Apthropologie’s Holiday House In New York City

Decor, Design, and Diabetes

As I strolled down the street in September, I was taken aback by a brownstone adorned with holiday decorations, two months ahead of schedule!

Seeing the lavish garlands adorning the exterior stair railing piqued my curiosity, prompting me to dash up the stairs to unravel the mystery behind Christmas’s early arrival in the Upper West Side of New York City.

Upon stepping through the magnificent oak doors, I found myself in the Anthropologie Holiday House in collaboration with Terrain. This free four-story holiday extravaganza was a dream come true for holiday enthusiasts.

The immersive experience offered a plethora of festive decor available for purchase. It was truly a sight to behold, a treat for the eyes!

For individuals managing diabetes who often perceive the holidays as a time of deprivation, this experience was a game-changer.

The guilt-free enjoyment of holiday decor and decorations was a delightful revelation. It offered a way to savor the holiday spirit without the concerns of excess fat, alcohol, calories, and salt. After all, it’s not the plate but what you serve on it that causes unexpected highs and lows in blood pressure and blood sugar.

One of the most striking sights was the floating holiday tree on one of the upper floors, a truly unique and captivating display.

The checkerboard cabinet in the kitchen caught my eye with its playful design and practicality. It provided a clever solution for concealing a second set of plates and dishware.

The luxurious sheets, lush throws, and comfy duvet covers were irresistible to the touch.

They boasted exquisite designs and unparalleled softness that would complement any bedroom in the house.

The whimsical Christmas tree decorations were equally enchanting.

They featured vibrant colored glass ornaments that breathed life into any home during the holiday season.

Dr. Janis Roszler PhD, LMFT, RDN, LD/N, CDCES, FAND, and Donna Rice, MBA, BSN, RN, CDCES, FADCES, the co-authors of Divabetic’s new e-book, Sweet Romance: A Woman’s Guide to Love and Intimacy with Diabetes, offer advice on managing diabetes sexual-health related issues in the bedroom.

The dining room tablescape was a masterpiece for those with a more refined taste.

Anthropologie had collaborated with the MET Museum to create a one-of-a-kind Gilded Age-inspired collection of dishware and crystal.

The design team meticulously studied historical flatware and dishware at the MET, infusing the museum’s cherished pieces with a distinctive Anthropologie sensibility.

The result was a tablescape that set the stage for the entire Holiday House experience.

Set your table in truly artistic fashion with timeless tableware from Apthropologie’s conversation pieces in a variety of modern and classic styles.

Pattern Management is a skill that can help you manage your diabetes like a diva! The happy healthcare host is Mr. Divabetic, and Neva White, PhD, RN, CCRN, CNE, the leader of the Divabetic Club—Philadelphia. These two advocates discuss the basics and benefits of Pattern Management.

Dviabetic Club was a free monthly diabetes wellness program presented in New York, NY, Cleveland, OH, and Philadelphia, PA, that boasted 75-100 participants monthly. Our unique mixture of traditional diabetes education, motivation support, beauty and style tips, and hobby demonstrations offered something for everyone.

Divabetic House Tours: Diabetes Advice Room By Room

We’re taking you inside some of the most beautiful homes to raise awareness for diabetes in a new way with our new podcast series, Divabetic Home Tours.

From the kitchen and bathroom to the family room and bedroom, diabetes affects all aspects of your home life.

We’re sprinkling between pictures of rooms with diabetes advice and videos from Homeworthy’s most gorgeous homes to spark your interest in self-care.

Welcome to the Divabetic House Tours: the Kips Bay Show House New York edition.

Celebrated interior designers transform a luxury Manhattan home into an elegant exhibition of fine furnishings, art, and technology each year.  This event began in 1973 when several dedicated Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club supporters launched the Decorator Show House to raise critical funds for after-school and enrichment programs for New York City children. Over the decades, the project has become a must-see event for thousands of design enthusiasts and is renowned for sparking worldwide interior design trends.

Throughout our tour, enjoy Divabetic’s exclusive audio of wall-to-wall diabetes advice and conversations room-by-room to help you keep your house a home.

Start in our state-of-the-art kitchen and meet Jill Weisenberger RD, CDCES, who chats about how to make your food environment less stressful.

Outside stress triggers our drive for comfort food, including excess sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets such as baked goods.  At the same time, during stressful moments, we tend to lower our intake of whole foods, fruits, and vegetables.  This, in turn, leads to a higher risk of insulin resistance, excess visceral fat, and type 2 diabetes.

MaryAnn Nicolay talks about reading nutrition labels. One tip for people with diabetes or prediabetes is to focus on the total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and calories to help reach your health goals.

Plus, before you, treat yourself to Paulette McWilliams’ soulful song, Mama’s Kitchen Table.

Gospel Singer Pat Lacy shares how she practices portion control. One option is to reduce your carbohydrate portion sizes and keep them to less than a quarter of your plate. Still hungry? Fill up on green vegetables and eat lean protein and healthy fats instead.

Foods high in good fats include vegetable oils (such as olive, canola, sunflower, soy, and corn), nuts, seeds, and fish.

Stroll through the spacious family room where Lorraine Brooks and Rachel Zinman get comfy on the sofa and talk about the feelings related to managing diabetes in today’s world.

Clarence Waldron tells how acting F.A.S.T. after experiencing a stroke was the key to his recovery.

Don’t leave before clicking on the LINK to share a free pre-diabetes test with our loved ones.

The Center for Disease Control offers a National Diabetes Prevention Program to help people with prediabetes make lasting lifestyle changes to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes.

Relax in the luxurious spa-inspired bathroom, where you can pick up tips from beauty and style tips experts and find out how diabetes can affect your skin, hair, and teeth.

