Last weekend I went to the Taking Control Of Your Diabetes Conference in San Diego. TCOYD is an organization started 20 years ago that focuses on empowering people with diabetes or pre-diabetes to take control of their health with education and motivation. They also provide professional education for health care providers.
The conference had three tracks (Diabetes type 1, Diabetes type 2 and health care professional) with the opening and closing bringing all attendees together.
After checking in and getting our badge, bag and member perks we had time to visit the expo before the opening session.
Denise and I had the pleasure of meeting Charlie Kimball, Indy car driver, who has type 1 diabetes. There were lots of exhibitors ranging from pharmaceutical companies to weight loss organizations (TOPS). There were short participative movement sessions including chair dancing, boot camp and yoga. I tried to get to the boot camp at the first break but our session let out late and it was full.
Lastly, there were screenings for eyes, feet, blood glucose and more.
One of the fun people we met was Dee Dee Diabetic who has a book taking a humorous look at living with type 1 diabetes.
TCOYD Morning Sessions
Dr. Steven Edelman, noted endocrinologist and founder of TCOYD, kicked the day off with all tracks in attendance. I immediately started writing down gems of information from him. Tings I learned included that 85-90% of all people with diabetes have type 2. This means the body still produces insulin but the cells aren’t able to use it effectively. His tips:
1. Use patience and persistence to make lifestyle modifications.
2. Understand that therapy changes over time.
3. Don’t hesitate to add medications if needed.
Subscribe to his Youtube channel for informative, entertaining videos regularly about diabetes topics.
Dr. Mimi Guarneri then spoke about integrative health care.
After a break with provided snack of string cheese and apples and more expo time the tracks separated and we have three speakers for about 20 minutes each.
The first topic was about using a glucose monitoring meter as a personal lab by Diane Pearson. The only note I took was that diabetes control without monitoring is like skydiving blindfolded.
The next topic was Using Exercise as Medicine by Robert Sherman. He had a good mesage and walked us through a few exercises from our chair but it was geared towards people that don’t exercise.
The third speaker was Mary Toscano talking about sugar, diabetes and health. I learned a lot in this 20 minutes and ended up buying her book Sweet Fire: Sugar, Diabetes & Your Health
I learned that food is made up of macronutrients, micronutrients and water. So are humans! I also learned how to count teaspoons of sugar in food. Take total carbohydrates and subtract the fiber grams. Divd that number by 4 and you get how many teaspoons of sugar in a serving.
Lunch was a sit-down banquet type affair which was a great way to do it as it meant no lines!
The Mediterranean turkey wrap, southwestern black bean salad and strawberry panna cotta were delicious. Not only did we have nutritional information in our program guide but also the recipes!
The afternoon sessions had breakouts with six choices each hour. I selected Cooking for the “Good Life” with Chef Robert Lewis for the first hour.
He whipped up this Mediterranean chicken dish in about 10 minutes. It was simple and smelled so good! He also made an angel food cake bruschetta that looked awesome but I didn’t get a picture.
The next hour I went to a session with Dr. Juan Frias for those with pre-diabetes or newly diagnosed type 2. I learned that 79 million Americans has pre-diabetes which is 1 out of every three and two million a year develop type 2.
Then it was time for the closing session. Dr. Edelman was the speaker and spoke about his 44 years of life with diabetes. Last they had the raffle and of all the people there I won!
It was filled with t-shirts, coffee mug, glucose monitor with extra strips, DVDs, Dr. Edelman’s book and my husband’s favorite, See’s Sugar Free peanut brittle. There will be a giveaway for the book as I also got one as a member.
The conference has been held in over 60 cities over two decades and it will be at nine locations in 2015. The registration cost was just $25 and that included a sit down lunch. If you can’t afford that there is a scholarship program.
If you or someone you love has Diabetes, I highly recommend this conference! Hope to see you in San Diego next year.
Leave a Reply