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Portion Size Matters
A "portion" can be thought of as the amount of a specific food you choose to eat for dinner, snack, or other eating occasion. Portions, of course, can be bigger or smaller than the recommended food servings. A "serving" is a unit of measure used to describe the amount of food recommended from each food group. It is the amount of food listed on the Nutrition Facts panel on packaged food or the amount of food recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. For example, six to 11 servings of whole grains are recommended daily. A recommended serving of whole grains would be one slice of bread or 1/2 cup of rice or pasta. People often confuse the recommendation to mean six to 11 portions with no regard to size. It is not six to 11 portions where one portion could mean a large bowl of pasta rather than 1/2 cup. Keep an eye on portion size to see how your portions compare with the recommended servings. Learn more about keeping portions in check:
Exercising Caution When You Have Diabetes Karen Schroeder, MS, RD
If you have diabetes, exercise can help keep blood sugar under control and promote good health. However, there are precautions you should know about. While exercise is beneficial because it can lower your blood sugar level, it can also be dangerous for the same reason. Exercise can lead to hypoglycemia—a quick drop in blood sugar. Living with type 1 diabetes requires a balance of eating, exercising, and insulin usage in order to keep blood sugar levels within a desirable range. People without diabetes rarely give blood sugar a thought. This is because the pancreas automatically produces insulin to escort sugar out of the bloodstream and into body cells for use. Insulin production is naturally matched with the amount of sugar in the blood to keep levels stable. However, with type 1 diabetes your body does not produce insulin. Therefore, you must take over as the regulator of blood sugar. This is an important job, as both high and low blood sugar levels can have serious health consequences. In type 2 diabetes, your body produces insulin, but it either can’t use it properly or doesn’t make enough. People who manage type 2 diabetes with meal planning and exercise usually do not have problems with hypoglycemia. But if you use insulin injections, you may be at risk for exercise-induced hypoglycemia. During exercise, your muscles take up sugar from the bloodstream to convert into energy. Such usage can decrease blood sugar to dangerously low levels (70 mg/dL to 90 mg/dL depending on the meter used; check with your doctor). This hypoglycemia can occur quickly. Symptoms include shakiness, dizziness, sweating, headache, hunger, pale skin, sudden moodiness, clumsy movements, confusion, and tingling around the mouth. Severe hypoglycemia can result in unconsciousness or seizures. But don’t let the risk of hypoglycemia keep you from the many benefits of exercise. With a few precautions, you can reestablish the balance of food, exercise, and insulin. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Joslin Diabetes Center recommend these guidelines for safely incorporating exercise into your lifestyle: Your health care team can personalize your exercise goals. If you are over age 35, have had diabetes for more than ten years, or have other cardiac disease risk factors, your doctor will do an exam and some testing to determine what type of exercise is safe for you. Schedule exercise at the same time each day. The best time is one to three hours after a meal. This is when blood sugar levels are highest, and the risk of hypoglycemia is lowest. Check your blood sugar before, during, and after exercise, and record these numbers. You and your health care team can use these readings to determine any changes in your insulin dose; with regular exercise, your need for insulin may decrease. Before exercise, check your blood sugar twice: 30 minutes before and a few minutes before. This way, you’ll see if your blood sugar is decreasing. If it is dropping or it is 100 mg/dL or less, have a small snack and wait for blood sugar to return to normal. People with type 2 diabetes may be advised to avoid extra snacking, because it may interfere with weight loss (ask your doctor). If your blood sugar is high—250 mg/dL or more—do not exercise. Instead, check your urine for ketones. Do not exercise until both blood sugar and ketone levels return to normal. During exercise, check every 30 minutes. If blood sugar levels drop too much (ask your doctor what level is too low), stop exercising and have a snack. Also be aware of high levels. Ask your doctor when to check for ketones and how best to manage high blood sugar. After exercise, check again. If your exercise session is long, check regularly for several hours after, as blood sugar may continue to drop. Always have blood testing equipment, insulin, and high-carbohydrate snacks with you. Good snacks include juice, soft drinks, glucose tablets or gel, raisins, or hard candy. If hypoglycemia is a recurring problem, ask your doctor about a glucagon injection kit to treat a severe case. Carry a water bottle and drink often. If you have eye damage (retinopathy), avoid high-impact exercise that involves straining or jarring such as racquet sports, jogging, and lifting heavy weights. Better choices include walking, swimming, riding a stationary bike, and lifting light weights. Also, you may want to exercise indoors in a well-lit gym. To protect your feet, check for blisters or other changes after every workout. Choose low-impact activities such as swimming and cycling, rather than high-impact ones such as jogging or step exercises. Buy footwear appropriate for the sport and well fit to your feet. Wear clean, smooth-fitting socks (made with synthetic fibers, not all cotton). The many benefits of exercise, from reduced stress and decreased risk of diabetes-related complications to overall better health far outweigh the inconvenience of the precautions. So find an activity you enjoy and get moving!
