Divabetic’s Top 3 Podcasts of 2020

This year’s Top 3 Divabetic podcasts came together a little differently than before. Our top rated podcast from October featured an exclusive interview with singer, songwriter Angela Bofill. Angela’s fighting spirit after experiencing two strokes is truly inspirational. Additionally, it seems all the extra rehearsals and script revisions have paid off as our annual mystery podcast topped the Luther Vandross tribute for the first time in the ratings. We think you’ll enjoy these three shows no matter your situation in life right now.

#3: Divabetic’s Annual Luther Vandross Tribute Podcast

We’re celebrating the musical legacy of Luther Vandross and raising awareness for diabetes health-related complications (such as vision loss) on Divabetic’s Annual Luther Vandross Tribute podcast.

Diabetic eye disease, caused by diabetes, is a leading cause of blindness and vision loss. Because of the high risk for eye disease, all people with type 2 diabetes should receive an annual dilated eye exam.

A 2019 Vision Source study of 1,000 U.S. consumers found that more than 50% had issues with their vision in the past year, and 34% did not go for a professional eye exam. The major barriers to having an annual eye exam included not thinking they needed one (33%), unsure of where to go (25%), lack of insurance, (22%) and expense (22%).

Comprehensive eye exams are key to overall wellness and preserving a high quality of life. In addition to evaluating vision, annual eye exams can detect serious health issues, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid disease, and even cancer.

Guests include Andre “Doctor Dre” Brown, Nat Adderley Jr.,  Dr. Khoshnevis, Danny Clay, and Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE.  Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from Luther Vandross’s album, ‘The Night I Fell In Love’ courtesy of SONY Music.

#2: Divabetic’s Mystery Podcast: Kill Me Madam

There’s a good indication that murder might be part of the recipe when Nantucket’s ten time reigning Baking Champion’s last name is ‘Coffin’. But resentment, greed and Britannia’s own bad dealings turn everyone into a suspect when she’s found dead in the parking lot just before the Annual Decadents on Deck! Bake Off competition is about to kick off.

Delusional baker and amateur sleuth Mr. Divabetic is even shocked to find himself being treated as a suspect in the case by the local police, after meeting her just once!

As if his life wasn’t crazy enough before, escaping a murderous mishap in New York and attempting a fresh start in Nantucket has turned into a complete and utter baking disaster, now Max, along with his friends and nosy mother, have to add tracking down a murderer to his To-Do list, as well.

Can our team hunt down the real murderer before they strike again? Will he become the next victim? Can Max ever manage to bake a cake that’s actually edible?

Divabetic’s Mystery podcast cast includes USA Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, MaryAnn Horst-Nicolay MEd, NDRT, Lorraine Brooks, Catherine Schuller, Wendy Radford, Coach The Cure‘s Trisha Artman, Mama Rose Marie, Seveda Williams, and Max ‘Mr. Divabetic’ Szadek. Produced by Leisa Chester-Weir.

Throughout the podcast we will be featuring music from the Broadway Cast Album of ‘Call Me Madam’ courtesy of SONY Music.

#1: Diabetes Late Nite Podcast Inspired by Angela Bofill

We’re talking about the symptoms, causes and prevention of stroke with musical inspiration from Angela Bofill.

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the US. As many as 5 to 14 percent of stroke survivors have a second stroke within one year.

With her strong, distinctive alto, Angela Bofill carved a niche as an outstanding interpreter of soul ballads and became a mainstay on the Quiet Storm radio format.

Angela Bofill suffered two strokes but neither stroke could take away her positive, humorous personality and her fighter spirit. After she lost the ability to sing, she returned to the stage for “The Angela Bofill Experience” in which she skillfully narrated her life story, while her band and other singers .

Podcast guests include Angela Bofill, Catherine Schuller, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, Neva White DNP, CRNP- BC, CDE, and Rose Hall from Tessie’s Teas.

Throughout the podcast we will feature music from Angela Bofill’s albums Angie and Angel of the Night courtesy of SONY Music.

Coming Up: Diabetes Late Nite Inspired by Aaliyah

We’re talking about a ‘New Year, New You‘ attitude about living with diabetes with musical inspiration from Aaliyah on Diabetes Late Nite scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, 2020.

Although Aaliyah died at the age of 22 and had a short music career due to her early passing, the singer’s music helped to redefine R&B, pop, and even hip-hop. And her legacy continues to live on. Her hard work ethic, creativity, and her sweet demeanor have inspired fans over the past two decades.

