Health Expert Gretchen Becker shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. 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/profiles/c/5068/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/5068/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/5068/index http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/149849/testing-bg-type-2 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:34:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Here we go again!   It seems that every few years another group announces that blood glucose (BG) testing strips aren't useful in patients with type 2 diabetes who don't take insulin. Here's the latest.   Naturally, the insurance companies (or in Britain the National Health Service) want evidence for this so they can stop paying for strips.   I've blogged about this before, here, so I won't repeat all the arguments. But... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/149849/testing-bg-type-2 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/149436/metformin-cancer Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:00:34 -0500 Gretchen Becker I have two pieces of good news today.   First, I'm not going to blog about Paula Deen, whoever she is. I wasn't particularly surprised to learn she has diabetes . . . mostly because I'd never heard of her.   But here's the better news. More evidence that the drug metformin prevents cancer.   Well, I know I shouldn't use the word "prevent." It's the constant barrage of news in the popular press saying this food or that... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/149436/metformin-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/148375/weight-nagging Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:57:22 -0500 Gretchen Becker America is in the midst of an "obesity epidemic," and one of the ways to deal with it is to educate overweight people about the dangers of being overweight. That makes sense. Warn them of the dangers of being overweight and they'll be inspired to lose.   Except it doesn't work.   A 2011 study showed that after watching a video on "weight stigma," overweight women ate three times as much from a buffet as the overweight women who had... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/148375/weight-nagging http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/148024/wonderful-bite Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:05:47 -0500 Gretchen Becker People always say the first bite of anything is the best, and I recently had a good example of that.   I have apple trees on my place, but since embarking on a low-carb diet I've stopped making gallons of applesauce every fall. I do occasionally have a slice or two of apple after a meal, and it makes a nice change. But I don't spend time making the sauce.   Before Thanksgiving, however, I did make some applesauce from my Baldwin... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/148024/wonderful-bite http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/147488/metformin-cancer Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:52:51 -0500 Gretchen Becker I'll bet when you read that title, you thought, "Oh no! Another drug that has been linked with cancer."   But in this case, the opposite is true. There is some evidence that the drug metformin actually decreases your risks of breast cancer. The full article in PloS ONE cites references discussing metformin and other cancers. And here is a 2010 meta-analysis of metformin and various types of cancer. Interestingly, this study showed no... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/147488/metformin-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/147246/agave-scam Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:57:37 -0500 Gretchen Becker "But you can sweeten dishes with almond cream and agave nectar - most people will never taste the difference!" says diabetic chef Franklin Becker in an article on diabetic cooking in Time magazine.   Becker (no relation) explained how he'd controlled his type 2 diabetes in part by switching from sugar to "natural sweeteners."   Huh? Table sugar is natural. And the fact that something is natural doesn't make it benign. After all,... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/147246/agave-scam http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/146964/benefits-diabetes Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:07:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Diabetes can be . . . well, in case this is a family site, I'd better not write the words that first came to mind.   But sometimes, I realize how lucky I am to have this disease. I was reminded of this recently when I received in the mail a flyer from a national chain restaurant, illustrated by photographs of what they must have considered enticing meals.   Maybe there was a time I would have agreed. Maybe shortly after my type 2... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/146964/benefits-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/146579/protein-hunger Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:54:00 -0500 Gretchen Becker Are Americans eating too much food because we're not eating enough protein?   A recent study showed that when subjects ate a 10% protein diet instead of a 15% protein diet, they ate 12% more energy over four days. Most of the increased food intake was due to snacking. Eating a 25% protein diet caused no more eating than the 15% protein diet.   Protein consumption in America has decreased from 14% in 1961 to 12.5% in 2000, and this... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/146579/protein-hunger http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/145964/estrogen-weight Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:10:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Did you put on weight after menopause without any change in your lifestyle?   Did people tell you that you were probably eating more and exercising less without realizing it?   Did you think maybe you were going nuts?   Well, now a study has shown that this weight gain may not be your fault.   "When women approach menopause, they gain weight in fat and their energy expenditure goes down," says Deborah Clegg, the senior author... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/145964/estrogen-weight http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/144864/weight-vacations Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:07:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Do vacations cause havoc with your carefully controlled diets?   I recently returned from a vacation trip to Georgia, and when I weighed myself, I found I'd lost 2 pounds. I've concluded that I should take more vacations and try to get Medicare to pay for them, but I figure the chances of that are as small as the chance that I'll grow another 6 inches so my BMI is perfect.   Many people gain weight on vacations, but I do usually lose.... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/144864/weight-vacations