I just finished up reading this book that I discussed in brief a few posts back: While it is not my favorite beginning diabetic book (that remains the great Type II Diabetes: The First Year), it’s quite useful, particularly for those who read in small doses and want concrete ideas on what to do rather […]

If job one of a newly diagnosed Type II diabetic is to lose weight, fixing your diet needs to be job two or three, in other words, way, way up there in terms of what you do. Unfortunately, improving your diet is not quite like improving your lungs if you’re a smoker–if you smoke, you […]

Diabetics are spoken to often about foot care. See all those folks without their feet (and higher)? Lots of them are diabetics. One of the things that happens to diabetics is their circulation is affected; in addition, for the most part, they have more sugar in their blood than non-diabetics. Circulation tends to get worse […]

While I’m not a copious journal keeper, I have, for years, written down every penny I spent (see my personal finance blog if you want to know why). When I started my diabetes journey, I started doing something similar. I would write down everything I would eat. I was also hoping to manage my diabetes […]

I suspect there are diabetics out there who say that being diagnosed saved their lives. I wouldn’t go that far, but it surely got me to take my health more seriously. Despite the fact that losing weight would have to be job one, I didn’t make any goals with my weight, at least not until […]

I’m a social worker. More specifically, I’m a social worker who works in health care. Many of my clients over the years have been diabetic, lots of whom are what the medical world calls “non-compliant“; basically, folks who aren’t doing what their physician instructs them to do. I’ve seen the consequences of non-compliance, what Type […]

Hi. My name is Ryan and I’m a diabetic. This is not a twelve step program, but in some ways it feels like one. Diabetes is not a disease in quite the same way alcohol is, but like any chronic disease, managing it on an ongoing basis is a huge challenge. I learned I had […]