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fiannalover · 4 years

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Our first dragonyule

Happy Dragonyule, @trainzelda! Hope you enjoy this fic!!!!!!

“Dragon… Yule?” Melsa repeated, trying to get the sound of the word properly understood.

“That’s right! It’s a holiday that the people in the cities have!” Sarisse explained.“We also exchange gifts and stuff with our friends! It has some more stuff about Ilia, but I’ll admit I don’t quite remember all of that. But, yeah, you should join us in the Halidom to celebrate it. It’s two weeks from now!”

“W-well… I’m not sure I should-”

“Nah-nah-nah! Remember our agreement, Melsa!” Sarisse stated, wagging her finger in front of the other Sylvan. “We are gonna have tons of fun together, and that includes this! So, please, spend it with us.”

“... O-OK! I will, Sarisse!” Melsa agreed. “Together, we’ll have the best Dragonyule ever!”

… Now, how would Melsa ensure that would happen?

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“Heeeeeeeey, Luca? What is this Dragonyule deal everyone is talking about?”

“Oh! Hey there, Laranoa!” Luca replied, not missing a beat to start explaining. “See, everyone gets stuff decorated real, real pretty, and eat tons of yummy food! We also exchange presents and stuff. Ah, man, I’m sure last Dragonyule was the best moment of my previous year. Lara, you GOTTA make sure you come! Specially with your cultural exchange junk!”

“Hey! Not junk!” She replied, although her voice let it clear she took no offense, and, more importantly, she was scheming.

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Melsa walked through the Halidom, lost in thought.

Similarly lost and wandering, was Laranoa.

With the later Sylvan being far taller and more musclebound, their meeting ended with Melsa being knocked to the ground while Laranoa clutched the spot on her abs that the other sylvan hit.

“Ohohohooooooow… My stomach…” The Village Chief groaned, before realizing she knocked a person to the ground. “Ah! Sorry! Are you ok!? And… Hey, aren’t you that friend of Sarisse?”

“Meeeeeeeeeeeep……” Melsa finished groaning, finally looking up. “U-u-um… Yes. T-That’s me. My name is Melsa. And, you… You’re a friend of her and Luca, right?”

“Yup, that’s me! The three of us go waaaaaaaaay back! Although, these recent days are the most time we have spent together.” Laranoa said, not quite on a somber note, but most certainly a thoughtful one. “Hey, you got any idea what you’re doing for them, for Dragonyule?”

“Oh! Actually… No, I don’t.” Melsa replied. “What about you? Any thoughts?”

“Well… Dragonyule is super new to me, too. I know! They talked a lot about food! I’ll make something for them to eat!” Laranoa concluded, before adding. “Except I’m only so good at cooking or baking.”

“I can, however. I’m not as good with chores as Cleo or Sarisse, but I can do some baking. However, I’d still need ingredients for that…”

A moment of silence was shared, before Laranoa finally connected the dots in their situation. “Aaaaaaah, I got it! We can help one another! I’ll go get the ingredients, fresh or store bought, and you can whip something up! What do you say?”

“Hu-hum… Alright!” Melsa agreed, a bit nervous, but most certainly determined. “Do you have any plans?”

“Luca loves apples, so… You know how to make an apple pie?”

“I do! And, Sarisse has been wanting strong flavors, recently, so… I’ll add a bunch of cinnamon!”

“It’s a deal! With our experiences together, they’ll get the best gifts ever!”

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“... So… You DO know how to cook, right?”

Laranoa had plenty of faith on her new friend. However, looking at how she hesitated in front of the ingredients, the village leader couldn’t help but hesitate.

“Y-yes, I do! Don’t worry, I have excellent memory! I just wanted to make sure I remembered everything.” She explained. “... Is there something different in these apples?”

“Ooooooh, yes! They’re from a special tree in the woods! Luca told me about it, but still took me quite a bit to find! They’re super delicious! You can get one, I got enough for us to make two pies!” The archer explained. “Heck, I much prefer plums, but I still found them great.”

“Maybe… I’ll try later. For now, let’s finish this!”

“Right!”

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Looking at the beautiful apple pie that rested in front of them, the Sylvan girls felt the happiness that came from a successful job.

“You… Think this will be a good enough gift?”

“Of course! We put a whole lotta effort in this!” Laranoa said, comforting the more insecure Servant. “Just you wait! This gift shall knock their socks clean off!”

“Yes… Yes, it will!”

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With the day of Dragonyule finally arriving, the new pair of Sylvan buddies delivered their gift, full of happiness and confidence.

After taking a bite, Luca and Sarisse savored the apple pie for a bit, before obtaining the specific face of ‘this is not bad, but is certainly unexpected’.

