The Cardio Blog retired
For regular readers of this blog, I have disappointing news. The Cardio Blog is now retired. That means that, while it will still be available for reading and searching, new posts will not be added. Our Cancer and Diabetes blogs are also being retired, which I mention here because some readers bookmarked more than one of the Life Sciences group.
The choice to stop publishing these three blogs is a business decision, and has nothing whatsoever to do with their quality. I am, and everyone here is, deeply grateful to the bloggers whose dedication to these sites gave so much information and inspiration to thousands of people. These three blogs are among the longest-running properties in our network, and it is sad to let them go.
Thank you to our many readers for visiting us, and sharing in the community here.
Brad Hill
Programming Director, Weblogs / AOL
The Diabetes Blog retired
For regular readers of this blog, I have disappointing news. The Diabetes Blog is now retired. That means that, while it will still be available for reading and searching, new posts will not be added. Our Cardio and Cancer blogs are also being retired, which I mention here because some readers bookmarked more than one of the Life Sciences group.
The choice to stop publishing these three blogs is a business decision, and has nothing whatsoever to do with their quality. I am, and everyone here is, deeply grateful to the bloggers whose dedication to these sites gave so much information and inspiration to thousands of people. These three blogs are among the longest-running properties in our network, and it is sad to let them go.
Thank you to our many readers for visiting us, and sharing in the community here.
Brad Hill
Programming Director, Weblogs / AOL
Dr. Funny
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Opinion, Support, Personalities
Perhaps you feel the same way - but it's hard to catalogue the funny moments of life with diabetes. However the barometer sometimes registers off the chart when you mentally note the dialogue on doctor's visits.
I'd like to cite my newest friend (in my head) George, of the B.A.D Blog. He did an awesome blog on his doctor dropping a consoling F-bomb one day, after trying to explain erratic blood sugars to George. For those of you who are not familiar with the F-bomb...it is a four letter expletive. George's response was classic. He couldn't decide if that made his doctor cool or scary - but it did make him a little more human. George, like many of us, put doctors on an automatic pedestal akin to godlike.
Doctors, much like children, say the funniest things sometimes. It doesn't even have to be medically related - but when you ask a doctor something that is not related to their profession - you'll get a creative answer. Doctor's don't like to be wrong - but they'll give it their all before they admit defeat. I'd also like to thank George for the unrelenting entertainment.
Keep your heart health a priority!
Filed under: Blogs
So The Cardio Blog is going into retirement, and since is this is my last post I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for reading! It's been a blast writing and reading and learning about the importance of taking care of ourselves and our heart health specifically, and of course I encourage you all to continue doing so. There are countless great resources online (even though we were voted #1!) and I thought I'd share a few that I personally like and plan to stay in touch with:A Hearty Life
The Heart Scan Blog
Mark's Daily Apple
That's Fit
Taking care of women's hearts
Filed under: Heart Centers Online, Research, Women Heart Health
As you may know, The Cardio Blog is being retired today. It's been an honor to write for this blog, and I hope that the information we brought to you was useful and informative. Since this will be my last post for The Cardio Blog, I thought I'd write about a topic that is near and dear to my heart (pun, lamely, intended): women's heart health. We've seen it in the headlines again and again -- women, and often their doctors, don't always prioritize their health, and this seems to be especially an issue when it comes to heart health. But the fact is that heart disease is public enemy number one for women, and we all need to better understand and deal with our risk factors.
So I'll leave you with this post from Her Daily News. In it, they talk about Heart Truth, the National Institute of Health's campaign to bring heart education to women. They also include a checklist of questions to take to your doctor, as well as a list to help you understand your own risk. Do yourself -- and your heart -- a favor today and read through the questions to determine if you need to do more to protect your health.
Thanks for reading The Cardio Blog, and don't forget to come visit us at That's Fit for all of the latest news in health and fitness!
Dr. Bernstein answers your questions on September 19th
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Drugs, Events, Opinion, Allie Beatty, Support, Care, Complications, Personalities
Dr. Bernstein, a world leading authority in diabetes, is hosting a live internet broadcasts to answer your questions on diabetes. Diabetes 911 is setup to stop the complications of diabetes before it's an emergency. Here's a link to the page where you can submit your questions, to be answered on his next broadcast -- September 19, 2007.
Just a heads-up for The Diabetes Blog reading community - AOL has announced they will be retiring The Diabetes Blog on September 14, 2007. So this is a preemptive blog to get your calendar out, send yourself a reminder email titled: OPEN ON SEPTEMBER 19th!!!!
This will not be my last blog shared with you, all mighty readers of the blogosphere. I'm working to get my proverbial welcome mat in place to continue unfolding the mysteries of diabetes on LoveDiabetes.com. More to come...
A little bit of codebreaking may be involved
Filed under: Diet
If you haven't noticed, there are always Spam comments left on this blog. It seems as though they are able
to pinpoint specific words that are written in the posts, and their subsequent, automated response typically has something to do with that word or group of words. And, you probably also noticed that, in most cases, these comments don't make any sense or, worse yet, have nothing to do with the post at all. Well, there's not too much I can do about that. But, for just this one time, I've decided that I want to try to trick these automatic Spam comments while still passing along to you all of the information.
