Category: D-Stories

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Collage Artist Tom Cocotos Guests On Divabetic’s Podcast

“It was a surprise to my family and me when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2002,” says, Collage Artist Tom Cocotos. “No one in my family is living with diabetes, but I had all the classic symptoms.”

Over the past twenty years, he has changed his insulin therapy. “I started with insulin injections and switched to an insulin pump,” says Tom. “The switch made it much easier than shots. I also use a continuous glucose meter.”

Tom created a series of 1500 small self-portraits based on his blood sugar levels. He would sketch his face and write down his blood sugar levels after giving himself a finger stick test.

“I would take the blood from the test strip and apply it to a small piece of watercolor paper. That blood smear would become my mouth, and I would do an ink drawing for my face. I noticed my line quality would often be shaky if my blood sugar levels were low.”

Tom’s commissioned work has taken him worldwide to Buenos Aires, Moscow, Berlin, and Miami, where he has staged one-person exhibitions in many of these cities. His clients include The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Random House, Ford Motors, and Yahoo.  He is currently working on his fifth children’s book for National Geographic.

Divabetic’s 12th Year Podcast Anniversary Special’s musical inspiration is Kenneth Edmonds, known professionally as Babyface. He has written over 250 top-10 R&B and pop hits, working with Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, and Whitney Houston.

“The blessing of being able to write music and let the music speak for itself is you let the melodies and the lyrics and the groove talk to people instead of me talking to people,” says Babyface.

What makes Babyface so great? His ability to craft a song that touches our emotions captivates our ears and aligns every word in perfect harmony. It’s a rare gift that not many people have in music.

“I would say that I’ve been lucky. Being blessed and not ever giving up,” says Babyface.

Anniversary podcast guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES, and Collage Artist Tom Cocotos.

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your diabetes wellness journey! We’re looking forward to sharing more insight and advice on diabetes self-care from experts and peers, along with more great music in the next year!

 

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Blueberry Ricotta Cake Recipe by Splenda

Looking for a Summertime treat that won’t put your diabetes wellness at risk? Enjoy this wonderful Blueberry Ricotta Cake recipe from our friends at Splenda.

Packed with antioxidants and phytoflavinoids, blueberries are also high in potassium and vitamin C, making them the top choice of doctors and nutritionists. Not only can they lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, but they are also anti-inflammatory.

Ricotta is an Italian curd cheese made from whey left over from the production of other cheese. Compared to most cheeses, ricotta is a healthier choice because it contains less salt and fat – 10 percent fat, of which 6 percent is saturated.

Blueberry Ricotta Cake Recipe by Splenda

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

4 large eggs + 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

⅔ cup Splenda® Stevia Granulated Sweetener

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

1¼ cups low-fat ricotta cheese

¼ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest

1½ cups blueberries, rinsed and dried

See FULL RECIPE

The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic, hosts this free, fun Virtual Baking Party with our special guest, Stacey Harris, The Diabetic Pastry Chef on Thursday, September 28, 7-8 PM, EST.

During this Baking Party on Zoom, The Diabetic Pastry Chef prepares a Sugar-Free Dessert recipe, demonstrates her favorite kitchen tools, and shares expert baking tips for substituting sugar substitutes and alternative flours in recipes.

Win gifts courtesy of The Diabetic Pastry Chef, Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes‘s Camper Cozy Mystery, and Peak 10 Skin’s Save My Sole Foot Rescue Cream during Mr. Divabetic’s random drawings. You must be present at our Baking Party to enter our gift drawings to win.

We’ve also been fortunate to offer a Splenda Gift Basket as one of our prize offerings at our previous Baking Parties.

REGISTER NOW

Speaking of ‘blueberries,’ the first song that comes to mind is Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill.

In 1949, the musician and singer made one of the first rock’n’roll records, called The Fat Man, and instrumental in the early rock’n’roll scene of the 1950s and early 1960s.

His hits included ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ and ‘Blueberry Hill.’ In the 1950s his records were only outsold by those of Elvis Presley, according to Rolling Stone.

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Divabetic Pays Tribute to Regina Belle

“I want to be who I am now. So I rock my gray hair because it is a blessing,” says Regina Belle.

Today, the Grammy Award-winning singer Regina Belle celebrates her 59th Birthday. 

“I colored mine for many years, but I’ve gotten compliments from many men and women about being brave enough to sport the gray,” she adds. “I even wear it on the cover of my record. I am comfortable in my skin and want listeners to feel that.”

