A Christmas Peril Mystery Podcast

The Holidays are full of surprises— especially after Mr. Divabetic gets a new job as the pastry chef at the St. Nicholas Nursing Home nestled in a cozy Christmas Village. But adjusting to life in a Christmas Village is not all sugarplums and candy canes. Especially when a cantankerous resident, a real-life Ebenezer Scrooge,  named Mr. Pincher almost dies——shortly after eating one of Max’s peanut butter swirl brownies.

Despite all of the ingredients for danger, Mr. Divabetic, our team of amateur sleuths, and his overly protective mother set out to find the real culprit in the hopes that his name isn’t on a lethal naughty list.

Kevin Houdeshell’s tragic true-life story inspired our mystery podcast.

36-year-old Kevin Houdeshell ran out of insulin over the New Year’s holiday in January 2014. He ended up with dangerously high blood sugars that spiraled into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), leading to him dying alone in his apartment.

“He was young, fit, healthy. The pharmacy told him his script had expired and we’re sorry, but we can’t give you anymore. He tried three times to call his doctor’s office and, four days later, he passed away from not having his insulin,” Amy Houdeshell told USA Today.

Thanks to the Houdeshell family for their advocacy efforts on behalf of the Emergency Insulin Act of 2019 and the emergency prescription refill legislation. Known as Kevin’s or Howdy’s Law, it allows pharmacists to dispense an emergency supply of chronic maintenance medication if the doctor cannot be reached – a common-sense act that could save a life.

Starring Max ‘Mr. Divabetic’ Szadek, USA Best Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Mama Rose Marie, Patricia Addie Gentle, Terri Seidman, MaryAnn Nicolay, Trisha Artman, Catherine Schuller, Chef Robert Lewis, Seveda Williams, and Wendy Radford.

Special thanks to the Houdeshell family, and Pharmacist Mandy Reece PharmD, CDE, BC-ADM, BCACP.. Original music by Ivan Hampden Jr., Celine Dion’s vocals courtesy of SONY Music. Produced by Leisa Chester Weir.

In the spirit of Scrooge’s awakening at the end of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, we encourage you to honor Christmas in your heart by living in the Past, The Present, and the Future. Try to embrace the Spirits of all Three and the lessons they teach.

Divabetic Podcast Inspired by Ricochet

New York Times Best-Selling Author Cherry Adair’s brand new T-FLAC novella, RICOCHET, inspires Divabetic’s podcast celebrating National Diabetes Awareness month.

Cherry Adair’s books are just the right mixture of romance and suspense; whether you are reading one for the first time or the tenth, they will keep you hooked from the beginning.

Cherry writes five to seven hours a day, six days a week. When asked why she chooses to write romantic suspense, she says, “Who says you can’t have adventure and a great love life? Of course if you’re talking about an adventurous love life, that’s another thing altogether. Actually, I write romantic suspense with adventure because I like to entertain, and nothing keeps readers happier than a rapid pulse with a happy end.”

Her popular T-FLAC series features the trials and tribulations of an elite anti-terrorist task force. In Ricochet, one of the critical members of T-FLAC is living with type 1 diabetes.

Guests include Cherry Adair, Neva White DNP, CRNP, CDCES, Emily Hiriak RD, CDCES, David Madison, Pam Harrod-Smith, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDCES, Lorraine Brooks, Michelle Foster from the American Diabetes Association in Philadelphia, PA, Mama Rose Marie and special guest, Sharon, who is living with type 2 diabetes.

Ricochet (T-FLAC)

.Ricochet T-FLAC Hannah Endicott’s only purpose for traveling half a world away to Ecuador is to retrieve what her feckless best friend appropriated to invest in yet another bad business venture. Unwillingly drawn into meeting his new associates, she overhears a nefarious plot and instantly goes from irritated to terrified. The right person, in the wrong place, at the worst possible time. . . .When T-FLAC operative Grayson Burke and his team storm the yacht, the last person he expects to find is the woman he stood up at the altar three years ago. Now she’s in his deadly world…On the horns of a life and death dilemma when his brother and the diamonds disappear, Hannah suddenly becomes Gray’s only hope of locating his quarry and retrieving the stolen money. Low on her stock of insulin injections, Hannah’s inability to remain with Gray is rapidly advancing to a critical end. Now his entire world turns into a time bomb ticking away the minutes. Gray must choose between his brother, his mission, and the woman he loves.

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.

Divabetic Holiday Podcast Inspired by Kelly Clarkson

We’re discussing celebrating the holidays without compromising our diabetes wellness on Divabetic’s Holiday podcast with musical inspiration from Kelly Clarkson.

The holidays are a wonderful time of year when you spend time catching up with family and friends. It’s also a time when there is a lot of focus on food, which can be very stressful if you have diabetes. You want to enjoy the holidays and eat delicious food, but managing your diabetes can pose challenges. With advanced planning and preparation, you can still enjoy holiday favorites without compromising your diabetes wellness goals.

