Healthy Halloween

Last week 20 third and fourth graders came to the School of Pharmacy for a Healthy Halloween celebration.
The event combined health education with fun activities and a haunted house. The number of children affected by obesity and diabetes continues to increase each year. It is important to educate children and their caregivers at a young age to make healthy lifestyle choices.

One of the stations was a guess the calories game. Did you know that there are about 100 calories in an apple, 300 calories in a sandwich, and 400 calories in a hamburger?

 



One of the stations was about healthy hand washing. Did you know that frequent hand-washing is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading illness? When you wash your hands you should rub them vigorously for at least 20 seconds with soap and water.

 

  



Other stations included Healthy Hydration, How Sweet are these Treats, Healthy Exercise and more.





Cici Takes on Diabetes- a diabetes educational video

Check out this video that Operation Diabetes put together this year!  

Healthy Cook Off

This month, Operation Diabetes Helped Organize a Healthy Cook Off for Million Hearts Week.



We had 4 cooks compete. The meals were judged on their salt and cholesterol content and their overall taste.

Dr. Rocafort and Dr. Fusco were the Cook Off Judges. They enjoyed all of the meals and had trouble making their final decision. The winner made a dish with Earl Grey flavored fish. We learned how tastey healthy food can be! Below you can see a photograph of the judges and the contestants.

Sleep Deprivation Could Increase The Risk for Type 2 Diabetes

I read an interesting article recently relating sleep to Diabetes.

We have been taught that sleep is important for our brain function, but it turns out that sleep is also important for our fat cells. When you feel groggy, your metabolism also feels 'groggy' and this can lead to insulin resistance.

A recent study published October 16th, 2012 in Annals of Internal Medicine conducted by the University of Chicago Medical Center professors indicated that a lack of sleep could also lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. This is the first study involving sleep on a cellular level. It was a very small study with only 7 healthy young adults. They were randomly assigned to sleep either 8.5 or 4.5 hours a night for four nights and repeated these sessions in four week intervals. After the four days, scientists measured how fat samples from their abdomen processed glucose. The people who were sleep deprived had a 30% reduction in their response to insulin. Their insulin levels were close to 3 times higher than the well rested participants. The high insulin levels suggest that the pancreas was trying to compensate for the insulin resistance by making more insulin. If this sleep deprivation cycle continued chronically, type 2 diabetes could develop. The next project for these researchers will involve studying if treating sleep apnea in overweight people will improve their metabolism.

Sleep may be another important lifestyle modification that we will have to tell our patients about in the future. However; since this was such a small study we will have to wait and see if it will be verified by other studies. One researcher claimed that sleep should be considered as important as diet when you are trying to prevent weight gain and diabetes.

I summarized the information from this website:

http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=669619

Diabetes Outreach at Johns Hopkins

Operation Diabetes joined up with NCPA (National Community Pharmacists Association) to educate the community about diabetes at Johns Hopkins Outpatient Pharmacy.

 

We played Diabetes Jeopardy with people who came by our table to help them learn about diabetes and clarify common myths. We used the Diabetes Risk Test screening tool below to determine patient's risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. The test takes into account age, sex, family history, physical activity, and weight to determine risk for diabetes. We enjoyed interacting with the community and felt that we made a positive impact by educating people about diabetes. 

 



Dietitian Comes to University of Maryland

On November 12th, Operation Diabetes brought Annette Hottenstein to speak at the University of Maryland. Annette is a Registered Dietician and is involved with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American Diabetes Association. From her presentation, students learned about th history of nutrition therapy in diabetes. She pointed out that being overweight is not the only risk factor for diabetes. People who are not overweight can also be at risk. She taught that diabetics shouldn't skip meals, they should avoid sugary drinks, and eat lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish. In fact, the diabetic diet is the same as the recommended American diet. Unfortunately, the typical American diet is far from the recommended diet and she passed around bags showing the typical amount of fat and sugar in a fast food meal.