Regina Belle was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2009 and underwent an eight-hour surgery. The Grammy Award-winning singer said, “I had to learn humility because I couldn’t do anything for myself, and I needed help with everything that I wanted to do; everything that I could think of.”

It had to be a shock as well as scary for Regina. The emotional strain and burden of experiencing a health crisis and setback are undoubtedly challenging. Many of us struggle with disappointment and depression relating to thoughts of our body letting us down. It’s incredible to After being signed to Columbia Records in 1987, 

Regina Belle skyrocketed to fame after her debut album, All by Myself, was released in 1987. A string of hits, “So Many Tears” and “Show Me the Way,” paved the way for her iconic duet, “A Whole New World,” with Peabo Bryson from Disney’s animated film, Aladdin.

Sadly, Regina Belle’s chat-topping success didn’t make her invincible to disappointment. She was dropped from her record label, triggering a string of challenges that would nearly take her life. After 25 years in the business, she almost lost everything after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“I went to emergency surgery, and the surgery was supposed to take a couple of hours. It took eight. I bled so badly they had to close me up and finish it six months later; they had to open my head back up,” she recalled on Unsung.

Thankfully, Regina Belle is in good health, celebrating her 59th Birthday. “God was telling me I was blessed. He was putting me in a position to understand that I don’t have control over everything and that he can still work some stuff out.”

Regina has something to say about growing older and being invisible. 

“I want to get the word out that I am still relevant and have something to say.”

If you’re feeling invisible, instead of hoping someone else will do the legwork for you, work on loving yourself. It takes time but learning to accept yourself and feel at ease with who you are, makes you charismatic. Your mannerisms, and the way you smile, laugh, talk, and interact help comprise your style. Set a goal! Goals we were achieving.

Doing something complicated when you’re over a certain age increases your self-esteem and makes you more visible to others too.

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A Woman’s Choice Poem By Lorraine Brooks

Poet Lorraine Brooks shared her newest poem, A Woman’s Choice, on last night’s Divabetic 12th Year Podcast Anniversary Special.  Overnight there’s been a tremendous response to Lorraine’s powerful verse.

A Woman’s Choice by Lorraine Brooks

A woman’s choice

a woman’s voice

A voice that claims

Her rightful domains

To make decisions

Without derision

To control our fate

To procreate

To love at will

To take a pill

I’ve had my fill

Of Capitol Hill

They tell me why

l must comply

With laws that make me

Someone’s property

Heaven forbid

l choose to get rid

Of a child of a rape

Or a need to escape

From abuse or unfairness

From lack of awareness.

A part of this nation

I want education

And as a minority

l resent superiority

l resent being told

I must fit in your mold

And that l must submit

To some old hypocrite

Who is hellbent on taking me

Back to last century.

But we’re not done fighting

For laws that need writing

For fairness and decency

And justice spread evenly.

The fight is not over

The US will recover

From all this confusion –

And once and for all honor its Constitution.

Listen to Lorraine Brooks perform A Woman’s Choice on Divabetic’s 12th Year Podcast Anniversary Special. Other guests include Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDCES, Ivan Hampden Jr.,  and Collage Artist Tom Cocotos. Hosted by Mr. DIvabetic with musical inspiration from Babyface courtesy of SONY Music.

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Celebrating 12 Years of Divabetic Podcasting

Tonight I celebrate my twelfth consecutive year of hosting monthly Divabetic podcasts. I am grateful to our listeners, guests, podcast team, and Sony Music for helping me stay true to a commitment I made to myself in 2003. I decided to help others affected by, at risk of, and living with diabetes to ‘keep their house a home’ by offering tools, time, and the expertise of professional credentialed healthcare collaborators.

My goal was then and continues to be to help others “keep their house a home” by preventing a stroke, related to mismanagement of diabetes, from occurring. I do this in memory of my boss, Luther Vandross.

Our Anniversary podcast’s musical inspiration is Kenneth Edmonds, who is known professionally as Babyface. He has written over 250 top-10 R&B and pop hits, working with the likes of Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, and Whitney Houston.

“The blessing of being able to write music and let music speak for itself is you let the melodies and let the lyrics and the groove talk to people instead of me talking to people,” says Babyface.

What makes Babyface so great? His ability to craft a song that touches our emotions captivates our ears and aligns every word in perfect harmony. It’s a rare gift that not many people have in music.

“I would say that I’ve been lucky. Being blessed and not really ever giving up,” says Babyface.

Anniversary podcast guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES, and Collage Artist Tom Cocotos.

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your diabetes wellness journey! We’re looking forward to sharing more insight and advice on diabetes self-care from experts and peers, along with more great music in the next year!

