Not a good couple of weeks for Evelyn !

Bloggers keep spreading the word and helping people !

The other night I was feeling very angry. Out on the blogosphere over the last week, a major debacle has been going on. One of the points being discussed was offensive language. Reading some of these blogs and posts coincided with me watching the news item linked below. The children of Aleppo are living and dying in medieval conditions and powerful nations are doing nothing. We have seen this many times before in other countries. The question I am asking myself, is there not enough money or oil to be gained for us to get involved ?

This story cheered me up to I found on Facebook.

“We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we’re approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter:
‘Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended’ They pay for their order, take the two and leave.

I ask my friend: “What are those ‘suspended’ coffees?”
My friend: “Wait for it and you will see.”

Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers - three for them and four ‘suspended’. While I still wonder what’s the deal with those ‘suspended’ coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square in front of the cafe. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks
‘Do you have a suspended coffee ?’

It’s simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such cafe's or even grocery stores in every town where the less fortunate will find hope and support ? If you own a business why don’t you offer it to your clients… I am sure many of them will like it”

Helping people you know in trouble is what we should do, but helping people you will never know, and never receive a thank you, somehow seems more special to me. So, bloggers and readers, spread the word at every opportunity. Telling your success story how you beat diabetes or obesity will encourage others, it’s not all doom and gloom and horror out there.

Eddie

Fluctuations in A1c's Lead to Nephropathy !

A large cohort study shows that variability in HbA1c can link to diabetic nephropathy in type 2 patients.... 

A recent study, examined the association between HbA1c variability and nephropathy. The researchers conducted a cohort study from the Renal Insufficiency and Cardiovascular Events (RIACE) Italian multicenter study.

The study examined 15,933 white patients with type 2 diabetes. Also, they collected at 3 to 5 HbA1c values in 52% of patients over 2 years prior to study entry. The average patient age was 68 years old and the average duration of diabetes was 14 years. Median and interquartile ranges of HbA_1c-MEAN and HbA_1c c-SD were 7.57% (range, 6.86% - 8.38%) and 0.46% (range, 0.29% - 0.74%).

When HbA1c-SD was added to HbA1c-MEAN, it served as an independent associate of microalbuminuria and stage 1 to 2 chronic kidney disease. Also, it served as an independent predictor of macroalbuminuria and stage 3 to 5 chronic kidney disease. The HbA1c-MEAN did not correlate with any of these outcomes. However, it did correlate with diabetic retinopathy.

The authors concluded, "In patients with type 2 diabetes, HbA_1c variability affects albuminuria and albuminuric CKD phenotypes independently of (or instead of) average HbA_1c, even after adjustment for known risk factors for microvascular complications. On the contrary, HbA_1cvariability has no effects on diabetic retinopathy, which is mainly dependent on HbA_1c." This shows the importance of consistently maintaining HbA1c values in the normal range to avoid microvascular problems in the future.

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14410&catid=1&Itemid=17

Graham

People are appalled at the word c**t. Watch this video to the end, this is the world we live in !

http://www.channel4.com/news/syrias-descent-the-agony-of-aleppos-children

Eddie

David Bowie - Heroes (live) 14,615,966 Views can’t be wrong !

Luciano Pavarotti simply mind blowing !

Vittorio Grigolo - Ave Maria - Italian Tenor

Vittorio Grigolo music night !

Vittorio Grigolo what my wife sees in this guy is beyond me ! Apart from the fact he is talented, wealthy and good looking ! Eddie

Make your own lowcarb bread.

Following on from the article below I thought it may be of interest to post an item on bread you can make yourself. Not only is the bread full of healthy nutrients it is also lowcarb. No special tools or equipment required and tastes great. Please note as this bread is not full of preservatives it is best kept in an air tight container in the fridge.

Flax seed loaf

Nutritional Information: If you cut this loaf into 12 thick slices each slice has less than 1 gram of effective carbohydrate, 5 grams fibre, 6 grams protein, and 185 calories.

 Flax meal loaf. Weight of cooked loaf 742 grams.

Ingredients.