Noticing how quickly Melsa’s face fell, in answer, Sarisse quickly comforted her. “Oh my gosh, please don’t worry!!!!! The pie is great! It’s just… I think you missed something?”

“In my case, it’s WAAAAAAAAY too much cinnamon.” Luca replied. “I could feel the sodium apples, but, whew! Cinnamon!”

“Oh! Maybe it’s that!” Sarisse pointed, with the satisfaction of reaching the conclusion of a mystery accompanying her voice. “Sodium apples have an unique taste, so maybe something in the recipe had to change! And, uh, yeah, cinnamon. I don’t really mind, but WHEW, it got strong due to it.”

Hearing the explanation, Melsa gave up and knelt, looking to the ground under her in despair. “I’m sorry, Laranoa… I ruined our gift for them.”

“Aaaaww, come on buddy, you haven’t!!! This pie is still good, they said so themselves!”

“Y-yeah, but…”

“Hey, Melsa.” The bunny finally raised her head again, looking at Sarisse, who crouched to get closer to her. With a warm smile on her face, she said. “We still have plenty of the holiday to enjoy. So, please. I promise you, just spending time with me is the best gift I could ask for. Always.”

“... A-are you sure?”

“Of course I am! So, you’re ready to go see my gift for you?”

“Yes! Yes I am!”

“Great! Come on, Sylvia is waiting!” At that point Sarisse held the other woman’s hand, and got up, only to find Melsa still stuck into place when she pulled her forward. “Melsa?”

Said pink-haired sylvan stood there, completely crimson-faced, before letting out a meep and starting to go forward, while Luca gave a healthy amount of quality plums to his own friend.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Yes, this will go well. Melsa tried to comfort herself.

Yup. This night couldn’t be better. Sarisse thought, humming to herself as she walked onwards.

#dragonyule2019 #dragalia lost #melsa #sarisse #laranoa #luca dragalia lost

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writing-wayward-winchesters · 7 years

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His Greatest Steal (Part 14)

Authors Note: Hey guys! Look what I finally did! It only took 12 cups of coffee, 1 Netflix payment failure, and 2 lovely asks from you guys! Not bad eh?

Yeah, I’m kidding. It was bad. This took waaaaaaaay too long to finish, and I really struggled with getting back into writing it, even though I love the story and love reading the tags and comments you guys leave. I really really appreciate the following this series got, and thank you for the messages! I did start to feel like giving up on this a few weeks ago, but you guys helped me get back on track. So as a reward, here is part 14! I’m sorry if it’s a bit off, but I tried and the next part will be better. Theres maybe 2 more parts after this? I’ve done most of the last part so I only really have to write one part for it to be finished in writing, and I’m starting that part as soon as I post this one. So assuming I don't get too lazy with it, you’ll hopefully have the whole thing within the week.

Anyways, time we got back to the story, so here it is! Thanks for reading!!!

You knew where Rafe would be heading, so you didn't waste any time as you started jogging through the jungle, hoping for to run into Shoreline and steal a car to get you there faster.

Apparently the world didn't feel sorry for you though as you found no sign of anyone for miles, which was not helping your bad mood. If Sam led Rafe to the treasure, he'd outlive his usefulness and be dead before you arrived. Tempting as killing Sam sounded after the stunt he'd pulled, you knew you might forgive him in time... Which would be hard to do if Rafe put a bullet in his skull. So you kept on, trying not to think about the heat and how exhausted you were. You could get some sleep in a room with an AC once you and your friends were safely off the island- You didn't even care about the treasure anymore.

Eventually you heard voices ahead and slowed down, trying to control your breathing as you crept closer to the sounds, praying whoever it was had some sort of transportation.

Peering through the trees, you breathed a sigh of relief. There was only two Shoreliners, and they had a jet ski- Even better than a car.

Carefully you clicked the safety off your gun and moved forward, keeping your eyes on the men ahead, ready should one of them notice you. Your caution was unnecessary however, as you managed to sneak up and take both of them out quietly, stealing their radios and throwing their weapons into the water before speeding off on their jetski, heading upstream towards New Devon.

Progress was much faster on water, and for a moment you actually thought you stood a chance of catching up to the others. Naturally, your luck didn't hold and you only managed a few miles before your progress was impeded by a waterfall. Slowing, you looked for another way round, but upon finding nothing, you sighed and headed for the shore. You were gonna have to climb again...

Looking up at the climb that awaited you, you allowed yourself a second to regret not staying with Nate and Elena. Knowing them, they'd probably found a boat or plane and we're already in New Devon.

Sighing deeply at the thought, you began your ascent.

It was hard going- your wet shoes slipping around and your sweaty hands making it hard to grip, but you made it half way and stopped to catch your breath, perching on a small outcrop of rock. From there you could see how far you'd came, and you knew it had to be close now...

