"Nothing can stop man with right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help man with wrong mental attitude." Thomas Jefferson

WE ALL LIVE IN A FEELING SUBMARINE

Today you can improve your health by being captain of a submarine.

When we feel an emotion, every single cell in our body feels it, too. Our stomach cells, our skin cells, our bone cells. We do “feel it in our bones.”

Writing back in 1950, Dr. Rebecca Beard explained relationship of feelings and cells using example of a submarine. Her idea was a good one. Let’s see how this might work . . .

Imagine that you are captain of your submarine. Your cells are men who take his orders. The captain of submarine is only one who can look through periscope and see world above ocean. The men cannot see for themselves and must take captain at his word about conditions of world he sees.

And men in submarine obey orders without question.

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR PERISCOPE?

One day, you, captain wake up and take a look through your periscope. You report to men bad weather and icebergs and poor visibility and enemy ships approaching. How do you think men feel? And how do you think they work?

The connection between diet and diabetes is that, if you eat a high-fat, high calorie diet, which a lot of us do today, you put yourself at risk for weight gain, and if you are more than 120% of your desirable body weight, in simple terms, more than 20 pounds over what you should weigh, you become more insulin resistant, you use your own insulin at less capacity than you should, and you will have higher blood sugars, which will lead to diabetes. Diabetes is on rise, and women with diabetes have an elevated risk of heart disease and stroke.

The good news is that there are steps they can take to reduce their risk of diabetes complications. From National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), here are Top 10 do's to help women with diabetes live longer, healthier lives.

Do review your treatment plan with your doctor or health care provider at least once a year. Make changes if your plan is not working well.

Do work with a dietitian. Create a meal plan that gives you healthy choices and is just right for you. A dietician will guide you on how to exercise portion control & make healthy food choices.

Do have a snack when you're hungry. Choose something healthy (something that's low in carbohydrates) that fits into your overall meal plan. All starchy foods like rice and potatoes and breads and cereals get broken down into sugar in body. If you eat them in excess, your blood sugar is going to go up, so you need to use some portion control. The real key, is portion control.

Do ask your health care provider for an A1C test. A1C, short for hemoglobin A1C, is best test to know if your blood glucose (sugar) is under control. Aim for a fasting blood sugar between 70 and 120. Before a meal, we want it less than 122, and after a meal, about an hour after a meal, we want it to be less than 180. These are actually blood sugars that you should be aiming for, and that is actually what we call good control.

Do control ABCs of diabetes: A1C for blood glucose, B for blood pressure and C for cholesterol. That's key to reducing your risk of heart disease and stroke.