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/5068/34313/pasta-effect Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:29:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Pasta is sometimes referred to as a low-glycemic-index (GI) or medium-GI food because the GI of many pastas are in the 40s or 50s, much lower than the GI of white bread or rice cakes. By way of comparison, the GI of sucrose (table sugar) is about 60, the GI of white bread is about 70, and the GI of white rice is about 65. The glycemic index is measured by giving volunteers enough of the test food to contain 50 g of carbohydrate and then... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/34313/pasta-effect http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/33552/media-hype Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:20:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Two recent news reports illustrate a problem I’ve discussed before: the fact that health news reporting is often misleading.     The news media pounce on some study showing a small effect of some food or supplement and tout it as if eating that substance (or not eating it) is going to prevent diabetes or heart disease or even cure it in people already diagnosed.     Quite often, some substance is reported to be... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/33552/media-hype http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/32426/excercising Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:25:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker   [Humor]   Everyone tells us we should get regular exercise. I'd like to be able to say that I play a couple of games of squash every day. But I don't. I would, of course, if I just had my own squash court, so it's not really my fault. It might also help if I knew how to play squash.   That's just one of the many excuses I can come up with for not exercising. In case you've run out of excuses yourself, here are a couple of... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/32426/excercising http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/31370/vegetables-obesity Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:50:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Vegetables are good for you, and the more veggies you eat, the healthier and thinner you'll be, right?   Well, the former is probably true, but the latter may not always be.   A Chinese study came up with the -- to Americans -- paradoxical finding that the more vegetables people ate, the fatter they were.   Why? Because the Chinese in this population in Jiangsu Province were stir-frying their vegetables in "generous"... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/31370/vegetables-obesity http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/30540/good-fat Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:20:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Fat is bad, right? I'm not talking about the fats we eat here. I mean the fat on your body. The less fat, the healthier you are. Everyone knows that.   But maybe everyone is wrong.   New research in the laboratory of C. Ronald Kahn at the Joslin Diabetes Center suggests that some fat, namely subcutaneous fat, may actually be healthy and may protect people from getting metabolic diseases like diabetes.   There are two... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/30540/good-fat http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/30193/insulin-treatment Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:25:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker Different physicians have different approaches to treating type 2 diabetes, but here's a common approach.   You're diagnosed, and you're overweight, so the doctor tells you to try to lose some weight and come back in three weeks, or three months, because the doctor says weight loss will improve your blood glucose (BG) levels.   Of course, you've most likely been trying to lose weight most of your life, without great success,... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/30193/insulin-treatment http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/29254/breakfast-problem Fri, 30 May 2008 08:25:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker I'm on a low-carbohydrate (LC) diet, and for some people who embark on this way of life, figuring out what to eat for breakfast is a big challenge.   It wasn't a problem for me, because years ago, long before my diagnosis, I had started eating meat and vegetables for breakfast. I couldn't figure out why we Americans thought we had to have special food for breakfast. Maybe we'd been brainwashed by the big cereal... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/29254/breakfast-problem http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/28009/what-we-want Mon, 19 May 2008 10:50:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker A US company has announced that they've produced metformin chewing gum that can be used in preliminary clinical trials.   The announcement is, of course, designed to make their stock go up. So they emphasized how terribly difficult it is for people to take metformin pills:   "Despite the fact that it is the most prescribed drug for Type 2, there are still millions who do not use it because of a variety of factors, including... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/28009/what-we-want http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/27626/growing-food Mon, 12 May 2008 12:40:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker [HUMOR]   Vegetables are going to be expensive this summer. And because vegetables, especially above-ground vegetables like greens, broccoli, and cauliflower, are the mainstay of a healthy diabetic diet, everyone who is able should have a vegetable garden this summer.   I've just finished cutting back the old canes on my raspberry bushes (and have a couple of jagged scratches across my face where a belligerent raspberry cane... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/27626/growing-food http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/27271/metformin-kidneys Wed, 07 May 2008 16:15:00 -0400 Gretchen Becker The drug metformin is not recommended for people with kidney disease. For this reason, some people think that metformin causes kidney disease. But new evidence suggests that metformin might actually protect the kidneys.   For many people with type 2 diabetes, metformin is a very effective drug. In everyone, the liver is a sort of "mother" organ. When blood glucose (BG) levels go down, the liver releases some glucose into the blood... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/5068/27271/metformin-kidneys