Diabetes Late Nite podcast guests include Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, Pendulum Glucose Control‘s Colleen Cutcliffe, Ph. D., CEO and co-founder of Pendulum Therapeutics and Virginia Valentine, APRN, BC-ADM, CDE, FAADE, Dr. Darren Wayne from MealBetix and Yoga For Diabetes Author Rachel Zinman.

Throughout the podcast we will be featuring music from Aaliyah’s Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number album courtesy of SONY Music.

Tune in over 140 Diva TalkRadio podcasts available for free on i-tunes (search ‘Divabetic’).

Diabetes Late Nite Podcast Inspired by Mariah Carey

We’re talking about ways to proceed with ‘CAUTION’ when coping with Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) with musical inspiration from Mariah Carey on Divabetic’s popular Diabetes Late Nite podcast.

Do you know living with type 2 diabetes puts you at greater risk for heart disease and stroke? Unfortunately most people don’t. We want to help you get CLUED INN and make a healthy comeback worthy of Mariah Carey.

Music critics agree that Mariah’s latest collection of songs not only maintains her status as one the best singer/songwriters in the game, but also eloquently displays her truth. She opens up about love, loneliness, and self-worth in a cautionary album that reminds us that she is still a force to be reckoned with after nearly three decades in the industry.

Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, 2015 AADE Diabetes Educator of the Year Susan Weiner, MS RDN CDE FAADE, Mama Rose Marie, Yoga For Diabetes Director & Author Rachel Zinman, WeAreEatNeat.com‘s Lloyd Owens, Type 2 Diabetes What To Know Community Moderator Nick Zevgolis, and the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach.

Throughout the podcast we will be playing music from Mariah Carey’s “CAUTION” courtesy of SONY Music.

Diabetes Late Nite is a fast-paced, full-filled show of diabetes education and wellness advice with a twist that Diabetes Forecast Magazine describes as “not your typical fare”.

 

Five-Step Journey to Your Stress-Free Zone By Rachel Zinman

In my experience, stress is one of the biggest challenges in diabetes management – physical, mental and emotional stress. When the body goes into hyper drive and stimulates the fight or flight response, the relaxed part of our nervous system is supposed to kick in and produce calm. In our 21st century society that rarely happens. Instead we spend over 80% of our time in the stress response and 20% calming things down. How can we push the reset button? How can we stop the cycle of reacting to every single physical, mental and emotional upset?

Rachel Zinman Yoga for Diabetes

Meditate. 

Think of meditation as being the same as concentration. When you concentrate on something, your mind is engaged. Rather than identifying with difficult thoughts, emotions or even experiences, the mind is immersed in the task at hand. When you read, you have to be there, otherwise you miss the thread of the story. When you perform any detailed task, you can’t think about anything else. Herbert Benson, a researcher who studied what he coined the ‘Relaxation Response’ discovered that test subjects focussed on a specific repetitive task with the intention of letting go of the thoughts of the mind, experienced a parasympathetic (relaxed) nervous system response. Even more profound was the understanding that the thoughts didn’t need to disappear for the body to relax. Meditation is not ‘stopping’ your thoughts. It’s about drawing the attention away from the thoughts consistently enough so that the body mind complex can relax, rest and reset. 

When students tell me, they can’t meditate because they can’t stop thinking, I assure them that nobody can stop thinking. Thoughts are like a screensaver. They remind us that we are awake. Thoughts are labels for things. Without these labels we wouldn’t have any way to differentiate the forms in creation. Without thoughts we wouldn’t be able to get by in the world. Rather than trying to control our thoughts or what we think of our thoughts, let’s become aware of the one having the thoughts. Who is that? What is that?

The Yoga tradition calls the nature of Self ‘wholeness, peace, love’ or any other word you want to use to describe that which is indescribable.

When we are relaxed and happy, there are no words.

One thing we can do to support our nervous system is to spend time in nature. According to a recent study just 1.5 hours a week spent in a forest, by the sea, in a community garden, anywhere away from concrete and glass is enough to replenish your system. But what if in a stressful moment you can’t go forest bathing?

Then the 5-element meditation is the next best thing.

Imagining and experiencing the elements in your mind’s eye not only evokes the relaxation response, it tricks the mind into thinking it’s in nature. Which ultimately it is. Whether we are in an office building or in our house in the suburbs we are still in the creation. Have you ever tried to get out of creation? Like leave in a spaceship? Impossible. Even in the far outer reaches of space you are still in creation. 

