Why Not Tidy Up Your Diabetes During the Pandemic?

One way to help minimize stress during the pandemic is to de-clutter!

Experts agree that if we set aside 15 minutes per day to straighten up one place, such as a messy desktop, medicine cabinet or kitchen drawer we will feel happier and more relaxed at the end of the day! If you like to exercise and dance around while you’re cleaning, then give yourself an extra pat on the back!

Why not take the time to declutter your diabetes life?

Long before Marie Condo took the world by storm with her Tidy manta, our good friend, Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDE, CDN and co-author Leslie Josel wrote the wonderful book, The Complete Diabetes Organizer: Your Guide to a Less Stressful and More Manageable Life.

As I toured the beautiful rooms at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club Decorator Show House in New York earlier this year I was reminded how important our homes are to are overall diabetes health. That statement might not be so surprising when you stop and ask yourself these questions: 

Do you struggle to keep track of health-care invoices and payments? Do you succeed at keeping an active health journal for a week or two and then neglect it for a year or two? Can you test your blood glucose if you can’t locate your meter or testing supplies? 

“People with diabetes may need some strategies to keep track of medical paperwork to stay up to date with important information,” says Susan Weiner. “So, I contacted my friend Leslie Josel, an organizing guru, and a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers. We collaborated on this book to help all people with diabetes organize their supplies, daily routines, medical paperwork, and much more! It’s a hands-on “how-to” book, with simple strategies.”

Susan and Leslie’s book, The Complete Diabetes Organizer: Your Guide to a Less Stressful and More Manageable Life, offers step by step strategies to get more organized one step at a time. And that one small and permanent change in your daily routine can help you get more organized and take control of your diabetes.

Good Advice Right Now

“Plan out your meals and snacks for the week ahead. Make sure that everything you need (including ingredients, measuring tools and cookware) are available, “ says Susan  Weiner. “Chop and dice your vegetables in advance and store them in labeled bags or clear containers in the refrigerator. You’ll stay organized and in control of your diabetes healthy meal plan.” 

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Superstar Gloria Estefan inspires this episode of Divabetic’s Diabetes Roundtable podcast featuring Best-Selling author, Cherry Adair, Patricia Addie Gentle RN, CDE, ‘The Complete Diabetes Organizer’ co-authors Susan Wiener RD, CDE and Leslie JoselNeva White DNP, CRNP, CDE, Poet Lorraine Brooks, Jeff James, Mama Rose Marie and ‘My Bleeding Finger’ blogger, Tim Brand, who is the father of daughters living with type 1 diabetes.

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Divabetic Mystery Phrase #3

Can you complete the Mystery Phrase below? Diabetes self-care can be emotionally taxing, but reframing your mind-set can have powerful results. Upbeat, kind, encouraging and gentle words that you say to yourself can help!

Divabetic Mystery Phrase #3

Self-help books often promote the power of positive affirmations. If you’ve never tried them before, the idea can seem incredibly awkward to tell yourself how awesome you are. 

Positive affirmations help to re-program your thought patterns and change the way you think and feel about things. They are short positive statements that can help you focus on goals, get rid of negative, self-defeating beliefs and program your subconscious mind.

And yes, there is genuine theory and a fair amount of neuroscience behind this practice.

If you’re struggling to cope with your diabetes diagnosis: try repeating positive affirmations to yourself each morning to steer your mood in the right direction. This way of thinking can be helpful when the mental burden of diabetes management gets tough.

Divabetic Mystery Phrase #3 Answer

We’re talking about how to minimize the drama in our diabetes lives with music from the ultimate diva, Maria Callas on Divabetic’s Diabetes Late NIte podcast.

Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast

Are you a drama queen?

If there’s drama in multiple areas of your diabetes life, be honest with yourself—you’re the constant. Are you creating it? We don’t do anything repeatedly unless there’s something in it for us, so, what’s the payoff?

Every time we find ourselves immersed in something that seems overwhelming, we have an opportunity to learn how to deal with challenges better.

Guests include Dr. Wendy Satin Rapaport PhD, Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND, Lorraine Brooks, American Heart and American Diabetes Association’s Know Diabetes By Heart Ambassador Rob Taub, Yoga for Diabetes Author and Director Rachel Zinman and Patricia Addie-Gentle RN,CDE.

Juice vs. Whole Fruit

Is drinking fresh fruit juice the same as eating fruit?

Fruit juice is a more concentrated source of sugars and calories than whole fruit.

For example, there are 12 grams of sugars and 65 calories in a medium orange, but a cup of orange juice has 21 grams and 112 calories, according to data from the USDA. 

Juice vs. Whole Fruit

Fruit juice contains little fiber, if any. “Most Americans substantially underconsume fiber,” says Wendy White, Ph.D., R.D., an associate professor in the department of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State University, and fiber is linked with health benefits including a reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, and constipation.

