Balance

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sofaraway

sofaraway

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So the new edition is out (although I just checked and mine isn't here yet :()
I enjoy getting my copy and sit and read it within 1 day usually.

Thought it would be good to post any thoughts, what bits were good/bad etc.
 
sofaraway said:
So the new edition is out (although I just checked and mine isn't here yet :()
I enjoy getting my copy and sit and read it within 1 day usually.

Thought it would be good to post any thoughts, what bits were good/bad etc.
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Personally I prefer SWEET magazine, there is a better balance between type 1 as well as type 2 and has a whole family section for children with diabetes, a couple of my friends have featured already.

Balance is ok but mainly geared towards type 2 diabetes overall, which they know anyway. It has some go info pieces sometimes but they lack terribly in the childrens aspects, infact I will go so far as to say it is pretty damn rubbish for children with diabetes and they get their info wrong as well where children are concerned.

Whoops 😛
 
Adrienne said:
Personally I prefer SWEET magazine, there is a better balance between type 1 as well as type 2 and has a whole family section for children with diabetes, a couple of my friends have featured already.

Balance is ok but mainly geared towards type 2 diabetes overall, which they know anyway. It has some go info pieces sometimes but they lack terribly in the childrens aspects, infact I will go so far as to say it is pretty damn rubbish for children with diabetes and they get their info wrong as well where children are concerned.

Whoops 😛
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I agree Adrienne. They claim it is for type 1s as well but the ads and the deluge of inserts with it, for hearing aids and walk in baths, give away the truth that it is aimed at the older generation.

Having said that I liked the article on fat and whether it is genetic or environmental. I liked it that the 2 experts were both very fair and neither condemned fat people which is a refreshing change after the government-led change4life harassment accompanied by media scare stories - yesterday newspapers (including apparently reputable ones like the Guardian) were blaming fat people for climate change! So the genuinely balanced views in that article were a nice change.

Where can you get Sweet magazine? Is there an annual subscription and how much does it cost?
 
They have a whole page of responses to that Nurse who said you shouldn't inject in public 🙂
 
Adrienne said:
Personally I prefer SWEET magazine, there is a better balance between type 1 as well as type 2 and has a whole family section for children with diabetes, a couple of my friends have featured already.

Balance is ok but mainly geared towards type 2 diabetes overall, which they know anyway. It has some go info pieces sometimes but they lack terribly in the childrens aspects, infact I will go so far as to say it is pretty damn rubbish for children with diabetes and they get their info wrong as well where children are concerned.

Whoops 😛
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Hi,

I'm a Type 2 and I prefer SWEET too!

Just found the magazine recently when looking at the magazines in Tesco - I liked it a lot. Quite a lot of general health stuff too which makes it of more interest to the non-diabetics in the family.

Yes - a great publication and well worth buying.

John
 
Lizzie said:
........but the ads and the deluge of inserts with it, for hearing aids and walk in baths, give away the truth that it is aimed at the older generation...........Where can you get Sweet magazine? Is there an annual subscription and how much does it cost?
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Hi Lizzie,

Older generation? Oh that must be why I liked it - but I'm not into the hearing aids or walk-in baths yet! 🙄

Bought mine in Tesco - and they seemed to have a lot compared with a lot of the other magazines. There is a six-month subscription at least at a special price of around ?14.95 or something similar. Think that cover price is ?2.95.

John
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the excuse to sit in the sunshine in the garden and read Balance. Spotted a poem but not one of Northerner's and a competition for writers/poets who need to be young. Must admit I'd not thought of Morris Dancing as a means of exercise for a woman. Couple of hours post my lunch time read - contents don't really stick in my mind though

As a fairly fit individual in my early 50s I find the walk in baths and physical aids ads a bit off putting but no more so than the local newspaper.

They are looking for people for their reader's panel though - 18-40 preferred (if I remember correctly) so perhaps they are trying to get a more balanced "Balance"
 
Morris dancing

Can't say that participating in Morris dancing has ever appealled to me - but the sides (one male, one female) that performed at the tree dressing ceremony at Aston on Clun in Shropshire seemed to be very effective, given that it originated as a fertility rite - half the females seemed to be pregnant each year! However, they were in 20s and 30s, I think. The tree dressing ceremony was to celebrate the joy of a father when his daughter got married - 18th or 19th century, I think. Perhaps the prospect of pregnancy was what discouraged me?
 
I never knew Balance was aimed at type 2's? I haven't opened the latest copy yet, it's only the third one I've got. It seems okay I skim read it sometimes there's useful stuff sometimes not, but isn't that the case for everything. And the adverts, wouldn't it be useful if you knew someone who would benefit, they're hardly offensive? Is Sweet a DUK publication?
 
Very disappointed, mine hasn't arrived yet, working late tomorrow as well!

I do enjoy Balance, although I'd agree that it is more geared towards type 2, although I guess the balance (no pun intended) of the readership is likely to be that way too.