2 cups of ground flax seeds (280 grams)

5  eggs

Half a cup of water

One third of a cup of liquid butter

One table spoon of baking powder

One tea spoon of salt

Added mixed dried herbs (optional)

Method

Place the eggs in a mixing bowl and whisk. Add the butter and water. Place the flax in another bowl and add baking powder, salt and herbs and mix.… Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix thoroughly. Place the mix into a non stick bread tin and bake at gas mark 7 for 55 minutes, electric fan oven 200c for 55 minutes. All ovens are different, so you will have to experiment a bit. Add some walnuts and sun dried toms into the mix and you have meal in itself. Just add that lovely butter.

Roll-Bap

 for a different taste and texture try adding almond flour. 

Ingredients.

Ground flax seed 40 grams.

Ground almond meal 40 grams.

Baking powder one teaspoon.

A pinch of salt.

One medium sized egg.

One tablespoon of olive oil.

One tablespoon of double cream.

Method

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly in a mixing bowl, then add the wet ingredients. When thoroughly mixed, pour/spoon into a micro wave proof dish. This bread was made in a Pyrex dish 6" by 2" deep.

Heat in a micro-wave oven 700 watt, for 120 seconds. This is a very filling bread and should keep you going for hours.


To save money buy flax seeds un-ground and grind your own in an electric coffee bean grinder, you will re-cover the cost very quickly, as plain flax seeds are much cheaper than pre-ground. They also stay fresher for longer as you only need to grind seeds as required. Once ground use straight away or store in a fridge. Un-ground seeds can be kept in a cool dry place, but do not need refrigeration.

For a real luxury bread try using Linwoods pre-ground products. Not cheap but packed with great items and taste fantastic.

Eddie

The dangerous truth about grains.

While it is becoming universally understood that white flour lacks essential nutrients that the human body needs and even promotes disease, the public does not have an adequate understanding of whole grains. We are led to believe that whole grains are a perfectly healthy alternative to refined grains when, in fact, they also present a whole host of dangers to our health.

When grains were first introduced to the human diet, they were not prepared and consumed as they are today. Pre-industrialized societies fermented grains so that they were more easily digested and their vitamins and minerals could be better absorbed. Today, grains are sprayed with pesticides while they are growing and then are milled at high temperatures, which causes their fatty acids to spoil and become rancid. The milled flour becomes even more rancid when it's stored for long periods of time. Preservatives, stabilizers and additives are added to flour and it becomes much less beneficial and even harmful to our health.

More here.

Electronic implant designed to reduce obesity to undergo trials.

UK-based scientists have designed an 'intelligent' microchip which they claim can suppress appetite.

Animal trials of the electronic implant are about to begin and its makers say it could provide a more effective alternative to weight-loss surgery.

The chip is attached to the vagus nerve which plays a role in appetite as well as a host of other functions within the body.

Human trials of the implant could begin within three years, say its makers.

The work is being led by Prof Chris Toumazou and Prof Sir Stephen Bloom of Imperial College London.

More on this story here.

Think a skinny latte will help you slim? Sorry ladies, it won't do that but it might just make you FATTER !

UK obesity levels are ten times higher than they were in 1972

• Small amounts of fat leave you feeling fuller for longer
• The key to good health and looking good is real, unprocessed food

By ZOE HARCOMBE
Last week, there was  a headline in the news-papers that felt like a ray of hope. 'Skimmed milk doesn’t stop toddlers getting fat,' it read. 


Well, hallelujah. It doesn’t stop adults  getting fat either — in fact, I’d argue the opposite, that skimmed milk and other low-fat dairy produce can make you fatter. Here’s why. 

Fat tastes great for good reason: it keeps us alive and it is uniquely satiating — it makes us feel full. If I ever get given a skinny cappuccino by mistake, it not only tastes gross but it doesn’t satisfy me. 

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it took me years to make this connection. In my late teens and early 20s, I started every day in fresh hope that I would be 'good', and being 'good' would make me slim. 

But I thought 'good' meant dutifully counting calories, avoiding fat, and trying to exist on four large apples and a box of Fruit Gums daily,  which adds up to about 700 (fat- free) calories.

Needless to say, my body craved the fat and nutrients I was so sorely lacking, and I would find myself bingeing uncontrollably and gaining weight steadily, despite my overwhelming desire to get thinner. 

Later, I became an obesity researcher — as an unsuccessful calorie counter, I had an insight into the diet- and-binge cycle that most  overweight people seem to be trapped in. I tried to understand why two-thirds of us are overweight, when all we want to be  is slim. 