Too Little Sleep May Pack on Pounds
Study links insufficient slumber to obesity By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter  MONDAY, Jan. 10 (HealthDayNews) -- It sounds like the best diet plan of all time -- sleep more, weigh less. It could be a reality, say researchers who have produced more evidence linking less sleep to obesity. The findings, which appear in the Jan. 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, don't say which came first -- sleepy people or fat people. But study co-author Dr. Robert Vorona, an assistant professor of sleep medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, suspects that lack of sleep sets off hormonal changes that affect appetite. "It's very possible that, over the long haul, restrictions in sleep could dispose you to obesity," Vorona said. He acknowledged that his theory is a bit odd, especially considering that people use more energy when they're awake. "It's counterintuitive that restricting sleep should lead to obesity, that sleeping more should make you more apt to lose weight," he said. "That doesn't sound like it makes sense." Other researchers are on the same track, however. "There's a mounting body of evidence that suggests the systems that regulate sleep and appetite are linked," said Dr. Joseph Bass, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine who studies sleep. Vorona and his colleagues first became interested in the link between sleep and obesity after reading that insufficient sleep disrupts the body's endocrine system, which regulates hormone levels. Vorona said they decided to launch a study to see if weight was affected, too. The researchers surveyed 1,001 people from southeastern Virginia about their sleep habits. They also checked where the subjects landed on the body-mass index scale, which uses a mathematical formula to indicate whether a person is of normal weight, overweight, obese or severely obese. The typical subject was 48 years old and obese. The researchers found that people of normal weight got more sleep than their overweight and obese counterparts, by an average of 16 minutes per night, or 1.9 hours a week. The research reflected previous studies in Japan that linked lack of sleep to obesity in children, Vorona said. Oddly, this latest study found that severely obese people actually got more sleep than other people. According to Vorona, this may be because their bodies are more likely to produce sleep-inducing chemicals. The next step, Vorona said, is to launch more definitive studies that will closely track how much people sleep each day -- instead of relying on their own memories -- and examine changes in sleep and obesity levels over time. He hopes to "get funding to see if extending sleep really does help people lose weight effectively." It's possible that further research into the link between insufficient sleep and obesity may explain why shift workers -- who often don't get enough sleep -- are more likely to develop diabetes, said Bass, who wrote a commentary that accompanied Vorona's study. "Sleep is a fascinating, enigmatic process," Bass said. "We kind of hand-wave at it as physicians, and maybe we shouldn't." More information Get the myths and facts about sleep from the National Sleep Foundation.
SOURCES: Robert Vorona, M.D., assistant professor, sleep medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk; Joseph Bass, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago; Jan. 10, 2004, Archives of Internal Medicine
Last Updated: Jan-10-2005 Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved. |
Managing Diabetes
Friends Help Friends Fight Temptation 12/24/2004
What do you say to a friend who tempts you with foods you shouldn't eat, especially when they say that a little bit won't hurt? Be sure your friends understand why you don't want to eat what they're offering. Be as specific as you can. Maybe you're afraid of high glucose, or worried you won't be able to stop after eating a little bit. Or it could be that you simply don't want anything to eat. Whatever your reason, give it. That should stop your friends from tempting you. If they keep it up, see if you can find some written material that might get through to them. Your health care provider may have some suggestions. Or, take your friends to a diabetes support group meeting where they're sure to hear that your feelings about being tempted are shared by other people who have diabetes.
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 Chocolate Chip Cookies
We had to include a special recipe for this all-time favorite cookie. Although there are many variations, we found this version to be a hit with crispy, cake-like, and chewy chocolate chip cookie lovers alike. Number of servings: 36
Serving size: 1 cookie Ingredients:
Name
| Measure
| | all-purpose flour | 1 1/2 cups | | baking soda | 1/2 tsp | | salt | 1/4 tsp | | stick margarine | 1/2 cup | | powdered sugar | 1/2 cup | | firmly packed light brown sugar | 1/4 cup | | egg | 1 | | unsweetened applesauce | 1/4 cup | | low-fat (1%) milk | 2 tbsp | | vanilla extract | 2 tsp | | chocolate chips | 1/2 cup | | nonstick cooking spray | |
Preparation Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. 2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the margarine until fluffy. Add the sugars, egg, applesauce, milk, and vanilla and beat 1 minute. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until combined, about one minute. Stir in the chocolate chips. 4. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake until lightly browned, 14-16 minutes. Remove and cool on a baking rack Exchanges Per Serving
1/2 Carbohydrate
1/2 Fat
Nutrition Information
Amount per serving
Calories 72
Calories from Fat 31
Total Fat 3 g
Saturated Fat 1 g
Cholesterol 6 mg
Sodium 66 mg
Total Carbohydrate 10 g
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Sugars 6 g
Protein 1 g
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Earth's Easiest Exercise
Walking can add years to your life and life to your years. And it couldn't be easier. You don't need to join a health club, wear special equipment or go into training to reap the rewards. Walking conditions your heart and lungs and raises your body's ability to use oxygen more efficiently. Fact: In one study, women who walked briskly (3-4 miles per hour) at least three hours a week cut their risk of heart attack and stroke by more than half. Walking helps beat other health problems, too. It reduces your risk of some forms of cancer and osteoporosis. It fights the battle of the bulge, taking off fat and building muscle. Walking can even help people with diabetes reduce or eliminate their need for medication. Walking can burn about as many calories per mile as jogging does, but it delivers only about a quarter of the jolt so it's much easier on your joints and muscles. Best of all, walking has the lowest dropout rate of any form of exercise, so you're more likely to stick with it and get all these benefits and more, like lower blood pressure.