Allowing that thought to spur you on, you continued your climb, finally making it to the top in one piece and almost laughing when you saw that you were practically at the front gate.

You weren't the only one though. Shoreline were there, but there was no sign of Rafe or Sam. The men you saw were probably just a precaution against you and Nate, so staying out of sight, you made the count.

There was far too many for you to take on alone, so you'd have to try and sneak by them undetected. You were just about to try when your radio buzzed and someone was speaking into it. Nadine.

"All right boys, we've found an underground path, and it seems to be leading us back out of the town... I have a feeling I know where it leads, so meet us by that mountain, and search for a ship... Oh and if you see the other Drake or the girl, shoot them on sight." She finished talking and you rolled your eyes as you heard the cars starting up behind you.

"Fuck you too, Nadine," You breathed, switching the radio off and watching them.

As you expected, one Jeep stayed behind to keep and eye out, and you smirked as you realised how easy it was going to be to rescue Sam. Steal the Jeep and drive back to the creepy mountain, hopefully meeting up with the others on the way.

There was only a handful of men left behind so if you took them down quietly, you knew you'd have less problems.

But you were exhausted. Your whole body was aching, and you weren't sure how much longer you could keep going. These Men were well rested and strong. If you slipped up, you'd be dead before Sam could find the treasure, and then you wouldn't be able to save his ass. Though if you took too long, you'd have the same problem. So you sighed and did another quick headcount, figuring your odds were as good as they were likely to get, you rolled out of cover and headed for the sole jeep, almost half way there when one of the mercs noticed you. Knowing it was going to get violent, you wasted no more time and started firing in their direction as you sprinted for the jeep.

Bullets flew overhead, but you made it into the jeep in one piece, slamming the car into drive and putting your foot down. More bullets hit the back of the jeep, but then you were out of range and relaxed a little, not slowing down as you hoped to catch up to the others and take some of them out, or at least know what they were going to do. They wouldn't be looking for you in a Shoreline jeep, so you'd likely not have any problems, so long as no one looked too closely at you.

That's how it worked in your head at least. But you'd forgotten about the radio. They probably knew you were on your way before you were out of shooting range, which was how you never saw the ambush coming, the RPG blowing you off the side of the cliff before you even saw the other jeep.

You managed a short scream before your head hit the windscreen and the world went black. ***************************************************** Sam

Her face. God the way she'd looked at me... I fucked up. God I fucked up so bad... It was hard to concentrate on anything he was supposed to be doing, as his head was filled with you. The way you'd looked at him... It was what he deserved, and he knew that. But that didn't make him feel any better. Especially when you'd only just began to look at him in the same way as you had before, and some of your light had returned. But what had he expected? That you'd find out about his lie and just accept it? No. He knew the fairytale would come to an end. Maybe for real this time.

Sam was so preoccupied with thoughts of you that he almost forgot where he was walking. Until Rafe grabbed the back of his shirt that was, pulling him back to himself, and away from the switch he'd almost stood on.

Yanking himself free, he shot Rafe a dirty look and walked on, stepping over the floor switch. Amused, Rafe chuckled.

"Still angry, Samuel? Don't you think that's a little childish? After all, you were the one who betrayed me. And after everything I did for you too."

Sam ignored him and kept going. They'd been walking through the dark for a while, and the whole time, Sam had been worried about you and Nate. Had you survived the fall? Was Nate ok? Where would you go?

He knew Shoreline were looking for you. Rafe wanted to take you alive, but Nadine did not, and after the trouble the three of you had caused them, Rafe agreed.

Still, he found some comfort knowing that you and Nate were together. His little brother would look out for you and keep a cool head, so you'd be fine as long as you stayed with him.

And maybe if you all made it off the island alive, you might find a way to forgive him... Maybe.

But first, he had to get away from his captors... There was plenty of traps, but it wasn't worth the risk until he knew the way out.

He was just about to call back to Rafe when he heard a radio come to life and someone speak into it, sounding smug. "We located the girl, Ma'am. She stole one of our jeeps after taking some of our men out..." Sam whirled around, grinning at the thought, and the look of mild annoyance on Rafe and Nadines faces.

"And..?" Nadine pressed, looking ready to throttle the nearest bystander at the news. Sam was just about to make a comment when the voice came through again.

"Dead," he confirmed. "We shot her off a cliff and she went over the waterfall in the car. No possible way she survived." Sam felt like he'd had a hole punched through his chest as he heard what they said over the radio. Y/N was... Dead? As the words hit him, he staggered forward slightly, his hands braced on his knees as he tried to remember how to breathe.