My single biggest discovery was that trying to eat less makes us eat badly. Ever since scientists first estimated the calorie values of the components of food, we have understood that carbohydrate and protein provide approximately four calories per gram, while fat approximates to nine.

Calorie counters know these numbers and see fat as the  bad guy. They want the biggest bang for their buck — the most food for the  fewest calories.

But my big box of Wine Gums and its 400 empty calories were giving my body nothing that it needed — no essential fats, no protein, no vitamins, no minerals.

Any lifelong dieter will count calories, but any successful dieter will keep consuming healthy fats and concentrate on controlling carbohydrates. The biggest difference between the two types is that the successful dieter’s approach enables them to eat real food — the stuff that our bodies have evolved to consume.

Our planet has provided all the nutrients we need in the natural food around us — if we shun eggs for processed breakfast cereal, or steak for a sandwich full of additives, these calories won’t count towards health in anything like the same way.

It’s hardly surprising, therefore, to read that a study of 11,000 toddlers has found that two-year-olds who drink full-fat milk are less likely to be overweight or obese by the age of four than those on low-fat milk. 

It concluded that this might be because higher-fat milk makes children feel fuller for longer, so they eat less of other foods as a result. 

The whole-milk children are also getting the nutrients that they need, in a way that their bodies can deal with, so they’re not seeking out more food to fill the nutritional gap.

Full-fat dairy produce is a vital source of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K — particularly the first two. Dairy is a great source of calcium and phosphorus —  the minerals that work  with vitamin D for  bone health. 

The term 'fat-soluble' means that these vitamins need to be delivered in or with fat for the nutrients to be available to the body. That’s why nature puts fat-soluble vitamins in foods containing fat — how clever. 

So man removes the fat to make low-fat milk and thereby removes the nutritional delivery mechanism — how stupid!

Very few of us get enough vitamin D, which is so vital to our health. We are seeing a re-emergence of rickets in children in the 21st century, thanks to our crazy public health advice that demonises fat, cholesterol and sunshine — the three most important things our body needs to obtain vitamin D.

Removing the fat in dairy is bad enough. Sometimes that is all that manufacturers do (for example, with skimmed milk). Sometimes they do worse — they remove the nutritious fat and replace the lost taste with sugar (yoghurts are the main victims of this practice). 

Mouth-wateringly scrumptious, creamy Greek-style yoghurt containing healthy natural fats is turned into a fat-free, sweetener-laden apology for a treat and the calorie counter who eats it thinks they are being good to him or herself. They’re not.

Besides, have you read the nutritional info on a carton of milk recently? ‘Full fat’ milk is a measly 3 to 4 per cent fat. Even to an ardent calorie counter, that hardly makes it a high-fat food.

   

Of all the misconceptions about food that litter the media today, the one that has harmed humans the most is the idea that fat makes you fat. 

It was the Seventies demonisation of fat that directly led to  government advice to ‘base your meals on starchy foods’. Until  this point we used to think  that starchy, carb-heavy foods were fattening (our grandmothers still do). Since this change, obesity in the UK has increased from  2.7 per cent of men and women (1972) to 22.6 per cent of men and 25.8 per cent of women in 1999. Coincidence? 

And while UK obesity levels have increased almost tenfold, saturated fat intake has fallen from 51.7g per person per day (1975) to 28.1g (1999). 

The National Food Survey also informs us that we consume a quarter of the whole milk that  we used to, and consume six to seven times more reduced-fat dairy produce. 

As we have eaten more carbs and less fat we have become more obese and less healthy.
If only we could return to the real food, whole milk, meat and two veg world of little more than a generation ago, we could maybe return to their enviable figures and waist sizes.

So, whether you think of your slimmer ancestors or those tubby toddlers, the message is clear: eat real food. 

That means real dairy products — not brightly coloured, plastic-looking processed cheese but brie oozing off the plate. 

Not sugared, sweetened, artificially coloured stuff in a pot called yoghurt, but plain, natural, nutrient-rich, stand-your-spoon-up-in-it proper yoghurt. 

The real thing is more filling, more nutritious and way more delicious — and the evidence is overwhelming that we were slim when we ate it and we’re fat now we don’t.

Mine’s a full-fat, single-shot  cappuccino — with extra milk, thank you! 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2300171/Why-skinny-lattes-make-fatter.html#ixzz2OrzKQZNt



Graham

Flesh-eating bacteria strain eats only excess body fat !

