Diabetes Blog

Posted by: Michelle Meyers

What’s your attitude when it comes to getting in shape and being healthy?  Is it a good one?  Or do you diet and exercise under the “kicking and screaming all the way” category?
Turns out that the way you approach managing your health has lots to do with your success rate.

No surprise there. But now there’s proof. Behavioral researchers at MicroMass Communications have identified a Metabolic Mindset™ that could be the key to helping physicians, nurses and other healthcare educators successfully influence patients with type 2 diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol to adopt healthier lifestyle changes such as losing weight, eating better, getting more exercise, and giving up cigarettes.

So what mindset do you have?

Here are the four types of metabolic patients, their percentage of the total study population, and suggested ways of motivating each:

Cruise Control - 19 percent
These patients follow their doctors' orders and manage their conditions pretty well, but may not understand the seriousness of their disease or the value of treating it by changes in behavior.  This makes them vulnerable to backsliding.  Strong and repeated reinforcement is a must, using self-assessment tools that concretely demonstrate the benefits of behavior change.

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Diabetes News:  New Developments In Diabetes Research Brings Hope To Diabetics


New developments by a team of researchers in Boston might lead to promising results for diabetes sufferers. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2010, the scientists have developed an experimental artificial pancreas that overcomes the problem of dangerously low blood sugar caused by excessive insulin injections.

According to the article, this new device secretes both glucagon and insulin‚ and has been shown to control blood sugar levels in 11 people for at least 24 hours. Type 1 diabetes not only affects insulin secretion by the pancreas′ beta cells‚ but also affects the alpha cells that secrete glucagon to raise the level of sugar in the blood. Working together‚ the two hormones maintain blood sugar at more stable levels.

The research team developed a computer algorithm that responds to blood sugar changes and computes how much insulin or glucagon to inject. Another test on this device will take place with a larger group of patients who will use the devices for at least two days. One problem, however, that remains to be solved is the development of a stable solution of glucagon that can be used in the pump without decomposing.

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