 

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Less Sugar Peach And Blueberry Cobbler Recipe

My friend, Stacey Harris, known as ‘The Diabetic Pastry Chef’, who co-hosts our Divabetic Sugarfree Baking Parties on Zoom has inspired me to experiment in the kitchen. Specifically, I’ve been replacing half of the amount of the sugar needed with Splenda brown sugar and substituting almond flour for white flour in dessert recipes. In most cases, I used a combination of sugar and sugar substitutes.  Trust me, I won’t be appearing on The Great British Bake-Off show anytime soon but if I can do it, so can you!

Since I’ve been working on lyrics for a new song tentatively entitled Peach Cobbler, I decided to take on this dessert with my limited culinary skills.  I started with the Original Bisquick™ Peach Cobbler recipe, like food blogger Karlynn Johnston, but added oatmeal (more fiber) and fresh blueberries and substituted some of the sugar with Splenda brown sugar. The result was surprisingly good!

Less Sugar Peach & Blueberry Cobbler Recipe 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Original Bisquick™ mix
  • 1/2 cup of oatmeal
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 Splenda Brown Sugar
  • 1 can (29 ounces) sliced peach, drained
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

  • Preheat your oven to 375 °F.
  • Whisk together the baking mix, oatmeal, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add in milk. Pour in the melted butter and mix again. Pour into an ungreased 8×8 pan.
  • Combine the peaches, and blueberries with sugar and Splenda brown sugar, tossing to coat them well. Spoon onto the top of the Bisquick mixture in the pan carefully, trying to keep them on top if you can.
  • Place in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown. You can insert a toothpick into the baked part and see if it comes out clean.

 

Oops, I added some Whipped Cream too!

From time to time I like to sprinkle my R & B playlists with country music. One of my all-time favorite country songs is Deana Carter’s Strawberry Wine. The song was released in August 1996 and became Carter’s first number 1 hit on both the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. The song follows a young girl as she falls in love for the first time, and Carter drew inspiration from her own first love to sing it.

My new unfinished song, Peach Cobbler, is about a woman’s first experience with heartbreak and her mother’s comforting words. Here are the lyrics to the first verse and chorus that inspired me to get in the kitchen and alter the Original Bisquick™ Recipe. 

Peach Cobbler by Max Szadek
verse
I was crying so hard
when I crept home
didn’t see mama
standing by the stove
 
she was cooking peaches
but her pot got cold
the minute she saw 
my teardrops rolling 
 
down my cheeks
when I tried to speak
she hushed me
saying, Oh, Child, Please!
 
you know, I wasn’t born this old 
back in the day, when I was your age 
I met a few Romeo’s
had my share of heartaches
now it’s your turn to learn 
what your grandma told me
when my heart was first broken 
 
chorus
you can’t hurry love
any faster than you can 
speed up a pan,  cooking cobbler
 

so don’t bother with fools

who promise the moon
to get you to do
what you don’t wanna
 
they’ll steal your stars 
leave your nights a whole lot darker 
take it from me
I wasn’t any smarter
 
until my mama taught me 
you can’t hurry love
any faster than you can 
speed up a pan, cooking peach cobbler

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Divabetic’s 12th Year Podcast Anniversary Coming in July

We’re celebrating Divabetic’s 12th Year Anniversary of Podcasting with musical inspiration from Babyface and music from his A Closer Look album courtesy of SONY Music. Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDCES, FADCES, and Collage Artist Tom Cocotos. Hosted by Max “Mr. Divabetic” Szadek.

Our musical inspiration, Kenneth Edmonds who is known professionally as Babyface, has written over 250 top-10 R&B and pop hits, working with the likes of Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, and Whitney Houston.

“The blessing of being able to write music and let music speak for itself is you let the melodies and let the lyrics and the groove talk to people instead of me talking to people,” says Babyface.

What makes Babyface so great? His ability to craft a song that touches our emotions captivates our ears and aligns every word in perfect harmony. It’s a rare gift that not many people have in music.

“I would say that I’ve been lucky. Being blessed and not really ever giving up,” says Babyface.

Thank you for allowing us to be part of your diabetes wellness journey! We’re looking forward to sharing more insight and advice on diabetes self-care from experts and peers, along with more great music in the next year!

 

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Divabetic Prize Winner, Eugenia Reviews Splenda Diabetes Care Shakes And Salivation Snackfoods

Eugenia won a lovely Gift Basket courtesy of Splenda at our recent Divabetic Sugarfree Baking Party with our special guest, Stacey Harris aka The Diabetic Pastry Chef.

