knowledgebase – Saluté Nutrition, PLLC

If You’re Tired of Injections, Try This Insulin Patch

“When I see new diabetes technology, I ask myself, ‘Where does it shine?’” said Jennifer Okemah, MS, RD, BCADM, CDCES, CSSD, from Salute Nutrition near Seattle, WA.

She admits she was skeptical of the CeQur Simplicity insulin patch at first.

“I quickly realized the shine of this insulin patch technology is how basic it is,” said Okemah.

Worn on your abdomen for up to three days, this ultra-thin patch requires just an easy squeeze of two small buttons to deliver insulin in 2-unit increments.

“When I show this insulin patch to my patients, their first reaction is usually, ‘Really? All I have to do is squeeze the buttons to take my insulin? That’s it?’” Okemah explained.

“It’s about simplicity. There are so many high-tech diabetes options out there, but the simplicity of this insulin patch is exactly what many people want.”

IF YOU TEND TO SKIP YOUR MEALTIME INSULIN

For people with any type of diabetes who don’t like taking injections in public, the discretion of squeezing buttons to dose insulin can be a true game-changer. You can even squeeze those buttons through the fabric of your shirt. With its super thin profile, this patch is probably the most discreet insulin-delivery system on the market.

Okemah said she realized that this patch technology could serve a remarkable number of her patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes who were missing mealtime insulin doses via injection.

Reasons you might miss mealtime insulin doses include:

Not comfortable taking injections in public
Aren’t able to easily keep an insulin pen with you
Don’t like having to carry an insulin pen with you
Have a hard time remembering to take your insulin

“If you need help taking your mealtime insulin for whatever reason, CeQur could work for you,” said Okemah.

5 Big Myths About Diabetes

1. The reason your blood sugar is high in the morning is because of what you ate for dinner the previous night.

There are many reasons why blood sugar can be elevated in the morning and food is only one reason. During the night or during long periods of not eating, your liver makes glucose for your body so it has consistent fuel available. This is true for everyone, whether they have diabetes or not. As your blood sugar rises, the pancreas matches it with trickles of insulin to keep levels steady. But this changes in pre-diabetes and then throughout the progression of diabetes. Rather than producing steady levels of insulin, the cells in the pancreas that make insulin slowly die out (type 2 diabetes). This progression can be evident by slowly rising blood sugars in the morning.

2. I can’t eat carbs.

The human body will make glucose out of any food you eat if it has to. But to produce energy, it prefers using carbohydrates. Eating smaller amounts of high-quality carbs helps provide the right fuel for the body thereby allowing the protein to repair tissue and fat to transport molecules such as vitamins and hormones. On the flip side, eating zero carbs is not sustainable or even possible. Remember – it’s best to eat high-quality carbs like whole-wheat pasta or bread, brown rice, green vegetables, flaxseed, beans, lentils, etc., and not processed carbs like sugar and processed packaged foods.

3. My metformin stopped working.

Metformin is oftentimes one of the first medications used after and in conjunction with education and nutrition therapy for diabetes management. Metformin targets the liver to help it make less glucose so that fasting blood sugars are more manageable, but it does not work on elevated blood sugar related to food. Because Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease Metformin may work for years. And then it may seem like it’s not doing its job. That’s because as diabetes progresses, which it will, your HbA1C will elevate and when it does, it’s time to come up with a new plan and try other drugs.

4. It’s better to have real sodas like Coke than diet sodas.

The truth is that the human body does not need ANY soda in any form whether regular or diet. There is nothing healthy about any soda option. Pure sugar that’s found in soda directly raises blood sugar and repetitively challenges the pancreas to make extra insulin that the body doesn’t need. The rise of insulin causes the body to store calories. Diet sodas don’t do this because artificial sweeteners don’t raise blood sugar, but they are not a healthy choice for other reasons. Caffeine, found in most of these drinks, can raise blood sugar too. Bottom line? Humans need water, not Coke Zero.

5. Adults with diabetes have type 2. Children with diabetes have type 1.

Adults and children both can get type 1diabetes. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease in which the person’s immune system has attacked and killed all of the beta cells in the pancreas. These are the cells responsible for making insulin. Humans need insulin just like they need oxygen. So they have to inject it to create energy from food. Likewise, adults and even teenagers and younger can get type 2 diabetes, which is not an autoimmune disease. In type 2, the body overproduces insulin from the same beta cells on the pancreas which affects type 1. However, the process is slow and difficult to catch. Whereas type 1 is sudden and definitive to diagnose. One disease does not turn into the other because they are separate and different.

July 11, 2022/by admin

HCP Resources, knowledgebase

COVID Pandemic Leads to a Sharp Drop in A1c Testing – Beyond Type 2

WRITTEN BY: GINGER VIEIRA

Skipping routine A1c tests because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and telehealth appointments have left many people with diabetes with rising blood sugars and too little support.