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Tips for Overcoming Exercise Barriers
Tips for Overcoming Exercise Barriers
What's Stopping You?! Work deadlines, parent-teacher conferences, diapers, errands - it's easy to let our busy schedules get in the way of regular exercise. First step: Identify your exercise obstacles. Then find ways to deal with them one by one. Here are some simple solutions to get you started: | Problem: I don't have time to exercise. | | Solution: | Who does? We need to make exercise a TOP PRIORITY! Successful exercisers make workouts integral parts of their daily routines. So schedule daily appointments with yourself (write them down in your day planner or your calendar!) and treat them as you would a doctor's appointment or business meeting - you're going to be there, no ifs, ands or buts. |
| | Problem: I have to take care of my family. | | Solution: | Plan fitness activities that include your kids - ride a bike, play kickball, go ice-skating, bowl or throw an impromptu dance contest in your living room. If you have a little one, use a baby carrier and climb stairs or power walk at your local mall. |
| | Problem: I'd rather spend time with friends. | | Solution: | Make exercise a social activity. Organize a mixed-doubles tennis match, recruit friends for a hike or long walk or join a local bicycle club with your buddies. |
| | Problem: I'm too tired. | | Solution: | OK - then just exercise for five minutes. You owe yourself that. Chances are, though, if you make it through five minutes, you'll make it through 10, and before you know it, your whole workout! Those first five minutes are always the hardest, but you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish once you start. You can avoid lethargy by making sure you have plenty of fuel - grab an energy-boosting snack like graham crackers, low-fat yogurt or a banana. |
| | Problem: I'm just not motivated enough. | | Solution: | Find an exercise buddy. Research shows that having a dedicated partner makes you more likely to stick with an exercise program. You won't skip your power walk or date at the gym if your friend is waiting for you on the corner! Afterward, you'll feel doubly great because you not only had a great workout, but you also overcame procrastination. It takes a little effort, but you can do it! |
Heart Health
Profile of a Weight Loser
Surprise! They Eat Breakfast
It's that time of year, when people decide they have to lose weight.
And although many people who lose weight eventually gain it back, it's a myth that this happens to everyone, says Rena Wing, Ph.D., codeveloper of a research study known as the National Weight Control Registry. Wing's findings are reported on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site.
Tucked away in the registry's database is information about the weight-control behaviors of more than 3,000 American adults, who have lost an average of 60 pounds and have kept it off for an average of six years. How do they do it?
Successful weight losers report four common behaviors, Wing says. They eat a low-calorie, low-fat diet; they weigh themselves often; they are very physically active; and they eat breakfast.
Eating breakfast every day is contrary to the typical pattern for the average overweight person who is trying to diet, Wing said. "They get up in the morning and say 'I'm going to start my diet today,' and they eat little or no breakfast and a light lunch. Then they get hungry and consume most of their calories late in the day. Successful weight losers have managed to change this pattern."
Most of the registry's successful losers report eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet. They also exercise for about an hour or more a day, expending about 2,800 calories per week.
– Anne Thompson, HealthDayNews
Exploding Some Myths About Smoking
"Low-Tar" and "Low-Nicotine" Cigarettes May Actually Increase Cravings
There's no substitute for quitting smoking, especially cigarette smoking.
And there's no shortcut either, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For example, smoking "low-tar, low-nicotine" cigarettes does little good. Nicotine is so addictive that even if you switch to low-nicotine brands, you'll just puff harder and longer on each cigarette, increasing your cravings, the CDC says.
Here's a suggestion: Write down why you want to quit. The most obvious reasons have to do with being healthier, being in control of your life, and protecting your family.
Acknowledge that it will take effort to quit smoking, CDC experts say. This will help you deal with the symptoms of withdrawal, such as bad moods. There is no easy way to quit smoking.
Finally, seek help if you need it. Your doctor can help you find the right resources and support groups.
– Anne Thompson, HealthDayNews
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