The healing continues. From laughter, that is.

As we wait with great hope for a cure for diabetes, we do so with a smile thanks to humor to be found on the new website LOL Diabetes (www.loldiabetes.com). I've posted before about this site, which itself is part of the popular diabetes website Six Until Me (www.sixuntilme.com). Nevertheless, things have become waaaaaay to funny over there for me to not highlight some of my favorites.

These would be my Top 5:

5 - The Insulin Monkey. This picture features a stuffed animal, a monkey to be exact, with dozens of syringes sticking out of it, much like a pin cushion. The words "You're Doing it Wrong" that are printed on the picture sum it up perfectly.

4 - iPump. A play on the now famous iPod silhouette ads, this mock version of this campaign features people wearing insulin pumps in place of iPods.

3 - Thumbtacks. A photo of a child's Spider Man poster fastened to the wall with -- Thumb Tacks? No, no, no. Look again...those are lancets! As someone aptly commented on the entry, what a great use for all those extras!

2 - Wanted! In this Old West style Wanted poster, there's a bounty for bringing in Twinkie the Kid. Turns out "The Kid" is wanted for Shootin' Up High Blood Sugars.

1 - The Enemy. By far my favorite, Short, simple, and hilarious. The photo features no other than Willy Wonka himself, with the words "The Enemy" written below. Very true. And very funny.

There are a whole bunch more that could have made a Top 10 list (namely: Soundtrack to a Low, Is This the Remix?, My Pump Makes Me Look Like a Cross-Dresser, Ah! Needle Landslide, and What's Better Than a Cookie).

Be sure to check out LOL Diabetes. Think you have something funny to add? I say go for it!!

UCLA researchers report Nevada County, California residents have the lowest rate of diabetes in the state -- 2.6 percent. That's about one-third the state-wide average (6.8 percent), and slightly less than one-quarter the prevalence of diabetes in Imperial County (11.2 percent).

Take a few guesses why Nevada County's rate of diabetes is so much lower than Imperial County, and well under the national average of 7 percent. Do families eat less processed food around the dinner table? More jogging trails? Better health insurance coverage? Researcher Theresa Hastert states, "There is no one thing, but higher income is associated with better foods and exercise."

Hastert explained Nevada County is mostly white, affluent, educated and insured. Imperial County has a large population of Latinos and migrant farm workers. Nevada County's numbers support general findings that minorities without affordable, continuous health care are more prone to the disease. Who's got time for the dinner table -- Hastert openly speculates eating more junk food may be a consequence of dodging between three jobs just to get by. Also, Nevada County is a beautiful area -- she wonders if environmental factors play a role.

Is diabetes a socio-economic disease? If so, we're in trouble. The gap is widening between our nation's haves and have nots, and large concentrations of poor minorities may explain the disproportionate rates of diabetes from county to county. Read more in The Union.

Browsing diabetes-related books on Amazon recently, I came across this one: When You're a Parent with Diabetes: a real life guide to staying healthy while raising a family by Kathryn Gregorio Palmer. It caught my eye because 1.) it got very favorable reader reviews and 2.) it addresses a topic that is usually neglected - being a good parent when it's you with diabetes. When You're a Parent was published in September 2006 by Healthy Living Books.

Interesting, that. I mean, there are tons of resources out there about raising children with diabetes and keeping them healthy. This book addresses the needs of parents with diabetes who want to raise healthy happy children, but also have special health needs of their own to remember.

Top 100 Amazon reviewer Manny Hernandez has posted a review to the site and also this site, praising the book. Manny's a good authority, by the way: he has type 1 diabetes and has his own sites including, TuDiabetes and a blog AskManny. Busy!! According to Hernandez, Palmer is informative but never condescending, guiding parents through anecdotes on her own and others' experiences. Palmer covers the gamut from pregnancy to raising teens, adoption, and dealing with depression, diabetes complications, and communicating with your kids about your condition. Sounds like a good resource.

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has announced an initiative designed to improve the health of employees with diabetes. Yes, the company's head honchos decided they would take the bull by the horns: if employees have difficulty taking care of their health, they determined to find out why and correct the problem. Result: an internal analysis of healthcare spending within GSK.