The sharp drop in A1c testing over the last year during the ongoing pandemic and a rocky transition to virtual healthcare has left many people with diabetes with rising blood sugars and too little support.

OBSTACLES TO GETTING YOUR ROUTINE A1C TEST
Depending on the resources where you live, getting an A1c test prior to a telehealth appointment with your doctor came with many potential obstacles such as:

The labs in your area were closed.
Open labs are not within reasonable distance from your home.
Your healthcare team had no system in place to order labs under these circumstances.
Doctors working from home had no way to send referrals from home computers.
Doctors working from home were unable to access their usual appointment process.
You were afraid to go get blood work done due to the pandemic.
You didn’t want to sit in your car and wait to be called into the lab.
You were reluctant to go somewhere new for lab work.
You were given a referral to get blood work done but decided not to go.

“75 percent of our patients are still choosing telehealth appointments,” says Jennifer Okemah, MS, RD, BCADM, CDCES, CSSD, from Salute Nutrition near Seattle, WA. Okemah and her team work with people with diabetes from all over Washington state.

Fortunately, Okemah and her team were well-prepared for virtual healthcare, because it had been part of their clinic prior to the pandemic with clients spread across the state and only 4 physical offices.

However, the patient referrals Okemah normally receives from other primary care and endocrinology offices revealed just how significant the lack of A1c testing was for patients in other clinics, and the inability to send referrals at all during stay-at-home orders.

September 17, 2021/by admin

HCP Resources, knowledgebase

Putting Inhaled Insulin to the Test

WRITTEN BY: GINGER VIEIRA

Editor’s Note: This article is about Ginger’s personal experience using Afrezza, and what has worked for her may not work for everyone. Please consult your healthcare team before making any changes to your diabetes care regimen. Beyond Type 1 has an active partnership with MannKind, makers of Afrezza. This article was not produced as part of that partnership, and the company had no input into its creation.

I’ve lived with type 1 diabetes for over 23 years. Using long-acting and rapid-acting insulins (and one decade on an insulin pump), I’ve taken approximately 45,000 injections. After years of hearing friends in the diabetes community talk about using inhaled insulin, I finally gave it my full attention over the last month.

Here, I share as much detail as possible about my experience using Afrezza inhaled insulin for my mealtime and correction doses of insulin.

SPOILER ALERT: I AM LOVING AFREZZA!
It’s wicked fast — faster than I thought possible. I never dose until I’m done eating.
It makes preventing lows around exercise so much easier.
Once you learn how to dose it, the mild lows nearly correct themselves because it clears your system so quickly.
When correcting mild-to-severely high blood sugars, you’re in your goal range within 30 to 60 minutes because it’s so fast.
You don’t get the food cravings that come with injected rapid-acting insulin!
It’s amazingly fun to take insulin without stabbing my body multiple times a day with a syringe!

For more details visit – https://beyondtype1.org/inhaled-insulin-type-1-diabetes/

Image Source – https://beyondtype1.org/inhaled-insulin-type-1-diabetes/

September 17, 2021/by admin

HCP Resources, knowledgebase

A Closer Look at Drugstore Glucose Meter Brands

Blood glucose meters are, of course, a key tool in managing diabetes because they allow people with diabetes to see what their blood glucose level is within a matter of seconds, empowering them to take corrective action if necessary.

Like all diabetes supplies, however, glucose meters can be expensive and hard to obtain without insurance or the help of a physician. For this reason, drugstore-brand glucose meters are often a good option, as they are more accessible and affordable while providing the same fast results as fancier brand-name glucose meters.

“Benefits of ‘generic meters’ include being easily accessible, and the test strips are really inexpensive,” explains Jamie Kowatch, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist (CDCES) at Saluté Nutrition LLC in Seattle, Washington. “But all of the data shows that they are nowhere near as accurate as the big brand named meters. If people want to have more accurate data, more accurate information to make their judgement calls on, the best way to go about it is have their prescriber write a prescription for the meter and the test strips and go through insurance and get however many test strips they need for one copay.”

Here’s a rundown of popular drugstore glucose meter brands, that can help you decide if they are a good option for you.

Source:

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

August 19, 2021/by admin

knowledgebase

Food for Thought: Diet Fails

As the month of January rolls by, New Year’s dieting promises tend to fizzle out. Many people who’ve resolved to follow the latest fad diet, such as keto, paleo and flexitarian regimes, find themselves back where they started by the time February arrives.

Studies show that for a majority of people, the weight piles back on in the long term. The reason? The restrictions of one particular diet are too difficult to stick to.

Click here to read the full article

January 6, 2021/0 Comments/by admin

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Diabetes Etiquette

DON’T offer unsolicited advice about my eating or other aspects of diabetes.

