Divabetic Mystery Phrase #4

Can you complete the Mystery Phrase below? Diabetes self-care can be emotionally taxing, but reframing your mind-set can have powerful results.

Divabetic Mystery Phrase

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.

A positive body image is an acceptance of your body and both its good and bad points. This helps you to become confident and comfortable in your own skin. We’d like to stress that having a positive body image does not mean that you think everything about your body is perfect. Positive body image means celebrating your natural shape and size, and how your body performs. We think you’re fabulous!

Divabetic Mystery Phrase #4

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Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite Podcast

Diabetes Late Nite Podcast

We’re talking about ‘ROMANCE & DIABETES’ on Diabetes Late Nite with musical inspiration from Camila Cabello.

Having diabetes affects much more than a person’s diet. It can impact every aspect of their life, including their sexual health.

When a person has diabetes, their body cannot use insulin properly, and this can lead to high blood sugar levels. Over time, these can lead to complications such as nerve damage and cardiovascular problems. Both have implications for sexual health in men and women.

Guests include ‘Intimacy & Diabetes’ Author Janis Roszler LMFT, RD, LD/N, CDE, FAND, American Heart & American Diabetes Association’s Know Diabetes by Heart Ambassador Hyvelle Ferguson Davis, ‘My Sweet Blessing: Adventures In Diabetes’ Author Trisha Porretti RN, BSN, CDE, Poet Lorraine Brooks, and Kathy Malleck. Throughout the podcast we will be featuring music from Camila Cabello’s Romance album courtesy of SONY Music.

Diabetes Late Nite is a fast-paced, full-filled hour of diabetes education and wellness advice that encourages listeners to “laugh a little, learn a  lot.

Billie Eilish Shares Powerful Short Film About Body Shaming

Billie Eilish is hitting back at body-shamers in a new short film.

The 18-year-old Grammy winner shared her message in a new spoken word short film called “Not My Responsibility” on YouTube.

The video first depicts the pop star in her usual baggy threads, wading through what looks like a pool of tar as she strips her garments. Over a moody, ambient soundtrack, Eilish almost entirely removes her jet black tank top near the end — but obscures her body in the inky liquid instead.

Last year, she explained in a Calvin Klein ad that the reason she wears baggy clothes is to avoid body shaming. “I never want the world to know everything about me,” she said as reported in Buzzfeed. “I mean, that’s why I wear big baggy clothes: Nobody can have an opinion, because they haven’t seen what’s underneath, you know?”

She also discussed struggling with body image issues in an interview with Vogue. “I just hated my body. I would have done anything to be in a different one,” she explained. “I really wanted to be a model, really bad, and I was chubby and short.”

Billie Eilish – NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY – a short film

 HomeDiva TalkRadio  October’s Diabetes Late Nite Podcast

Diabetes Late Nite Podcast on Body Image & Diabetes

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We’re talking about BODY IMAGE & DIABETES with musical inspiration from superstar Meghan Trainor on Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast.

Think about it. Have you considered if your body image impacts your diabetes?

For people with diabetes, these attitudes may be very healthy which actually helps them manage their diabetes or they may be unhealthy which may lead to blood glucose values that are damaging.

People with a healthy body image see themselves as they really are and are happy with the way they feel and look.

For people that do not have a healthy body image, the term body dysmorphic disorder is sometimes used.

One of the biggest hits of last year, Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” isn’t your typical pop song.

“My producer and I wanted to do a fun song, so we thought why not do a song about loving yourself and loving your body, because I don’t think girls love themselves as much as they should,” Trainor says.

Guests include Chef Robert Lewis aka ‘The Happy Diabetic’, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach (Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE) Poet Lorraine Brooks and Mama Rose Marie.

Throughout the podcast we will be playing selected songs from Meghan Trainor’s “Thank You” album courtesy of SONY Music.

Questions Your Therapist Might Ask During Your First Session

You made your first therapy appointment and although you know it’s a positive step, you may still feel hesitant. To ease your pre-appointment nerves, we asked our friend and Diabetes Late Nite podcast guest, Dr. Wendy Satin Rapaport, Psy.D. LCSW aka The Diabetes Psyche, to share three questions she asks during the first therapy session to help clients living with diabetes feel more comfortable with the process. 

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

1. What prompted you to seek therapy now? 

Wendy Satin Rapaport Psy D (WSR): This is an important question because we, as therapists, want to understand whose idea it is (parent? spouse?) and what is bringing you, so that we have YOUR agenda. You can always ask us questions too because this is all about you and my goal as a therapist is to make you comfortable in this situation. 

2. Up until now, how have you been coping with your diabetes?

WSR: This question allows you to begin to see the original response you had to your diabetes diagnosis and if and how you have changed. The question implies that people change over time. It also asks you to determine your opinion with your assessment – not the family or medical team’s response.

3. Have you ever done therapy before? If so, what parts were helpful and what parts were not? Do you think you will have the courage to let me know when I am helpful or not?  

