Diabetes Expert GingerVieira shares Diabetes management news and commentary at MyDiabetesCentral.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/67166/disease-diabetes Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:22:00 -0400 GingerVieira Hi - I'm Ginger...I usually write over at HealthCentral's site for teens with Diabetes.   I've had Type 1 diabetes for 10 years, and Celiac disease for 9 years. I am a personal trainer, yoga instructor, writer and soon-to-be competitive powerlifter. If you have diabetes, you should be tested for celiac disease. Period.   What is celiac disease? Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten- the protein found in flour, rye, and... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/67166/disease-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/17262/tickets-wrong Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:17:00 -0500 GingerVieira My friend told me a story about this kid with diabetes in his sixth grade class. Apparently, this student wasn't held responsible for any misbehavior because when his blood sugar was high, he wasn't able to control his actions.   Now, I think we can all mostly agree that this is kind of ridiculous, right?   He explained how he got in the fight with this kid one day (normal typical sixth grade fight) and while my friend was... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/17262/tickets-wrong http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/16922/diabetic-holiday Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:43:00 -0500 GingerVieira   Okay, so the Holidays are here. We all survived Thanksgiving. I spent mine with a friend's family (because my parents live across the country now) and I spent much of the time trying to both entertain and escape a swarm of young children.... But let me assure you, I had my share of Thanksgiving desserts and it was too much.   Now Christmas is coming. And the thing about Christmas is that we don't seem to just celebrate... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/16922/diabetic-holiday http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/16504/stress-factor Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:41:00 -0500 GingerVieira Did you know that being mentally/physically stressed can have a huge impact on your blood sugars and your insulin sensitivity?  I had a lot of trouble with my blood sugars during my junior year of college, and when I explained to my doctor how stressful everything had been (school life, personal life, work life) she explained to me how stress makes your body very insulin-resistant. So the insulin I was taking was literally less powerful... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/16504/stress-factor http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/16038/lets-practice Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:59:00 -0500 GingerVieira I decided I'm just going to practice being diabetic from now.  The word "practice" implies I don't have it all figured out yet. I'm not a professional. I'm not perfect. I can mistakes -- in fact, it's expected that I'll make mistakes, because I'm just practicing.   There can be a huge amount guilt associated with being diabetic. Every blood sugar reading is either a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. We... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/16038/lets-practice http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/15389/challenge Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:17:00 -0400 GingerVieira Imagine a world where you don't crave sweets after dinner. Can't do it? Neither can I.  So, I recently started body-building training seriously with a personal trainer... and one of the first things he asked me to do was keep track of the food I ate for three days.  So I did -- and I was honest about it. I wrote down the Hershey's chocolate I ate on Thursday and the low-fat ice cream I ate on Friday and Saturday. When... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/15389/challenge http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14789/diabetes-wagon Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:25:00 -0400 GingerVieira Don't you love it when you're doing everything a great diabetic should be doing?   You're checking your blood sugars when you wake up in the morning, before bed, and before every meal -- maybe even an hour afterward, too. You're taking your insulin on time and counting all your carbs and avoiding French fries and ice cream and pizza. And you're even going to the gym every morning and taking the stairs when you've... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14789/diabetes-wagon http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14451/team-type Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:00:00 -0400 GingerVieira This summer, a group of cyclists raced more than 3,000 miles -- from California to New Jersey -- over a span of five days, 15 hours and 43 minutes. The group beat out seven other teams, all vying to win the Race Across America Relay. Each of the team members also has type 1 diabetes. Phil Southerland, diagnosed with diabetes at only 7 months of age, founded Team Type 1, which has made headlines for its effort to empower those with... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14451/team-type http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14449/id-diabetes Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:43:00 -0400 GingerVieira Now, nobody ever said diabetes was easy, but of all the issues people deal with in their lives-everything from abuse to alcoholism to leukemia --I'd gladly choose diabetes.   An article was recently published reporting that many diabetics would rather give up 8 to 10 years of their life than have to be diligent about their diabetes health care. And while I fully understand that diabetes can be exhausting considering it's really a... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14449/id-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14130/ocd-part-ii Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:28:00 -0400 GingerVieira There was a lot of discussion and commenting after the last blog, which I wrote about the benefits of being, well, kind of strict about food and exercise and scheduling. Thanks for the feedback! It was fun to read and I appreciated all of it!   I wanted to clear up a few questions and issues that I had really not covered in the article itself that were brought up in your comments.   One reader thought I was being way too strict,... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/114/14130/ocd-part-ii