Are you craving your favorite sweets, but are concerned about your sugar levels? Fortunately, there is good news for your sweet tooth! Although watching your sugar intake is serious for controlling your diabetes, allowing yourself to indulge in a small portion of your favorite dessert is completely doable. The key is moderation.

Dr. Harvey Danciger recommends following these guidelines when it comes to including sweets into your diabetes-friendly diet:

• Hold back on the carbohydrates if you want dessert. Eating sweets adds extra carbohydrates to your regular diet. Try to avoid eating big portions of pasta, rice, or bread during your meal in order to save room for dessert.
• Add healthy fats to your dessert. Healthy fat sounds like an oxymoron, but certain fats can help slow down your digestive process and make blood sugar levels not spike as quickly. It all is in moderation, however, so don’t go reaching for the donuts. Instead, try foods that are filled with healthy fats such as yogurt or peanut butter.
• Eat sweets with a meal, rather than as an individual snack. If you eat sweets as a stand-alone snack, they can cause your blood sugar to spike. Eat them along with other healthy foods that are a part of your meal so your blood sugar won’t rise as quickly.
• Savor every bite of your dessert. Make your indulgence count by eating your sweet slowly. By taking your time, enjoying the flavor and richness, you’re less likely to overeat and overload on sugar.

For desserts that are just as healthy as they are delicious, check out: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Healthy-Eating/Diabetic-Recipes/Diabetic-Desserts.

Although it’s alright to let yourself eat your favorite sweets in moderation, it’s important to try and cut out as much sugar in your diet in order to manage your diabetes and keep healthy. Try incorporating these tips to decrease your risk for a sugar level spike.

• Reduce soda or juice intake.
• Reduce the amount of sugar you add to recipes by ¼ to 1/3.
• Find healthy ways to satisfy your cravings. Instead of ice cream, try a smoothie or eat a piece of dark chocolate instead of the usual milk chocolate.
• Eat half of the dessert you normally eat and replace the other half with fruit.

Don’t deprive yourself of enjoying dessert now and then. With moderation, you can satisfy your sweet tooth cravings!

What healthy dessert recipes do you enjoy? Please share by commenting below!

Are you a person with diabetes?  Are you tired of making the trek to the gym in order to get your daily workout in? Having a hard time trying to squeeze in a workout into an already jam packed schedule?   Remember that daily exercise is critical for people with diabetes and has many health benefits.  Exercising can help a person with diabetes lower blood pressure, improve the use of insulin in the body, burn fat to maintain a healthy weight and increase strength. If you don’t have time or money to enroll for a gym membership, there are plenty of useful exercises that can be performed at home and are just as effective at keeping you in shape. Better yet, the exercises don’t require equipment!

Dr. Danciger recommends the following exercises:

·         Squats - this natural exercise mimics sitting and works your lower body as well as your core.

·         Pushups - the best exercise to strengthen your entire upper body.

·         Lunges - step forward with each foot and lower your body where your knee isn’t quite touching the floor. This will work your core, leg muscles, and glutes.

·         The plank - the best exercise to strengthen and define your core muscles.

·         Jumping jacks - help with quickness, increase bone density and is a great cardio warm-up.

·         Mountain climbers – alternate your knees toward your chest in a smooth motion.  It can decrease your heart rate, burn calories and is a great way to flatten your core muscles.

·         Bicycles - engages more muscles than the common crunch exercise by alternating your legs toward your head while lifting your head in a crunch-like motion. Bicycles require your abdomen to work its muscles thoroughly and will leave your abs with a great burn.

·         Kick downs - lie on your back and keep your legs together and lower them as close to the ground as possible. This exercise will strengthen your core, create a stronger back and can even lower your risk for injury.

Don’t let the lack of a gym membership or gym equipment become an excuse for your not exercising.  Use the recommended exercises to remain physically active. Results will follow.

Do you have an at-home fitness routine?  We would love to hear about it, please comment below!

Being diagnosed with diabetes as a child is devastating in most cases. It's a disease that requires its victims to be ever-aware to the needs of their body. Recent studies have found that along with being emotionally and physically devastated, children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are also more likely to achieve less in school and struggle financially going into adulthood.

Researchers from Yale University studied 15,000 kids (age groups between middle school and high school) with type 1 diabetes for a period of 14 years. The results from the study were very interesting and disturbing:

• The dropout rate for high school students with type 1 diabetes was 6% higher than the dropout rate for kids without diabetes.
• Adults with type 1 diabetes were 10% more likely to be unemployed by age 30.
• The patients who were employed made an average of $6,000 less than their peers without diabetes.

These facts are worrisome, but there may be a way for helping children with diabetes handle their illness in a more positive way. Sam Fuld, the Tampa Bay's outfielder, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 10. He says that having someone to talk to about the disease who knows what it's like can be a great way to feel normal.

Fuld felt there was a need for a camp specifically for kids with type 1 diabetes which is why this summer at the University of South Florida, he's holding a sports camp for children in the area with type 1 diabetes. It's a great opportunity for kids to receive more education about their disease and to connect with children their age who are experiencing the same things.

"I got the message early on that (diabetes) is not a hindrance, as long as you stay on top of it and are conscientious with it," Fuld said.

Dealing with diabetes is something our country will have to get used to in the years to come. The number of children at risk for developing type 2 diabetes will continue to climb until healthy  lifestyles  becomes a priority in our country. Being educated on insulin and blood sugar levels will help the next generation be more aware of the consequences of unhealthy living.

Dr. Dancigerdeals with patients with type 2 diabetes on a regular basis. Foot complicationsare some of the more common side effects of diabetes.

Why do I have a cramping, pain in my legs when I go bed at night?  It always seems to come on when I elevate my feet.  All of a sudden my calf cramps causing severe pain.  I have to get up and walk around to relieve the pain, or just dangle my legs over the side of the bed.

Why does my butt, hip, thigh hurt when I walk?  Why do I feel numbness, tingling, aching or pain in these areas when I walk, but it is relieved by rest?  Why do I get fatigue with walking?

Does this sound like you?  If it does you may be suffering from Peripheral Arterial Disease, PAD for short.  PAD affects millions of Americans.  Many people have no symptoms yet but have PAD. 

Why is this important?  Persons with PAD have a two – six fold increase in developing a heart attack or stroke.  This can be devastating.  That is why it is important to tell your doctor if you have any symptoms of peripheral arterial disease, or if there is a family history of this disorder.

If you have a history of smoking, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol you are at increased risk for PAD.  Diabetics are more prone to develop PAD as well.

Simple, non invasive testing can be done in our office to determine if there is PAD involved.  The sooner you find out if you have PAD, especially in the early stages, the better off you are. 

American Diabetes Association Alert Day

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 is the 23^rdannual American Diabetes Association Alert Day.  This is a day to wake up and “Join the Million Challenge” by finding out if you are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes by taking the diabetes risk test. 

Diabetes affects nearly 26 million Americans.  Almost 25% of these people are unaware that they have they disease.  This needs to be changed.  Persons with pre-diabetes, blood sugar levels are elevated but not high enough to classify them as diabetic, account for 1 in 3 American adults.  If left untreated, these people have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and the resultant complications from diabetes.

Type 2 diabetics often live without any knowledge they have the disease because they have no symptoms.  Not until they develop a complication, like kidney disease, heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, nerve damage and or eye damage, do they find out they have diabetes.

The Diabetes Risk Test helps determine if you are at risk.  By answering questions about  your weight, age, family history and other risk factors, you can become better aware of the chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

Take the FREE test at www.stopdiabetes.com, or call 1-800-342-2383.  Your loved ones will thank you.