Turns out diabetes was one of the biggest problems for Glaxo employees. Glaxo's number-crunchers found the company spends more on diabetes medications, but less on medical care, than the national average. GSK's report states the company spent a total of $26.2 million on diabetes treatment for employees in 2005. Glaxo has now launched what it describes as a multilateral plan to address the needs of employees with diabetes. Leading the charge: a patient education campaign ("Know Your Numbers") and a physician intervention program.

Says Glaxo's US benefits chief, Michael Killian, "As a nation, we are seeing our healthcare costs soar and patients' health decline due to chronic diseases such as diabetes. GSK faces these same challenges and is prepared to meet them." Translation: prevention, prevention, prevention.

Glaxo figures there is nothing to lose, but lots to gain. Healthcare plans for employees already cost a bundle. By targeting the health issues that are hurting employees the most, the company can give those employees a better life and save a lotta money. In addition to making the results of its internal analysis available to the general public, Glaxo has invited other employers to utilize this same approach.

You've heard about the sports stars and the rock stars who succeed in life despite suffering from diabetes. Now, here's something a little more unusual: a circus acrobat! Dolly Jacobs is Circus Sarasota's "Queen of the Air." She recently gave an interview to the Bradenton Herald about her life in the circus.

Trim and petite like a dancer, Jacobs was diagnosed ten years ago. How did it happen? She had the warning signs most type 1s experience: weight loss and a killer thirst she just could not quench. Her mom already had type 1, so during a routine office visit, Jacobs asked the doc to check her blood sugar too. Whoa. It was 260 - way, way above normal. Jacobs was diagnosed not with type 1, but with a rarer form sometimes dubbed "type 1.5" or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of the Adult (LADA). LADA is basically the same as type 1 diabetes, but develops later in life.

So how does one deal with diabetes when your job involves flying through the air with the greatest of ease? Low blood sugar is easy, says Jacobs. Correct it with a soda or juice. High blood sugar is tougher. She says she can go as high as 500 or 600 just from adrenaline. So, just like any other athlete, she depends on testing several times daily and she wears an insulin pump - but not when she's performing. Eating healthy - lean meats, fruits and veg - are important too, she says.

Click here to read more. Kudos, by the way, to the journalist who wrote this article, Roberta C. Nelson, for taking time out to identify the different forms of diabetes and to explain the dangers associated with high vs. low blood sugar. Great!

When I read the headline in this Yahoo! news, Obesity rates climb in most states, I took a stab at guessing the leanest and fattest states in America. My favorite state, Colorado, immediately came to mind for the fittest state. Ding, ding, ding ... that is correct! But I had no clue on the fattest state, West Virginia was a shaky guess. I heard the buzzer on that one, Mississippi became the first state to break the 30 percent barrier for obese, adult residents. But hey, I wasn't far off, West Virginia and Alabama are slightly behind the double-letter state.

Colorado has an obesity rate of 17.6. Yikes, this is the leanest state in the nation. Statistics were provided by the Trust for America's Health. They analyzed state health department-generated telephone surveys of height and weight, combining three years of data (2004-2006) for improved projections. No one denies obesity increases the risk for diabetes and chronic diseases. Jeffrey Levi, executive director, stated everyone believes obesity is an epidemic, but political and policymaker attention is lacking. Levi agrees weight is a personal choice and responsibility, but he wants societal improvements to help people make better choices, such as healthier school lunches and safer places to be active across all classes.

The report is not intended to stigmatize fat states, but motivate them to action. Is this honestly a good way to do it? We should be talking about poverty in Mississippi, not scolding them. The five poorest states were in the top 10 when it came to obesity rates. I'm sure the Mississippi fat jokes have already begun. This country loves to categorize, from Money's Best Places to Live to U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. Now we'll be adding an obesity category to all these reports. I can see it now, some diet rag will announce the Top 100 Thinnest Universities.

A new study by Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research carries both good news and bad news. Bad news first -- research of 9,439 mother-child pairs shows maternal blood sugar is tied to a future risk of obesity in offpsring. Pregnant women with above-normal blood sugar levels were twice as likely to have overweight kids. Across all racial and ethnic groups, the higher the mother's blood sugar during pregnancy, the greater the chance her offspring would develop obesity by 5 to 7 years of age.