Allentown, PA - Everyone knows Allentown is full of people who are too fat to fit into a restaurant booth. That is all about to change since the FDA approved the use of a new strain of flesh-eating bacteria for release into the wild, according to our source, Dr. Perogie of Emmaus College.

The new bacteria strain is genetically modified to only eat the "bad" fat, not the brown fat that is needed for production of heat in the body. The bacteria work fast, as they multiply and eat up one pound the first day, two pounds, the second day, and so on until the job is done.

This man was 1300 pounds. Now look at him.

More on this story here

It's your choice, make the right one !

More drugs many with side effects some that kill.

Or this

and this

Lowcarb fruits

The lowcarb food pyramid.

Eddie

Eat the colours of the rainbow !

And not a potato in sight !

Eddie

Thanks Alison

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truely recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.


Eddie

An insider's view of generic-drug pricing.

Bob Toomajian worked for 16 years as Kaiser Permanente's drug purchasing manager for Southern California, giving him an insider's knowledge of how medications are priced before reaching consumers.

When it comes to patented name-brand drugs, he told me, pharmaceutical companies try to get away with the highest prices possible. On the other hand, they're typically recovering millions of dollars in research and development costs, so those sky-high prices are perhaps understandable.

It's a different story for generic drugs, Toomajian said. In that case, the manufacturer isn't saddled with R&D expenses. It isn't attempting to create a market for a new medicine. Basically, everything it earns beyond production costs is pure gravy.

"A lot of the prices for generics can't be justified," Toomajian said. "Manufacturers are basically starting with the exorbitant prices that the branded guys charged and then setting their own prices at whatever level they think the market will bear."

The murky world of generic drug prices has been much on my mind after hearing from readers about costs for various medicines experiencing crazy fluctuations. I wrote the other day about a Target customer who saw the price for a generic antibiotic climb from $6 to $133 within just a few weeks.

More on this story here.

Diabetes treatment undermined by drug and disease interactions !

By Stephen Robinson, 26 March 2013

The effective treatment of diabetes is hampered by the presence of other diseases and drugs, a study has shown.

Comorbid conditions and their treatments may affect how many patients with type 2 diabetes have well-controlled blood glucose levels, researchers found.

They said GPs needed guidelines that address patients who have multiple diseases.

Only half of patients with type 2 diabetes achieve recommended HbA1c levels of under 7%. One reason may be the high incidence of comorbid conditions, present in half of all patients with chronic diseases, and interactions with other drugs.

Most clinical guidelines focus on single diseases and there is little to guide GPs through complex interactions between comorbidities and comedication, the researchers said.

To examine the possible impact of these interactions, a team from the University of Leuven in Belgium analysed treatment outcomes in 3,416 patients with type 2 diabetes from 55 general practices.

They analysed patients’ HbA1c levels between 1994 and 2008, comparing patients who had type 2 diabetes with those who had comorbid diseases. These included joint disorders, respiratory disease, anaemia, malignancy or depression. Many patients were also prescribed at least one NSAID, corticosteroid or antidepressant.

Patients taking drugs for diabetes were 57% more likely to have poor glucose control if they also had a joint disorder. Patients with joint disorders and respiratory disease were 34% more likely to see worsening of HbA1c. Anaemia, malignancy and depression had no effect.

Patients on corticosteroids and NSAIDs were also more likely to have poor blood glucose control.

The study authors said their findings confirmed the need for ‘comprehensive guidelines’ to care for patients with multiple diseases. ‘These guidelines should be as generic as possible but could include adapted metabolic targets discussed on the basis of patient-specific treatment goals,’ they said.

Future research must study more combinations of chronic diseases and drug therapies to improve the chance of successful diabetes treatment, they added.

Read the study here

http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1176180/diabetes-treatment-undermined-drug-disease-interactions/

Graham

Five years a diabetic to the day.

Five years ago, I self diagnosed as a type two diabetic, with a ten quid BG meter from the local chemist. I had been suffering the usual symptoms for months. Constant thirst, planning my life around looking for toilets while on the road. Blurred vision and constant tiredness were other well known symptoms. So, 26mmol on the BG meter, official confirmation 7 days later with and HbA1c test of nearly twelve. Dietary advice from my healthcare team eat starchy carbs with every meal and two metformin pills a day on the script. Sorted eh, no way. I dumped sugar and followed the diet plan, result average BG never better than 12. Having buried my Father, who died riddled with type two diabetes complications, two weeks after my diagnosis, I was looking to buy some more time before I went up the local crematorium chimney. Doing Ray Charles impersonations or playing the part of Long John Silver held no appeal, so I had a Google around. Jeez what an eye opener.

