Diabetic Recipe of the Week: Miso Salmon

Makes: 4 servings

Serving Size: 4 oz. 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Marinating Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. brown rise miso or red miso

2 Tbsp. lite soy sauce

2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice

1 Tbsp. brown sugar (or equivalent sugar substitute)

1 tsp. orange zest

pinch crushed red pepper flakes

4 salmon filets (4 oz. each)

Preparation

1. Combine the miso, soy sauce, orange juice, sugar, orange zest, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Add the salmon fillets (thawed, if using frozen) and turn them to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Set an oven rack 4 inches from the heat source and preheat the broiler. Cover a broiler pan with foil. Coat the foil with cooking spray. 

3. Remove the salmon from the marinade, letting any excess liquid drip into the bowl. Discard the marinade. Add the salmon to the broiler pan, skin side down if using fresh fish.

4. Broil the salmon for 8 to 10 minutes, until it flakes with a fork but is still moist. Let the salmon rest a few minutes before serving.

This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast. 

If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Exercises For Peripheral Neuropathy: Hip Flexion

Hold a table or chair with one hand, then one fingertip, then no hands, then do exercise with eyes closed, if steady. Stand straight, holding onto table or chair for balance. Slowly bend one knee towards chest, without bending waist or hips. Hold position for 5-10 seconds. Slowly lower leg all the way down. Repeat with other leg.
Hold: 5-10 seconds
Repeat: 2 repetitions on each leg/2 times a day.
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Diabetic Recipe Of the Week: Chicken and Black Bean Cassoulet

Makes: 8 servings

Serving Size: 2/3 cup

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Marinating Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

3/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and julienned

1 cup whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped with their juice

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cans (15 oz. each) black beans, drained and rinsed

3/4 tsp. orange zest

4 Tbsp. plain dry bread crumbs

Preparation

1. In a small bowl, toss the chicken cubes with the garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cover, refrigerate, and marinate for 1 hour. 

2. In a dutch oven or similar pot, heat 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and saute for 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate; set aside. 

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the onion and carrots to the pot, and saute for 6 to 7 minutes, until the onion is soft. Add the tomatoes with juice, wine, beans, and orange zest. Bring to boiling. Lower the heat; return the cooked chicken to the pan. Cover, carefully transfer the pot to the preheated oven, and bake for 20 minutes. 

4. Combine the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of olive oil and bread crumbs. Uncover the pot and sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on the casserole. Bake for 10 minutes more, until the crumbs are browned.

This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast. 

If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Gene Mutation A Factor in Type 2 Diabetes For Latinos

We blog frequently about the risk factors for diabetes, and if you've noticed, they are wide and varied. From food consumption, environmental atmosphere, and family history, anything and everything it seems can be a risk factor for developing diabetes.
New research from an international team of doctors provides one of the most interesting explanations for the prevalence of diabetes in the Latino community. If you're thinking it has to do with your family tree, you'd be correct. But you'd have to go back thousands of generations to find the cause.
Harvard geneticist David Altshuler and colleagues found hints that humans got the diabetes gene mutation from Neanderthals, our ancient cousins who went extinct more than 30,000 years ago.
"As far as I know, this is the first time a version of a gene from Neanderthal has been connected to a modern-day disease," Altshuler told Shots. The findings were published in the journal Nature.
Several years ago geneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany caused a stir in the scientific community when they were able to sequence the genome of a Neanderthal from a fossil. In that genetic code were patterns that matched those in human DNA. The data they found suggested that humans were more than a little friendly with their Neanderthal cousins.
"Now it's well accepted that humans interbred with Neanderthals," Altshuler said. In our genome, most humans carry at least 2% of Neanderthal DNA. So therefore, it shouldn't be surprising to us that some of our traits and health comes from that 2%.
Altshuler is quick to point out that Neanderthals didn't necessarily have diabetes. "It just happens that this disease sequence came from them," he said.
Altshuler and his research team analyzed DNA from over 8,000 residents of Mexico and people who have lived in Latin America, in order to identify the genes that contribute to the Latino community having a higher risk of diabetes. Most of the participants had a mix of European and Native American ancestry.
The team found genes already identified as having an effect on diabetes, including insulin production. However, they found a new one that's involved with fat metabolism.
Mutations in this particular gene increase a person's risk of getting type 2 diabetes by at least 20%, said Altshuler. If the person is unlucky enough to have two copies of the mutation, their risk rises to 40%. For Mexican Americans, the risk jumps from 13% to 19% if they have two copies of the mutation. For other Americans, the risk goes from 8% to 11%.
"This is a genetic factor that has a modest affect on the risk of getting the disease. Not everybody that has it will have the disease," Altshuler said. "But the genes are very common in Latinos and Asians."
Roughly half of Latinos carry the mutation, while 20% of Asians have it. Contrasted to European Americans, just 2% have the mutation. So this new genetic data will hopefully explain the difference in Type 2 prevalence in Latinos versus European Americans.
"The findings are important because they give us a new biological clue about a gene involved in diabetes, which could lead to more treatments," Altshuler said. "The Neanderthal connection is interesting, but it's not the essence of the work."
Reference: NPR
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Diabetic Recipe of the Week: Donut Peach Orchard Oatmeal

Makes: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 cups organic unsweetened apple juice
1 cup spring water
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 (6 oz.) container organic fat-free French vanilla yogurt
3 fresh donut peaches or
2 medium peaches, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 Tbsp. sliced almonds
Preparation
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the apple juice, water, cinnamon, and salt to a boil over high heat.
2. Stir in the oats and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the yogurt and peaches. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until the oatmeal mixture is heated through. Serve topped sliced almonds.
This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Is Diabetes Linked To Antipsychotic Use In Children?

