By Janis Roszler, MSFT, RD, CDE, LD/N For years, experts thought people with apple-shaped bodies had greater worries. Fat stored in the stomach area puts them at a higher risk for health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. They also believed that pear-shaped folks, who stored their fat in the buttocks, thighs and hips, were protected from these health issues. However, a recent study shows that the belief about pear-shaped people may not be correct. In the study, experts found that both pear-shaped and apple-shaped people had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, such as high fasting blood glucose, high blood pressure and lower HDL “good” cholesterol levels, that can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Fat stored in the buttocks, thigh and hip area doesn’t just sit there. It’s active and releases two proteins: chemerin and omentin-1. People with high chemerin levels also tend to have high blood pressure, increased insulin resistance, increased signs of inflammation, high triglycerides and lower levels of HDL cholesterol. Those with low levels of omentin-1 had high triglycerides, a high blood glucose level and a low level of HDL cholesterol. Where does your body put any extra weight you gain? Does it end up in your stomach area so you appear round, like an apple? Or does it head over to your buttocks, thigh and hip areas, so you look more like a pear: smaller at the top and rounder at the bottom? KEYS TO WEIGHT LOSS If you carry extra weight in either your stomach or your buttocks, hips and thighs, losing weight will lower your chemerin level, which in turn, reduces your risk of metabolic syndrome and heart disease. Losing weight isn’t always easy, but it can be done. The National Weight Loss Registry is a list of people who lost a minimum of 30 pounds and have kept the weight off for at least one year. As a pear or an apple, you may be tempted to do belly-focused or butt-focused exercises to reduce the fat stores in these areas. While spot-focused exercises can help tone and strengthen muscle, they don’t reduce the fat in those areas. Your best bet is to focus on the health of your entire body. GET YOUR Zs People who sleep fewer than seven hours a night or more than nine hours a night are more likely to gain weight than people who sleep seven or eight hours a night. If you are worried about your growing belly, increase your soluble fiber intake. Research shows that people who consume 10 g of this type of fiber every day store less fat in their belly area. Food sources include nuts, beans, dried peas, flaxseeds, lentils, oatmeal, oat cereals and oat bran, psyllium, carrots, celery, cucumbers, apples, pears, blueberries and strawberries.     It really doesn’t matter what shape you have: Just focus on becoming a healthier you.

The post Should You Care if You’re an Apple or a Pear? appeared first on Fall 2016 Issue | CDiabetes Online Magazine.

By Martha Funnell, MS, RN, CDE Planning for your Golden Years is something you can do when you are having a bad day or you are feeling overwhelmed by all you need to get done. One of the ways most people plan for their senior years is by saving money so they can be secure and have financial resources to do what they want. While having the resources you need is important, most people dream about being healthy enough to do what they want to do in their Golden Years. Just like you need to start saving your money well before retirement, there are also steps you can take now to ensure your good health in the future. THE FOUR STEPS TO STAYING HEALTHY AS YOU AGE A large study showed that there are four steps to help middle aged people stay healthy as they get older. 1. Eat fruits and vegetables. 2. Exercise. 3. Drink alcohol moderately. 4. Don’t smoke. You've heard about these four steps for many years. What’s new is that this study showed how the more you stick to the four steps, the greater the benefit in terms of staying healthier, longer. When people reach middle age, they often think about how to spend their Golden Years. Most of us picture those years as a time when we get to do all the things we enjoy but don’t have time to do when work, family and other day-to-day tasks keep us busy. LIVE LONGER WITH DIABETES Although this study was not specifically about people with diabetes, the good news is that the four steps to staying healthy as you age can also help you manage your diabetes and avoid diabetes problems over the long term. OVERCOMING OBSTACLES As part of your diabetes care, you and your healthcare provider probably set an A1C goal—often less than 7 percent. But it can be hard to reach your target A1C because obstacles can get in the way. For example: maybe you are not able to take the medicines you need, or you have side effects from your medicines. Or, maybe you have other health problems. In addition, try not to get discouraged if you are taking steps to stay-ing healthy and you don’t see immediate improvements in your A1C level. It can take time for the changes in your A1C level to catch up with your healthy-living efforts. If your A1C is not at your target, talk to your healthcare provider about changes you can make in your treatment plan to help you get there. THE GOLDEN YEARS So what do these studies mean for you and your Golden Years? Working to manage your diabetes and keeping yourself healthy today will pay off in the future, making your Golden Years as good as gold. 50% A study of adults with an average age of 62, showed that people with type 2 diabetes who were able to lower their A1C levels by about 1% over five years were 50% less likely to die during that time than people whose A1C did not improve. They were also 50% less likely to have heart disease.