WSR: This series of questions gives the therapist an idea of your acceptance and/or resistance of getting the help and then honors your control over this experience. A therapist is for a resting place, education, and prevention of bad habits and the startup of good habits. 

Getting to Know You

WSR: Before your first session, your therapist will likely request intake paperwork and maybe a questionnaire that asks for your medical history, medications, mental health services, current issues or stressors, an assessment of depression or anxiety, and what you hope to get out of therapy. They may want you to elaborate on them during your initial session. Any of the papers the therapist asked you to fill out so that you begin to think about how you feel as well besides letting your therapist know what’s going on for youAnd if you are not comfortable filling out papers your therapist will understand that as well but remember everything is confidential.

The beauty of a therapist in your life is a chance for it to be all about you in the most loving way. It is like a friendship in part with the promise of complete confidentiality. You do not have to please your therapist. What freedom.

Friendship Matters: memoir, life lessons, laughter

Friendship Matters: memoir, life lessons, laughter by Sandra Neshin Bernstein Psy.D. and Wendy Satin Rapaport Psy.D. LCSW

Dr. Wendy Satin Rapaport Psy.D. LCSW has worked as a social worker and psychologist specializing in diabetes for twenty-eight years.

Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite Podcast

Dr. Wendy Satin Rapaport Psy.D. LCSW, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, Alexis Gray, Author of the Noodle Shop Mysteries: Vivien Chien, Lorraine and Brooks, Sara (Mandy) Reece, PharmD, CDE guest on Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast with music from Maren Morris.

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Rain On Me is A Mental Health Anthem

Anyone familiar with Lady Gaga’s story is also familiar with her mental health challenges and her strong advocacy for comprehensive mental health care reform.

Her new song, Rain On Me, with Ariana Grande, seems to seamlessly blend her advocacy work with her music.  “Rain on Me.” is an empowering duet about persevering through hardship, healing, and finding beauty in the pain, heartbreak, and life.

Lady Gaga told Yahoo News, ‘Rain On Me,’ the lyrics that I wrote right here in this studio, ‘I’d rather be dry, but at least I’m alive. Rain on me.’ This is about an analog of tears being the rain. And you know what it’s also a metaphor for, is the amount of drinking that I was doing to numb myself. I’d rather be dry. I’d rather not be drinking, but I haven’t died yet. I’m still alive. Rain on me. Okay, I’m going to keep on drinking. This song has many layers.”

Specifically, it seems like Lady Gaga is talking about alcohol and the way people use it to numb the pain in her lyrics.

Heavy alcohol use can have dangerous consequences for people with diabetes, including coma and death. Alcohol abuseis treatable through personalized treatment capable of meeting each patient’s medical needs.

Mental health affects so many aspects of daily life—how you think and feel, handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. You can see how having a mental health problem could make it harder to stick to your diabetes care plan.

People with diabetes are 2 to 3 times more likely to have depression than people without diabetes according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Only 25% to 50% of people with diabetes who have depression get diagnosed and treated. But treatment—therapy, medicine, or both—is usually very effective. And without treatment, depression often gets worse, not better.

Back in 2014, Lady Gaga opened up about her struggles with mental health.. She spoke out about being raped at age 19 and the subsequent mental health challenges she experienced as a result, including post-traumatic stress disorder. She also maintains that her mental struggles manifested into physical symptoms, like chronic pain and panic attacks. 

Divabetic Mystery Phrase Game

Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation works to shed light on toxic behavior patterns and improve conditions and treatment options for those in need of help.

Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast 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 and music from Maren Morris.  

Undetected Diabetes May Double Risk of Heart Attack

New research finds an intriguing link between undetected blood sugar disorders and the development of heart attacks and severe gum disease.

For decades, researchers have probed the link between gum disease and cardiovascular health. Gum disease begins when plaque builds up around teeth. A completely different type of plaque — made of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in blood — can build up inside arteries. Known as atherosclerosis, this fatty plaque is the hallmark of coronary artery disease.

Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash

The risk of mortality from ischemic heart disease combined with diabetes-related kidney complications is three times higher in people who have both diabetes and severe periodontitis, compared with people who only have diabetes.

“Periodontal disease increases the body’s burden of inflammation,” says periodontist Dr. Hatice Hasturk of the Harvard-affiliated Forsyth Institute, a not-for-profit research organization focused on oral health. Acute inflammation — which involves an outpouring of immune cells that attack irritants and microbial invaders — fosters healing over the short term.

Gingivitis can turn into periodontal disease if left untreated. The gums become loose around the root of the tooth, creating a gum pocket that gradually deepens. Eventually, the infection and inflammation can cause the tooth to loosen and possibly fall out.

Daily toothbrushing and flossing can prevent and even reverse an early stage of gum disease, known as gingivitis.

Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast

We’re talking about ‘Diabetes & Pride’ on June’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast with musical inspiration from Ricky Martin.