Now if you're pregnant and you've been diagnosed with high blood sugar, take a deep breath. The good news is the risk of childhood obesity is reversible if elevated sugars are treated through diet, exercise and insulin (if required). At particular risk are women with sugar levels higher than normal, but not high enough to be deemed gestational diabetes. They were more likely to have obese children than women treated for gestational diabetes or those with normal sugars.

Borderline blood sugars are nothing to ignore. I shared in a previous post that moderately elevated glucose during pregnancy is associated with other problems such as cesarean section and heavier babies. Gestational diabetes criteria may widen. Also, Deanna reported earlier this month that gestational diabetes is linked to pancreatic cancer.

How come type 2 diabetes does not affect all obese people? A study recently published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation may explain why. Adiponectin is a hormone that controls insulin sensitivity. Leptin is a hormone which lessens appetite. Too much adiponectin allows mice to store excess calories in fat tissue instead of in more dangerous areas -- the liver, heart or muscle tissue -- where extra fat may lead to inflammation, diabetes and heart disease. Unfortunately adiponectin levels decline as people get fatter. So researchers wondered "what if overeating mice had high levels of adiponectin?"

Researchers genetically engineered mice to produce lots of adiponectin and a lack of leptin. The mice overate and became obese, but their high levels of adiponectin enabled them to dump their fat into fat tissue, which has antidiabetic effects. Dr. Philipp Scherer, senior author, stated the inability to appropriately expand fat mass while overeating may be an underlying cause of insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Low adiponectin levels don't allow fat cells to accept fat, so the fat builds up in inflammatory locations.

Considering 66 percent of American adults are overweight or obese, Dr. Scherer stated researchers need to find way to deposit extra calories in the least harmful places. He plans to investigate how to maximize good fat areas and shrink bad ones. This solution is disturbing to me -- don't we need to get rid of the fat in the first place? Read more in Health News Digest and check out Diane's recent post on upper body fat's link to insulin resistance.

You've probably heard it in the news lately. The number of overweight children and teenagers aged 6-19 has nearly tripled over the last 40 years. Type 2 diabetes is not an adult-only disease anymore, adolescents are developing it. If we don't turn this trend around, many kids will have heart trouble by the age of 30 or 40. Healthier school fare is a part of the solution, but I believe parental influence on meal and snacking habits is most crucial. As your children head off to school in the coming days, do not forget about packing a healthy school snack (if required) ... I'll write later on healthy school lunches.

My little guy will step on the bus today for his first day of kindergarten. He is thrilled. He is ready. We walked the school hallways during an orientation earlier this week, and yesterday we had a kindergarten briefing where we learned all about school policies. The policy-chat was briefly interrupted by a tornado warning, where the entire school hit the deck in the hallways for 20 minutes, but luckily, no twisters!

As the policy-talk ensued, the teacher announced daily snacks must be healthy. Juice boxes were not allowed. A water bottle was fine, but the drinking fountain even better. Geez, I was starting to really like this school. Fruit and vegetables were strongly suggested, but no cookies, mile-high frosted cupcakes or sugary fruit snacks. I nearly stood up and clapped, but I didn't want to freak out a roomful of mommy strangers. After reading Allie's recent post on water, I will definitely pack a water bottle.

Yesterday afternoon we headed to the store and Frank picked out his snack -- he searched and searched until he found a perfectly shaped green apple. It's in his backpack, ready and waiting for his first day of big kid school. If you're shopping for school snacks, here is a helpful list of ideas to bring. Think fruits and vegetables. Don't throw those sugary graham crackers in your shopping cart. Stay away from the processed carbohydrates. This is your chance to develop healthier habits for a lifetime. Hey, you might not even need to be the fall guy -- hopefully it's "school policy."

Next month, 67-year-old Gary Stenlund is heading to the World Masters Championships in Riccione, Italy. He will compete against other senior javelin throwers for the World Masters crown. He's throwing with an arthritic knee and type 2 diabetes.

No stranger to the javelin, Stenlund set the world junior record in high school and was a two-time NCAA runner-up at Oregon State University. In 2003, he nailed the 60-to-64 World Masters top spot with a record throw of 191 feet. Here's one good reason to age, Stenlund topped the world record in the 65-to-69 age division three times last summer.