The post Planning For The Golden Years appeared first on Fall 2016 Issue | CDiabetes Online Magazine.

By Erin Palinski-Wade RD, LDN, CDE   When it comes to controlling your blood glucose, you have probably researched the impact of everything from food, to exercise, to weight control. But have you looked into how spices may impact it? Cinnamon is a spice that doesn’t just add great flavor to foods; it may help to lower blood glucose as well. The best benefit it offers is that it’s all-natural and considered safe for most people with diabetes. Does it sound too good to be true? In Medieval times, cinnamon was used for medicinal purposes thanks to its high antioxidant properties. Research now shows us that it may be a powerful player in the fight against diabetes. Cinnamon may help to lower blood glucose levels by decreasing insulin resistance. When your cells become resistant to insulin, the glucose-lowering hormone in your body, they do not allow insulin to carry glucose into your cells. This results in glucose remaining in your bloodstream and rising over time, eventually leading to diabetes. Both whole cinnamon and extracted cinnamon have been shown to lower blood glucose levels. Cinnamon has also been shown to help reduce unhealthy LDL cholesterol levels and blood pressure, both of which are conditions that can increase your risk of heart disease. One down side is that everything that Mother Nature puts into the cinnamon plant also ends up in the finished product. This includes water soluble as well as fat soluble compounds. Our bodies have no problem processing water soluble compounds, but fat soluble compounds tend to be stubborn for our bodies to digest. When choosing a form of cinnamon, we suggest you look for a water extracted concentrate without the fat soluble compounds. Water extracted forms can maximize the health benefits, while minimizing the risks of fat soluble buildup. The extraction process allows the beneficial water soluble components of cinnamon to stay, providing you with the same health benefits of whole cinnamon in a much smaller portion. When looking for water extracted cinnamon, it’s important that you read the label and look specifically for the term “water extracted.” Because it is more concentrated, you can take fewer capsules to get all the health benefits of cinnamon. This may be more practical than trying to incorporate large amounts of whole cinnamon into your meal plan. CinSulin Water-extracted cinnamon is backed by five human clinical studies, all of which are double blind, peer reviewed and published. In addition, UC Davis completed a meta analysis to validate the results of these human clinical studies. They found support that water extracted cinnamon lowered fasting blood glucose an average of 10%. If you are considering using cinnamon to help control blood glucose levels, make sure you discuss this with your certified diabetes educator or other healthcare provider. If you use cinnamon in combination with other medicines or supplements that also lower glucose levels, you may increase your risk of hypoglycemia. Your healthcare provider can work with you to make sure you incorporate cinnamon into your diabetes treatment plan in a way that works best for you.

The post How Water Extracted Cinnamon Can Improve Your Blood Glucose Control appeared first on Fall 2016 Issue | CDiabetes Online Magazine.

