenty of safe, fun and colorful ways to flex your attitude with natural nails!
“Our nails are an expression of who you are, you should have the ability to have nail art that accentuates your personality, says Jennifer Dye, a licensed nail technician at Studio 26 in Santa Cruz, CA.
If you wear nail polish, you might be applying more than glossy color to your fingertips.
A study led by Duke University and the public health advocacy organization Environmental Working Group suggests that we absorb at least one potentially hormone-disrupting chemical every time we get a polish. While the impact of this chemical on our health is still unclear, the fact that our body can absorb chemicals through nail polish is cause for concern.
The chemical in question is triphenyl phosphate, or TPP. Companies add it to nail polishes to make the product stick more strongly to the nail.
The good news is that there are plenty of nontoxic nail polishes to choose from!
A few years ago, the ‘three-free’ polishes (meaning formulas that contain no formaldehyde, toluene, or dibutyl phthalate) used to be the gold standard. But then companies began offering polishes that free of other potentially harmful ingredients, like formaldehyde resin, camphor, ethyl tosylamide, and xylene.
Here’s a breakdown of what the terms ‘five -, seven-, eight- and nine-free’ mean and clarification on what toxic ingredients they’re missing:
Our pick for the best Nail Polish for Diabetes is Acquarella Nail Polish (shown in Hot Chocolate shade above). Acquarella is water-based and doesn’t contain: Formaldehyde, formaldehyde-like derivatives, toluene, ketones, petrochemical solvents, DBP, phthalates, polyurethane, polyurethane film-formers, parabens, camphor, mercury, lead, FD&C, coal tar, gluten, wheat by-products, aromatic hydrocarbons. Retails: $18.
Keep in mind, water-based nail polishes have some drawbacks beside their steep price tags. According to the Fig + Sage blog, “water-based (nail polishes) don’t perform like regular nail polish; meaning they chip, flake & disappear.”
Why go natural?
“Your natural nails are easier, and more cost effective to maintain on a regular basis than artificial nail enhancements. No regular fills needed,” says Jennifer. “By focusing on enhancing your natural nails you minimize your exposure to the abrasive or harsh chemicals necessary in artificial nail treatments.”
If you choose to stick with your current brand and/or buy a nail polish without at least five- free then make sure to avoid products that contain toluene, formaldehyde or dibutyl phthalate. And don’t inhale! That strong, recognizable nail polish smell can be a sign of airborne toxic chemicals. Apply polish in a well-ventilated room.
Playwright Garrett Davis’s new production, Mama’s Girls 2: Sugar Ain’t Sweet, opens with Baby Girl, the adult protagonist, rushing to the hospital with sudden blurred vision. Her startling diagnosis: type 2 diabetes.
And so begins Baby Girl’s poignant journey as she navigates life with finger sticks, new eating patterns, and well-meaning but uninformed relatives who do things like rearrange her kitchen and bake her half a cake because “it only has half the sugar.” Baby Girl’s eventual acceptance of her diabetes and understanding that she can live a good life is an empowering and inspiring message for the audience.
Davis consulted with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to produce the dramedy, show how diabetes disproportionally affects African Americans, and reveal how this diagnosis transforms families.
For Davis, channeling his passion to raise consciousness through the arts is nothing new. He wrote the original Mama’s Girls in partnership with AARP, an organization that advocates for older adults, to raise awareness around the issues of caregiving. “If you can entertain [people],” he says, “you can educate them.”
The ADA presence after the show was an added bonus. “I thought that was great,” says Moore. “I got to see the things I still can eat [and] the things I still can do.”
Mama’s Girls 2: Sugar Ain’t Sweetis scheduled to play around the United States in 2017. Go to mamasgirls.net for more information.
Don’t miss March’s Diabetes Late Nitepodcast inspired by Gladys Knight & the Pips on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 6-7:30 PM, EST.
Gladys Knight doesn’t have diabetes, but the disease is as close to her heart as the memories of her mother, Elizabeth Knight, who died of complications from the disease in 1997. A five-time Grammy award winner, Knight is as busy as ever gracing the entertainment world with her exceptional voice. Yet she never misses an opportunity to voice the message of early detection and treatment of diabetes.
Gladys shares her final words of wisdom: ” Do something about diabetes … Know more, do more!” Knight feels nearly as passionate about spreading that message as she does about the incredible singing career her mom helped her launch some 54 years ago.
Guests include Stacey Harris aka ‘The Diabetic Pastry Chef’, Mary Ann Hodorowicz, RD, LDN, MBA, CDE, CEC, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Diabetic Divas Unite, SleepyHead Central, Poet Lorraine Brooks and Mama Rose Marie.
Our favorite “DIVAbetic” Patti LaBelle is taking her dessert expertise to the next level with a new cookbook. Her fourth cookbook, entitled Desserts LaBelle: Soulful Sweets to Sing About, will be released April 25 and is available for preorder on Amazon now.