I do like Sweet too, since seeing people talk about it on here.
 
rossi_mac said:
I never knew Balance was aimed at type 2's? I haven't opened the latest copy yet, it's only the third one I've got. It seems okay I skim read it sometimes there's useful stuff sometimes not, but isn't that the case for everything. And the adverts, wouldn't it be useful if you knew someone who would benefit, they're hardly offensive? Is Sweet a DUK publication?
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Myself and my 'group' of mums (and there's lots of us) have had lots of run ins with DUK re children and type 1. They are so pro type 2 diabetes and they say that last year they were campaigning for children. Did you see any major campaign, nope. We saw the silent assassin (type 2 although it didn't say that), we saw the measure up, the year before (type 2 although it didn't say that). They did organise a lobby on Downing Street in November but that was not publicised very well. They did write a Medicines in Schools booklet for schools with the Asthma society and other medical conditions but the diabetes bit was very wet and not good advice. They don't ask the people that know (ie the mums) and if they do they ask the ones they pay! It was this group of mums that got the Change4life campaign changed in 5 days. DUK took credit for getting it changed. Huh we were not happy and broadcast it to as many people as we could that it was not DUK, they were partners in change4life.

Anyway I digress sorry. SWEET is not a DUK publication. I signed up and paid online and get one sent to me monthly. Its a lovely, easy read magazine and not entirely for type 2 diabetes with chair lifts and baths with doors etc (which I don't have a problem with actually).

I will find the online link and post it so anyone can have a look, it is hard to find on the shelves in shops, although some have found it in Tescos, brilliant.
 
I would agree with the general comments. I tend to skim read Balance when I get it throuhg, pick out anything of interest. I enjoyed reading the responses to the nurse's comment about injecting in public 🙂 I also enjoy Sweet, probably slightly more than Balance as I think it has more articles of general health related interest.

Adrienne said:
They are so pro type 2 diabetes and they say that last year they were campaigning for children. Did you see any major campaign, nope. We saw the silent assassin (type 2 although it didn't say that), we saw the measure up, the year before (type 2 although it didn't say that).
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I agree with this too Adrienne, I remember the first time I saw the Silent Assassin I totally freaked out (until my level-headed boyfriend pointed out it was aimed at type 2!) Still though... I guess the rationale is that type 2 is (to some extent) preventable (I hope I don't open a can of worms by saying that) I do agree that more awareness should be raised about type 1 and diabetes in children. Working in a school I've seen first hand just how little is known about working with children with diabetes on a day to day basis. On a teaching placement I was called out of my classroom to treat a child next door having a severe hypo and on the verge of fitting. I was shocked - not only was I not (at the time) first aid qualified but I also wondered what would have happened had I not been there with hypo-stop at hand.
 
Munjeeta said:
..... more awareness should be raised about type 1 and diabetes in children. Working in a school I've seen first hand just how little is known about working with children with diabetes on a day to day basis.
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There has been a massive data collection done (one of my friends has been involved) along with major players in the world of paediatric diabetes. I am just confirming that it is public knowledge and I can then share it with you, it is very very interesting indeed.
 
Adrienne said:
There has been a massive data collection done (one of my friends has been involved) along with major players in the world of paediatric diabetes. I am just confirming that it is public knowledge and I can then share it with you, it is very very interesting indeed.
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I'd be very interested to see that, Adrienne. It's something I feel strongly about, seeing both sides of it as a teacher and as a diabetic. I read in the paper the other day about a boy whose school refused to accommodate his diabetes and ended up being home schooled by his parents. Also a friend of mine has a newly diagnosed 6 yr old in her class. She was talking to me about how little she knew about what to do and how unsupportive her school was being in providing the help and daily support the child needed. She genuinely cares but without the support of her school there's only so much she can do (aside from do her own research obviously, which she has, but even so she has 29 other 6 yr olds in her care). I don't want to get into a slagging off of schools here... After all mine was fab when I was diagnosed in yr 6 and my secondary school was also brilliant. But I do feel children with diabetes at school need support and help in managing it and fitting it into their school day, and the staff need to be specifically trained as is appropriate.
 
i used to get balance, but after about 4 issues i found it never really had anything of substance in it for type 1's. i havent actually had a copy for ages as i now tend to just get running world and all the other mags like that.

is this sweet mag any good??
 
Munjeeta said:
I'd be very interested to see that, Adrienne. It's something I feel strongly about, seeing both sides of it as a teacher and as a diabetic. I read in the paper the other day about a boy whose school refused to accommodate his diabetes and ended up being home schooled by his parents. Also a friend of mine has a newly diagnosed 6 yr old in her class. She was talking to me about how little she knew about what to do and how unsupportive her school was being in providing the help and daily support the child needed. She genuinely cares but without the support of her school there's only so much she can do (aside from do her own research obviously, which she has, but even so she has 29 other 6 yr olds in her care). I don't want to get into a slagging off of schools here... After all mine was fab when I was diagnosed in yr 6 and my secondary school was also brilliant. But I do feel children with diabetes at school need support and help in managing it and fitting it into their school day, and the staff need to be specifically trained as is appropriate.
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I'll start another thread re the data collection.
 
I get Balance and Sweet Magazines. I try to read as much as I can of both to get a bigger picture then pass them on.

One friend (who's around 60) said Balance was depressing. My dad said he'd throw both magazines in the bin so he never gets them.

Don't know if my Balance has arrived yet, I leave too early for the postman to be delivering.
 
mine still hasn't arrived yet. I brought the latest issue of Sweet today so will read that tonight I expect. I am not sure which i prefer yet. probably Balance slightly as I;m not too interested in the recepies.

I would say their are more type 2's reading Balance so there might be more type 2 aimed articles in there. We did have carb counting recently though which i was impressed with.
 
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