Tag Archives: diabetes

Mirror, Mirror: Am I The Only Person Who Eats Carbs?

Kate FridkisJuly 19, 2012 //
Bye Bye Bra!
Kate is ditching her padded bra. Read More »
Sex For Salad?
No way! Here are some things we would actually give up sex for. Read More »
Sayonara Skinny Girl
Kate used to be known as the skinny girl. Read More »

Fairest shmairest! Let’s get real about beauty and body image. Mirror, Mirror is a column running every other Thursday on The Frisky. It is written by Brooklyn-based columnist, freelance writer, and bagel enthusiast, Kate Fridkis who also writes the blog Eat the Damn Cake. You can follow her on Twitter at @eatthedamncake.

I am the only person in my family who eats carbs. I am a rebel. But I am not able to be self-righteous about it because I might be killing myself with sugar. I don’t want to die! But these doughnuts are so friggin’ good. Am I just weak-willed and gross? Or is it possibly a little bit OK to eat some junk food once in a while? Or, you know, the occasional carb.

My whole family is not only mostly composed of type one diabetics, but also, everyone is obsessed with health. All the time. Everyone is passing around these 500-page books called Sugar: The Mass Murderer and Why You Will Die From Eating That Thing You’re Eating Right Now.

I grew up eating all organic. We lived in a rural area and my mom grew all of our vegetables. The rest of our food came by truck, frozen, from a distant, organic coop. As a kid, I thought pasta was made from artichokes. OUR pasta was, anyway.

Type one diabetes, in case anyone was wondering, is the kind that doesn’t have anything to do with what you ate first. It’s a chronic illness that you have to take insulin shots every day for, and it really, really sucks. Not eating carbs makes it a lot easier to regulate your blood sugar, which is really important. So my dad and my youngest brother and my husband and my husband’s mom all don’t eat carbs. Because that’s how many diabetics there are in my life. Keep reading »

Nail Polish And Hairspray Linked To Diabetes

NewserJuly 16, 2012 //

Bad news for the well manicured: If the cosmetics you slather yourself with contain phthalates, you may be more likely to get type 2 diabetes. A new study finds a link between the man-made chemicals—which can mimic human hormones and are found in everything from nail polish to shampoo to hairspray—and the disease. Women ages 20 to 80 were studied, and those whose urine contained the highest concentration of the chemicals were almost twice as likely to have diabetes as those with the lowest concentrations. Read more …

No More Deep Fried Twinkies For Paula Deen

Ami AngelowiczJanuary 13, 2012 //
Daytime Drunks
Our favorite daytime drunks. 8 Photos »
Weird Lip Balm
The World's Weirdest Lip Balms
The world's weirdest lip balm flavors. 11 Photos »
Paula Loves Butter
Paula Deen is an unabashed butter lover. Read More »

Lover of butter, endorser of the deep-fried everything, daytime drinker Paula Deen has revealed that she can’t eat her own fatty foods anymore. The 64-year-old chef has admitted that she suffers from Type-2 diabetes. I guess this means no more deep fried mac n’ cheese recipes. No more butter tower photo ops. And no more endorsing cheesecake as a breakfast food. Deen has allegedly signed on to be a spokeswoman for the diabetes drug Novartis. [How convenient, waiting to reveal her diagnosis until she could make a buck off it. -- Editor] I guess she’s going to have to re-brand herself as a healthy chef now. I’m glad she’ll be eating healthy and hopefully encouraging the country to do the same, but some small part of me will miss watching her eat fried Twinkies. [The Daily]

I Have Diabetes

Elissa StookerMarch 23, 2010 //

This is the first essay in a new column on The Frisky called “I Have _____.” In each piece a female writer talks about her experience with a health issue. Frankly, we’re curious about our bodies and yours, including the medical issues many of us are faced with — in “I Have _____” we promise to bring you the absolute real deal from a real woman.

Eventually, in the course of any new friendship or relationship, I have to reveal that I have diabetes. It’s usually greeted with a quizzical look and the question, “Wow, I thought only old/fat people have that,” or my personal favorite, “OH! My grandma DIED from that!” Um, great. By now I have my response down to an art. And in case we ever meet, I’ll save us the time by giving it here, in layman’s terms:

“Well, there are two types of diabetes, Type 1, juvenile, and Type 2, adult onset. I have Type 1. Keep reading »

A Big, Fat Booty May Be Good For Your Health

Annika HarrisJanuary 8, 2009 //

A big butt makes Sir-Mix-A-Lot horny, but it can make you healthy. New research suggests the fat responsible for causing pear shapes, like those of Beyonce and J. Lo, may protect women from developing type 2 diabetes.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School injected mice with buttocks and hip fat from other mice. The injected mice easily used the insulin hormone and were able to make better use of the insulin. Insulin is the main hormone linked to diabetes and many diabetics take it regulate their blood sugar. The mice also lost weight. Keep reading »

The Daily Squeeze: Diabetes And Pregnancy, Having What You Want, And Teens And Sex Ed

Catherine StrawnApril 29, 2008 //
  • More women are entering their reproductive years with diabetes, and pre-existing diabetes is more likely to lead to miscarriages, stillbirths, and babies with birth defects due to elevated blood sugar during the first trimester. Amelia, this means you need to lay off the leftover Peeps. [Ivanhoe]
  • Research published in Psychological Science suggests that people who want what they have tend to be happier than those who want less of what they have. People who have more of what they want tend to be happier than those who have less of what they want. Who’s on first? [Newswise]
  • Teenagers from Healthy Teens Connecticut rallied with HIV/AIDS advocates at the state capitol, calling on lawmakers to pass a bill that would provide money for sex education. [Medical News Today]

    • Keep reading »