world diabetes day Archives - Diabetes Counselling Online

World Diabetes Day 2014, raising awareness

November 14, 2014 by georgia Leave a Comment

by Georgia Hall

On the weekend I went up to our holiday place on the river with a couple of my friends, it was the first time I went up without my parents and it surprisingly went well and was drama free.

We spent the day hanging out as it was a bit too cold for water sports. It was what I needed, even though I was surrounded by my closest friends it was an independent step for me, mum and dad weren’t around the corner (well they were but it was an hour and half away).

I was in good company and had zero worries. Of course I prepared for my mini trip, but going to a place I know makes it more comfortable anyway and every one of my friends would do anything if I needed them to.

Which brings me to Diabetes Awareness month. November is a time to raise awareness of diabetes as there are still so many grey areas no one knows about. Before I got diagnosed, if someone asked me what diabetes was or what it entailed I would have no idea, let alone the daily chore and endless monitoring and lifestyle changes it brings.

Awareness is important not only for the safety side of things, in case someone has an emergency or requires immediate attention, but also for the mental stress of every person who is living with diabetes.

There’s no thorough understanding on how it feels when you’re low or how it affects you when you run high. The worst thing about having diabetes (well, one of) is when my mood changes depending on what blood sugar level I am running at.
I can’t describe the frustration I get at myself, I can’t help the way I am acting and it’s moments like those where I wished I never had it, I either lose energy all together or gain a different type of grumpy mood I didn’t know I had.

I remember one time in high school, someone in my class stopped talking to me (I found out later it was all just a joke, how I don’t miss high school at all) but this affected me majorly. I turned into a different person, I got moody and emotional, I kept asking her what it was that I had done, and asking anyone to tell me how to fix things (turns out there was nothing to fix, just a high school girl, being a high school girl). It got to a stage where I was almost in tears from this when she finally cracked it and said ‘gosh it was just a joke, stop being so annoying’. At that moment I resented having diabetes.

Not too long after that I became a youth ambassador for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and realised voicing my story and all the different situations could not only help people like me but also raise more awareness to all the other factors that are caused by having diabetes.

Sure it’s a rocky road, but it’s one I have no choice but to travel so I figure I can either enjoy all the bumps along the way or can get caught up at every pot hole.

I choose to enjoy it, because at the end of the day that road will bring you to many, many rewarding destinations and I am a sucker for adventures!

I am thankful, for every person who has been there and those who are there for me no matter what and accept me for everything I am.

So happy Diabetes Awareness month, promote the awareness and support each other!
Until next time,
Georgia

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World Diabetes Day 2014, taking control of diabetes & letting go of guilt

November 13, 2014 by Helen-Edwards Leave a Comment

It is World Diabetes Day tomorrow, 14th November and much focus is spent on prevention of diabetes and living well.

World Diabetes Day (WDD) is celebrated every year on November 14. The World Diabetes Day campaign is led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and its member associations. It engages millions of people worldwide in diabetes advocacy and awareness. World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes now poses. World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2007 with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.

World Diabetes Day is a campaign that features a new theme chosen by the International Diabetes Federation each year to address issues facing the global diabetes community. While the themed campaigns last the whole year, the day itself is celebrated on November 14, to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1921.

Healthy Living and Diabetes is the World Diabetes Day theme for 2014-2016.

Life with diabetes is closely connected with the word “control. When diagnosed with diabetes there is usually a sense of being “out of control” and talk around you from mostly well meaning people, that you need to “take control”. There can be many reasons why it is hard to get, maintain, or hold onto, control – not just of diabetes but a range of things in life. We believe that learning how to take control and feeling ok about life with diabetes is critical to healthy living when you have diabetes.

Much of the talk about control in diabetes relates to the practical management – “eat healthy, exercise, don’t smoke, don’t drink, cut down salt, sleep well, take your medication/insulin and check your blood glucose”.

But not a lot is said about how to do these things on an ongoing, forever kind of basis, like, for life!

What choices do you have and what impact might these choices have?
What about the rest of your life?
How can you make these changes when you actually have a life?

The practical tasks of diabetes sit on the background of the emotions, thoughts, feelings, worries and anxieties you may have about diabetes and about the rest of your life.

Often the way we think about things, including diabetes, can distract us from being “present” and getting on with life – if we hold on too tightly to our thoughts and problems it is really hard to see what is happening around us. Nobody wants diabetes, let’s face it – there are many times we experience pain and negative or unwanted thoughts and feelings about it, but being able to “hang” with our diabetes, sit it on our laps in a sense, enables us to get on with life – including the tasks required in diabetes care. This can help to maintain a sense of control.