Listen to Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcasts for diabetes information, expert advice, real-life testimonials and music from your favorite artists. This month, we’re talking to The Lager Queen of Minnesota and Kitchens of the Great Midwest Author J. Ryan Stradal, Deborah Greenwood PhD, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, FAADE, Fonzi Thornton, Rachel Stahl MS, RD, CDN, CDE, and Lorraine Brooks and featuring music from Dionne Warwick.

Low Carb Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies by My Montana Kitchen

Cutting back on carbohydrates can have major benefits for your health according to Healthline.

Many studies have shown that low-carb diets can help you lose weight and help manage your diabetes and/or prediabetes.

Personally, I’ve been trying to eat less carbohydrates while Sheltering In in New York City to manage my weight. Although I’m taking daily walks and doing short at home workouts, I’m not playing tennis and/or going to the gym. The lack of physical activity makes me wonder what’s going to happen when I stop wearing sweatpants and start wearing work pants! But that little voice inside my head still hasn’t be able to stop me from craving something sweet at the end of the day.

These low carb Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies by My Montana Kitchen are just as delicious as they look! The brownie itself is dense and fudgy, while the peanut butter cheesecake layer is creamy and melt-in-your-mouth. And these brownies are so easy to make!

FULL RECIPE

Divaabetic’s Mystery & Culinary Misadventures Podcast

FULL RECIPE

Divabetic’s Carb Counting Game

Which Food Contains More Fiber? #1

Fiber is helpful for promoting weight loss, lowering blood sugar levels and fighting constipation. But are you eating enough?

The recommended daily intake is 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men.

What’s your guess?

Unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates — which your body breaks down and absorbs — fiber isn’t digested by your body. Instead, it passes relatively intact through your stomach, small intestine and colon and out of your body.

We’re talking about staying strong as we face the challenges of living with diabetes during the coronavirus pandemic on April’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.

LISTEN

ANSWER: Avocado have more fiber! Avocados contains: 10 grams of fiber in a cup, or 6.7 grams per 100 gram. Raspberries contain: 8 grams of fiber in a cup, or 6.5 grams per 100 grams. More info: healthline

Have fun learning to carb count!

Gypsies, Tramps & Peas Mystery Podcast

Diabetes advocate turned reluctant amateur sleuth, Mr. Divabetic finally takes the plunge and ventures into a new career as a healthy caterer in Divabetic’s Mystery podcast, ‘Gypsies, Tramps & Peas’.

. With the help of his co-workers and nosy Italian mother, he heads for Coney Island to cater his first party aboard a yacht for his former swim coach, Ted Rockow. But his nautical soiree quickly capsizes when the guest of honor is found swimming with the fishes. What it an accident or foul play? Now Mr. Divabetic’s grilling Burlesque dancers, a lifeguard lothario and some sequined mermaids, all intent on keeping their secrets buried deep within the sand. Can Mr. Divabetic prove Coach’s death was a murder, not an accident? Or will he end up floating out to sea?

Will he sink or swim?

Tune in to find out if he can solve the murder of his former swim coach with the help of his friends, some sassy mermaids and a cooky fortune teller. Along the way to revealing the identity of the murderer he uncovers expert tips for diabetes self-care during the Summer months.

Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Asha Brown, Catherine Schuller, Chef Robert Lewis aka ‘The Happy Diabetic’, Seveda Williams, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, MaryAnn Horst Nicolay, Mama Rose Marie & Lorraine Brooks star in Divabetic’s ‘Gypsies, Tramp & Peas’ Mystery Podcast

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Mr. Divabetic at the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island

May’s Diabetes Late Nite Podcast features music by Dionne Warwick

We’re talking about ‘Secrets to Longevity Living with Diabetes’ with musical inspiration from Dionne Warwick on May’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast scheduled for 5/12/20, 6 PM, EST. 

Living longer and increasing your life expectancy with diabetes doesn’t have to be a chore. From flossing your teeth daily to getting a good night’s sleep, there are simple things you can do to help you live long, happy and healthy life.

Dionne Warwick has enjoyed a tremendously long career as a singer.  She ranks second to Aretha Franklin as the most charted female vocalist with 69 singles making the Billboard Hot 100 during the rock era (1955–1999).

Dionne Warwick once explained her longevity to Jet magazine, saying, “I really attribute it to remaining who I am and not jumping ship, being completely cognizant of what the people … are accustomed to hearing from me.”

Author J. Ryan Stradal

Guests include The Lager Queen of Minnesota and Kitchens of the Great Midwest Author J. Ryan Stradal, Deborah Greenwood PhD, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, FAADE, Fonzi Thornton, Rachel Stahl MS, RD, CDN, CDE, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, and Lorraine Brooks.

Dionne Warwick’s Biggest Selling Album: Dionne

Throughout the podcast we will be featuring music from Dionne Warwick’s ‘Dionne’ album featuring the hits, I’ll Never Love This Way Again and Deja Vu, courtesy of SONY Music.

TUNE IN

May’s Diva Inspiration: Dionne Warwick