I found the diet I had been recommended was so far away from right, my healthcare team might as well recommended I take up a crack cocaine habit. I am suffering from a chronic disease with an inability to process carbohydrates and I am told to base my meals on them. Were they trying to kill me ? Had I met my diabetes nurse in another life, and left her for a younger woman ? No, almost everyone gets the same idiotic advice. OK I got lucky, I found a guy called Fergus Craig, a long term lowcarbing diabetic, he put me straight. Six days and virtually no carbs later, I was seeing 4’s and fives on my BG meter.

Three months on, and HbA1c in the fives. My Doctor thought the changes were remarkable and was very interested, until I mentioned the three most hated and feared words in the diabetes professionals world, low carb diet. He went ashen and with a single leap, dived over his desk and attacked me with a fire extinguisher, and then tried to garrotte me with his stethoscope ! OK I jest, but I heard the words so many before and after me have heard, ‘if it works for you stick with it‘, end of appointment. Some time after that session I was having some blood tests done at the surgery, and a phlebotomist said to me, looking at my numbers on her computer, these numbers are amazing, have you told your healthcare team how you achieved them ? She was a lovely lady, so I just said yes.

At this time I decided to join the lowcarb Hezbollah. I teamed up with a few other people and we set up a website and some blogs. What we have achieved controlling our diabetes blows the NHS, DUK and ADA etc. into the weeds. The great thing is, none of us are special and anyone can achieve good control over their diabetes and weight where necessary, but you have to put in some effort. You have to drop the carbs and refined factory produced junk, you may even have to get off your butt. But think about this, you could become medication free (type two’s only) you could take control of your health, you could become independent and not become a slave to big pharma greed and multinational junk food outfits. I list the last audit from the NHS below, the HbA1c results are pitiful as you can see, they do not recommend a lowcarb diet. Last word to an enlightened UK healthcare pro. Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

 “The reality is that over the years, and around the world we have killed literally millions of diabetics by advising them to eat a high-carb diet and avoid fats. Only now is it being recognised that previous advice was and remains useless, dangerous and scientifically illiterate"  

The wall of shame.

Results for England. The National Diabetes Audit 2010-2011 
Percentage of registered Type 1patients in England
HbA1c >= 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) = 92.6%
HbA1c >   7.5% (58 mmol/mol) = 71.3%
HbA1c > 10.0% (86 mmol/mol) = 18.1%

Percentage of registered Type 2 patients in England
HbA1c >= 6.5% (48 mmol/mol = 72.5%
HbA1c > 7.5% (58 mmol/mol) = 32.6%
HbA1c >10.0% (86 mmol/mol) = 6.8%

These results are very similar to those obtained in previous NHS audits over the past 5 - 6 years. 

Eddie

I’m not mad honest, well maybe just a bit.

Every now and again I question my sanity, indeed I go further and ask Graham, one of my friends and co writers on this blog, are we going nuts. Let’s face it, when you get to our age, why spend time writing on blogs and dealing with emails that come in via our website. Graham usually reply’s he is perfectly compas mentis, but I am one wave short of a ship wreck, Maybe. After years of lowcarbing I have a good excuse. I remember a dietition warning me years ago, lowcarb would lead to cognitive impairment, scurvy, osteoporosis, constipation and possibly a bad case of  Saint Vitus Dance. She was wrong, so why this post.

Well, checking the lowcarbdiabetic emails this morning, I find we have received an email from a Dr Tannis Laidlaw who is a “psychologist: a clinician in private practice, in psychiatric bins and in the prison service; researcher in schizophrenia, anxiety, psychopathy and other personality disorders” You can appreciate, while still half asleep and still hung over, from a particularly good bottle of Rioja that went down painlessly last night, the email damn near woke me up. Had she seen our blog, had she detected enough character defects in me to see herself through to retirement straightening me out. Let’s face it, more than a few would bang me up in the rubber Ramada given half a chance.