By Staci Gulbin, MS, MEd, RD, LDN   Keeping your blood glucose levels under control can be hard to do when you’re busy, especially if you count carbs as part of your balanced meal plan. You may not always have time to count carbs when you have to grab something fast at work, or while running errands. At these times, meal replacements may be just the help you need to keep your blood glucose levels on track. What is a meal replacement? The most common types of meal replacement are protein bars and shakes. Over the years, these products have become much better tasting. You can get them in a variety of flavors and forms. Products that are 150 calories or less are considered a snack replacement, while those that have 200 calories or more are considered full meal replacements. Snack replacements can be paired with a veggie or fruit serving to create a small meal. Most meal replacements are low in carbohydrates, and have a healthy amount of fiber and protein. How can meal replacements improve my health? One of the biggest challenges to leading a healthy lifestyle is not having enough time to make healthy meals and snacks. Meal replacements, which usually require little to no prep time, can provide you with plenty of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and calories to keep you full for a few hours. Having a healthy balance of fiber-rich carbohydrate and protein every three to four hours can help prevent blood glucose highs and lows, and stop you from craving unhealthy foods. Over time, this can help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. If you are having a hard time keeping up a healthy lifestyle, meal replacements may help you get back on track. Here are some ways you can add meal replacements to your day: Keep a meal replacement on hand to prevent overeating. Having a filling meal replacement when you are invited on a last minute outing with friends, or when you are craving sweets, can help you avoid giving in to temptation. Keep a protein bar in your bag. Whether you’re running late, stuck in traffic, or have errands to run and not enough time, a protein bar is a great way to keep your blood glucose balanced. Glucerna makes chocolate chip and peanut chocolate chip meal replacement bars, as well as 80-calorie snack bars in oatmeal raisin, chocolate caramel, and chocolate peanut flavors. The best part? They only have about 11 carbohydrates per serving. Try a protein-based shake or fruit drink for a quick and refreshing breakfast. Meal replacement shakes and drinks are great breakfast substitutes for those who usually skip breakfast. Glucerna meal replacement shakes are made just for people with diabetes, and come in delicious flavors like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and butter pecan. Glucerna shakes are 8 ounces each, and have 190 calories, 23 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, and 10 grams of protein. Glucerna also makes Hunger Smart brand shakes in vanilla and chocolate, which are higher in protein and only 140 calories.

The post Meal Replacements Can Help You Manage Diabetes on the Go appeared first on Fall 2016 Issue | CDiabetes Online Magazine.

By Martha Funnell, MS, RN, CDE THE LOOK-AHEAD STUDY More than 5,000 people with type 2 diabetes from around the country took part in the government study, called “Look-AHEAD” (Action for Health in Diabetes). They were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group was assigned to a very intensive lifestyle program, while the other group was assigned to a standard diabetes education and support group program. Each group received the intervention for three years and was monitored for weight and other measures of blood glucose control, heart health and fitness. At the end of 11 years, the rate of heart attacks and strokes was the same in the two groups, and the study was stopped because it was felt that the question had been answered. What does this mean for you? Does it mean that all of your hard work has been for nothing? Well, like most things in the news, there is more to the story than meets the eye. You might have been surprised if you saw the recent headline or heard on the news that weight loss in type 2 diabetes does not prevent heart disease. The headlines were about a large, government-sponsored study designed to find out if people with type 2 diabetes who lost a modest amount of weight would have fewer heart attacks and strokes. THE CLEARER PICTURE The good news from the Look-AHEAD study is that the rate of heart attacks, strokes, hospital stays and deaths from these events was lower in both groups than expected. Being more aware and being closely monitored appears to have some benefit. However, researchers have only compared the people in the intensive intervention group with those in the education group so far. And while the intensive group, lost weight on average, it is likely that not everyone in that group lost weight. They have not yet compared people who lost weight with those who did not lose weight. It is possible those in the intensive lifestyle group who had heart attacks and strokes were those who did not lose weight. So stay tuned as the researchers more closely examine a lot of additional information. Remember that headlines are written to entice you to read more. Going beyond the headlines to get the facts helps you to make informed decisions—especially when it comes to your health. People with diabetes who only lost a modest amount of weight still had better blood glucose levels, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and were able to take fewer diabetes and blood pressure medicines. LOOK-AHEAD Study Summary ? The average weight loss for people in the intensive lifestyle intervention group was about 10 percent of their body weight at one year and 5 percent at the end of the study. ? There were benefits—even with this modest amount of weight loss. People had better blood glucose levels, as measured by A1C, along with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They were able to take fewer diabetes and blood pressure medicines, as well. As you know, keeping your blood glucose and blood pressure closer to normal helps to reduce your risk for the other long-term complications of diabetes. ? The people in the intensive lifestyle group also had less sleep apnea, were more fit, more mobile and had a better quality of life.

The post Losing Weight: Is It Worth The Effort? appeared first on Fall 2016 Issue | CDiabetes Online Magazine.