You may mean well, but giving advice about someone’s personal habits, especially when it is not requested isn’t very nice. Besides, many of the popularly help beliefs about diabetes (“You should stop eating sugar”) are out of date or don’t apply to type 1 diabetes.

DON’T tell me horror stories about your grandmother or other people with diabetes you have heard about.

Diabetes is scary enough, and stories like these are not reassuring! Beside, we now know that with good management, odds are good you can live a long, healthy and happy life with type 1 diabetes.

Learn more

December 8, 2020/0 Comments/by admin

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How to Meal Prep a Week of High-Protein Lunches in 30 Minutes

Meal-prepping your week of lunches in advance can help you stay on course with healthy eating habits and save you time and money in the process. Making your meals in advance means you’re in full control of what you eat and how much you eat-no need for expensive, high-calorie take-out meals when your lunch is already made! And while meal-prepping does take some commitment, the time you spend up front prepping is less than what you’d collectively spend prepping meals before or after busy workdays.

The high-protein lunches in this meal-prep plan are easy options for anyone looking for healthy lunch ideas and are particularly helpful if you’re trying to lose weight.Because protein increases satiety, a high-protein lunch can help prevent that afternoon “energy crash” that leaves you feeling wiped and craving high-calorie foods. A salad or grain bowl topped with protein (think chicken or an egg) will help keep you full all afternoon. A lunch win! Plus, in combination with exercise, eating a balanced diet with protein-rich foods can help build and maintain muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn over the course of the day.

Read the full article here

October 9, 2020/0 Comments/by admin

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Breaking down the negative impacts of weight stigma.

On Nutrition

Next week is Weight Stigma Awareness Week (Sept. 28 to Oct. 2), and if there was ever a year to be aware of the physical and mental health impacts of weight stigma, it’s 2020. There’s so much hand-wringing about the association between “obesity” and elevated COVID-19 risk, despite the fact that there’s no magic wand we can wave to make everyone — including thin people with underlying health conditions — have “average” risk. We need more mask-wearing, less fat-shaming.

When you have prejudiced attitudes and beliefs about weight, and direct them against someone based on their weight, that’s weight stigma. There’s this pervasive idea in our society that if you shame someone enough about their weight, they’ll “do something about it.” But fat cells don’t feel stigma, people do — and shame is not an effective motivator for positive change. Research confirms this.

Instead, weight stigma, especially when someone internalizes that stigmaand fat-shames themselves, can harm both physical and mental health. Not only does weight stigma increase the risk of depression and anxiety, but it can cause chronic stress. This stress contributes to higher levels of inflammation and oxidative stress, along with disordered eating behaviors — including comfort eating, yo-yo dieting and possibly eating disorders. People who experience weight stigma often avoid exercise in an attempt to hide their bodies and avoid further stigma. Given what we know about the importance of physical activity in maintaining and improving health for people of all sizes, this is adding insult to injury — all this stress, disordered eating and exercise avoidance increases risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Lest you think these health effects are due to weight, not weight stigma, think again. Study after study finds that the negative health effects of weight stigma are over and above any effects that weight itself could have on health, and they happen regardless of actual body size. Someone in the “normal” range on the body mass index (BMI) charts can internalize weight stigma, hating their body because you think it should be smaller and living in fear of gaining weight.

Read the complete article here

October 1, 2020/0 Comments/by admin

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Insulin Basics

There are different types of insulin depending on how quickly they work, when they peak, and how long they last.
Insulin is available in different strengths; the most common is U-100.
All insulin available in the United States is manufactured in a laboratory, but animal insulin can still be imported for personal use.

Inside the pancreas, the hormone insulin is made in the beta cells, which are part of the Islets of Langerhans. These islets also have alpha cells, which make glucagon, as well as delta cells. With each meal, beta cells release insulin to help the body use or store the blood sugar it gets from food.

In the beta cells, insulin is created first as a big molecule called “proinsulin.” Proinsulin is broken into two pieces: insulin and C-peptide. C-peptide is important especially when determining treatment because it can be used to measure how much insulin a person is making. The more C-peptide a person has, the more insulin they are making. This can help a provider determine how much insulin to prescribe.

In people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas no longer makes insulin. The beta cells have been destroyed and they need insulin shots to use glucose from meals.

People with type 2 diabetes make insulin, but their bodies don’t respond well to it. Some people with type 2 diabetes need diabetes pills or insulin shots to help their bodies use glucose for energy.

Insulin cannot be taken as a pill because it would be broken down during digestion just like the protein in food. It must be injected into the fat under your skin for it to get into your blood. In some rare cases insulin can lead to an allergic reaction at the injection site. Talk to your doctor if you believe you may be experiencing a reaction.

Read the complete article here

September 30, 2020/0 Comments/by admin

IF YOU TEND TO SKIP YOUR MEALTIME INSULIN

On Nutrition

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