Health Expert Ginger Vieira 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/27511/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/27511/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/27511/index http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/116510/ginger-listen Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:31:32 -0400 Ginger Vieira Hi Ginger,   I'm 16, I've had diabetes since I was 7 years old and I do a pretty good job with it. I'm not perfect, but I really do try to take care of it. Last time I was in the doctor's office she told me I should adjust my insulin dose a certain for my insulin boluses at lunch time but I don't think she really was listening to why I was having trouble. I had another idea but I didn't even really get to ask her about it. I know she's... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/116510/ginger-listen http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/115526/sugars-weight Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:38:54 -0400 Ginger Vieira One of the very important things I don't noticed being emphasized very often from doctos or diabetes educators, is the very clear fct that the more ups and downs you see in your blood sugar, the more ilkely you are to gain weight. There are a lot of physiological reasons for this, and I'll go into them a bit here...but the most important part of understanding this fact is that it just might add a little motivation to your efforts to keep that... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/115526/sugars-weight http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/114711/diabetes-yeah Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:58:15 -0400 Ginger Vieira Before you roll your eyes at the title of Bob Hawkinson’s book on living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, consider his idea for a moment: “The Joy of Diabetes.” There could be joy…like…happiness in living with diabetes?   You might say, “Oh, puhh-leeeze.”   But I hear where Bob is coming from and while I read his book, “The Joy of Diabetes,” I found myself smiling! Now,... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/114711/diabetes-yeah http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/113546/live-diabetes Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:11:13 -0400 Ginger Vieira You know that silly game you play with your friends (or you watch your kids play with their friends)..."Would you rather marry Will Smith and be rich and famous, or find your soulmate and be happy forever and ever?"   "Would you rather live with diabetes or...."   See, I have a theory, maybe its more of a belief, that no one in this world lives a life that is free of different kinds of difficulty, pain, suffering,... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/113546/live-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/113245/august-project Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:11:53 -0400 Ginger Vieira Well, here we go, summer has pretty much started. For the past couple of weeks I noticed I was slipping into some bad habits of eating more sugary junk food (ie: chocolate and ice cream) than normal, and my blood sugars were starting to reveal this.   Nothing starts the day off worse than waking up with a blood sugar over 200 mg/dL. When I wake up with an in-range blood sugar, it makes me so happy. It puts a hop in my step as I get ready... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/113245/august-project http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/112131/tuanalyze-a1c Thu, 20 May 2010 22:21:08 -0400 Ginger Vieira TuDiabetes.com and the Children's Hospital of Boston have teamed to create and launch "TuAnalyze."   TuAnalyze is a new application that allows anyone across the country to submit their Hemoglobin A1C numbers. The A1Cs submitted will then be tracked on a map of the United States to show the average A1C in that area of the country!   This is incredibly cool for many reasons. The main reason that comes to my mind is that while we all... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/112131/tuanalyze-a1c http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111544/diabetes-blog Thu, 13 May 2010 08:09:00 -0400 Ginger Vieira Well, I've definitely gone in both directions. As a powerliftter, I had to carb-it-up, because my muscles needed a decent amount of carbs in order to repair and rebuild and grow stronger. But for the year before I began powerlifting I had really learned about and focused on eating a low-carb, low-glycemic diet, and I felt awesome.Yes, you can balance your diabetes and eat low carb, and some people have no trouble managing their weight and... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111544/diabetes-blog http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111457/blog-supporter Wed, 12 May 2010 07:28:00 -0400 Ginger Vieira My biggest "diabetes supporter" by far is my best friend, Tara. She has really only known me for two years but she knows more about my diabetes than people who have been my friends for ten years. This is purely because she's made a real effort to listen and understand it.   When I'm frustrated about my blood sugars or something funny happened with my insulin-whatever-I can tell the story to Tara as if she were a fellow diabetic, because I... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111457/blog-supporter http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111407/diabetes-treat Tue, 11 May 2010 15:06:00 -0400 Ginger Vieira How do you treat your lows? What do you like to indulge in? Etc.   To be honest, my favorite way to treat a low is with the most bland, un-enjoyable source of carbohydrates. I use a juice box or cheap glucose tabs—neither of which taste good to me, in fact, yuck!—but I use things I don’t like to treat my lows in order to prevent me from overeating them. If I don’t have juice or tabs around (which is rare since I... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111407/diabetes-treat http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111307/diabetes-week Mon, 10 May 2010 11:15:42 -0400 Ginger Vieira I just recently became aware that today is Diabetes Blog Week thanks to fellow blogger "Diabetes Goddess" and her latest blog.   A Day In The Life as Ginger with Diabetes...   Well, I begin every morning usually around six, and after I brush my teeth, I check my blood sugar. My first goal of the day is to get my overly energized puppy into the woods to burn off some energy, so my morning blood sugar has gotta be ready for a 45... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/27511/111307/diabetes-week