It turns out the lady is not offering her services as a shrink, she is promoting her work. We get lots of spam and requests to run ads on our website and blogs, but we always turn them down. We work for love, and won’t take money for trying to help fellow diabetics. Not that we pass judgement on others, who put far more work in, and are far more knowledgeable than us, and deserve financial reward. We have been very critical of some, who exploit diabetics and make money from others misery, we would lose what little credibility we have, if we tried to earn money from our work. So, this lady is a bit special I think, she writes novels and has an interest in the sort of diet we promote. She seems to me to a be an independent free spirit and clearly lives an interesting life, my sort of person.

Check out her site here.

Eddie

'Visionary' leadership needed on TB

Plans to tackle tuberculosis are failing and a new visionary approach is needed, according to an international group of doctors and scientists.

There is mounting concern that a rise in "virtually untreatable" tuberculosis poses a threat to countries around the world.

Writing in the Lancet medical journal, the group said governments were "complacent" and "neglectful".

It called for countries to do more to tackle the problem.

The World Health Organization says nearly nine million people become sick and 1.4 million die from tuberculosis each year.

Some countries are facing problems with drug resistance, with many first-choice antibiotics no longer working against some strains of the tuberculosis bacterium.

It is particularly acute in some parts of eastern Europe and central Asia, where up to a third of cases can be multi-drug resistant, known as MDR-TB.

The number of laboratory-confirmed cases of MDR-TB around the world has gone from 12,000 in 2005 to 62,000 in 2011. However, the real figure is thought to be closer to 300,000.

An even more stubborn version, resistant to more antibiotics, is called extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis and has been detected in 84 countries.

More on this story here.

Richard ‘The Animal’ Nikoley versus Evelyn ‘Clubber’ Kocur The fight is on !

Well folks the fight we have all been waiting for. A 15 round title fight between Evelyn ‘Clubber’ Kocur and Richard ‘The Animal’ Nikoley. For years these two old bruisers have been avoiding each other in the ring, but now it’s on. Get your ticket early to avoid disappointment, this is going to be a fight to remember. The rumour mill is working overtime, evidently The Animal has stepped up his training program, and is on a milk and kefir diet and getting back to his best fighting weight. Clubber has retained her long time trainer Grizzly Grashow and dumped the donuts.

Boxing insiders never thought this fight would come off, considering Clubber to be way out of The Animals league. The informed money is going on The Animal and forecasting a world of pain for Clubber. Long time fans of The Wooo aka ‘The Whirlwind’ were disappointed when she backed out of her fight with Clubber due to contractual problems and threats of legal action. One thing is for sure, The Animal won’t be backing down and Clubber is taking this fight very seriously.

The Sun

For instant updates on the fighters training camp progress click on the links below.

The Animal here.

Clubber here.

Ya gotta larf !

Sometimes people say to me, are you sure you are right ? What if you have got this lowcarb diet wrong. I show them a picture of this guy, close on sixty years of age and say, this guy makes some 25 year old middle weight champion boxers look pretty average. Or I show them a video of another old man, Dr.Jay Wortman a sixty year old, type two lowcarbing diabetic, skiing down Whistler, and they see my point.

Mark Sissons 59 years of age.

Check out Jay a great video and our good friend, turn up your sound and remember this man is a 60 year old diabetic here.

Eddie

Mark Sissons and his great grub !

Many years ago I was introduced to Angels Wings on toast. Oysters wrapped in bacon and served on small pieces of toast. These days I have dumped the toast, but this food is sublime. Serve with a glass of Oyster Bay Chardonnay, great grub and won’t blow your BG numbers. 

Check out Mark's great site here.

Eddie.

Time marches on !

My brother was scanning some old photographs today, and sent me a few, the first photo around 40 years ago, before time, age and decrepitude crept up on me. I had forgotten how good looking I was when I was young LOL. I never had an issue with weight, and diets never crossed my mind, until I became a diabetic (5 years ago to the day on Monday) and obese. At diagnosis I weighed over two hundred pounds and at 5ft 7” that is obese I can tell you. Last year my wife took the second pic. Over 50lbs lighter. And four years on 50 carbs per day diet. Looking back at the old photograph, I appear to be in better shape 40 years on. As I often tell people, type two diabetes can be a life sentence, not a death sentence. It certainly kicked me up the butt.

Eddie

Zoë Harcombe: Food for Thought: Have We Been Giving the Wrong Dietary Advice?