A sober alcoholic since 1984, he is no stranger to facing life challenges. I shouldn't complain about my sore knee, Stenlund competes with a bone growth on his right knee big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The article does not mention much about his type 2 diabetes, but he keeps his 6' 1", 185-pound frame healthy through calisthentics, stretching and throwing that skinny metal rod. Go get 'em Gary! Read more in The Portland Tribune.

Do not miss this recent NY Times article by Gina Kolata, Looking Past Blood Sugar to Survive With Diabetes. It is a must read for anyone associated with type 2 diabetes, including patients, family caregivers and doctors. I am very encouraged to see a feature on type 2 diabetes in such a well-read newspaper. Many doctors are uninformed on the best ways to treat a person with type 2 diabetes, they spend much more time with type 1 patients. Furthermore, type 1 and type 2 are very different diseases, but since they both end in 'diabetes' there is deep confusion -- see Diane's previous post on this topic. Undoubtedly, we need Big Media to provide greater coverage on the differences and unique treatments for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

First off, type 2 diabetes is a form of the disease that usually appears in adulthood where the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells are resistant to insulin. Kolata's article focuses on one man's battle with type 2 diabetes, as well as the importance of other treatments beyond blood sugar control that can markedly prevent heart disease -- the number one threat to a person with type 2. Dave Smith, a pastor from Fairmont, Minnesota, has dealt with type 2 diabetes for nine years. From the start, his doctor advised him to control his blood sugar, so he was a faithful carbohydrate counter, finger pricker, type 2 pill taker. Nothing worked, so he added insulin.

Unfortunately, his fixation on controlling blood sugar ignored the most crucial treatment of all -- lowering cholesterol. According to Kolata's article, heart disease kills nearly everyone with diabetes. The second treatment Smith did not consider was the importance of controlling blood pressure. The third treatment is taking aspirin to control blood clots. Last October, Smith had a major heart attack and nearly died. He had never thought about heart disease, and his doctor never advised him to take a cholesterol-lowering statin or a blood pressure drug. The American Diabetes Association reports only 18 percent of people with diabetes know their increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Grrrr! This lack of awareness among patients and doctors must change for lives to be saved. It took a near-fatal heart attack for Smith to receive the combination of drugs he should have been prescribed at diagnosis: a statin, two drugs to lower blood pressure, aspirin, insulin and two drugs to reduce his blood sugar level.

The title of Kraft Foods' press release this morning was Good Eating, Good Living Radio Show and Website Aim to Clear Up Confusion and Isolation Often Associated with Diabetes. The radio show and Website will provide diet and exercise tips for people with diabetes. Recipes, a meal and fitness planner, product nutrition info, logs/journals, articles, etc ... will be offered. Amy Hendel, a registered physician assistant and Edye Wagner, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, will host the 22 episode radio show beginning August 25 in 30 cities across the country.

Seems like Kraft is spinning a public relations campaign to help pardon the junk food they're hawking to kids and adults. They also are boldly advertising Kraft Foods products in the name of helping people with diabetes. This new program is more about food sales and rationalization against potential future litigation by showing Kraft stands by healthy eating. The press release even included a quote from Amy Hendel, "The good news for the millions with this disease is that by choosing Kraft products they don't have to deprive themselves of their favorite foods or sacrifice flavor."

If Kraft Foods truly wanted to help the millions of people in the United States with diabetes they should stop selling the junk such as Oreos, Fruity Pebbles and Chips Ahoy cookies. Although I do applaud many of their healthier products -- Triscuits, Post Shredded Wheat and Breakstone's Cottage Cheese. Also, in 2005, Kraft did stop advertising some junk food products to kids under age 12. But how about kids over 11? Kraft should also stop being a player in the Big Food lobbying games. The last Bush/Cheney campaign reaped thousands of dollars in donations from a lobbyist for Altria (the company formerly known as Philip Morris), which formerly owned 85 percent of Kraft Foods. (Kraft became a fully independent company March 30, 2007.) Altria also handed the Bush inauguration $250,000 in 2005. It's time for our government to stop taking Big Food's money and start regulating the junk out of Big Food's product lines. But Kraft is smart, if they appear like they're regulating themselves, the government and litigators are less likely to step in. Philip Morris executives know all about tobacco litigation.