"Y/N," he gasped, unable to think of anything else. "Shit, Y/N. Y/N, Y/N..." He trailed off as a fresh wave of grief hit him and he went down, no longer caring about any switches he might activate. He didn't care about who saw him either as tears trickled from his eyes and his head fell forward, between his knees. It's my fault. Y/N, it was all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. He thought as he sat there, numb to the world around him, and content to stay that way. Rafe had other ideas though and clicked at two mercs who hauled Sam to his feet, holding him there while Rafe approached.

Still Sam couldn't bring himself to care, staring at the ground, seeing nothing but you. Panicking as he realised how few memories he had of you. He'd been gone for so long, and now you'd never get to make up for the lost time. You were gone, and never coming back.

The devastation on Sam's face even had Rafe hesitating for a moment, truely understanding what he'd come to realise over the last two years. Sam had loved you. It was more than just flirting, and a bit of a chase. He was well and truely in love with you, and your death was going to break him.

But Rafe couldn't have that. A broken Samuel was of no use to him, so he'd have to fix him, and quickly, the only way he knew would work. He had to make him angry.

Gesturing for the two men to let Sam go, Rafe stepped closer, his usual smirk in place as he approached, ignoring Sam's faint mumbling.

"You really did love her... Didn't you?" He drawled, tapping his fingers on his leg as he looked down at where Sam was slumped on his knees, nothing of the cocky Drake he'd come to know. He'd need to work hard to get him back. "I can see the appeal. I truly can. That girl was a heart breaker. She broke my heart, and she broke yours... Are you really sure you want to be wasting your tears on that kind of girl? I mean, is she really worth it all?"

He knew he'd caught Sam's attention now as he'd stopped mumbling, so he'd only have to press a little harder to find Sam again. Maybe time to change tactics a little.

"Though I guess you wouldn't even know... It's sad really. You've known her since you were kids, and yet you never told her how you felt? It's pathetic! But do you want to know something? While you were rotting in prison, I was with Y/N. It was me who took her out and bought her nice things. I was the one who told her that I loved her. And at the end of the day, she'd come back to my bed, and believe me when I say, it wasn't your name on her lips. All because you didn't sack up then. So how about you stop being so pathetic, accept that you never were and never will be good enough for her, and help me find the damn treasure..."

Something had sparked a reaction as Sam went completely still for a moment before raising his head and slowly getting to his feet. Rafe smirked and clapped once as he took a step back. "There we go, Samuel! On your feet. Now let's go find so-"

Sam's fist making contact with his jaw shut him up, and took him by surprise enough that he went stumbling backwards into Nadine, giving Sam the opportunity to run, which he did, without hesitation. The others chased him, but he had the element of surprise, and had seen things they hadn't known to look for, avoiding the traps they so clumsily ran into. Explosions and gunfire sounded behind him, but he just kept running, seeing the end of the tunnel ahead and knew he'd have a better chance of escaping if he could get out of there fast enough.

The pain in his chest was almost crippling, but he knew if you were there you'd be mad at him if he gave up, so he pushed on, launching his body out of the cave as more gunfire sounded and the wall beside his head got peppered with bullets. Swearing, he covered his head and kept running, hearing more gunfire outside, somewhere to his left.

It took him longer than it should have to realise that they weren't all firing at him, but he didn't have time to stop and look, so hit the beach running, seeing that he was surrounded. The grief made him somewhat reckless, so when he saw the armed man ahead of him, he barely hesitated before tackling him to the ground, knocking him out quickly and stealing his weapon.

Now that he was armed, the others weren't as willing to come so close, so he took cover in a ship and regained his breath, finally risking a look at where the other gunfire was coming from. He saw Nate jump down onto another ship, tackling a guy from the air. He was just about to go offer his aid when he saw the woman jump down first. For a moment his heart stopped and he was filled with hope that Rafe had somehow been lying and he'd been set up. But then he got a good look at the woman and felt his heart shatter all over again. It wasn't you. It was Elena. You truly were gone.

He felt like he was having a panic attack as the realisation hit him all over again and he gasped for breath, feeling like his own body was betraying him, not allowing enough air into his lungs while his heart rate increased enough that it was all he could hear over the rushing sound in his ears. He knew he had to move though, or he really wouldn't be breathing when Shoreline caught up, so he ran and jumped for a rope ladder hanging from the ledge ahead of him, hauling himself up and pulling the ladder up after him. There was no men behind him, just the few between him and the others, so he took up position and tried to steady his breathing before standing and taking out any others.

Nate and Elena had spotted him and made their way to his position, just reaching him when the ship was suddenly blown up and the three of them went crashing into a lower level. Sam was too numb to know if he was hurt or not, but he was still alive and so were the others, so he grabbed them and pulled them with him as they sprinted for cover.

He thought they might have made it, but then Nate was flying backwards into the water, trapped in a sinking ship.