The 5-element meditation evokes all the senses as well. Each sense is connected to an element.

Space is connected to the sense of hearing

Air is connected to the sense of touch

Fire is connected to the sense of sight

Water is connected to the sense of taste

Earth is connected to the sense of smell

As you are led through each sense and its corresponding element feel their interconnection.

To practice the meditation, you don’t need special clothes, or to be in a special place. You can be sitting in your car, lying in your bed, any comfortable position is fine. You can even use this practice to calm and centre yourself while you’re waiting for your blood sugar to come up after treating a hypo. I use this meditation whenever I need to be present to the moment. After the practice I always feel more ready and able to deal with whatever diabetes and life throws my way.

CLICK HERE to join me for the audio version of the Mediation on Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast

The 5-element meditation

Find a comfortable seat and close your eyes

Become aware of your breath, notice the breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils. Notice whether the breath is cool or warm, notice the direction and force of the breath.

Become aware of the sounds around you – sounds of your breath, sounds in the room. After a few moments of listening reach and stretch your awareness to more distant sounds. Perhaps you can hear cars, birds, people talking. Keep reaching and stretching your awareness to the furthest sound. Noticing how sound travels through the medium of space. How space has no beginning or end. 

Become aware of the sensation of touch. Notice where your hands are touching your thighs or resting in your lap. Sense the clothing touching your skin, feel the air travelling across your skin. Notice the quality of air. Is it warm, cool, erratic or consistent? Notice the air going in and out of your nostrils. Sense all the different ways your body interacts with air. Notice how air is light, subtle and only experienced through the skin and the sense of touch.

Become aware of your closed eyes. Notice the light filtering through your closed eyelids. Keep your eyes closed and notice if you can see the colours and patterns there. In order to see we need light, the element of fire. But even with the eyes closed seeing continues. Think of all the forms we can see in our minds eye. Think about how we cannot imagine something we have no knowledge of. Fire is the element that enables us to see forms and differentiate forms either real or imagined.

Become aware of the taste on your tongue. You might also notice the saliva there. Take a swallow. Notice whether the taste is sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent or pungent. Notice where the taste sits on your tongue. Is it at the back? On the side? At the tip? In order to taste water must be present. Notice how the rhythm of your breath, the beating of your heart is governed by circulation of fluid through the system. 

Notice the smells around you. Can you smell one smell over another? In order to smell there has to be some gas rising from the earth or from something in the creation. The fragrance of a flower, the smell of pine needles, the spray from the ocean, the smell of a garden after rain. Try and take a moment to differentiate the smells. The element of earth also relates to our physical structure. Our bones, tissues and muscles.

Take a moment to focus on your position whether seated or lying down. Trace your mind from your sitting bones down to your feet. Wiggle your toes. Then moving from the feet up to the top of your head. Scan your whole body.

Notice how the body occupies the space – the space which is infinite, formless, empty and vast.

Come back to your breath. Notice what’s happening with your breath. Let the breath be exactly as it is.

Then slowly and when you are ready open your eyes and return to normal waking awareness.

Have a super wonderful day ☺

Yoga for Diabetes: How to Manage your Health with Yoga and Ayurveda

Rachel Zinman, is an internationally renowned yoga teacher and writer, was floored when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 42, despite her lifelong dedication to a healthy lifestyle which included a decades-long practice of yoga.   In ‘Yoga for Diabetes’, Rachel shares her personal journey and her hard-won wisdom gained from her own experience of yoga and diabetes.

Finally we have a book written by an accomplished yoga teacher with diabetes herself who points the way to regaining health and well-being for people of all ages and types of diabetes.

In Yoga for Diabetes, regardless of your current state of health, or type of diabetes, you can look forward to learning how to:

  • Reduce stress in minutes and thus improve your overall health index
  • Achieve healthier and more stable blood glucose levels
  • Find the secrets to adapting a yoga practice to suit your constitution and individual needs
  • Find deeper meaning in life and thus a holistic healing affecting multiple levels of your well-being
https://youtu.be/dtaHAgyC5b4
Yoga for Diabetes – Beginner Yoga Routine with Rachel Zinman

Divabetic’s ‘Wrapped In Red’ Holiday Gift Guide with Rachel Zinman

Kelly Clarkson‘s fabulous holiday album, Wrapped In Red, is the inspiration behind this year’s annual Divabetic Gift Guide. We asked our contributors to share their favorite ‘red’ gift suggestions for people living with diabetes on the Divabetic blog and Diabetes Late Nite podcast.