BEING A PARENT

If you are a parent or loved one, you will also have a role to play in the “control” of diabetes in yours and your child’s lives. Many thoughts and feelings will fill you up when your child is diagnosed with diabetes and these thoughts and feelings can bring pain.

Parents later have to let go of control in their children’s lives as they grow up and this can be especially tough for parents of children with diabetes who can struggle with who has control of various parts of their young person’s life and their diabetes.

If we could switch off this pain with a magic button, you would never have to feel it again, but you would also never care again about your child – what would you choose? Most people say they would choose to keep the pain, as with caring comes pain – that is part of being human.

CONTROL AND GUILT

Control is something that can have both positive and negative meanings. Sometimes things like “guilt” get wrapped up in this, for example when it seems things are not in control. People who live with problems such as Eating Disorders tell us that they try to gain control of their lives by controlling food, their weight, or both.

Uncomfortable thoughts, experiences, worries, feelings and so on, can take over our every waking moment and things like controlling food, exercise, use of drugs or alcohol – these are all ways we try to avoid these painful thoughts and feelings. This type of control is destructive to both the person and their loved ones, as well as their diabetes.

In the short term you may have some relief, but in the longer term, this increases the negative and painful thoughts and feelings and a vicious cycle is set in motion. If you constantly try NOT to think about something it tends to have the opposite effect! Learning to “accept” or hang with these things is more helpful.

There is no question that feeling a sense of control over your life gives you a sense of wellbeing and of peace in your life. People need to feel in control and we need to be able to find ways to control diabetes as far as is possible.

Guilt is often present in diabetes – guilt about getting diabetes; about passing it on to your child; about your child going away to camp, or not having sleep overs when they have diabetes, or leaving them with a sitter for the first time; about being overweight and “causing it” yourself; about eating or not eating something; checking or not checking blood glucose; taking or not taking medication and insulin – and the list goes on.

LETTING GO OF GUILT

Guilt is unhelpful and often based on unfounded facts – it is better to be gentler on yourself and see that you are first and foremost a human being and somewhere lower down on the list, you are a person with diabetes or loved one of someone with diabetes; and/or you made the best decision you could at the time, then move on.

If the decision was not one you want to repeat – learn from it – and make sure you have the knowledge and support to make a different choice next time.

This is especially true with things like food choices, insulin doses, BGL’s and exercise choices. If it is more a scary but important decision being hampered by guilt, such as learning to leave your child with someone else, make sure you have support so you can take these important steps without the guilt.

Taking control does involve making healthy choices about food, exercise, alcohol, drugs, socialising, blood glucose management, and so on – but it is also about looking after your wellbeing, your mental health, your social and family lives, the impact that diabetes has in your life and how to make this as small as you can – a feeling you can live a happy and healthy life – a sense of hope and positive energy about your future despite diabetes.

Read more here

Helen

Helen Edwards has lived with type 1 diabetes since 1979. She is Mum to 3 sons, the founder of Diabetes Counselling Online, a diabetes educator, social worker and PhD Candidate studying diabetes distress in pregnancy for women with type 1 diabetes. She is also a successful Interiors Blogger and Stylist at www.recycledinteriors.org and runs creative workshops, an online store and studio in Adelaide – just for a life outside of diabetes.

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Christmas is coming- FREE Gifts & an interview with the creator of ‘Diabeadies by Vivi’

December 12, 2013 by helwild Leave a Comment

Last week I was fortunate to spend the whole week in Melbourne at the Exhibition & Convention Centre on South Bank. When I got home, my husband asked me, ‘how big is the Centre? Is it as big as a railway Station?’ I told him, ‘it’s as big as TWO Spencer Street railway stations T-boned into each other.’ The two T-boned concourses are each incredibly long, and the Convention centre has 3 floors, with an equally long concourse on each level! Then there are the User Spaces themselves, the Exhibition Hall & several Associated display spaces which combine to cover more floor area than many small towns in Australia, and the two Plenary Halls and many meeting rooms of the Convention Centre. I have never been in a larger enclosed space. This space was filled with over 10,000 delegates, plus the Catering and Support staff, and the Exhibitors & Expert presenters from all over the World. Possibly 20,000 people using the Centre on any given day.