"NATE!" He and Elena yelled together, both twitching forward as they debated jumping in after him. Upon seeing how fast the ship was sinking, Sam grabbed Elena's wrist and pulled her back. "He's going to be fine. He'll get out of it, but we need to get out of here too..."

Elena's face clearly showed her hatred of leaving Nate behind, but she'd been on enough adventures with her husband to know that Sam was probably right about him. So she went without a fight.

The two of them fought through the remainder of the Shoreline mercs, hearing an explosion ahead and running towards it, knowing that was the easiest way to find Nate. As they got closer, Sam heard the sound of his brother talking to Sully, and slowed down, leaving Elena run ahead. Now that the fighting was over, he had time to think about things he'd rather not. Not only that, but when he saw the others, he'd have to break the news to them about you. He'd have to say it aloud, and for some reason that made it more real to him.

Still, he knew even if he didn't tell them, they'd just ask about you, or go to find you, so he clenched his shaking hands into fists and rounded the pillar, seeing the three of them look up at him. Before Sam could even say anything, Nate knew something was wrong, and automatically reached for his gun.

"Sam?.. What is it?" He asked cautiously, looking around for any danger.

For some reason that was funny to the elder Drake and he chuckled without humour, waving his brother off. "It's not that... It's..." He didn't know what to say. How could he tell his baby brother that you were gone? How could he make him feel the same as he did? It wasn't fair. Nate watched him struggle with words for a moment before Sam finally gasped one word through his pain. "Y/N."

A flicker of relief went across Nate's face as he misread Sam's pain as worry, and he shook his head. "She split off from us and came to find you. She's fine-"

Unable to hear the words that he knew weren't true, Sam grabbed his head and shouted. "No!" Cutting his brother off, mid sentence.

Nate frowned, looking confused, but Elena knew and her hand went to her mouth as her eyes went wide. "Oh god," she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.

Nate turned to her, confusedly looking between his wife and his brother while Sully also figured it out, staying silent as he worked through his emotions alone. "Lena? What are you... Sam, what's going on-" He stopped as he finally understood what he was trying to deny. "No. NO! She's fine... She went to look for you, she's not- No," he babbled, shaking his head as he struggled to process what he found out.

Sam felt his heart break all over again, but he was unable to offer any words of comfort to his brother as he watched his denial turn to anger as he turned and kicked a crate behind him, hard enough that it shattered into the wall and took some of the bricks out with it. Then he yelled as he fell to his knees, the brief fight leaving him as Elena rushed to comfort him, wrapping her arms around his shoulder as he found his own words. "It was my fault. I got her back into this... It's all my fault..."

Sam watched his brother in silence, aware that Y/N's death had nothing to do with Nate at all. All the blame lay with himself. Himself and Shoreline.... And someone had to pay.

A new calm settled over the elder Drake brother as he realised exactly what he was going to do. You'd been taken from him by the same sonsofbitches that had been hunting him and his family for months. But he was done being hunted now.

He'd take the fight to them.

He looked up at the monstrous mountain behind him and knew exactly where he'd find not only the treasure, but Nadine and Rafe too. In that instant his mind was made up, even if it meant the end of him too. He was going into that mountain to take them down... Every last one of them.

#his greatest steal #uncharted imagines #Uncharted 4 #uncharted fic #part 14 #sam drake #sam x reader #rafe x reader #Samuel Drake #Nathan Drake #Elena Fisher #victor sullivan #sully #Nate Drake #Libertalia #Nadine Ross #Rafe Adler #writing-wayward-winchesters

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type2diabetestreatments-blog · 7 years

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Ask D'Mine: Weighty Matters

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/ask-dmine-weighty-matters/

Ask D'Mine: Weighty Matters

Happy Saturday! Or maybe not so happy if you're dealing with the weight struggles that some of our readers are writing in about this week. Got the dieting blues? We hear you. Please take a gander at this week's edition of Ask D'Mine, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois.

Need help navigating life with diabetes? Email us at [email protected]

Debbie from Washington, type 2, writes: I've had diabetes for about 15 years. I maintained my weight fairly well, maybe 15 lbs. over ideal, until I eventually started insulin. I gained 40 lbs. in about 6 weeks and my weight just keeps going up as does my need for more and more insulin. I am 5'3" and weigh 250 lbs. I have bad knees and this extra weight makes it very difficult to walk or exercise. I went to Disneyland last year and had to be pushed around in a wheelchair for much of the time (devastating). I must lose weight!! Can you recommend supplements that may help in my endeavor? Diets, meal plans, anything that might help would greatly be appreciated. Please help me.

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Ohmygosh, that Disneyland story almost made me cry. That's awful, and I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles. I've got a couple of ideas that might work, but first some background: Weight matters. Too much weight is hard on the heart, hard on the knees, hard on insulin resistance, and hard on the ego.