Our friend, Rachel Zinman, is an internationally renowned yoga teacher and writer, was floored when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 42, despite her lifelong dedication to a healthy lifestyle which included a decades-long practice of yoga.  

Rachel shares her favorite gift ideas for that special someone on your list who is living with diabetes and enjoys an active lifestyle!

https://www.senitaathletics.com/products/pocket-pants-burnt-red

“I’m a huge fan of Senita Athletics, “says Rachel Zinman. “Their clothes are comfy, sporty and their ethos is to provide durable, fashionable, and functional products at a fraction of the price of competitors. They also love to collaborate and helped raise awareness for diabetes on World Diabetes Day. Check out this red pocket pants. Great for storing your pump or PDM during exercise!”

https://superlovetees.com/search?q=everything+will+be+OK+hoodie

“I love this “ everything will be ok” hoodie from Super Love Tees,” says Rachel Zinman. “Everything they make is comfy and long lasting and their slogans are always uplifting and inspiring. Perfect for any time to remind ourselves that no matter what diabetes throws at us. We’ll be okay.”

3 Tips for De-Stressing Through the Holidays from Rachel Zinman

1. Take Some Slow Deep Breaths

Accessing the breath and learning to breathe fully and deeply is a priority as someone who lives with Diabetes but also perfect for the stress of the holiday season. Deep conscious breathing ‘called diaphragmatic breathing’ has a ton of benefits. 

• It engages the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for calming the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, regulating digestion, elimination and sexual function.

• The steady exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide feeds the lungs and at the same time clears out toxins

• Massages the internal organs

• Breathing through the nose filters the air so that what comes in is free of dust and debris

• Improves our ability to eliminate waste through the lymphatic system

Join Rachel in a simple breathing exercise here https://youtu.be/76oMCT8bmEs

2. Hum Like a Bee

This breathing technique is effective in instantly calming down the mind. It is one of the best breathing exercises to free the mind of agitation, frustration or anxiety and get rid of anger to a great extent. A simple technique, it can be practiced anywhere  and is an instant option to de-stress yourself.

The exhalation in this pranayama resembles the typical humming sound of a bee

• Sit up straight in a quiet, well ventilated corner with your eyes closed. Keep a gentle smile on your face

• Keep your eyes closed for some time. Observe the sensations in the body and the quietness within

• Place your index fingers on your ears. There is a cartilage between your cheek and ear. Place your index fingers on the cartilage

• Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out, gently press the cartilage. You can keep the cartilage pressed or press it in and out with your fingers, while making a loud humming sound like a bee

• You can also make a low-pitched sound but it is a good idea to make a high-pitched one for better results

• Breathe in again and continue the same pattern 3-4 times.

https://yogafordiabetesblog.com/

3. Practice the Mudra of the Inner Self

Mudras are gestures designed to calm the mind and emotions. Coined yoga of the hands they can be done anywhere any time. Perfect for those in between moments as you get ready for those holiday events

The mudra of the inner self is represented in the closed lotus bud. This mudra is perfect for inner contemplation. 

To practice the mudra:

Cross the wrists and turn the fingers to face each other making sure all the fingers of the left hand touch all the fingers of the right hand forming the shape of a closed lotus bud. As you hold the pose imagine a warm inner glow settling in your heart. 

Want to know more about mudras? VISIT: Yoga For Diabetes Blog

https://yogafordiabetesblog.com/about/
https://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Diabetes-Manage-Health-Ayurveda/dp/1939681766

In Yoga for Diabetes, regardless of your current state of health, or type of diabetes, you can look forward to learning how to:

  • Reduce stress in minutes and thus improve your overall health index
  • Achieve healthier and more stable blood glucose levels
  • Find the secrets to adapting a yoga practice to suit your constitution and individual needs
  • Find deeper meaning in life and thus a holistic healing affecting multiple levels of your well-being

Enjoy December’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast featuring holiday music from Kelly Clarkson. Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Kathy Gold  RN, MSN, CDE, FAADE, Glucose Delivery Necklace Co-Creator Kris Maynard, Dr. Sara (Mandy) Reece, PharmD, CDE, BC=ADM, BCACP, FAADE, Maria Sakowitz, MS, RDN, LDN, CLT, and the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach. LISTEN NOW