Diabetes Expert David Mendosa 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/17 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/103071/omega-3-tested Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:43:20 -0500 David Mendosa No wonder that I'm so healthy and happy lately! I just got back the results of my omega-3 test, and they were quite satisfactory. In December I wrote in "Testing Omega 3" about the HS-Omega-3 Index that uses a standardized methodology to measure the percentage of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in our red blood cells. It also measures the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6. In that article I gave a brief review of some of... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/103071/omega-3-tested http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/102703/omega-3-fatty-liver Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:57:32 -0500 David Mendosa Fatty liver disease is one of the most common complications of diabetes. About 50 to 70 percent of those of us who have diabetes may have this potentially dangerous complication. But now we may have a way to treat it and stopping it from progressing to liver failure.The first time I wrote about fatty liver was in 2005 when I had it myself. Fortunately, I have since been able to reverse it with diet and exercise.My late wife... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/102703/omega-3-fatty-liver http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/102255/testing-tests-a1c Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:23:07 -0500 David Mendosa Bayer Diabetes Care's A1CNow+ monitor for us to test our A1C level at home carries the highest certificate of accuracy. As I wrote here in June, the NGSP (formerly the National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program) certified this device as having documented traceability to the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial reference method, which established relationships between A1C levels and risk for complications of diabetes. The DCCT method is... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/102255/testing-tests-a1c http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/101976/glucocard-vital Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:36:16 -0500 David Mendosa For people with diabetes the so-called "vital signs" that health care people talk about have to include our blood glucose level. So I couldn't think of a better name for a blood glucose meter than "Vital." Arkray in Edina, Minnesota, seems to agree. At least that's what the call their new meter. You may not be familiar with Arkray, but it is the world's fifth largest manufacturer of diabetes self-monitoring systems. This company calls their new... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/101976/glucocard-vital http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/101511/prescription-card Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:47:48 -0500 David Mendosa A few days ago an Accu-Chek Aviva blood glucose meter arrived in my mail. The meter itself was nothing new. Three years ago when Roche Diabetes Care introduced the Aviva I wrote a glowing review of it, appropriately titled "Viva Aviva!" What is new is the smallest item in all those papers that accompany a new meter nowadays. It's a wallet-sized card that Roche calls the Accu-Chek Connect. This is one powerful little card! For some people it... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/101511/prescription-card http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/101174/broken-saturated Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:24:06 -0500 David Mendosa You won't read it in the mainstream press. But the most significant study ever of the effect of saturated fat on our hearts appeared Wednesday. In fact, I couldn't find any mainstream articles about it today. Not one of the four sources that I rely on heavily for leads to new studies has carried a word about this one. In fact, another source, Google News, instead turned up articles headlined like "Reduce your intake of saturated fats or suffer... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/101174/broken-saturated http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/100885/fit-fat Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:11:34 -0500 David Mendosa We can't be truly healthy if we are fat. That's the bottom line of study reported online December 28 before it's printed in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association.Previous studies seemed to show that something called "healthy obesity" might exist. They indicated that obese people who didn't have the metabolic syndrome -- a pre-diabetic condition -- weren't at increased risk of heart disease.But the new research... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/100885/fit-fat http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/100545/diabetes-rising Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:07:24 -0500 David Mendosa Diabetes Rising is a strange name for the most readable book ever written about diabetes. But diabetes is a strange disease, as Dan Hurley shows in the book that Kaplan published yesterday. The publisher sent me galley proofs of the new book several months ago. I've been waiting to review it until it became generally available. Of the hundreds of books on diabetes that publishers and authors send me every year, I don't usually review... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/100545/diabetes-rising http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/99915/strategies Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:27:08 -0500 David Mendosa "Please tell me where I can go for help for depression," a correspondent wrote me a few days ago. "I have had diabetes a long time, and I am so tired of everything. Can you point me in the right direction for some help?"I replied by suggesting five strategies that seem to work for me. For about two months after I had an emergency operation on October 1 while traveling, I wasn't a happy camper. A friend told me that general anesthesia... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/99915/strategies http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/99311/walking-destinations Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:30:28 -0500 David Mendosa This morning I got my exercise by shopping for food. After the weekend I didn't have anything in my apartment that I wanted to eat for lunch and dinner. So I walked about four and one-half miles to the nearest natural foods store, which is a Whole Foods Market. I picked up salad greens for lunch, grass-fed ground beef for dinner, and a few other items that I needed. Then, I walked back home with my groceries in my daypack. This was a winter... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/99311/walking-destinations