Category: Chronic Diseases
Diabetic by Design?
Have you ever noticed the layout of grocery stores? Produce, meat, milk and cheese are always either off to the side or hidden along the back wall. In order to reach them, we have to pass through a maze of cake mixes, frozen dinners, potato chips, cookies, soft drinks, etc. This layout isn’t an accident. […]
Low-Hanging Fruit for a Lower A1C
An A1C is a blood test that gives your healthcare provider information about your average blood sugar over the last two to three months. It is used to diagnose pre-diabetes and diabetes, and to monitor how well you are managing your disease. Diabetes Lab Tests 101 | Rush Memorial Hospital If you have diabetes, your […]
Picking a Diabetes Management App
There are so many diabetes management apps on the market that it’s tough to know which one to pick. You can find articles that list the “top 10” or “top 6” apps, but it’s often impossible to know what criteria were used to rank the apps. Instead of looking for the “top’ apps someone else […]
Cold Weather Complicates Diabetes Management
When cold weather hits, it has an effect on diabetes and on diabetic medications and equipment. Some of these complications are due to changes in human behavior and some are due to the cold itself. When the weather is cold, people tend to stay indoors more and exercise less, which can cause blood sugars to […]
Are Alzheimer’s and Dementia Preventable?
While researchers have spent many years looking for a cure for Alzheimer’s and dementia, they still have not found one. As the search for a cure continues, some researchers have chosen to focus on prevention. They are looking for early lifestyle changes that may decrease the likelihood of getting these diseases in the first place. […]
Pre-Diabetes is a Serious Illness
What is Pre-Diabetes? Pre-diabetes literally means “before diabetes”. It’s easy to think of this condition as what it isn’t…… as in it isn’t diabetes. Focusing on what this disease isn’t, however, can keep us in denial about what it is: a serious disease. People with pre-diabetes already have a higher than normal blood sugar. They […]
How to Pick a Diabetes Management App
There are a lot of diabetes management apps on the market, and it’s tough to know which one to choose. You can find articles that list the “top 10” or “top 6” apps, but it’s often impossible to know what criteria were used to rank the apps. Instead of looking for the “top’ apps someone […]
Better Sleep Improves Chronic Pain
Recently researchers have found that better sleep offers hope for chronic pain. Pain Affects Sleep Most people who suffer from chronic pain know that it’s hard to go to sleep when you’re hurting. The minute you fall asleep it seems as if you roll over and the pain starts back up. You wake up and […]
Cartilage-Nature’s WD-40
There is an old saying “If it moves and shouldn’t use duct tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use WD-40.” If you want to understand osteoarthritis, think of cartilage as nature’s WD-40. When your bones move against one another at your joints, cartilage works like lubrication. When you are missing cartilage, like a […]
Second Hand Smoke-A Deadly Thing to Share
When smokers inhale, their body doesn’t magically transform cigarette smoke into a harmless substance. The same smoke that goes into their lungs invariably comes out. This means that anyone close enough to breathe in this smoke is, in essence, also smoking. This is why breathing in secondhand smoke is also referred to as passive smoking. […]