Diabetes Expert Gretchen Becker 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/5068 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/103136/genes-obesity Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:03:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker New genetic research has discovered that people missing a small portion of their DNA, about 30 genes, will become morbidly obese. The missing DNA was not found in any people of normal weight.   The affected people tended to be normal weight as toddlers, became overweight during their childhood, and then became severely obese as adults.   If you're overweight, it's unlikely that this research applies to you directly, as the... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/103136/genes-obesity http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/102307/treat-2-diabetes Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:26:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Traditionally, treatment of type 2 diabetes went something like this:   You're diagnosed and told to "watch your sugar," or you're told to lose weight and come back in a month, or three months. When you do, usually little has changed, because watching your sugar or trying to lose weight when you've been trying to lose weight for decades but haven't succeeded doesn't do much for most people.   Today things have improved a bit, and... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/102307/treat-2-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/97504/insulin-resistance Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:20:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which your body's own antibodies, for some unknown reason, attack your beta cells, destroying them and your ability to produce insulin. Insulin resistance (IR) is not involved.   Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which, for some unknown reason, you have IR coupled with defective beta cells that aren't able to overcome the increased demand for insulin caused by the IR. Autoimmunity is not... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/97504/insulin-resistance http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/95680/addiction-obesity Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:08:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Are we addicted to salt? Does that salt addiction cause obesity?   An interesting article in the journal Medical Hypotheses suggests that both are true.   Medical Hypotheses is a journal designed "to provide a forum for the presentation and criticism of ideas in medicine and the related biomedical sciences." In other words, it offers authors a chance to suggests hypotheses before they've been proved, to give readers an impression... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/95680/addiction-obesity http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/96333/cranberry-relish Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:02:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Cranberries. What would Thanksgiving be without them. It's delicious on the day itself, and it's also delicious with the leftover turkey we all eat for the next few days.   Unfortunately, the easy cranberry sauce, the stuff that comes in cans, is loaded with sugar. So what can we do?   Use our creativity, of course. If you have a family recipe for cranberry sauce, try making it with a sugar substitute.   Many people like... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/96333/cranberry-relish http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/94747/diabetes-research Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:39:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker [Humor]   It is with great excitement that I announce the creation of the coveted Becker Award for the Most Ho-Hum Research Published in the Recent Past (or BAMHHRPRP, pronounced "bamhhrprp").   The winner this month is a research study that showed that the caffeine in coffee interferes with sleep. Wow! I never knew that! I always thought people drank coffee as a sleep aid. I'm sure glad we have great scientific minds solving... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/94747/diabetes-research http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/93759/newly-diagnosed Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:14:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker You've recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and you don't know what you can eat.   One expert says you need to cut back on fat, but you can eat a lot of carbohydrate (starches and sugars). Another says you need to cut back on carbohydrate, and fat doesn't matter. A third says the important thing is the glycemic index. Your head is spinning. You may wonder why you can't seem to get a handle on all this.   Don't worry. You're... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/93759/newly-diagnosed http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/89512/test-blood-sugar Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:36:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker In the past several years, some reports have been published saying that self-testing of blood glucose (BG) by people with type 2 diabetes is useless, a waste of money, and simply increases rates of depression.   Needless to say, there were loud outcries by many of us with type 2 who know how useful self-testing can be. Without testing, how would we ever know which foods made our BG levels go up the most? How would we know if exercise... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/89512/test-blood-sugar http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/86887/metformin-cancer Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:52:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Many people see prescription drugs as a last resort. And there's some basis for this caution: most drugs have side effects, ranging from annoying to fatal.   However, not treating diseases also has side effects ranging from annoying to fatal. For example, we know that high blood glucose levels have serious side effects. So we always have to weigh the risks of a drug vs its benefits to determine whether we should or should not take that... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/86887/metformin-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/85120/overeat Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:07:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Why do we overeat?   When I say overeat, I don't mean we necessarily pig out on huge amounts of food all the time. Some thin people eat a lot more than some fat people, but their metabolism is such that they can burn off any excess calories as heat.   What I mean is that even if we don't eat a lot, we eat more than we need for the amount of exercise we get. Thus, the only way we can lose weight is to eat less, even if we're not... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/85120/overeat