A study published in the Journal of American Medical Association Psychiatry last year suggests that children and adolescents prescribed antipsychotic medications may be at a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville studied children and youths between the ages of 6 and 24, who were a part of Tennessee's Medicaid program from 1996 through 2007.
In the analysis of the findings, 28,858 children and youths were prescribed antipsychotic drugs while 14,429 control patients were prescribed alternative psychotic medication.
The antipsychotic medications are typically used to treat patients with schizophrenia and dementia, but can also be prescribed for aggression, hallucinations, and agitation, as well as nausea, vomiting, and hiccuping.
The Vanderbilt researchers discovered that the prescribing rate for these drugs for children and youth is increasing, but there has been no research to make a link between the drugs and diabetes.
The findings found that there were 106 cases of type 2 diabetes in the follow-up period, the mean age was 16.7 years, and 37% of patients were male.
Those who had taken antipsychotic drugs had a three times increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes within the first year of follow-up.
The authors wrote, "In this cohort of children and youth who had recently initiated use of an antipsychotic or a control antipsychotic drug, antipsychotic users had a risk of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes three-times greater than that for propensity score-matched controls."
They added, "The excess risk occurred within the first year of antipsychotic use, increased with cumulative antipsychotic dose, and was present for children 6 to 17 years of age. The increased risk persisted for up to 1 year following cessation of antipsychotic use."
Researchers found it interesting that the risk of diabetes was present in the first year of antipsychotic use.
"Cases of early-onset antipsychotic-associated diabetes have been reported for adults. In one series, the majority of cases occurred within 6 months of drug initiation," the authors reported.
"Although there are fewer case reports in the literature for children, early-onset cases also have been described. Further study of the pathophysiology of antipsychotic-associated diabetes is needed."
Reference: Medical News Today
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Diabetic Recipe of the Week: Hot Ham and Swiss Sandwich

Makes: 4 sandwiches
Ingredients
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
8 slices whole wheat bread
4 (3/4 oz.) wedges light Swiss cheese
8 oz. deli-style ham
1 medium tomato, sliced
8 sliced red onion
Cooking spray
Preparation
1. Prepare an indoor grill or a panini maker.
2. Spread 1 tsp. Dijon mustard on 1 slice of bread. Spread 1 wedge of cheese on bread; top with 2 oz. ham, 1 slice tomato, 2 onion slices, and the other slice of bread.
3. Spray the outside of the sandwiches with cooking spray. Repeat the procedure for remaining three sandwiches.
4. Place sandwiches on heated indoor grill or panini maker, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.
This recipe is from Diabetes Forecast.
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.

Is Red Meat Consumption Tied To Diabetes Risk?

A recent long-term study published last year suggests that an increase of red meat over time will put you at higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.
So that means thinking twice about that t-bone steak, pork chop, or hot dog this summer.
Previous research has tied the consumption of both unprocessed and processed red meat to diabetes, but this study tracked the risk of developing the disease over time. Often throughout a person's life their eating habits will change, and the risks for certain diseases will change as well.
"This is stronger evidence that red meat consumption contributes to an increased risk of diabetes," said senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Researchers gathered their information from three Harvard studies that tracked 149,000 health-care professionals who filled out questionnaires about their diets every four years. The participants, both men and women, were followed for 12 to 16 years. Consumption of red meat was varied, but overall daily intake was 1 1/2 servings.
The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association and included:

• Those who increased their daily intake by as little as half a serving a day had a 48% increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes over a four year period, compared to those who maintained their red meat intake.
• Eating more red meat was associated with weight gain, and weight gain accounted for a large portion of the increased risks for developing diabetes. 
• People who decreased their red meat consumption over four years did not have a reduced risk of developing the disease. Instead, they had a reduced risk of developing diabetes by 14% over ten years.

The findings apply to both processed red meat, like lunch meats and hot dogs, but also unprocessed red meat, like hamburger, steak, or pork chops. The association was higher for processed meats, said lead author An Pan of the National University of Singapore, who worked on the study while he was at Harvard.
The authors state that this study does not prove cause and effect, but is instead observational.
Hu believes that the high amount of nitrates and sodium in processed meats are factors in the risk for diabetes, as well as the heme iron in red meat. Iron typically helps prevent anemia, but a majority of people in the United States have an iron overload. He recommends eating more nuts, low-fat dairy, and whole grains and reducing your daily consumption of red meat.
William Evans, head of the Muscle Metabolism Discovery Performance Unit at GlaxoSmithKline and an adjunct professor of geriatric medicine at Duke University says that, "the interaction of the many genetic and lifestyle factors that contribute to the cause of type 2 diabetes is remarkably complex and still not well understood. The major factors associated with the risk are levels of physical activity, body fatness, distribution of body fat, and diet."
Evans doesn't believe that red meat is the sole problem, "but the amount of saturated fat in meat. Saturated fat causes the inflammation in the body which increases the risk of bad things like heart disease and diabetes.
"You can eat lean cuts of beef like sirloin tip steak, top round steak, and beef tips that are extremely low in fat and saturated fat, even lower than a number of cuts of chicken. Cheddar cheese has as much saturated fat as a T-bone steak."
Reference: USA Today
If you are a diabetic and do not currently see a podiatrist, call our Glastonbury or Middletown office to make an appointment.
Ayman M. Latif, DPM
Connecticut Foot Care Centers
Diabetic Foot Doctor in CT
Podiatrist in Glastonbury and Middletown, CT
Visit our website, like our page on Facebook, and follow my tweets on Twitter.