PDF (Size:82KB) PP. 240-244   DOI: 10.4236/fns.2013.43032

Author(s)

Zoë Harcombe, Julien S. Baker, Bruce Davies

ABSTRACT

Background: Since 1984 UK citizens have been advised to reduce total dietary fat intake to 30% of total energy and saturated fat intake to 10%. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence [NICE] suggests a further benefit for Coronary Heart Disease [CHD] prevention by reducing saturated fat [SFA] intake to 6% -7% of total energy and that 30,000 lives could be saved by replacing SFAs with Polyunsaturated fats [PUFAs]. Methods: 20 volumes of the Seven Countries Study, the seminal work behind the 1984 nutritional guidelines, were assessed. The evidence upon which the NICE guidance was based was reviewed. Nutritional facts about fat and the UK intake of fat are presented and the impact of macronutrient confusion on public health dietary advice is discussed. Findings: The Seven Countries study classified processed foods, primarily carbohydrates, as saturated fats. The UK government and NICE do the same, listing biscuits, cakes, pastries and savoury snacks as saturated fats. Processed foods should be the target of public health advice but not natural fats, in which the UK diet is deficient. With reference to the macro and micro nutrient composition of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy foods the article demonstrates that dietary trials cannot change one type of fat for another in a controlled study. Interpretation: The evidence suggests that processed food is strongly associated with the increase in obesity, diabetes, CHD, and other modern illness in our society. The macro and micro nutrients found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, are vital for human health and consumption of these nutritious foods should be encouraged.

http://scirp.org/journal/fns/

This is an Open Access article the PDF is free to download.

Graham

NHS 111 implodes as GPC withdraws support for urgent care hotline !

The GPC has warned that the launch of the Government’s flagship urgent care hotline will go ‘very badly’ from 1 April, with launches of the service in London, Manchester and Birmingham already descending into chaos.

GP leaders across the country are warning that patient care is being hampered by the service due to improperly trained staff, a lack of personnel, long waits and out-of-hours GPs having to take on extra work.

The GPC will write to the NHS Commissioning Board and the Department of Health to request that the national launch of the service to replace NHS Direct from 1 April is delayed.

GPC chair Dr Laurence Buckman said he was concerned that unless the launch was delayed, it would go ‘very badly’.

He said: ‘We are very concerned that when the service goes live on 1 April, it will not be able to cope with what will happen. It clearly can’t cope in Manchester and Birmingham, how is it going to cope when London goes live?’

‘On 1 April everyone will be forced to use it and we think it will go very badly.’

In Manchester, BMA representative and LMC chair Dr John Hughes said a ‘soft launch’ of the NHS 111 system in his area failed last night, with waits of up to 90 minutes.

He said: ‘The service soft launched yesterday. Things were reasonably quiet until early evening. I spoke to one doctor who was working his shift at the out of hours service. At 9.30pm, they realised they were getting very few calls through.

‘They then got a call from a carer who had been on hold with NHS 111 for 90 minutes who was with a 90-year-old patient. She had to cancel appointments with her other patients because she did not want to leave. Shortly after that, it became clear that the ambulance service was becoming overwhelmed by calls.

‘The out-of-hours service across Manchester rightly took the view that the situation across Manchester was very dangerous and they took back control of the call handling. But they are not resourced to do that as many of their staff were [transferred] to NHS Direct. 

‘I don’t think the services will cope from 1 April. We didn’t think it would cope with the soft launch.’

Check out the rest of this report here

Check out the comments section to see what healthcare Pro's are saying.

Eddie

Determinants of Weight Gain in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes Trial

Abstract

OBJECTIVE Identify determinants of weight gain in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) allocated to intensive versus standard glycemic control in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We studied determinants of weight gain over 2 years in 8,929 participants (4,425 intensive arm and 4,504 standard arm) with T2DM in the ACCORD trial. We used general linear models to examine the association between each baseline characteristic and weight change at the 2-year visit. We fit a linear regression of change in weight and A1C and used general linear models to examine the association between each medication at baseline and weight change at the 2-year visit, stratified by glycemia allocation.

