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/

MOD SG’s 1st Health Fair!

As you all know, this is my sister MOD SG’s freshman year in pharmacy school! She attended her first health fair last weekend at Mount Jezreel Baptist Church in Silver Spring, MD. She was accompanied by her BFFs MOI SG and MOH SG who were advocating for immunization and heartburn respectively. She had a great time educating the community about diabetes and its consequences if it wasn’t controlled. While there were about 200 people at the fair, she personally had an opportunity to talk to over 50 people and listen to their personal stories. MOD SG had a risk assessment form that showed that some of these patients were at risk for diabetes. Some of them already knew that they had diabetes and were there to ask some specific questions about their medications to MOD SG’s lovely professor Dr. Sullivan. When she told me all about her first successful health fair, I decided to blog about it so that everyone who couldn’t accompany her could read about her first pharmacy school adventure! I am glad that she had an exciting start to her pharmacy school career and will continue with her noble work of educating the community about diabetes. 

<3 MOD UMB.

Step Out for Diabetes!

Every year, the ADA hosts an event called StepOut which is a walk to raise money for the fight against diabetes. The money goes towards research to find a cure, raising awareness, and providing services to those affected by diabetes.  Here at the University of Maryland, School of Pharmacy, we've formed a team so that we, too, can be part of this very important cause. We are all extremely excited to be able to make a difference through this great event. Our goal this year is to raise $3,000 so please help support us by joining our team or making a donation. Every donation and every step will bring us closer to stopping diabetes and improving the lives of everyone affected by this deadly disease.

We have two walks this year in both Baltimore at the Inner Harbor and in DC at Nationals Park.

In Baltimore:

Date: Saturday, October 2, 2010

Where: Rash Field @ Inner Harbor

Check-in Time: 8:00 am

Start Time: 9:00 am

Distance: 5K (about 3 mi)

To sign up for or donate to the Baltimore team, click here. Scroll to the bottom, where you will see the link "Join Team" next to the team name. 

In DC:

Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010

Where: Nationals Park

Address: 1500 S. Capital St. SE,

              Washington, DC

              MAP 

Check-in Time: 8:00am

Start Time: 10:00 am

Distance: 2mi or 5mi

To sign up for or donate to the DC team, click here. Scroll to the bottom, where you will see the link "Join Team" next to the team name.


Hope to see you there!

Welcome Back!! New year, new logo!

Thanks for checking out MOD! If you're reading this, the first thing you need to do is 'follow' this blog... check out the left side bar! Ok next, continue to read... :) 

Here we are at the start of yet another school year! My name is Erica and I am the current Chair of Operation Diabetes at UMB (University of Maryland, Baltimore). I am very excited to be starting my 3rd year of Pharmacy School and continue working with other students and our community to spread awareness about Diabetes!

Check out the new Operation Diabetes Logo:

Some of our plans for the year include working with the local Hispanic population through our participation at health fairs, creating a video to teach others about diabetes in a fun and understandable way, continuing to develop MOD- the persona of this blog!, fundraising for the American Diabetes Association through our participation in Step Out for Diabetes, and organizing a diabetes-focused, multidisciplinary health fair with other UMB professional students!

The best way to tackle these goals will be to involve others. I am happy to have dedicated Co-Chairs at both the Baltimore and Shady Grove campuses and hope we can involve many other APhA-ASP members in our committee and upcoming events.

Cheers! <3 MOD

End of the school year & time for changes!

WOW!  What a year for MOD and OD :)

In fact, it couldn't have gotten much better.  Thank you to everyone who has followed MOD and supported Operation Diabetes!  This year it was Region 2, next year it'll be the national award ;)

FYI, MOD went to DC and took home some extra for UMB to be proud of!

Good luck to Erica, Kelly and Shlok, the new team OD!

<3 MOD

Six Holiday Tips - American Diabetes Association

Six Holiday Tips - American Diabetes Association

Pets Can Develop Diabetes

Did you know that pets can develop diabetes? Studies show that 1 in 400 dogs develop diabetes.  The most common type of diabetes in dogs is diabetes mellitus.  Diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune process in which the pancreas stops producing insulin because the pancreatic cells that produce the insulin are being destroyed.  The most common risk factors for a dog to develop diabetes are their age (typically dogs over 7 years of age), gender (female dogs develop diabetes at almost twice the rate of males), and breed (all breeds may develop diabetes but some breeds have a higher risk than others indicating that there may be a genetic predisposition to diabetes development).  The breeds at higher risk are Keeshond, Cairn Terrier, Schnauzer (miniature and standard), Poodle, Dachshunds, and Beagles.  The symptoms to look out for are low energy, lethargy, losing weight, eating excessively, not eating, changes in food interest, drinking large amounts of water, and frequent urination.  Treatment can include insulin therapy, weight control, dietary therapy and exercise.

Having a pet with diabetes can be a challenging task for an owner to manage; however, with a good relationship with your vet this process can become easier.  Monitoring a pet with diabetes can be time consuming and costly; however, the benefits can outweigh the challenges.  As long as your decision is based on your love and concern for your pet, the decision you make will be the best for everyone.

<3 MOD