Every state offers helpful booklets for people with Diabetes and they're free for everyone, not just Medicare/Medicaid people!

Please visit www.diabetes.org, too. There's a marvelous section with PROVEN recipes provided BY people with Diabetes! It's amazing how creative you can get.

READ LABELS. OK, so it took me 4 hours to grocery shop on my first visit after being diagnosed, but it's worth it. Things you THINK are bad, bad turn out to be good, good if you just look hard enough!

How about a whole SLICE of chocolate pie for 30 carb grams? (Mrs. Edward individual slices in the 2 pack ... one's always in my freezer!) Or a PIZZA for under 50 carb grams? (Lean Cuissine Garlic Chicken)

<font color="blue"> YOU CAN NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF AND BE SUCCESSFUL!</font>

What you CAN do is exercise off a whole lot of those calories ... that's why they call me The Exercise Goddess on the ADA boards. There are NO EXCUSES when it comes to exercise ... unless your DOCTOR has told you not to! Bet that's NOT true!

No time? Exercise is CUMULATIVE! Ten minutes, 3 times a day is equal to 30 minutes. Don't tell me you can't find TEN MINUTES to save your LIFE!!!

Medical condition? Yeah, me, too. I'm 61 and totally disabled, have arthritis in EVERY disk in my back, constant sciatica, a leg full of metal, peripheral neuropathy, and both my feet are paralysed. The Nurse Practitioner at the pain cinic I attend was very succinct ... my body is CRAP. So don't tell ME you can't exercise! IF I CAN, then %#@&#! it, SO CAN YOU!

Kids have you scurring around and there's no time to eat healthy or cook so you take them to the drive-thru? OK ... IMHO that's CHILD ABUSE! YOU are teaching your children ... who have OVER a 50% chance of getting Diabetes BECAUSE YOU DO ... that it's OK to eat CRAP? When you're DEAD and your children get diagnosed, what have YOU taught them?

In this country, SOMEONE IS DIAGNOSED WITH DIABETES EVERY 21 SECONDS . And complications from Diabetes is the NUMBER ONE KILLER!

Find a way to exercise or not. Find a way to make a FOOD PLAN you can live with, or not. Teach your children how to eat NOW, or wait until they get diagnosed after you're dead.

YOUR CHOICE! It's always YOUR CHOICE. And the right choice just isn't as difficult as you're making it.