The medical types use something called the body mass index, or BMI, to classify the relative health risks of various weight-to-height ratios. It's a far from perfect system, but it least it gives us a vocabulary to use when talking about how serious someone's weight is. So I ran your BMI here and got a score 44.3. Now, anything above 30 is a red light when it comes to living long and prospering. So yeah... Umm... yours is pretty bad. In fact, you fall into the rudely named category of "extreme obesity."

By the way, as a complete side note, I was stunned to hear how quickly you went from basically OK to disasterville. Weight gain is often seen with insulin starts, and the question of whether insulin causes weight gain, or if weight gain is a side effect of reigning in high blood sugar, or a combination of both, is a controversial hotly contended subject amongst insulinologists (OK, I just made that word up) and waaaaaaaay beyond the scope of today's column. Today we're just gonna focus on how to get the frickin' weight back off of you; and to that end we need to understand how extra weight happens.

But first we need to talk about cars.

I drive a Jeep. I love my Jeep. It can go pretty much anywhere, regardless of whether there is even a road to anywhere or not. But my Jeep uses quite a bit of fuel to do so. Even out on the open pavement at 85 miles per hour... Uh... I mean 75 miles per hour, of course... I only get 22 miles per gallon. So I trade spectacular off-road performance for a hefty dent in the wallet. My tree-hugger friend (I only have one of those) drives a Prius and gets something like twice the gas mileage I do. Of course she can get stuck in a garden-variety mud puddle, too. And then she'll need to be rescued by someone like me, in a Jeep.

Anyway, my point here is that the whole your-mileage-may-vary thing is true not just of cars, but of human bodies, too. In general, the human body gobbles up around 2,000 calories per day. But unlike cars, if you put too much gas in the tank, instead of dribbling out the excess fuel onto your feet, the extra fuel is converted to fat and stored for a rainy day.

So if you eat more than you burn, you put on weight. And it doesn't take much extra, either. Consider this: If you eat 10 lousy calories more per day more than you need, you'll put on one pound by the end of the year. 100 calories more per day buys you ten pounds. And so forth. It doesn't take much more than you need to give you real trouble.

To lose weight you need to take in less than you burn. That forces the body to draw on those rainy-day fat reserves. So, in theory, cutting your calorie intake by 10 less than you need melts a pound in a year; 100 less than you need melts ten pounds in a year, and so forth.

So, how to go about cutting those calories?

Now, I haven't seen any evidence to convince me that any of the "supplements" are really going to help you lose weight, so let's talk diet. Yeah. I know, I know. The word "die" is in diet and it's easier to change your gender than your diet. But, really, diets are just different approaches to reducing calorie intake; and that's what we need to do to get the extra pounds off you.

So here are my favorite diets: the smaller plate diet; the turn-off-the-f*ing-TV diet; the bear-trap-in-front-of-the-fridge-at-night diet; the measure-the-damn-carbs diet; the exploding seconds plate diet; and the refrigerator-ectomy diet.

And yes. Of course. I'm writing a book on each of these diets in hopes of creating the next big fad, cashing in on it, and retiring to Aruba on my royalties. (Actually, I've never been to Aruba, and I don't know if I'd even like it. But I digress...)

Bottom line: You need to eat less, and you gotta trick your mind into being happy eating less. So... Look at your portion sizes. You need to keep them smallish, and smaller plates can help you do that... Don't let your mind be distracted while eating. It's a proven fact that folks who eat in front of the TV eat more than folks eating at tables with the TV off... If you snack at night, make sure it is very low calorie. Think rice cakes or fresh veggies... Use the proper portions of high-carb sides. Did you know a "proper" portion of rice is only a third of a cup? Measure it... Wait at least 15 minutes before having seconds. And it would be better if you never had seconds at all. Ever. Oh, and no cheating and putting two servings on your plate in the first place!

It's hard, especially at first. But to lose weight, you need to put less fuel in the tank. Just keep your eye on the prize. Think how much better you'll feel when you are back down to 15 pounds over ideal!

Oh and one last thing: If you fall off the wagon, just get up, dust off your jeans, and jump back on again. Failure happens. Just don't stay in a state of failure.

PS: of course there's something in the medicine cabinet that has been shown to keep blood sugar in check and help you lose weight: The GLP-1 meds Byetta and Victoza. Neither of these popular injectables are magic bullets. They don't melt excess fat. They simply reduce most people's appetite, which causes them to eat less without being hungry, which causes them to reduce their calorie intake, which PRESTO! causes them to lose weight. Yep. They're just a diet in a syringe. (OK, well, in a pen, actually. But you know what I mean.) You might want ask your doctor if a diet in a syringe is right for you.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin:

Mendell from Washington, type 2, writes: I have an unusual problem — I need to gain weight. I've had type 2 since 2005 and lost weight as soon as I began my medications (Metformin & Glipizide), and then kept losing more weight over the next few years. I am now down to about 130 lbs. and am 5'9" tall. Not Good. Do you know of any products that are good nutrition that can help? It has to be sugar free, of course. And please do not respond by telling me, "You're so lucky to be thin . . ." I hear it all the time. (Sorry and my prayers go out to those who are trying to lose weight.)