Plan how you will handle meals that don’t align with your regular meal schedule. If you take insulin injections or a pill that lowers blood sugar, you may need to have a snack at your regular meal time to prevent a low blood sugar reaction. Speak to your diabetes care provider before the holidays to best plan how to handle mealtime changes throughout the holiday season.

Find out what you should know about diabetes, including types, symptoms, and causes, and share this information with your friends and family. People are more willing to help when they understand what you’re dealing with and how to help you.

Everyone makes a mistake now and then. It’s important not to judge yourself too harshly and focus instead on getting back on track.

The most important thing is getting back on track with your diabetes self-care goals.

Wrapped in Red quickly becomes a welcome gift to fans of the upbeat pop star and talk show host as Kelly Clarkson mixes classic carols and hymns with several originals co-written by the singer.

Kelly Clarkson’s inspiring us to lend our ‘voice’ to topics such as the link between HIV medications and type 2 diabetes, how the homeless manage diabetes, great gift ideas for loved ones with diabetes, and how you can lose weight during holidays (!) on this podcast. Plus, we challenge one lucky listener’s ‘Diabetes Health IQ’ during Mr. Divabetic’s Wrapped In Red Game segment.

Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Kathy Gold  RN, MSN, CDCES, FAADE, Glucose Revival‘s Kris Maynard, Dr. Sara (Mandy) Reece, PharmD, CDCES, BC-ADM, BCACP, FAADE, Maria Sakowitz, MS, RDN, LDN, CLT, and the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach.

Glucose Revival believes you should live your best life. They make products for people with diabetes who suffer from low blood sugars. Their Thrive Glucose Necklace provides 15 grams of glucose in an easy-to-carry, easy-to-find, and easy-to-use form.

Just imagine not worrying about running, biking, swimming, camping, dancing, hiking, skiing, and living without worrying about taking care of the next low blood sugar.

The podcast features music from Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped In Red courtesy of SONY Music.

Interestingly, we promoted the first-ever Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease Escape Room Experience, Clued Inn, on this podcast. The program was held on National Diabetes Alert Day (March 26, 2019) in New York City and sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim.


 

Divabetic Holiday Podcast Inspired by Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

Divabetic encourages you not to let diabetes dim your holiday spirit with musical inspiration from Mariah Carey.

Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas” album is the best-selling Christmas album of all time.  Merry Christmas boasts a variety of musical arrangements, sounds, and genres. Mariah Carey’s goal during recording was to provide an album with a “Christmas feel,” providing a mixture of soulful tracks and fun and joyous holiday treats.

In the years since its original release, All I Want for Christmas Is You has become established as a Christmas standard; it was once called “one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon.

All I Want for Christmas Is You logs its ninth total week atop the Hot 100 and becomes the first song to have led in four distinct runs on the ranking. As a result, the singer-songwriter has broken the record by hitting the number one spot in 2019 (for three weeks), 2020 (two), and 2021 (three). The 1994 track is the first song to have led at No. 1 at four different times.

Having diabetes shouldn’t stop you from enjoying holiday celebrations and travel. With some planning and a little preparation, you can stay healthy on the road and at holiday gatherings with friends and family.

Preparation is the essential step in managing diabetes during holiday travel and festivities. Know what you’ll be eating, how to enjoy a few traditional favorites while sticking with a healthy meal plan, and how to pack necessary supplies for a trip, and you’re ready to celebrate!

Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Unleash Your Inner Diabetes Dominator Author Daniele Hargenrader, CEO of Insulcloud Jose Luis, and Mama Rose Marie.

Throughout the podcast, we feature musical selections from Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas album courtesy of SONY Music.

Mariah Carey

Divabetic Mysteries Podcast: Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu

Divabetic’s 9th Annual Mystery podcast: Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu, is available on demand.  Enjoy loads of diabetes information and self-care tips wrapped up in a cozy mystery radio drama.

This year’s cozy diabetes mystery finds the happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic, landing his to-die-for job as a caterer for the nation’s hottest health guru, Wendy Wattage. She’s well-known for helping people get their “energy up and their weight down” by becoming aware of the amount of added sugar in their diets.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugars to no more than 6 percent of calories each day. For most American women, that’s no more than 100 calories per day or about 6 teaspoons of sugar. For men, it’s 150 calories per day or about 9 teaspoons.

Many people consume more sugar than they realize. Knowing how much sugar you consume is important because our bodies don’t need sugar to function properly. Added sugars contribute zero nutrients, but enough added calories can reduce heart health.

Everything at Wendy Wattage’s Wellness Retreat seems hunky-dory until the body of the nasty food critic, Marilyn Macaroni, is found stabbed to death with one of Max’s chef knives. Mr. Divabetic quickly becomes the prime suspect in a big, fat murder investigation!

Can he and his team of friends, diabetes educators, and his nosey Italian mother, Mama Rose Marie, find the killer before the police arrive? Or will he be trading his fruit suit for coveralls with horizontal stripes?

Weight loss murder never tasted so good.

Starring Mr. Divabetic, Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Mama Rose Marie, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDCES, Maryann Horst Nicolay MEd, NTDR, Kathie Dolgin aka ‘High Voltage,’ Seveda Williams, Catherine Schuller and Lorraine Brooks. Produced by Leisa Chester Weir. Special thanks to our colleague, the multi-talented Wendy Radford.