Eugenia’s Splenda Gift Basket contains Splenda Naturals Stevia, Splenda Sweetener, Splenda Diabetes Care Shake (Milk Chocolate), an apron,  a hot mitt, a strainer, measuring cups, and more.

Throughout the program, Stacey Harris aka The Diabetic Pastry Chef demonstrated how to make one of her famous sugar-free desserts, answered questions, and shared her favorite kitchen tools. Click HERE for her Sugarfree Strawberry Pie recipe.

Here’s Eugenia’s testimonial for the Splenda Gift Basket including the new Splenda Diabetes Care Shakes. She admits the Splenda Diabetes Care Shakes  (Milk Chocolate) contains a lot less sugar than their competitors. Splenda Diabetes Care Shakes contain a diabetes-specific nutrition formula that has the right nutrient balance with 16 grams of high-quality protein, 15 grams of carbohydrate including 6 grams of fiber, and 6 grams of monounsaturated fats.

After two sips, Eugenia says, “this is a really good shake!”

Eugenia also tried the Salivation Snackfoods’ Keto Dark Chocolate Brownies. After one bite, Eugenia admits “I would definitely buy it. It’s a really good brownie!”

Salivation Snackfoods Brownies are rich, flavorful, and complex with only 3g net carbs.

During our Sugarfree Baking Party, we played baking trivia along with our participants. Here’s one of our questions:

Q:  In the process of cake baking, which of the following is NOT a raising agent?

A. Steam
B. Yeast
C. Powdered Sugar
D. Baking Powder

Back by popular demand! The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic, hosts another upcoming fun Virtual Baking Party with our special guest, Stacey Harris, aka The Diabetic Pastry Chef, in September. 

Divabetic Baking Party Question #1: ANSWER: C. Powdered Sugar

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 Sugar-Free Banana Pudding Recipe by The Diabetic Pastry Chef 

This past Wednesday night, we presented another diva-style diabetes wellness program with our friend, Stacey Harris, who is known as The Diabetic Pastry Chef.

I love the way Stacey experiments and encourages others to experiment with different flours and sugar substitutes in recipes. For example, Stacey will substitute one cup of sugar for a half cup of Splenda and a half cup of Whey Low D or replace white flour with a mixture of almond, soy, or bean flour in her recipes. Her approach corresponds to leading experts’ belief that a ‘one size fits all’ diet doesn’t exist for people living with diabetes. They recommend that we should develop our own personal nutrition plans for diabetes wellness.  Read MORE.

Sugar-Free Banana Pudding Recipe by The Diabetic Pastry Chef 

Ingredients 

1 pkg. Sugar-free Vanilla Wafers

1- 1-oz. box Sugar-free Instant Vanilla Pudding

2 cups Whole Milk, Almond milk, or a combination of the two

1-2 ripe Bananas

1 cup of Sugar-free Whipped Cream or Sugar-free Whipped Topping

Directions

Prepare pudding per package directions using the 2 cups milk, almond milk, or a combination of the two; set aside. Line a small casserole dish, parfait dish, or trifle bowl with a layer of vanilla wafers. Top with a layer of prepared vanilla pudding. Add a layer of sliced bananas, and spread the top with a full layer or dollop of whipped cream. Garnish as desired (toasted coconut, raspberries, lemon twists, or cherries.

Do You Know?

Cup for cup, whole fat milk contains fewer carbohydrates than low-fat or skim because more of its volume is made up of fat, which does not contain lactose. It also has slightly less protein.

Stacey Harris has a blog full of great recipes. Click HERE.

Personally, I feel the kitchen is a great place to stretch, your creativity. It’s been widely reported that baking has the benefit of enhancing creative expression – which has been found to have a strong connection with overall wellbeing. Lately, I have been having fun creating fruit platters to glamorize good health!

The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic talks to divas living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes about their favorite forms of exercise at NYC Summer Streets.

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Win A Splenda Gift Basket At Divabetic’s Baking Party

We’re giving away this fantastic Splenda Gift Basket to one lucky winner during our raffle on tonight’s free Divabetic Baking Party with Stacey Harris aka The Diabetic Pastry Chef on Zoom starting at 7 PM EST.

Splenda is 600 times sweeter than sugar, yet those little yellow packets have no effect on blood sugar according to leading registered dietitians

Don’t miss this fun, fabulous virtual program. Registration is open on Eventbrite until 2 PM

Back by popular demand! The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic, hosts this free, fun Virtual Baking Party with our special guest, Stacey Harris, aka The Diabetic Pastry Chef, on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM, EST on Zoom.

REGISTER NOW

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