overeating – Divabetic

12/20/202212/20/2022

Divabetic Holiday Podcast Inspired by Leona Lewis

We’re talking about mindful eating and coping with diabetes during the holidays on December’s Divabetic podcast with musical inspiration from Leona Lewis.

‘Tis the season for family, festivity, and temptations that may disrupt daily diabetes health routines. That means it’s also the season when eating healthy, staying active, and taking medication on a schedule are harder. The added stress and anxiety of staying on track with your diabetes health may cause even those who are usually content to experience loneliness, anxiety, and a lack of fulfillment.

We also discuss using mindfulness to build a healthier relationship with food this season. It can be easy to get so caught up in celebrations that we lose track of regular, balanced meals that serve us so well the rest of the year.

Paying attention to what, when, and how you eat allows you to better tune in to your body’s true physiological hunger cues and make choices that keep feeling your best.

Studies show that people with diabetes have a greater risk of depression than people without diabetes.

Just like denial, depression can get you into a vicious cycle. It can block good diabetes self-care.

“I have a best friend who has severe depression, who takes medication and still struggles, so I know how bad it can be,” says Leona Lewis.

She describes herself as having “highs and lows” brought on by circumstance, not a clinical illness. In retrospect, frustrated and anxious might have been better termed to use, but she declines to dwell on it.

If you are feeling symptoms of depression, don’t keep them to yourself. First, talk them over with your doctor.

Guests include Diabetes Alert Dog expert Debby Kay CDT, CDTA, PDTI, Megrette Fletcher, MEd, RD, CDCES, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Janis Roszler RD, CDCES, LDN, Emmy-winning Producer Linda Bracero Morel, Poet Lorraine Brooks, and Mama Rose Marie.

Megrette Fletcher’s book, Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat with Diabetes: A Mindful Eating Program for Thriving with Prediabetes or Diabetes builds on the Mindful Eating Cycle and other principles to help readers with prediabetes or diabetes reduce their anxiety about diabetes self-management. Even people with diabetes can eat what they love, using awareness and intention to guide them.

Plus, we’re giving away six months of access to mySugr Pro app in our INSTANT WINNER challenge.

The mySugr app logs important therapy data such as blood sugar, meals, activity, insulin, and much more! Handy features like the Photo Function and entry customization mean you can embrace the wonderful world of data logging and kick old-school logbooks to the curb.

The podcast features music from Leona Lewis’ Christmas, with Love album courtesy of SONY Music.

10/20/2021

What’s Eating You?

It happens to most of us now and then, or at least on Thanksgiving. We eat way too much and wind up feeling overly stuffed, bloated, and sleepy.

If you regularly feel these uncomfortable symptoms after an average meal, you may be overeating.

Overeating may occur when food becomes the constant emotional crutch and support. As a result, some of us turn away food during a time of great stress or sadness or use it as a source of comfort.

Mindless eating can be a culprit too. For example, suppose you’re dining while browsing your social media feed. In that case, you could be disconnected from hunger and fullness cues and fullness cues. This type of mindless eating ends in overeating.

Recognize why you overeat – get in touch with your past and handle the feelings that trigger your eating problems. Seek help. We believe in you!

Have you noticed that you reach for food when you’re feeling stressed, bored, lonely, mad, or sad?

When your habit is to use food instead of paying attention to what these emotions are trying to tell you about your underlying needs, those needs go unmet. And of course, those unmet needs will continue to drive emotional eating!

Dr. Michelle May is a doctor, mindful eating expert, and author who helps people to overcome cycles of senseless yo-yo dieting and resolve mindless and emotional eating.

Listen to Dr. Michelle May, author of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat with Diabetes on Divabetic’s Annual Luther Vandross Tribute podcast.

Other guests include Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, R & B Singer Alyson Williams, ‘Here & Now’ Songwriter and Entertainer Terry Steele, Seveda Williams, Luther Vandross Historian Leon Petrossian, and Luther Superfan John Price.

Throughout the podcast we will be featuring selected songs from the album entitled ‘Busy Body’ courtesy of SONY Music. On ‘Busy Body’, Luther Vandross’ third album features ‘Superstar’, ‘For the Sweetness Of Your Love’, and the duet with Dionne Warwick entitled ‘ How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye’.