Fiber also helps you feel fuller longer, and that can help control your weight. Juice leaves the stomach faster than a piece of whole fruit. “As a result, fruit juice is less filling,” White says

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Country music’s brightest star, Maren Morris inspires us to stay strong as we face the challenges of living with diabetes during the coronavirus pandemic on Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast.

Our Diva Inspiration, Maren Morris has opted to do things her own way and obliterating expectation at every turn on her newest album entitled Girl.

Many music experts believe she’s making a bid for the sort of across-the-board pop stardom enjoyed by Pink, Katy Perry and Selena Gomez with this album. Maren’s singing about independence, self-love and the need to reach across the aisle to find common ground.

Guests include Author of the Noodle Shop Mysteries: Vivien Chien, Lorraine Brooks, Sara (Mandy) Reece, PharmD, CDE,  Dr. Wendy Satin Rapaport PhD, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, and Alexis Gray. 

Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from Maren Morris’s Girl album courtesy of SONY Music.

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Sugar-Free Chocolate Rainbow Cupcakes by the Diabetic Pastry Chef 

Let your ‘TRUE COLORS’ shine during Pride Month without compromising your diabetes wellness.

Pride Month is when the world’s LGBT communities come together and celebrate the freedom to be themselves. The original organizers chose this month to pay homage to the Stonewall uprising in June 1969 in New York City, which helped spark the modern gay rights movement.

The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic stops by the New York Pride March to raise awareness for diabetes in a fun, new way.

Stacey Harris aka ‘The Diabetic Pastry Chef’ offers this fabulously colorful and sugar free recipe to help you celebrate PRIDE without compromising your diabetes health!

Stacey loves to bake! While she was attending cooking school she began creating  diabetic-friendly recipes for breads, cakes and other desserts by swapping out the sugar, blending the flour, eliminating trans fats and cutting the milk carbohydrates after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Stacey Harris has transformed more than 200 desserts into diabetic-friendly delights. Here’s one of the Diabetic Pastry Chef’s most requested recipes:

Sugar-Free Chocolate Cupcakes by the Diabetic Pastry Chef 

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups dry sugar substitute (such as Whey Low D Granular or Splenda for Baking)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup hot coffee

1 cup dairy or almond milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

In large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients except for the sugar substitute. In bowl of mixer combine oil, coffee milk and sugar substitute and beat at medium speed with electric mixer for two minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Batter will be thin. Pour into paper lined muffin tin. Recipe should make 24 plus cupcakes. Bake in pre-heated oven at 325 degrees until toothpick inserted in middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove pan to cooling rack and cool completely. Frost.

Swerve Frosting

2 sticks, unsalted butter, room temperature

16 ounce cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 cups Swerve Confectioners

2 tsps pure vanilla extract

2 Tbsp heavy cream or milk

Beat together the butter and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy for 2-3 minutes.

Reduce the speed to low and add the Swerve a cup at a time, then vanilla and cream or milk; continue mixing until smooth.

Beat for an additional 10 minutes until well combined.

The Diabetic Pastry Chef’s cookbooks are filled with information on the definition, treatment, and prevention of diabetes and include complete nutritional information (calories, fat, cholesterol, sugars, and protein) for each recipe. She uses Splendar and presents other sugar-free alternatives for pancakes, muffins, cakes, cookies, and pies. Stacey Harris shares the sweet secrets of her simple-to-use formula that will convert most any recipe into a lower-carb alternative without compromising taste or quality. Now ‘divabetics’ can enjoy Chocolate Truffle Cookies, Blueberry Tartlets, Cream Cheese Cupcakes, Coffee Bread Pudding, and hundreds of others. BUY NOW

“In The Diabetic Pastry Chef, Stacey Harris proves you can prepare and eat wonderful food and still stay well within the guidelines of food for a person with diabetes.”Alan L. Rubin, M.D., author of Diabetes for Dummies and Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies

Instructions For Rainbow Frosting Swirl Technique for Cupcakes from My Cupcake Addiction 

If you do choose to use artificial sweeteners to help with diabetes, weight management and calorie control, do so in moderation and check ingredient lists — your intake of artificial sweeteners may be more substantial than you think.

Don’t miss Divabetic’s 8th Year Anniversary Diabetes Podcast on Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 6 – 7:30 PM, EST. We’re talking about whether or not the ‘Food Police’ are helpful or harmful to our diabetes wellness.

Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND, Chris Pickering co-founder of ‘The Betes Bros, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, and Mama Rose Marie.

Throughout this podcast we will be featuring songs from ‘The Best Of Patti Austin’ album courtesy of SONY Music.