Monthly Archives: July 2012

Prayer and Fasting With Diabetes

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In the July issue of Today’s Dietitian, we published an article titled Prayer and Fasting With Diabetes. If you’re a person of faith who has diabetes or know someone of faith with the disease, this article is a must-read.

The American Diabetes Association reports that more than 23 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes. Seventy-nine million have prediabetes, a condition characterized by elevated blood sugar levels, which place them at high risk for developing the disease later in life. And each year, there are now 1.5 million people newly diagnosed with diabetes. African Americans are disproportionately affected by this disease and suffer more complications, such as blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy, and heart disease, than other races.

Given these statistics, you can surmise there are many people of faith with diabetes who set aside time to commune with God while abstaining from food, drink, or both. But the question is can they fast safely without putting their health at risk?

In this article, we discuss that fasting is practiced by the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths and how these practices differ from one another. We review how fasting can impact the health of those with diabetes and provide strategies for fasting safely. Please let me know your thoughts about the article. If you have diabetes or know someone who has the disease and fasts safely, I’d like to hear about your  experiences and theirs. I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did in assigning and editing it. Thank you!

Young Women and Heart Attacks

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The June issue of Today’s Dietitian is a special one. I chose the cover image and came up with additional ideas to enhance it with the wonderful art director I work with. While I choose every cover of the magazine each month, this one was most notable because my ideas to improve it worked, and everyone on staff loved it. The cover is colorful, warm, and inviting. It looks just as good as the food and nutrition magazines on the newsstand.

Aside from the great cover, this issue brims with important articles women and men must read concerning their health. A few months ago, the topic of young women and heart attacks dominated network and cable news programs. It grabbed my attention so much so that I thought we should cover it in the magazine somehow. I believed dietitians should know more about this topic and develop new strategies to counsel female clients who are at risk. Women are experiencing heart attacks in their 30s and 40s. Our heart attack symptoms are different from men so the symptoms are often ignored and lead to premature death. Learn about this in the article Young Women and Heart Attacks. You’ll find out how to adopt a healthful lifestyle and what foods to eat so you don’t become a victim. You also can learn about the top six heart attack symptoms in women that appeared in the May issue in Nurturing the Heart, an article about preventing heart disease during the pre- and postmenopausal years.

June was Men’s Health month, so we published an article on prostate cancer called Can Tomatoes Slice Prostate Cancer Risk? Prostate cancer kills twice as many black men than white men. In fact, black men have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world. This article discusses risk factors, how the antioxidants in tomatoes can reduce the risk, and delicious ways to incorporate more tomato products in the diet.

Please let me know what you think about these articles by leaving me a comment below. See you around in cyberspace!