 Amount of butter in a fast food meal:                                            Amount of sugar in a fast food meal:

 

Annette also talked about foods that are good for diabetics. Oatmeal has been shown to be good for controlling blood sugar. Some diabetics feel that cinnamon is helpful but there is unclear evidence about its benefits. Fenugreek spice has some data showing its benefits and it tastes like maple. Whey has more evidence supporting it, but Alpha Lipoic Acid has the strongest evidence that it will effect glucose levels in the blood.

MOD learned a lot from Annette Hottenstein's talk!

From omnivore to vegan: The dietary education of Bill Clinton

Source: CNN.com

     Former President Bill Clinton recently in an interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN admitted that he now considers himself a vegan and that he has lost more than 20 pounds after revamping his diet!
   
     In the past two decades, the former president has gone from eating unhealthy fast foods like hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, and even a dozen doughnuts at a campaign (sounds like Shlok's current diet!) to basically vegetables. And this has made him healthier than ever! He obviously learned it the hard way as he only revamped it after multiple heart procedures and bypass surgeries. But now that he realizes how important it is to eat healthy, he has created a partnership between the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association with the goal of promoting exercise and healthy lunches for 12000 schools across the nation. Clearly, he is now promoting what Operation Diabetes has been standing for all along at not only the UMB School of Pharmacy via MOD but at every other other School of Pharmacy across the nation! Eat Healthy, Stay Healthy!

You can read the full article on http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.vegan/index.html?npt=NP1

Alcohol and Diabetes? Can MOD Still Enjoy a Night Out on the Town?

It's a saturday night and as I was considering a beer to accompany the college football, I got the idea for a blog post! How do your social habits have to change if you have diabetes? 

Even if you've counted carbs, cut out candy, and mastered the exchange system to get a dietary handle on your diabetes, alcohol may be the hardest "food group" to manage since social drinking is such a pervasive part of our society. And you'll be darned if you're going to give up what may seem like one of the few pleasures you have left—drinking. Whether it be green beer at the bar on St. Patrick's day, a champagne toast at your freind's wedding, or a glass of wine at dinner with friends, is it OK when you have diabetes?

Let's get to the bottom of it: Is drinking acceptable if you have diabetes? The answer is yes, in moderation, providing that you take the proper precautions. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) asserts that alcohol can be incorporated into a diet plan, provided that blood sugar control is already well established and other conditions that aren't compatible with alcohol consumption (such as pregnancy or certain diabetic complications) don't exist. And you must be 21 of course! ;)
How It Works
When you drink, your liver decreases its ability to release glucose so that it can instead clean the alcohol from your blood. Because glucose production is shut down, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) becomes a risk for people with diabetes, particularly if you drink on an empty stomach or shortly after taking insulin or glucose-lowering oral medications. And because it takes two hours for just one ounce of alcohol to metabolize and leave your system, the risk continues long after you've emptied your glass.
A Two-Drink Maximum
For individuals with well-controlled diabetes, alcohol intake should follow the same guidelines the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has established for the general population. This means a maximum of two drinks per day for men and one drink daily for women. (A higher alcohol intake is allowed for most men because women have a lower body water content then men and also metabolize alcohol more slowly.) In addition, due to physiological changes such as loss of lean body mass that occur as the body ages, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that anyone over age 65 should not consume more than one alcoholic drink daily.

 One drink is defined as
- 12 ounces of regular beer (150 calories)
- 5 ounces of wine (100 calories)
- 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits (100 calories)


[One drink equals 2 fat exchanges; regular beer is an additional 1 starch exchange.]
Alcohol has no nutritional value.

 Source: http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/information/daily_living/diabetes_alcohol/

Making Healthy Diet Choices can be Tough!... MOD Can Help :)

Learning what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat is a key part of learning to take care of your blood sugar levels. Choosing your food wisely can help you feel better from day to day, lose weight if you need to, and lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, and other problems caused by diabetes. Find delicious, sensible options for recipes at, http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/diabetic-recipes/index.html


Also, while browsing the web I found this opportunity!! Sign up here to learn more about NovoNordisk insulin options and get a free cook book, "Eating Well with Diabetes" https://www.novonordiskcare.com/options/default.aspx

That's all for now, but be on the lookout for more posts to come In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful weather in Baltimore! Take advantage of the sunshine and head on out for some fun and exercise with your friends!

<3 MOD