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: OK. I won't tell you that you are lucky to be thin, 'cause I'm not actually sure that you are. Well, more correctly, I'm not sure that you're too thin, anyway. Like I did with our first reader, I ran your BMI and got 19.2, which is towards the bottom end of the "normal" weight range, and thus not medically underweight.

But that said, if you think you're too thin, I guess that's good enough for me. And I'm here to help you fatten up. But first some myth busting: Your diet does not need to be sugar-free. Anyone with diabetes can have sugar, that whole "no sugar" thing is an urban myth like alligators in the sewer and spontaneous human combustion. Of course, some kinds of sugar are worse than others. You should avoid drinking sugar, for instance. Liquid sugars tend to out-pace even our best meds. But you absolutely can eat some sugar or stuff with sugar in it.

Still, don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating the Entenmann's Doughnut Diet to fatten you up....

As a side note, both your meds together are technically weight neutral, so I'd be willing to bet that your weight loss was due to changes in eating habits after you were diagnosed. It's got me wondering if fear of high blood sugar has you half-starving yourself to death. But that aside, you need to do the opposite of what our earlier reader has to do. You need to put more calories in the tank every day than you burn, so that you can gain weight. And you're 100% right, this is not as fun, or as easy, as it sounds for this simple reason: most really high calorie foods are hard on the blood sugar.

So to eat more, we need to look at how you eat now. If you eat three small meals a day, maybe we could add a fourth, or some snacks. Or maybe we can increase your portion sizes a little bit. We also need to look at high-calorie foods that are low on the glycemic index — foods that turn to sugar slowly in your body. Nuts and sunflower seeds come to mind as an example.

Of course, everything has a cost. Most foods that are high in calories and low in sugar tend to be high in fat. That'll be OK, unless your cholesterol is high. But check out this list here for more ideas (50 to be exact) for foods to fatten you up.

You know, what we really need is some sort of Star Trek technology to move extra fat from those who don't need it to those who do. But in the meantime, my prescription for you is to eat, drink, and be merry. In less moderation than you are doing now.

This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

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This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article

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Ask D'Mine: Understanding GERD, Which Vitamins to Choose?

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Ask D'Mine: Understanding GERD, Which Vitamins to Choose?

Maybe it's your stomach gone awry, or maybe you're just totally confused about which dietary supplements actually matter... either way, we've got you covered.

We answer all sorts of diabetes-related queries here at Ask D'Mine, our weekly advice column hosted by community educator and author Wil Dubois (also a veteran T1 PWD).

Need help navigating life with diabetes? [email protected]

Lisa from Nevada, type 1 writes: I'm trying to get my head around which vitamins or minerals are especially important for diabetics to take on a daily basis. I hear so many conflicting things. I've been taking magnesium, fish oil, vitamin D3, and calcium. Are these the best choices, or are there others?

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: You hear so many conflicting things because no one knows which vitamins or minerals anyone should be taking on a daily basis, much less which ones PWDs should be taking.

In theory, we'd get all we need from our natural diet and environment. But of course, McDonalds did not evolve with our species in the Great Rift Valley, so we modern humans could easily be missing out on some things nature would normally provide. I believe that our overly-processed diet does lack trace minerals and vitamins we need; but how much of which ones are missing is waaaaaaaay beyond my intelligence, so I just opt for the duck hunting approach.

OK, so I've never been duck hunting.

But my grandfather used to, and he told me he used a shotgun. The reasons for this are twofold. The first is that it's illegal and apparently un-sportsman-like to shoot a duck sitting on the water where it would be easy pickings. I guess that's where we get the expression "like a sitting duck." The second reason is that no one is a good enough shot to pick off a flying duck with a single shot from a rifle. Instead, a shotgun sends up a cloud of pellets that only need to be in the vicinity of the duck to drop it from the sky to your dinner table. In point of fact, most of the pellets will miss the duck—but enough will hit to do the job. (According to assorted hunting sites on the internet, 3-5 pellets out of 88 in a typical shell will hit the duck—so it looks like 95% of the pellets go to waste.)

So my shotgun for my modern human diet is a multi-vitamin. I'm hoping that that 3-5 of the vitamins and minerals I need will hit their target, while the other 88 I don't need won't hurt me. Too much of some of these trace things can be as bad as too little, and I think some people go waaaaaaaaaaay overboard on vitamins and supplements.

