I am not a medical professional.  I cannot give nutritional advice or guidance.  I am able only to share basic information: if you have more specific questions I advise you to seek a professional trained to give nutritional and dietetic advice.

But.

Food labels.

More specifically, CLAIMS on food labels.

See, diabetes is complicated and I personally do not appreciate (read: Do. Not. Appreciate.) marketers messing with me and my efforts to do my best.

I came across notes from a presentation I was at a number of years ago; I had forgotten some of the points and thought you might be interested in them.  I took a look at the FDA website and they don’t look like they have changed.

Fact: THE FDA DOES NOT EVALUATE NOR REGULATE TERMS PLACED ON LABELS OUTSIDE THE NUTRITION FACTS LABEL (the box with the calories, carbohydrate, serving size, etc)

If you’ve ever done carb counting you know what you look for in that Nutrition Facts box:

• Single serving size
• Number of servings in container
• Number of carbohydrates in serving size

(I often take it another step beyond this and calculate how many carbohydrates are in the entire package, then, and divide that by how much of the container I think I’m going to eat.  It’s somehow easier for me.  It’s what I did with Weight Watcher points, too.)

And then there began the entire “Carb Craze” a number of years ago that messed with labeling even more:

*Net Carbs         *Non Impact Carbs         *Impact Carbs

These carbohydrate whizbang mathematics mean nothing: they have no legal or scientific definition.  If you subtract fiber when you count your carbs because your doctor or CDE told you to, keep doing whatever you were taught.  Don’t pay attention to this hocus pocus.  You know what impacts your blood sugar far, far better than any food marketer!!

And what is a sugar alcohol, anyway?  It is a carbohydrate with a chemical structure similar to sugar and alcohol, sure, but they are not completely absorbed the way that sugar is.  So not only will they mess with your digestive system, they will also mess with your carbohydrate counts.  I mean, how does one reliably calculate for “incomplete absorption”??  I will always vote against “sugar free candy” because they are concocted using a lot of sugar alcohols.  Crazy, disruptive, and not even very tasty!! 

More words they use to make “food” sound like you want to buy it but actually have zero meaning and are unverified by any reputable agency: natural, nontoxic, sensitivity tested, no chemical, no hormones, ozone-friendly.

I’m just saying: if you are buying “food” because it is ozone friendly, you need to see a registered dietitian.  Stat.

Yes, diabetes is the thinking person’s disease.  We have to think all the time.  But more than that, we have to be critical when it comes to our food choices.  We have to know all of this stuff on the labels and what it means for us and our bodies.  You’ve always got to be learning and taking mental notes since our bodies change over time and without warning.

It’s complicated. 

So stop messing with me, food marketers!! 

If you need me, I’ll be in the produce section.  I feel safer over there…

I’m not sure who made November National Diabetes Month.  I went to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since I figured they’d know. 

I found the page that started with a let’s be nice and say “off-putting” sentence:

You have the power to prevent and control diabetes.

It didn’t necessarily get better as I continued to read:

If you already have diabetes, managing the disease can lower your risk of complications such as kidney failure, heart disease and stroke, blindness, and amputations of legs and feet.

So maybe I shouldn’t be looking to the government health agency for much help.

I went to the American Diabetes Association’s website since I figured maybe they could be more of a help. 

Ah.  They want a donation from me. 

Moving on, I did a search on the site for what to say about November.  More information: 

American Diabetes Month®

November is American Diabetes Month, a time to communicate the seriousness of diabetes and the importance of diabetes prevention and control. For years, the American Diabetes Association has used this month as an opportunity to raise awareness of the disease and its serious complications.

Still not quite happy with this.  I try to communicate something about my disease every day… so a full month dedicated to doing precisely that seems… simultaneously superfluous and unnecessary.  (And I’m rather confused why the ADA felt a need to trademark the term “American Diabetes Month”.)

So off I went next to the JDRF website.  (Maybe they won’t tell me to prevent and control my diabetes.)  Oh wait: still a plug for money and self-serving laudations for what JDRF is doing when it comes to research.  Well, I guess it’s closer. 

Renewal of U.S. Government Special Diabetes Program Will Ensure Progress toward Better Treatments and a Cure for Type 1 Diabetes

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2010 – Thanks to significant research advances in recent years, people living with type 1 diabetes have received better treatments and therapies. Scientists have made headway in uncovering the possible cause of type 1 diabetes, and in their efforts to find ways to prevent, treat, or reverse the autoimmune disease and its complications. Despite this progress, we still have a long road ahead of us to identify a cure that will eliminate type 1 diabetes once and for all.