At this amazing event, Diabetes Counselling Online made its presence felt. We had 8 wonderful volunteers, one of them doubling as Ph. D. supervisor for our founder, Helen Edwards, and four doubling as staff members and delegates. You can see Helen Edwards’ blog on Words for diabetes here on the event together with a wonderful Video she has put together on Youtube

In the Exhibition Hall, DCO presented THE most popular stand of the week. At some points there were 30 or more people trying to get into our tiny stand. Sure, we had giveaways, our brochures, pens, flyers, satchel bags, & bananas. In addition, our large Screen showing our live website was continually in use, as people from other countries could not believe the service that we provide. We remain unique in the world. Many could not even grasp the concept until they were shown on the screen and talked with one of us. In addition, many Australian Diabetes Educators and other HCP’s who did know us stopped by to collect brochures & say ‘Hi!’.

So as well as providing information about the DCO Service, the Volunteers were also able to Display samples and show samples of the aquamarines, from the World Diabetes Day ‘Blue Circle’ range,to visitors of our wonderful fund raising Product, our ‘Diabeadies® by Vivi’. There was very keen interest, and visitors from countries as far apart as Africa, Indonesia, China, Czechoslovakia, Russia, Turkey, as well as Australia would very much liked to have been able to buy on the spot! Unfortunately we did not have the capacity to do that for them, but we are hoping that the admirers of Diabeadies from last week will find their way to our estore. During the week of the Congress, Vivi launched a ‘Christmas Promotion’, and I thought it might be a good idea to showcase her work here, while that promotion is still running. Here is the promotion:

Photo: Matt H, will be receiving two sets of sterling silver amethyst and sapphire earrings with our compliments this week. They are to go with the amethyst and sapphire bracelets he purchased today - well done Matt! If you haven't ordered yours yet for Christmas, get in quickly, the offer ends on December 20. These special orders come in a pretty gift box and bag so you don't even have to gift wrap them! Just go to http://www.diabetescounselling.com.au/shop/category/e-store/http://www.diabetescounselling.com.au/shop/category/e-store/ to place your order

Matt H will be receiving two sets of sterling silver amethyst and sapphire earrings with our compliments this week. They are to go with the amethyst and sapphire bracelets he purchased today- Well done Matt! If you haven’t ordered yours yet for Christmas, get in quickly, this offer ends on December 2oth. These special orders come in a pretty gift box and bag so you don’t even need to gift wrap them! Just Go to the shop to purchase your item and receive your FREE gift! shop here

Just HURRY to place your order

Isn’t it a great offer?

On my return from the World Diabetes Congress in Melbourne to Adelaide, I interviewed Vivi about her process of design.

Here is our discussion!

Q1. Hi Vivi. I love the beautiful jewellery you make. Where do your Beads come from?

A1. All of our Beads are precious Gemstones. They are not glass or plastic. They come from various countries. For example, my aquamarines, from the World Diabetes Day ‘Blue Circle’ range, come from Brazil, the beautiful Moonstones from Sri Lanka, the lovely dark red Garnets come from Africa, and the Amethysts from Russia.

Q2.Why do you choose specific stones, and do they have any therapeutic benefits?

A2. All of our stones feel wonderful on the skin. They are also visually beautiful, and both of these properties help me to feel calm & relaxed. I choose the stones I love, and that I think will fit in with the principles of mental health for those living with chronic disease. I choose colours & stones & sizes of gems that I think will work well together, and as every item is individually designed and hand made I put them next to each other so I can decide what goes with what. Sometimes the stones surprise me by working well together when I was not sure they would! I love working with them, and find my stress levels and pain levels are reduced when working. There are many claims by others for the benefits of specific stones, and we have collected some of these beliefs, and can provide them on request. However, they are just that, beliefs. We do not claim any medicinal, curative, or therapeutic benefits other than those of aesthetics, beauty and pleasure. For example, one of the first stones we have used is Amethyst, one of the DCO trademark colours. Here are some of the claims for amethyst by others that we have published on the website :

“Amethyst is the most precious stone within the quartz group. Since purple is considered a royal color, amethyst, the transparent purple quartz, enjoyed an historical importance as an insignia of power. Fine amethysts are featured in the British Crown Jewels and were also a favourite of Catherine the Great and Egyptian royalty.

Amethyst is also a stone for meditation. It is said to be excellent for moving the mind into the alpha brain wave cycle smoothly and rapidly, thus making for a great meditation crystal. Probably that is the reason why amethyst has always been known as a sleeping aid down through the centuries.