As to the ones you're taking now, how did you make those choices? Fish oil is well studied and has some impressive data supporting its ability to lower cholesterol if you need to. Vitamin D is an important supplement if you are deficient, which takes a lab test to determine. Vitamin D deficiency can cause mind-numbing fatigue, bone pain, and can ultimately lead to rickets—a weakening and softening of bone. This is one of those fun medical adventures I've been on myself and don't recommend—bone pain is amazingly maddening. Calcium is actually the most abundant mineral in the body, and is common both as a native component or as an additive in many foods. So unless you know you're low... And the same holds true for magnesium; I'm not sure you should take more unless you know you don't have enough.

Looking at a "silver" multivitamin you can see that a single tab contains a quarter of the recommended daily magnesium, 100% of your vitamin D, 20% of your calcium, and zero percent of your fish oil. But where on earth do these recommended daily guidelines come from? As best as I can tell, nutrition experts from the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences get together every couple a' years, ingest hallucinogenic mushrooms, and kick around some new numbers. But are they right? Who the hell knows? It's anyone's guess. And other counties have adopted different standards than we have here in the U.S. It reminds me a bit of the medical consensus standards we discussed a while back.

Got some time on your hands? You can dig deeper into what is known and not known about supplements at this multi-agency federal site here.

And speaking of taking too many pills...

Ranelle from Nebraska, type 2, writes: I have type 2 diabetes and neuropathy, and have just been diagnosed with something called GERD and put on yet another pill. I was only told that it is a stomach reflux thing. I'm worried about taking so many different pills... Where can I learn more?

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Like I always say, diabetes doesn't like to play alone: it brings all its buddies over to party in your body. For those of you who don't know, GERD stands for gastroesophagel reflux disease, which you can't say ten times really fast, which is why we call it GERD instead. It's a very wicked form of heartburn where digestive juices irritate or damage the esophagus.

The mechanics of GERD involve the lower esophageal sphincter, a ring of muscle fibers that serve like a cork to keep the top of your stomach closed when you're not eating. If it gets lazy, stuff from the stomach can take a wrong turn and head back up-stream. GERD is amazingly common, affecting around a third of Americans once per month, and plaguing around 10% of folks on a daily basis.

I couldn't find any clear statistics that indicate how much more common (or not) GERD is for people with diabetes, but it's associated with obesity. Not to be insensitive, but most type 2s are... ummm... you know... fluffy. And before everyone starts flaming me, I hasten to point out that a great number of us type 1s are overweight, too, along with about a third of the country. Be sure to check out the cool full color animated Fat Map... and watch Colorado be the last state in the Union to fall to fat!

For many people, GERD can be treated with lifestyle changes or over-the-counter meds. On the lifestyle front, things that make GERD worse include citrus, chocolate, alcohol, fried food, fatty food, spicy food, and tomato-based foods. Holy crap. That's, like, the whole food pyramid! Oh yeah, smoking can make GERD worse, too; and avoid taking aspirin and ibuprofen. Sounds like GERD is almost as much work as diabetes. On top of all of that, a host of prescription meds can make GERD worse, including beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, some asthma meds, some antidepressants, and—ironically—the anti-seasickness family of medications called anticholinergics.

Of course if someone's condition is advanced beyond what can be accomplished with lifestyle changes, there're pills to take — and I know from your letter that this has happened to you. I sometimes get a lot of flak for being an advocate of the just-take-your-damn-medicine camp. But I think you should in this case. Here's why: you told me you have neuropathy. So we know that at least some of your nerves have been damaged by high blood sugar in the past. It's possible that there's also nerve damage to your digestive system that's causing the GERD or making it worse, and that can put your condition outside the scope of what can be fixed with even extreme lifestyle changes. Ya' might have to take a pill.

The GERD medicine cabinet has three different prescription approaches: proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), coating agents, and so-called promotility agents.

PPIs are stomach acid stompers. Think Tums on steroids (metaphorically). The PPI group includes the high-profile purple pill Nexium.

Coating agents are designed to help heal the damage to your esophagus from the renegade stomach acids. Think Pepto on a grand scale.

The promotility agents are supposed to help batten down the hatches by tightening the sphincter muscles and make the stomach empty faster. I understand that they're not too popular with the White Coats as they're side-effect-intensive, don't seem to work as well for most people as the PPIs, and don't play well in the sand box with other medications. Still, they can beat heck out of the next GERD treatment alternative: surgery.

In terms of where you can learn more, I poked around some of the hidden corners of the medical internet for you, and found a group of articles at Emedicinehealth that have received the blessing of the GERD docs. You can learn a lot more about GERD there.

I can understand you not wanting to take more pills, but if your pills keep you healthy and make you feel better, isn't it worth it?

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

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Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article

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