The Sugarless Plum: A Memoir (19 page)
Read The Sugarless Plum: A Memoir Online
Authors: Zippora Karz
I hope by telling my story that I have been able to encourage others to take responsibility for their health so that they can make good decisions about how to take care of themselves and live full and passionate lives, even with serious conditions. While we cannot control why certain things have happened, we can control the way we move forward and react to those circumstances. The following is a list of resources that I've found to be especially helpful.
BOOKS
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with diabetes I recommend you read the following books:
Peters, Anne, M.D.
Conquering Diabetes: A Complete Program for Prevention and Treatment.
Plume, 2006.
Kaufman, Francine R., M.D.
Diabesity: A Doctor and Her Patients on the Front Lines of the Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic.
Bantam, 2006.
Specifically for Women:
Jovanovi
-Peterson, Lois, M.D.
Managing Your Gestational Diabetes: A Guide for You and Your Baby's Good Health. Wiley,
1994.
On Healthy Eating:
Pollan, Michael.
In Defense of Food. Penguin Press, 2008.
My grandmother would have loved this book, which preaches
“eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”
Kessler, David, M.D.
The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
. Rodale, 2009.
If you are having problems with food addiction and blaming yourself for it, this book points out how certain foods trigger addictive eating, and how educating and training yourself can help to avoid them.
DeRohann, Ceanne.
Recipes for Love.
This wonderful cookbook provides recipes that are easy, inexpensive and healthful. It can be ordered at: www.rightuseofwill.com/recipes.htm.
WEBSITES
If you have just been diagnosed with diabetes, these Web sites are great resources:
www.diabetes.org
1-800-DIABETES
The American Diabetes Association has a Web site full of helpful information as well as a call center if you'd like to speak with someone in person. They also have a bookstore stocked with everything you need to know about managing diabetes and they publish a monthly magazine,
Diabetes Forecast
.
www.tcoyd.org
Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to informing and empowering people with diabetes to become actively involved in their own health care. Their wonderful conferences offer the latest information and helpful tools on how to manage diabetes.
www.childrenwithdiabetes.com
Children with Diabetes is an online community for kids, families and adults with diabetes. It is a fantastic place to get informed and motivated, and connect with others. Created by a concerned father of a daughter with diabetes, the Web site has a wealth of information, including the latest diabetes research, online chats, discussions and seminars with a faculty of prominent leaders in diabetes.
www.jdrf.org
1-800-533-CURE
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is the leader
in research leading to a cure for type 1 diabetes in the world. It sets the global agenda for diabetes research, and is the largest charitable funder and advocate of diabetes science worldwide.
www.sansum.org
Under the leadership of Lois Jovanovic, M.D., Sansum Diabetes Research Institute is a research center devoted to the prevention, treatment and cure of diabetes. It is an extraordinary place, where diabetes research, nutrition, education, and diabetes prevention have improved the lives of people worldwide who suffer from this serious disease.
www.idf.org
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is committed to raising global awareness of diabetes, promoting appropriate diabetes care and prevention, and encouraging activities toward finding a cure for the different types of diabetes.
www.ndep.nih.gov
1-800-438-5383
The National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) is partnered with the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 200 public and private organizations, including the American Diabetes Association.
www.diabeteseducator.org
A diabetes educator is great to have in addition to a doctor. The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) is dedicated to providing members with the tools, training and support necessary to help patients change their behavior and accomplish their diabetes self-management goals.
www.dlife.com
This is a great Web site packed with helpful information, personal stories, recipes and interviews with prominent figures in diabetes. They also sponsor dLife TV, a weekly 30-minute show for people with diabetes shown on CNBC.
www.nih.gov/health/infoline.htm
www.nih.gov/health/infoline.htm
Whatever your diagnosis, the National Institutes of Health can connect you with helpful information.
www.diabetesincontrol.com
A weekly e-mail newsletter that summarizes and delivers the most critical information for diabetes medical professionals from over 200 journals, peer-reviewed scientific papers and studies.