RESULTS There was significantly more weight gain in the intensive glycemia arm of the trial compared with the standard arm (3.0 ± 7.0 vs. 0.3 ± 6.3 kg). On multivariate analysis, younger age, male sex, Asian race, no smoking history, high A1C, baseline BMI of 25–35, high waist circumference, baseline insulin use, and baseline metformin use were independently associated with weight gain over 2 years. Reduction of A1C from baseline was consistently associated with weight gain only when baseline A1C was elevated. Medication usage accounted for <15% of the variability of weight change, with initiation of thiazolidinedione (TZD) use the most prominent factor. Intensive participants who never took insulin or a TZD had an average weight loss of 2.9 kg during the first 2 years of the trial. In contrast, intensive participants who had never previously used insulin or TZD but began this combination after enrolling in the ACCORD trial had a weight gain of 4.6–5.3 kg at 2 years.

CONCLUSIONS Weight gain in ACCORD was greater with intensive than with standard treatment and generally associated with reduction of A1C from elevated baseline values. Initiation of TZD and/or insulin therapy was the most important medication-related factor associated with weight gain.

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2013/02/12/dc12-1391.abstract

Graham

Snow again in the UK.

I don't know what most think in the UK, but I am getting sick to death of this cold and wet weather. Global warming, don't make me larf !

Eddie

Medical Yoga shows beneficial effect in Paroxysmal AF.

"In the first abstract Maria Nilsson, a nurse from Danderyd Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, who has practiced yoga for the last 10 years, set out to investigate whether yoga might help patients with paroxysmal AF (PAF) ¹.

“We chose to use medical yoga, which is a form of yoga involving deep breathing, light movements, meditation and relaxation. The advantage here is that the movements are easy to learn and can be performed while sitting in a chair,” said Nilsson. PAF, she added, is thought to involve between 25% and 62% of all cases of AF.

In the prospective study, 80 patients with a diagnosis of PAF were randomized to the usual treatment and yoga (n=40) or just usual treatment (n=40). Patients in the yoga group attended hour long sessions of yoga once a week over the course of three months.

Results show that after three months patients in the yoga group, showed significant decreases in systolic blood pressure (p=0.03), diastolic blood pressure (p=0.007) and heart rate (p=0.02) compared to those in the control group.

Systolic blood pressure for patients in the yoga group dropped from 137 mmHg at the start of the study to 132mmHg after three months; whereas the systolic blood pressure of patients in the control group increased from 138 mmHg at the start of the study to 141 mmHg after three months.

Diastolic blood pressure for patients in the yoga group decreased from 83 mmHg at baseline to 77 mmHg after three months; whereas diastolic blood pressure for patients in the control group rose from 84mmHg at baseline to 87mmHg after three months.

Heart rate decreased in the yoga group from 64 beats/minute at the start of the study to 60 beats per minute after three months; whereas heart rate rose in the control group from 65 beats per minute at the start of the study to 69 beats per minute after three months.

According to the “self reported” health questionnaires, patients who received yoga showed improvements in physical quality of life (p=0.01) and mental quality of life (P=0.02) at three months, compared to those in the control group. “Our study suggests doctors could do worse than prescribing yoga for all patients with hypertension and fast heart rates,” said Nilsson.

The team, she added, are now undertaking further research to see if reductions in blood pressure and heart rate result in a decreased frequency of PAF episodes."

I can't give a link to the originators of this work. This information gets emailed to us at our lowcarb diabetic web site email address. If you are a newly diagnosed diabetic or struggle to keep blood glucose under control please visit our web site here please note this site is aimed at newly diagnosed type two's but has information for all diabetics.

Eddie

What it's all about.

Some time ago, around a year, I posted an item re. the birth of our youngest grandchild. Her name is Amelia and she arrived unexpectedly early and was delivered by her father at home. The story made the front page of the local paper. Here she is one year on. Like all our grand children she is a lowcarber. Not down to my level of 50 carbs a day, but sweets, crisps and fizzy drinks are a very occasional treat. All her meals are made by her parents from fresh meat, fish, eggs and cheese, with the bulk of her food being fresh vegetables. Mixed fruit is also a daily food. The only liquids are formula milk and water. I think you will agree, she is doing very well on a diet, that is not based on sugar, starch and junk.

I come from a family of four generations of type two diabetics. We are doing our utmost to try to end diabetes with our grandchildren’s generation. We have six kids (all grown up) and five grandchildren. I have not been able to convert all our kids to the lowcarb lifestyle, but here’s the strange thing, as I said earlier, all their kids are lowcarbers, think about that. They want to give, like all parents, their kids the best start in life, and they know sugar, starch and junk must be avoided.


Eddie