Alright.  I’m done with my search.  I am still not finding what I want on three of the biggest national resources I expect should be supporting ME and MY DISEASE. 

I don’t need a month each year to wear blue, or gray, or whatever.  I don’t need to send money to organizations so that they can design holiday cards and mail me a catalog about the holiday cards. 

Nope.  That isn’t what the month is to me.  To me, November being Diabetes Month is about what every other month, day, hour, and minute is about: keeping myself healthy, emotionally and physically, and living my life. 

My diabetes comes first some days, and my life comes first some days.  It’s hard to explain to a lot of people how constant the diabetes thinking really is.  It’s hard to explain being at a restaurant or at someone’s house and wondering if I should bolus before I’ve seen the food (preferable to time the insulin to meet the carbohydrates entering my system to keep my blood sugar levels more even), or after (safer in that I can visually guess the carbohydrate counts and don’t risk my insulin hitting my system before the food has left the kitchen on its way to me).  It’s hard to explain how I don’t even realize I’m checking my blood sugar at work until I see a coworker get nervous and stop talking to me because he’s busy watching me check.  Or, for that matter, how that coworker’s response FEELS to me.

I wonder if November being Diabetes Month really does increase awareness of my type one diabetes.  I suspect it doesn’t.  Given the fact that the American Diabetes Association still seems concerned about me losing a foot, I am not sure they understand my type one.

Good thing November holds other special events for me in my life: if it were a special month just because it is Diabetes Month I might be disappointed!

I’m stealing from another blog today because I think it’s a critical message: we need to get to a place for ourselves where we have a good body image.

I have known so many people who just have a sad body image.  I want to shake them and tell them they are SO MUCH MORE than their bodies!!

I have been watching old TV shows on Netflix for the past few years: Magnum PI, Charlie’s Angels, Rockford Files… all great fun.  But one thing strikes me again and again: the people are REAL in those shows.  No plastic surgery, no digital enhancements, no soft focus.  What I see on those TV shows are what I would see if the actors were standing in front of me… and what I see when I see real people, now.

So why do we feel the need to “improve” on nature?

As the blogger explains:

There’s nothing wrong with desiring a shapely or fit body, but the reality of how we are made can often prevent us from being real with who we really are and accepting that genetics, medical conditions and other physiological factors play a role in how our bodies literally take shape.

The key to feeling good about your body is to learn and respect our natural shape. We must get rid negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. We can do this by learning more about the physiological factors that may influence the result of your training efforts and desired outcome.

Body Image is…

• How you see or picture yourself.
• How you feel others perceive you.
• What you believe about your physical appearance.
• How you feel about your body.
• How you feel in your body.

It’s been studied, that people with negative body images have a greater likelihood of developing an eating disorder and are more likely to suffer from feelings of depression, isolation, low self-esteem and obsessions with weight loss.

I think having diabetes gives us yet another excuse to hate our bodies (or at least our pancreas).  But what good does that do?  It just leads us down a miserable and uncomfortable path. 

The blogger here gives suggestions on ways to work towards having a better body image for ourselves.  I think her suggestions are well worth a try:

One list cannot automatically tell you how to turn negative body thoughts into positive body images, but a few tips can help you think about new ways of looking more healthily and happily at yourself and your body.

1. APPRECIATE all that your body can do. Everyday your body carries you closer to your dreams. Celebrate all of the things your body does for you: running, surfing, stand up paddling, dancing, breathing, climbing, laughing, dreaming, etc.
2. KEEP A TOP-TEN LIST of things you like about yourself that aren’t related to how much you weigh or what you look like. Read your list often. Add to it as you become aware of more things to like about yourself.
3. REMIND yourself that true beauty is not simply skin-deep. When you feel good about yourself and who you are, you carry yourself with a sense of confidence, self-acceptance and openness that makes you beautiful regardless of whether or not you physically look like a supermodel. Beauty is a state of mind, not a state of your body.

No one is a perfect “10” but you can see yourself as a whole person. When you look in the mirror next time, see yourself as you want others to see you; as a whole person.

Living with diabetes or without it, we all deserve to feel good in the body we have.