The singer, author, and actress, who is living with type 2 diabetes, is known for her sweet potato pie that became popular after a review on youtube went viral.
For years Patti LaBelle has been very outspoken about managing diabetes after experiencing a health scare during an open-air performance in New York City. Toward the end of the show, just after singing “Over the Rainbow,” she collapsed onstage, in front of thousands of fans. She was rushed to the hospital and was revived. An hour later, she was informed she had diabetes—her blood glucose was 600 mg/dL.
“I had no clue that I had diabetes,” LaBelle explained. “I’m one of those black women who just doesn’t go to see doctors. Had I not passed out, I would have never suspected that I had diabetes.”
But, in truth, LaBelle was no stranger to diabetes. She had watched her mother die from diabetes-related complications at the age of 58. So, LaBelle knew that she had to stop everything and take an active role in managing her condition.
While Patti still enjoys feeding friends and family her famous fried chicken and potato salad made with 12 eggs, she’s also learned to adapt her style to suit her needs.
“I’ll make an apple pie the regular way for everyone else, but I’ll also bake one with a sugar substitute for me.”
Her book written with Laura Randolph Lancaster is filled with her favorite recipes for pies, cakes, cookies, and puddings, as well as a chapter on diabetic-friendly recipes, moving personal stories from her career and life.
Patti is also an award-winning author of five books, three of which were New York Times bestsellers. She is the host of Patti LaBelle’s Place on the Cooking Channel, and the creator of Patti’s Sweet Potato Pie. She lives in Philadelphia.
Don’t miss March’s Diabetes Late Nitepodcast inspired by Gladys Knight & the Pips on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 6-7:30 PM, EST.
Gladys Knight doesn’t have diabetes, but the disease is as close to her heart as the memories of her mother, Elizabeth Knight, who died of complications from the disease in 1997. A five-time Grammy award winner, Knight is as busy as ever gracing the entertainment world with her exceptional voice. Yet she never misses an opportunity to voice the message of early detection and treatment of diabetes.
Gladys shares her final words of wisdom: ” Do something about diabetes … Know more, do more!” Knight feels nearly as passionate about spreading that message as she does about the incredible singing career her mom helped her launch some 54 years ago.
Guests include Stacey Harris aka ‘The Diabetic Pastry Chef’, Mary Ann Hodorowicz, RD, LDN, MBA, CDE, CEC, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Diabetic Divas Unite, SleepyHead Central, Poet Lorraine Brooks and Mama Rose Marie.
This year Divabetic is working with teams of experts to show you how to embrace the holidays without compromising your diabetes self-care.
If you find it difficult to celebrate the holidays because you’re constantly feeling deprived of the foods you love then check out“the Diabetic Pastry Chef”, Stacey Harris’s wonderful recipes.
Stacey, who is living with type 2 diabetes, wants to help everyone living with diabetes to have their cake and eat it, too, without feeling guilt or unhealthy.
Stacey has created recipes for making breads, cakes and other desserts diabetic-friendly by swapping out the sugar, blending the flour and cutting the milk carbohydrates. Here’s one of our favorite Diabetic Pastry Chef recipes:
Pink Champagne Cake Truffles Recipe by Diabetic Pastry Chef
Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons King Arthur cake enhancer, optional
5 large egg whites, room temp
1 cup pink champagne, room temp
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups Whey Low D Granular, or equivalent dry sugar substitute
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
a few drops of pink or red food coloring
1 15-oz tub sugar-free vanilla frosting or handmade frosting
bag of dessicated unsweetened coconut
Directions: Sift together the first 4 dry ingredients and set aside. In mixer bowl,beat the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. In separate bowl combine the wet ingredients with the Whey Low or other sugar substitute, and food coloring. Mix well by hand until sugar substitute is dissolved. Alternately add the flour mixture and wet ingredients to the mixing bowl beating just until well combined, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Add to greased and floured 11 x 17″ baking pan and bake until cake pulls from the side of the pan, and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cake cool to room temperature.
By hand, break the cake into pieces and add to clean mixing bowl. Turn mixer to medium speed and beat until cake is crumbled about 1 or 2 minutes. Add about 2 large Tbsps of sugar-free vanilla frosting to the bowl and beat until combined. Turn off mixer and gather the dough pressing it together with your hands until a dough forms. You may need to add a little more frosting. With a small cookie scoop, scoop the dough and roll into balls with your hands. Cover and refrigerate the balls for several hours.
Heat the remaining frosting in the microwave just until melted and add a small amount of champagne a teaspoon at a time just to flavor the frosting. Do not let the frosting become too liquid. Remove the cake balls from the refrigerator, roll the balls in the melted frosting and then in the coconut. The truffles are best kept refrigerated. Yield: Approximately 50 cake truffles.