It apparently exerts a calming effect behind the scenes; helps one to make judgments and carry out responsibilities. Its calming properties are said to help to moderate high strung temperaments and encourage the binding of the physical to the intellectual and beyond, into the spiritual realms; to stimulate the intellect, but temper it with a universal sense of compassion and connection.

– See more at: diabeadies

Q3.I know that you use both Tibetan silver and Sterling silver in the jewellery that you make. When do you decide to use Sterling Silver or Tibetan Silver?

A3. I use Tibetan silver because it is inert, ie does not react on the skin, beautiful and easy to work with, and a little more affordable than Sterling Silver, so it helps to keep the price down for the hand made beads and charms. However, I use the Sterling Silver for anything which pierces the body, as Sterling Silver is guaranteed to be of the highest possible purity and therefore the best possible product for this purpose. It does make the jewellery a little more expensive to make, and so a little more expensive for the customer.

Q4.I have noticed the special beads and charms that you use. Can customers request particular designs for these? Or ask for more than one per item?

A 4. Yes, all (or most! LOL) requests are possible. Because ALL items are hand made and custom made, and all charms & silver & gemstone beads are hand made, I can make to order. The price will be adjusted according to a customer’s order. Everything with regard to design is negotiable! I can even make a matching necklace if requested.

Q5. Why do you do this?

A5. Well, I love doing it. It’s a pleasurable and interesting occupation, and I have the time to be able to do it. I have always been interested in designing and making things, and have mastered many arts and crafts over the years. In addition, several members of my family live with diabetes, and I like to think that my work making Diabeadies makes a difference in the lives of people living with diabetes.

Q6. Do any of the profits go to Charity?

A6. Yes, all profits go to the National Australian Charity Diabetes Counselling Online. The purchase of just two items will provide introductory email counselling for an Australian living with diabetes, or the purchase of just one item will provide advice from a Dietitian, Diabetes Educator, or Mental Health Counsellor for a Social Media group of people living with diabetes from across the world.

Final question,Q 7. Do you mail order to anywhere in the world?

A7. Yes of course. Prices are quoted in Australian dollars, but we can work out a local costing for a customer. And mailing charges are pretty reasonable to anywhere in the World, as the items are light and easily packed.

Me: Thanks for your time, Vivi! Any Final Thoughts?

Vivi: Just perhaps share one of my favourite quotes: “If you can’t do great things,” Mother Teresa used to say,”do little things with great love…” that kind of sums it up for me- I truly love that I can make this little something that other people see value in and can derive pleasure from.

Helen Wilde

Helen is a long term Senior Counsellor with Diabetes Counselling Online, Teacher, mother of a type 1 diabetic for 34 years and a type 2 diabetic herself for 12 years.

Vivienne McKenna

Vivi is a long term Volunteer and Employee with Diabetes Counselling Online. She lives with Type 2 Diabetes herself, and has several family members with all types of diabetes.

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prejudice, judgement & bias- who me? I’m a nice person! I know all about diabetes, right? Talkin’ WDD2013 blues

November 14, 2013 by helwild 4 Comments

Today is World Diabetes Day, 2013. What is your wish for today? Mine is that through awareness and education, the prejudice, judgement and bias shown by media and ordinary people about those of us living daily with diabetes would come to an end. Or at least reduce. It’s also about the self education that those of us living with diabetes seek and need, to manage our diabetes well, and to deal with our own self blame.

So my wish is for Education.

I have personal experience of living with Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and also gestational diabetes. My first darling daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 when I was 32 years old, a young mother. I was diagnosed with Type 2 at 52, and my beautiful second daughter with gestational when I was 61, and already a grandmother to 2 grandbabies from my Type 1 daughter. I have many relatives living with all types of diabetes. I have lived and breathed diabetes for 34 years. I frequently get angry or defensive when I see people with diabetes misrepresented or judged.

Nobody chooses diabetes.

Probably the biggest single judgement made is thinking ‘people cause diabetes by what they eat’. Yet many people eat indiscriminately themselves, not thinking, ‘should I eat that, it might give me diabetes’. They probably think, ‘I shouldn’t eat that, it might make me fat’, because that thought is about how we look in the mirror, not about our health.

My theory is, some of those people go on to develop diabetes, and then feel more ashamed and self blaming than they would if they understood how it all works. Sure, being overweight & not exercising & not eating a healthy diet are risk factors. But not everyone living like that will develop diabetes.

All children eat & drink sugar. All over the world. Yet only a small percentage of children develop type 1 diabetes. Those who do, need to eat sugar or glucose at times to balance their insulin intake, because it’s not a mathematical equation. People who think they know ‘all about’ diabetes, even some in the medical profession, will sometimes act as ‘experts’ and tell the Type 1 person, ‘you can’t eat that’.