This is not to say the radio show or Website will not be decent sources of information for people with diabetes. But as you tune in, keep in mind Kraft's intention may not be that altruistic. Don't miss this informative article on the deceptive tactics of Big Food, Kraft included.

I have the utmost respect for golfers with disabilities. In a conference match in high school, I played against an opponent missing her right hand and most of her forearm. As a right-handed golfer, her swing arc was primarily guided by her left arm, so she didn't miss a beat when it came to form. Whatever yards she lost on her long game were covered by a pretty mean short game.

I couldn't help but smile wide after hearing this story yesterday about Sheila Drummond, a golfer blinded by diabetes 26 years ago. She may have lost her eyesight to diabetes, but nothing can take this golfing accomplishment away. Last Sunday in a steady rain, 53-year-old Drummond teed off with a driver on the 144-yard, par-3 fourth hole at Mahoning Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania. She smacked it over a water hazard, between the sand traps and onto the green. Her ball hit the flagstick and dropped into the cup. A hole-in-one!

As her drive took off, Drummond's husband Keith, and two other players rounding out the foursome, told her it was a great shot -- then she heard the ball hit the stick. This story will be shared by many golfers gathering round the water cooler this season. Drummond is also on the board of directors of the United States Blind Golfers Association.

The odds of an amateur sinking a hole-in-one are estimated at 1 in 12,750. A few months ago, my mom played in a foursome just behind a friend of hers who teed off on her very first golf hole ever. She hit a hole-in-one. No kidding. What are the odds?

No, no elephants here. Sorry. This is about human trunks - that is, your upper torso. "Upper trunk fat" refers to fatty deposits that form on the chest and upper back area. According to the latest research, upper trunk fat is associated with increased risk for insulin resistance. And insulin resistance, in case ya didn't know, is an early symptom of type 2 diabetes.

It was already known that visceral fat, the fatty deposits that form around and between the internal organs, contributes to insulin resistance.

This study, linking upper trunk fat to insulin resistance, was conducted by researchers based at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. The connection was actually established in the course of a study of fat redistribution and metabolic change in HIV-infected patients. Both HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy and non-HIV-infected control participants were involved in the study.

A surprise finding was this fact that upper trunk fat contributes to insulin resistance just as much as does visceral fat. Also of note: this occurs regardless of whether or not the other type of fat is present. The researchers also note that all study participants were equally at risk. Says lead researcher Dr. Carl Grunfeld, "Strikingly, there was very little difference between HIV-infected people and controls. If you have fat up top, it's bad for you."

A full report has been published in the online version of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

A study just out links high rates of diabetes to African Americans who lived in substandard housing. Sigh. Doesn't that seem rather obvious? Does it really require a big study to confirm it?? Well, anyway, here's the scoop: researchers collected data on 998 African American men and women born in St. Louis between 1936 and 1950. They looked at all the risk factors for those individuals - factors that could contribute to ill health. Examples of risk factors include access to medical care and quality of neighborhoods (including such things as air quality, condition of yards and sidewalks, and proximity to industrial sites and traffic noise.)

The conclusion? Those whose housing conditions were ranked as only fair or poor were at increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, even after adjusting for other social or environmental factors, those in substandard housing had double the risk for diabetes.

Confused as to why? So are the researchers behind the study. Says lead researcher Dr. Mario Schootman of the Washington University School of Medicine, "So far, we can't explain why that is. It could potentially be related to lead. Lead is associated with the development of diabetes, and we know that in some poorer housing conditions, there's likely to be lead exposure. But it also could be related to other, unknown, environmental contaminants."

Just yesterday I shelled out for a quality water filter. My concern is that there could be lead in the plumbing of my old house. Reading this, I'm so glad I did. Who knows what junk is floating around in our air and water these days. Sad, huh?

Results for Dr. Schootman's study have been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (August, 2007).

UPDATE 8/21: One reader commented in no uncertain terms that this is just a bunch of PC overkill. Read carefully. "After adjusting for other...factors, those in substandard housing had double the risk for diabetes." So you have two obese guys who eat Fritos for dinner and fried chicken for breakfast. They both drink soda at every meal. The one who lives in substandard housing is statistically more likely to develop diabetes than the guy who lives in fair or poor housing.