Stacey Harris has been baking and collecting recipes since she was a teenager. Her cookbook “The Diabetic Pastry Chef” offers a healthier approach to baking for diVabetic.
Don’t miss the “The Diabetic Pastry Chef” on March’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast with music by Gladys Knight & The Pips on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 6-7 PM, EST. Click on this link to TUNE IN
LISTEN: Diabetes Late Nite inspired by George Michael featuring our first-ever Valentine’s Day Party with Chef Ward Alper aka ‘The Decadent Diabetic’, ‘Rich In Love’ fashion blogger Doris Hobbs, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Poet Lorraine Brooks and Laura Laria.
Learning to accept yourself for who you are is the most important step to self-love. Stop comparing yourself to others and learn to embrace the person you are.
This year one of our goals at Divabetic is to encourage our divas to embrace the holidays like Valentine’s Day without compromising their diabetes health.
Celebrate your health and take some time to enjoy your own wellbeing and happiness. Here are some ways you can love yourself this Valentine’s Day:
Love your exercise. Spending some time outdoors, at the gym, or on your yoga mat is a perfect way to give back to you. Exercise will help boost your mood, leaving you feeling happier and more relaxed. Regular exercise will also help prevent or manage a wide range of illnesses.
Love your health. Without health we can’t have happiness, which is why it is so important to take time to look after ourselves. This Valentine’s Day, think about your heart and work on ways to reduce unnecessary stress in your life.
What if, when you make your list of valentines, you include yourself this time? Showing yourself and your diabetes health some love could be your sweetest decision yet….
If we don’t take the time to honor and appreciate ourselves, how can we expect that others will?
With this inspiration, we hope that you feel the love from everyone around you, including yourself – maybe not just today, but year round! Happy Valentine’s day!
Susan Weiner MS RDN CDE CDN, 2015 AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year and author of “The CompleteDiabetes Organizer: Your Guide to a Less Stressful and More Manageable Diabetes Life” offers this advice for Valentine’s Day:
1 – Start the day with some love. Toast up a piece of whole grain bread and prepare a bulls eye egg in a non stick pan with a bit of olive oil. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the middle of the toast, and place the toast on top of the egg, so the heart shape is visible. It will bring a smile to your lovers face!
2 – Use an empty heart shaped box, and small pieces of colorful plastic wrap. Use sliced bananas, melon, and strawberries and drizzle a small amount of dark chocolate on these sweet fruits. Place the chocolate drizzled fruit in the wrap and fill the box. Homemade, delicious and thoughtful. If you choose to dip the fruit in hot dark chocolate, consider adding a few nuts for extra crunch and texture.
You may chalk it up to another Hallmark holiday, but there’s no denying that Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to put on a cute outfit and hit the town. Whether you’re going out on a romantic night on the town. Why not ‘Go Red!’ and raise awareness for heart disease in honor of Valentine’s Day?
According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S.
Type 2 diabetes independently increases the risk of heart disease in pre-menopausal women and those in the first years of menopause, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Research Scientific Sessions 2013.
What does the color red say about you?
The red dress effect is a putative phenomenon in which people wearing red clothing, such as a red dress, are perceived to be more sexually appealing than they are when wearing other colors.
Research has shown that wearing red clothes can make women more attractive to men. But do women take advantage of this fact by wearing red when they want to attract a man’s attention?
“A woman’s closet can foster strong relations by serving as a reminder to ones nostalgic roots and past, communicating an authenticity of its own,” says Rich In Love Fashion Blogger, Spokesmodel, Author and fabulous Diabetes Advocate, Doris Hobbs. READ MORE
From style to Chef Ward Alper aka ‘The Decadent Diabetic’, who is living with type 2 diabetes, is determined to show the world how to manage diabetes and still eat decadently.“A diagnosis of diabetes doesn’t have to mean the end of great eating!”, says the Decadent Diabetic.The Decadent Diabetic’s advice for home cooks for Valentine’s Day:
Make it simple and ahead: It is Tuesday and you probably had to work and will need to work tomorrow.
1- Make as much as you can ahead of time. You don’t want to slave over a hot stove and fall asleep in your food
2 – Keep it light. A heavy meal may keep you from “getting lucky”
3 – Make sure it is something the one you love… loves. Nothing can put a damper on a romantic meal like the other person saying : “I don’t eat that.”
4 – Finish with Chocolate. It is Valentine’s day…do I need to say more?
Janis Roszler LMFT, RD, LD/N, CDE, FAND author of “Sex and Diabetes” and “The Secrets of Living and Loving with Diabetes” offers this advice to couples for Valentine’s Day:
1 – Hug!Every day, hug your partner until you both feel relaxed. It’s a non-sexual hug that nurtures your emotional needs while it enriches your relationship.When you feel more connected, romantic moments get even better!