For instance, hair loss can be a symptom of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Experts believe it is caused by hormonal imbalances, poor circulation due to hyperglycemia, or an autoimmune disorder. Hair loss can often be reversed with medications and by tighter blood sugar management.

Falling can be a concern if you live with diabetes and have peripheral neuropathy or nerve damage (loss of sensation in the feet, legs, and hands), retinopathy (damaged blood vessels in the eyes), and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Mama Rose Marie offers an easy tip for anyone afraid of falling in the shower.

Crawl into bed for some pillow talk on addressing and overcoming intimacy and sexual health concerns.

Even though people with diabetes are at a higher risk for sexual problems, a study in Diabetes Care found that only about half of all men with diabetes and 19 percent of women with diabetes have broached the topic with a doctor.

Dr. Janis Roszler PhD opens our eyes to what intimacy can mean for people affected by sexual health issues related to diabetes.

Many men with erectile dysfunction, for instance, later learn that they have diabetes. For people with diabetes, sexual problems can indicate nerve damage, blocked arteries, and even out-of-whack hormones.

Ambrice Miller founded Relic Interiors, a dealing company that curates incredible art, antiques, and beautifully handcrafted furniture. She gives a tour of her English countryside home.

Men and women experience low libido as a result of poorly managed diabetes. If your sex drive is stalled, look at your diabetes management and take steps to lower your blood glucose levels. Then, consider your medications. Certain drugs, such as antidepressants, can reduce sexual desire, so be sure to talk to your doctor.

Divabetic’s Sweet Romance: A Woman’s Guide To Love And Intimacy With Diabetes is available on Amazon

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Finally, if you don’t stumble on any surprises, crawl into bed for guidance on overcoming sexual health and intimacy concerns.

Plus, at the end of the tour, you can get a copy of Divabetic’s Top Questions to discuss at your next Doctor’s visit.

Divabetic: It’s All About Attitude!

This Homeworthy episode features the beautiful Connecticut home of renowned interior designer Bunny Williams.  Bunny graciously invites us to tour her 1860s Falls Village home and discover her converted barn that was originally a garage, but is now filled with many of her and her husband John Rosselli’s extraordinary antiques.

Best Value Food Processor #2: The Cuisinart Elemental

When a trip to the local kitchen appliance store manages to spin Mr. Divabetic’s life out of control in this year’s Divabetic Mystery podcast, Kill Me Madam, he relies on a food processor for help.

This handy kitchen gadget is used to finely chop pecans needed for the pie crust in his new dairy and gluten free Key Lime Pie recipe but what can it do for you?

Why do you need a food processor?

Food processors are great for blending, but what many people with diabetes don’t realize is that they’re ideal for coarser jobs, too. You can certainly use your food processor to make smooth, well-mixed hummus or other bean dips, but you can also use them to for simple prep tasks. It’s an extremely powerful knife that quickly chops and grinds different ingredients, from onions to to nuts to hard cheeses, in a matter of seconds.

Here’s one of Divabetic’s favorite food processors:

 

The Cuisinart Elemental 11 Cup Food Processor lets you quickly and easily prepare large portions of ingredients for meals with minimum effort. The generous 11 cup work bowl, make this food processor the ultimate timesaver for your favorite dishes, making quick work of everything from chopping nuts and puréeing soup to slicing tomatoes and shredding cheese. Another time saver – the rubberized touchpad with Pulse control is wipe-clean and the removable parts are dishwasher safe!

The Cuisinart Elemental 11 cup food processor allows you to quickly and easily prep larger portions of ingredients for bigger meals with minimum effort. With an 11 cup work bowl, 1 stainless steel blade and 2 discs, it’s the ultimate timesaver, making quick work of everything from chopping nuts and pureeing soup to slicing tomatoes and shredding cheese. The rubberized touchpad with pulse control offers the ease of use and versatility that makes this classic the favorite of creative home cooks! The removable parts are dishwasher safe too. 

Amazon Price: $149.00

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The power of pecans is true! When it comes to stabilizing blood sugar, polyunsaturated fats in tree nuts — such as pecans along with  almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pistachios — are especially beneficial. They’re also loaded with fiber and protein to help with heart health. 

Gingerbread Men Prefer Blondes Mystery Podcast from 2019

Enjoy Divabetic’s 6th Annual Diabetes Mystery Podcast, Gingerbread Men Prefer Blondes. The mystery is set in the fictitiously decadent world-renowned Gingerbread Men Cookie Baking Competition in New York’s Central Park Zoo. Mr. Divabetic’s healthy culinary misadventures continue in this year’s escapade as he enters the competition with headless cookies and pureed kale hot cocoa for the judges to sample. As if this dreadful combination wasn’t bad enough to land him at the bottom of the throwdown, his mother, Mama Rose Marie, is accused of poisoning one of the celebrity judges! Things go from bad to worse when the snake phobic Mr. Divabetic hears about the giant python’s escape. Now, the happy healthcare host must decide to face his fear of snakes and recipe rejection or throw in his apron and risk getting caught up in another murder investigation.

Can Mr. Divabetic and his team of amateur sleuths hunt down the real killer and get Mama Rose Marie out of jail?

Will he be the next murder victim? Can he ever create an edible recipe?

The cast of Gingerbread Men Prefer Blondes features Mama Rose Marie, Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach (Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE and MaryAnn Nicolay BA, DTR), The Happy Diabetic Chef Robert Lewis, Seveda Williams, Coach The Cure’s Trisha Artman, Jillian Walsh, Wendy Radford, Dave Jones, Lorraine Brooks and Max Szadek. Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from the original Broadway cast recording of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes courtesy of SONY MUSIC.

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