Sugar does not cause diabetes. Sugar does not cause diabetes.

Choosing to go low – Making the change to low-glycemic index carbs

November 11, 2013 by Sally Leave a Comment

Last Monday’s blog was about the benefits of including low-glycemic index carbs in your diet.

We mentioned aiming to include at least 1-2 serves in every meal to help to stabilise your blood sugar levels and energy levels and to keep you satisfied for longer as well as those many other benefits we covered.

So the great thing about making the change to low-GI is that it’s not a diet but more a way of eating. It’s not restrictive, but if you can learn to recognise when foods are likely to have a lower glycemic index, then you’ll be able to make better choices. It doesn’t cut out any major food groups so we’re still following the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

The Glycemic Index Foundation advises us “Only about half the carbohydrate needs to be exchanged from high to low GI to derive health benefits” so it’s not about avoiding the higher ones altogether, just ensuring at least that moderate balance erring to the low side.

In today’s blog I’ll run through those five major food groups and help you to choose carb sources with a lower GI.

1) Vegetables and legumes/beans – when choosing starchy vegetables aim for sweet potato or corn in preference to white potato (unless it’s the Coles Carisma potato that has been bred to have a lower GI) and aim to include the legumes and beans as often as you can (perhaps I’ll do a separate blog on them down the track – another of my favourite topics!).

2) Fruit – fruits such as apples, pears, citrus and stone fruits tend to be lower, and under-ripe bananas are too.

3) Grain (cereal) foods – this is the biggie! The more whole grains in any of these products, the slower they’ll digest.

If you can aim for foods with less processing such as traditional oats rather than quick cook oats or processed cereals.
Choosing staples such as wheat-based pasta, barley, quinoa over rice and potatoes
If you do choose rice, get Basmati or Doongara and watch that it’s not overcooked
In breads, the grainier you can get, the lower they’ll be. Traditional sourdough is also low, and if you’re a white bread addict try Tip Top’s ‘The One’ or the pink WonderWhite high-fibre bread. It’s important to remember that it’s not just the fibre that lowers the GI, but the type of fibre, hence wholemeal being high-GI.

4) Protein foods – remembering that only carbs can have a GI rating, again we focus on trying to include legumes and beans each day as they will lower the overall GI of the meal you’re eating.

5) Dairy and alternatives – other than cheese (virtually no carbohydrate) all dairy foods have a low-GI and are nutritious foods to include for many good reasons. It’s important to get your 2.5-4 serves every day. All the soy milks also have a low-GI.

You can also ‘manipulate’ the GI of your meal by several methods:

1) You can lower the overall GI of the meal by including a mixture of low and high GI sources, for example if you wanted a white potato, you could add some low-fat yogurt with chives and seasoning to it, or by finishing the meal with a dairy based dessert such as low-fat yogurt or ice-cream.

2) If you add a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to your meal, you can lower your post-prandial (after meal) blood glucose readings by as much as 30%. That’s easy to achieve by enjoying a salad with dressing made from vinegar or lemon juice, by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to your mashed potato (quite tasty), or even adding the lemon juice to the water you’re drinking with the meal.

3) Adding quality proteins and good fats to your meals will also slow the digestion of the carbohydrate part of the meal. Using a handful of nuts in your meal can help you achieve this too, like added to stir-fries or salads. (Remember though that proteins and fats will add kilojoules/calories to whatever you’re eating so may affect your weight.)

4) Adding soluble fibre and resistant starch sources will again slow the digestion of your carbs. There are lots of foods that are higher in soluble fibre, and many of them are low-GI carbs themselves for that reason. Some that might not feature as carbs that you add include asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, frozen peas, turnip, carrots and onion.

This resource on Carbohydrates and the Glycaemic Index by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute also has some good ideas. Page 2 provides a similar guide to what we’ve provided here, and Page 3 offers some meal ideas to help you add the low-GI carbs into your day.

And the Glycemic Index Foundation has a fabulous Frequently Asked Questions page that I encourage you to read through.

Next week we’ll talk about the glycemic load as that can help to bring this topic all together.

Until then I challenge you to think about whether you can lower the GI of your food choices

Sally is the Social Media Dietitian with Diabetes Counselling Online, owner of her private practice (Marchini Nutrition), and has had type 1 diabetes for close to 40 years and coeliac disease for many years too.

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