2 – Do one romantic thing for your loved one each day – send a loving text, call to say you miss them, place a romantic note in their sink, buy their favorite food, etc.Show that you are thinking of them.Very romantic!
It’s difficult to love yourself and your diabetes health if you’re constantly feeling deprived of the foods you love. The Diabetic Pastry Chef, Stacey Harris, who is living with type 2 diabetes, wants you to have your cake and eat it, too, without sacrificingyour diabetes self-care.
Stacey has created recipes for making breads, cakes and other desserts diabetic-friendly by swapping out the sugar, blending the flour and cutting the milk carbohydrates.
Songs have been written about every topic imaginable, but the best ones — from swooning ’50s ballads to contemporary club bangers — have been penned about the ups and downs of being in love. One of our favorite pop stars is George Michael.
Few songwriters from the 1980’s were as capable of writing both heart-wrenching torch ballads speaking to the essential isolation at the core of the human condition, and sugary pop trifles where the only word you needed to understand was “jitterbug.” And the best of his songs usually fell somewhere in between, bold and bubbly declarations of independence and deliverance that still admitted how scared and unsure he was about all of it, a too-rare combination of pro prowess and outsider insecurity that seemed to make him more relatable the more popular he became.
LISTEN NOW: Diabetes Late Nite inspired by George Michael podcast. Enjoy our first-ever Valentine’s Day Party featuring Chef Ward Alper aka ‘The Decadent Diabetic’, ‘Rich In Love’ fashion blogger Doris Hobbs, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach and Poet Lorraine Brooks.
Learning to accept yourself for who you are is the most important step to self-love. Stop comparing yourself to others and learn to embrace the person you are.
Finally, Valentine’s Day offers the perfect excuse to get educated about Heart Health. Your heart isn’t only your most critical muscle — it’s what keeps you alive, after all — but also one of the hardest working. It ticks 24-7 and except for the times when you’re relaxing or sleeping, it rarely gets a break. Below, find fascinating facts about your heart that might inspire you to give it a little more TLC every day.
Want to know how big your heart is? Make a fist. Heart size depends on the size of the person as well as the condition of their heart. Generally speaking, a healthy heart is about the size of the person’s fist.
During the average human lifespan, the heart beats over 2.5 billion times. The human heart beats approximately 100,000 times per day and 35 million times each year of life.
Every minute, your heart pumps about five quarts of blood through a system of blood vessels that’s over 60,000 miles long, according to the Cleveland Clinic. That translates to about 2,000 gallons of blood every day.
I requested that Poet Lorraine Brooks tackle the topic of ‘self love’ in her poetry on On February’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
What if, when you make your list of valentines, you include yourself this time? Showing yourself and your diabetes health some love could be your sweetest decision yet….
If we don’t take the time to honor and appreciate ourselves, how can we expect that others will?
With this inspiration, we hope that you feel the love from everyone around you, including yourself – maybe not just today, but year round! Happy Valentine’s day!
Love to Me by Poet Lorraine Brooks
can I return my love to me
with stems of flowers by the sea
or maybe with a beating heart
that says our paths must never part…
i think my love can never say
the feelings I felt yesterday
and so I focus here and now
and try to love me anyhow.
My hair my eyes my brows my cheeks
the pound I lost, that took me weeks
my nose my mouth my chin and neck
my weight that I must keep in check.
impatience at the world I see
and people who look down at me
I love myself in spite of that
in spite of what I’m looking at.
I compliment my mirrored face
the age that fills my eyes with grace
the lines have formed around my smile
I’ve loved them now for, quite a while.
my body is another story
but still I love it in its glory
that’s a little harder task
acceptance there is all I ask.
i love myself enough to do
the things that help me follow through.
I tell myself I’m good enough
In fact, I think I’m quite hot stuff.
I’m happy I can look at me
And satisfied with what I see.
So please make friends with what you’ve got
Don’t make yourself an afterthought.
Be kind, be loving, and embrace
Your body, thoughts, and lovely face.
Hear Poet Lorraine Brooks read ‘Love to Me’ on-air during February’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast with music by George Michael.
LISTEN NOW:Diabetes Late Nite inspired by George Michael podcast featuring Chef Ward Alper aka ‘The Decadent Diabetic’, ‘Rich In Love’ fashion blogger Doris Hobbs, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Poet Lorraine Brooks and Laura Laria.
February’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast is part of #DPodcastWeek in support of the “Spare a Rose, Save a Child” campaign. “Spare a Rose, Save a Child” encourages people to buy one less rose this Valentine’s Day and donate the value of that flower to children with diabetes. Donations go to Life for a Child, an International Diabetes Federation program which provides life-saving diabetes supplies, medication, and education that children in developing countries need to stay alive. (Artwork pictured by Lorraine Brooks)