This may not be as easy as I think it is going to be. We'll see how it goes.
In the country that borders THE STATES THAT HAVE BEEN UNITED to the north, researchers have discovered that taking THE KIND OF HEALTH PRODUCT MADE FAMOUS BY CENTRUM AND THE FLINSTONES (especially the one that ends with the letter "D") and THE BENEFICIAL COMPONENT FOUND IN DAIRY supplements can lower the risk of THE HUMAN ORGAN MOST TALKED ABOUT ON THIS BLOG + ANOTHER NAME FOR AN ONGOING PHYSICAL MALADY.
The researchers examined 63 women with a THIS TYPE OF GUARD PROTECTS SOMEONE IMPORTANT + ANOTHER NAME OF A CHURCH SERVICE + A PART OF A BOOK WHERE YOU CAN LOOK UP TOPICS BY SUBJECT of 30 or more who were on a 15-week THE OPPOSITE OF HIGH + A FOOD MEASUREMENT THAT RHYMES WITH THE NAME MALLORY diet. In addition to the diet, the participants were given daily tablets containing either a placebo or 1,200mg of THE BENEFICIAL COMPONENT FOUND IN DAIRY with THE KIND OF HEALTH PRODUCT MADE FAMOUS BY CENTRUM AND THE FLINSTONES (especially the one that ends with the letter "D") to facilitate the absorption of the former. At the end of the 15-week period, researchers observed greater drops in LDL (bad cholesterol) and an increase in HDL (good cholesterol) in the group that took supplements containing THE BENEFICIAL COMPONENT FOUND IN DAIRY and THE KIND OF HEALTH PRODUCT MADE FAMOUS BY CENTRUM AND THE FLINSTONES (especially the one that ends with the letter "D").
This comes as further evidence to support the benefit of taking these two supplements, of which scientists involved in the study claim people do not get enough of.
Well, hopefully this all made sense. I just realized that the Spammers probably work off of keyword tags instead of what's in the body of a blog post, so this may not yield the results I was hoping for. Oh well, it was worth trying at least once.
Two Presidential Candidates Announce Plans to Cure Diabetes
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Research, Daily News, Events, Support
Did anybody catch the first ever YouTube democratic debate last week? It was cosponsored by CNN and the cool thing about it was this: all the questions came in from Americans like you and me. Turns out two of the candidates spoke out on behalf of diabetes. Here's what they had to say...
Governor Richardson mentioned the fact that 33% of Medicare is wrapped up in diabetes costs. He suggests, "Let's have major prevention programs, and also ways that we can ensure that we find a cure." He still has not announced a plan to ensure a cure. But if he does - I'm willing to bet all of his campaign funding from Big Pharma might mysteriously disappear.
The other candidate addressing diabetes was Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. Dodd's promise came after from a woman's question about stem cell research. Somehow the senator was able to plug an endeavor to "deal with diabetes". However, much like Governor Richardson - he has yet to announce a plan to cure. Politics as usual. Stay tuned for the LIVE Republican Debate on September 17th.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | CommentsQuitting smoking only reduces heart attacks in small towns?
Filed under: Smoking, Stress, Women Heart Health, Men Heart Health
Smoking bans are a great idea -- they make the air cleaner for non-smokers and reduce the amount of time that smokers spend puffing on the old cancer sticks. Smoking bans have even been shown to lead to a big drop in coronary heart disease ... in smaller towns, that is. According to this, it's a phenomenon that is just emerged as cities and towns implement smoking bans -- a decrease in heart conditions are only seen in smaller urban areas when a smoking ban comes into effect. Why is this? The original post cites statistics and the incorrect assumption that because two things are linked, one causes the other. Which is true, but it makes me curious, especially since I live in a large city. Is pollution a substantial reason behind heart attacks? The stress of living in a busy urban centre? Road rage? I think it's a good reminder that we need to look after ourselves and our hearts and not assume that our environments will help keep us healthy.
What do you think?
The true gifts in life come in the form of advice
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Opinion, Allie Beatty, Support, Personalities
My recent blog on interlopers offering advice about controlling diabetes upset a good friend of mine. He asked a question that gave me one of those What if...dream sequences. The reality check warrants a new blog.
He asked -- what if an interloper talked your doctor into reconsidering the use of natural animal insulins because they read the research and figured out that it was the better choice? Would you still think interlopers have no value in diabetes control?
Touch?- you sunk my battleship. I had to confer with a fellow diabetes OC blogger to get the he said / she said feedback. She made a very good point, too. In her words, there is a special group of non-diabetics who have an acute understanding of the disease, and who may have a somewhat intuitive understanding of how it works, but most of the time there is a silent acknowledgement that their opinion can at any given time be dismissed in favor of the diabetics'. Words of wisdom typed from the sorceress of Lemonade Life.
Today's lesson for Allie: listen without prejudice. Learn from all who are willing to share their experiences. Prosperity in life comes from the gifts we share with each other. My friends have shared valuable insight to teach me how to gain from every experience in life. I now see that the advice others have to share is the gift we have yet to receive. Denying the gift before we ever receive it is ungrateful. Graciously humbled - Allie B