07/18/202007/18/2020

Divabetic Mystery Phrase #25

Can you solve the Divabetic Mystery Phrase #25?

The hidden affirmation you uncover focuses on mindful eating. If you’re struggling to cope with the stress, and anxiety of daily diabetes self-care: 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 and emotional burden of coping with daily diabetes self-care gets tough. We also encourage you to seek out a therapist to help you adjust to life with diabetes.

Today’s fast-paced society distracts people’s attention away from their food toward Instagram, Facebook, and Smartphone Games Apps.

According to Healthline, eating has become a mindless act, often done quickly. This can be problematic, since it takes your brain up to 20 minutes to realize you’re full.

Eating too quickly often leads to overeating. You eat more and more because your brain doesn’t have enough time to receive fullness signals from your stomach.

It’s also been proven that you’ll eat less food if you eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly before swallowing.

2 Tips to Help you Start Eating More Slowly:

Chew more. Count how many times you normally chew a bite of food, then double that amount. You may be surprised at how little you usually chew.
Set your utensils down. Putting down your fork between bites of food will help you eat more slowly and savor each bite.

Get More Tips

Solving the Mystery of Your A1C

Many people wonder how their hba1c number relates to their blood sugar levels. After all, daily diabetes self-care management can be a jumble of numbers: weight, blood sugar levels, carbohydrate counts, fat grams, serving sizes, etc. Hopefully, this handy chart will provide some clarification.

When it comes to the numbers, there’s no one-size-fits-all target. A1C target levels can vary by each person’s age and other factors, and your target may be different from someone else’s. If you feel your hbA1C number is on a higher side, say over 7 or 8%, do not worry! Knowledge is power. You can lower your hbA1C by creating your own personal self-care plan with your healthcare professional.

Join the happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic for this free, fun Virtual Cooking Party on Zoom where everything you need to win is within your own home.

Whether you have had diabetes for a long time or have only recently been diagnosed, having a diabetes management plan and supplies in place are essential for living life to the fullest.

Don’t miss Divabetic’s virtual Cooking Party with special guest Chef Robert Lewis aka ‘The Happy Diabetic’ on Thursday, August 13, 2020, 7 – 7:40 PM, EST on Zoom.

Having diabetes doesn’t mean you need to deny yourself all the foods you love, but you do want to make healthier food choices. One good choice is to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, which are heavy in nutrition but light in calories.

During this virtual Cooking Party on Zoom, Chef Robert Lewis will prepare a recipe that won’t compromise your diabetes wellness. Register Now

07/01/202007/02/2020

André Leon Tally: “I’ve always associated food with love.”

André Leon Talley admits his weight has long been a battle in his memoir, The Chiffon Trenches.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsYiPwtAGYV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“Food was always a part of my life,” he told PEOPLE magazine, “and a source of comfort.” Beginning as a child secretly suffering from sexual abuse, he escaped into the pages of Vogue and his grandmother’s biscuits.

Talley never told anyone he was sexually abused as a child – not the therapists he has seen, not even his beloved pastor.

Because of the abuse, Talley says he has never really had an intimate relationship.

Although he was trim when he was first hired at Vogue in 1983, he began to gain weight when he entered his mid 40s. “I began to realize I had a problem.”

In 2004, there was an intervention. He was sent to Duke University Diet and Fitness Center for a several-week stint. “I lost 55 lbs. But I did not follow the rules.” He would return two more times — “It’s the same with alcohol, I’d often say ‘I’ve fallen off the wagon,’ when I’d go back to Duke — and have an unsuccessful Lap Band surgery.

“The experience for me is always very daunting in the beginning,” he told PEOPLE magazine in 2017. You certainly have to reboot your skills in weight-loss and I think it’s one of the best places to do that.”

His battle continues today. “I cannot control this addiction,” he says. “I am obese.”

In his book, André Leon Tally also writes about his friend, designer Karl Lagerfeld’s food issues. Apparently the designer liked to travel with a suitcase packed full of his favorite bread. Bread was Lagerfeld’s “one craving” while dieting, Talley writes. “He would chew the bread, savoring every bite, and then spit it out into a napkin,” Talley continues. “That seemed like a lot of trouble, but it worked for him, apparently, as he eventually lost one hundred pounds.”

André Leon Talley admits he still struggles every day.