Music from The Pink Panther and The Return of The Pink Panther soundtracks by Henry Mancini courtesy of SONY Music.

Weighing In on Divabetic’s Mystery Podcast

This past Tuesday, we presented a live performance of Divabetic’s 9th Annual Mystery podcast, Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu. The podcast is available on-demand to listen to at any time using the player below.

The goal of Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu is to empower people living with, at risk, and affected by diabetes to overcome the shame and blame associated with the disease, especially as it relates to their weight.

In a society where being thin equates with beauty, youth, intelligence, and success, there is often little sympathy or patience for people who struggle to maintain an acceptable weight.

According to statistics, more than 85% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, so it stands to reason that the main focus for managing Type 2 diabetes is reaching and staying at a perceived healthy weight. But it’s also important to note that people not considered overweight can still get both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. 

If you worry that you’ll never be thin enough to live well with diabetes, please be aware that there’s more to managing diabetes than the number on the scale. We urge you to seek healthcare collaborators who will listen to your concerns, answer your questions, and offer solutions to treat every number related to your diabetes accordingly.

The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic, lands his to-die-for job as a caterer for the nation’s hottest health guru, Wendy Wattage’s Wellness Retreat on the Jersey Shore. Everything seems low pressure and low calorie until the body of the nasty food critic, Marilyn Macaroni, is found stabbed to death with one of Max’s new chef knives. Now he’s the prime suspect in a big, fat murder investigation!

Can he and his team of friends, diabetes educators, and his nosey Italian mother, Mama Rose Marie, find the killer before the police arrive? Or will he be trading his fruit suit for coveralls with stripes?

Weight loss murder never tasted so good.

Starring Mr. Divabetic, Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Mama Rose Marie, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDCES, Maryann Horst Nicolay MEd, NTDR, Kathie Dolgin aka ‘High Voltage,’ Seveda Williams, Catherine Schuller and Lorraine Brooks. Produced by Leisa Chester Weir. Special thanks to our colleague, the multi-talented Wendy Radford.

Music from The Pink Panther and The Return of The Pink Panther soundtracks by Henry Mancini courtesy of SONY Music.

 

Divabetic’s 9th Annual Mystery podcast, Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu, is Tuesday, September 27, 2022,

There are only three more rehearsals before our live performance premiere of Divabetic’s 9th Annual Mystery podcast, Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu, on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, at 6 PM EST.  My work and friendship with health guru, High Voltage to help NYC girls at risk to get their energy up and their weight down inspired our story. Voltage believes exercise and healthy eating doesn’t have to be dull or feel like drudgery. She uses games, prizes, disco music, glow stick, and rhinestones to boost people’s self-confidence. She also wrote Sugar Savvy Solution to help people become ‘sugar savvy’ by adhering to the American Heart Associations guidelines for limiting added sugars to no more than 6 percent of calories daily.

Here’s a quick synopsis of Tomorrow Is Not On The Menu: The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic, lands his to-die-for job as a caterer for the nation’s hottest health guru, Wendy Wattage’s Wellness Retreat on the Jersey Shore. Everything is hunky-dory until the body of the nasty food critic, Marilyn Macaroni, is found stabbed to death with one of Max’s new chef knives. Now he’s the prime suspect in a big, fat murder investigation! Can he and his team of friends, diabetes educators, and his nosey Italian mother, Mama Rose Marie, find the killer before the police arrive? Weight loss murder never tasted so good.

Starring Mr. Divabetic, Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Mama Rose Marie, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDCES, Maryann Horst Nicolay MEd, NTDR, Kathie Dolgin aka ‘High Voltage,’ Seveda Williams, Catherine Schuller and Lorraine Brooks. Produced by Leisa Chester-Weir. 

Music from The Pink Panther and The Return of The Pink Panther soundtracks by Henry Mancini courtesy of SONY Music.

We’re also hosting a free Sugar-Free Baking Party with the Diabetic Pastry Chef on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, at 7 PM EST on Zoom. 

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Diabetes Late Nite Podcast Inspired By Barry Manilow

We love Barry Manilow. His classic hits are part of the soundtrack of our lives. We will be featuring his music on August’s Divabetic podcast scheduled for Thursday, August 11, 2022, 6 PM EST. 

“I believe that we are who we choose to be. Nobody is going to come and save you. You’ve got to save yourself. Nobody is going to give you anything. You’ve got to go and fight for it,” says the Grammys, Tony and Emmy award-winning icon who has 50 Top 40 hits, including 12 #1 singles, and sold more than 85 million albums.

https://youtu.be/AiBGva3dEKk

Poet Lorraine Brooks and Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDCES are back with poetry and practical advice! Plus, the lovely and very talented, real-life DIVA-betic, Alyson Williams joins us to talk about her triumphant return to music after a 2-year health struggle.

And diabetes advocate and “The Rollercoaster Ride Of Diabetes” blogger Fat Cat Anna tells it like is about living with type 1 diabetes and hypo-unawareness.