The following nonprofit organizations are making a difference in the lives of people with diabetes around the world, and always need support:
Â
www.insulinforlife.org
Insulin for Life is dedicated to providing adults and children
with diabetes supplies in areas of the world where they are in emergency need. My personal friend Stewart in Zimbabwe has benefited from their outstanding efforts. I cannot thank them enough for the work that they do.
www.lifeforachild.idf.org
IDF has a program called Life for a Child, which supports the care of close to 1,100 children in over 18 countries worldwide. The program meets the children's immediate needs (insulin, syringes, monitoring and education), builds local capacity and lobbies governments to establish sustainable solutions.
I am a dancer, a teacher, a movement motivator and a speaker. I never thought I would write, nor did I feel an inner calling to do so. When I began this process of writing my story, I knew I would need guidance and help, and this book would not exist without the support, patience and encouragement of many people who all deserve my deepest gratitude:
My agent, Barbara Lowenstein: you believed in my story from the beginning, knew where to take it, guided me and stuck by me as I learned over and over how to best express myself. Thank you.
My wonderful editor, Deborah Brody: you guided me through this process with patience and support, and you, too, believed in my story and helped me get it right. A heartfelt thank-you for your time and expertise.
The gifted team at Harlequin: without all of you this book would never have happened.
Elizabeth Kaye: your words on the page dance; you are as
beautiful a writer as you are a person. Thank you for the endless hours of writing and dialoging, and for helping me get my story on the page with grace and honesty. I have enjoyed every moment.
Judy Kerns: I could not have completed this without you. You are brilliant, patient, a pleasure to work with, and saved the day once again. Thank you.
Denise Ritchie, my loyal friend: thank you for all your help, especially in the beginning of this writing process. You are an endless well of insight and love and a blessing in my life.
Debra Greenfield: thank you for your unwavering belief in me, for your generous help as I began this process, and for bringing me to Elizabeth. May we always share the joy of dance together.
Elizabeth Kendall: thank you for your help with the finishing touches on this book, and throughout my dancing life.
Dr. Anne Peters, Dr. Francine Kaufman, and Dr. Lois Jovanovic: you are all great doctors and great women who inspire and guide me. Thank you, Anne and Fran, for your expertise regarding the medical information in this book, and Lois, for suggesting I send my proposal to Barbara, who became my agent.
As a dancer I'd like to thank the many teachers who influenced the artist I became, specifically Sheila Rozann, whose love of ballet opeed to me a world beyond anything I ever dreamed.
The writing of this book aside, I would not be where I am today psychologically and emotionally were it not for the many special friends I am so blessed to have in my life. To my closest and dearest friends, I hope you know how much you mean to me and
how you help guide my life every day. While I cannot name you all, I'd like to thank Kari Rosenfeld, Laura Behr and Hanna Wise Heiting for your constant ear and feedback.
And to Steve Postell: with deep respect for your support and detailed help at every stage of this book, most notably the final read, and in admiration of your brilliant mind, caring heart and great music.
To my father, Allen, my stepmother, Lynn, and all my siblings, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, cousins, and all their significant othersâthank you for always supporting me, no matter what I do or could have chosen to become. A special mention to my dad, whose compassion and wisdom guides me more and more each year.
Along with my father I'd like to specifically acknowledge my sisters, Michele and Romy, my brother, Gary, and my aunts Rhonda and Arlene. We came together for mom's illness, each in our own way, and I cannot adequately express the depth of my gratitude to you. Mom deserved only the best.
And lastly, a special thanks to Romy. We grew up in the same family, danced in the same company, teach at the same ballet school, and live around the corner from each other now. Thank you for being by my side, truly, and always with love.
the
SUGARLESS PLUM
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8446-7
Copyright © 2009 by Zippora Karz
All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. For permission please contact Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada, M3B 3K9.
The names and identifying details of some characters in this book have been changed.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Karz, Zippora.
The sugarless plum: a ballerina's triumph over diabetes / Zippora Karz.
p. cm.
1. Ballet dancersâUnited StatesâBiography. 2. DiabeticsâUnited StatesâBiography. I. Title.
GV1785.K36A3 2009
792.802'8092âdc22
[B]
2009015679
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.