The Luggies actually got things going last night in their final spring tune up.  They played the Michigan State Spartans and won 4-3.  I didn't stay and watch, but I did swing by and take a quick look.  Travis Snider is a very big kid.  He is much bigger in person than any picture I have seen of him and the thing about it is that he really isn't fat, he is just, well.....big.

The MWL is going to be chuck full of first round pitchers (Clayton Kershaw, Mark Pawelek, etc.) so I think 3/4 to a full season in the MWL will be a good thing for him.  The team to watch in this league might just be the new Great Lakes Loons.  They have 6 of the Dodgers top 30 prospects and three of their top 10 prospects.  I believe 4 of their 5 starters are in the top 30 list.  It should be interesting.

Losing weight is a good thing for diabetics ... Weight gain is often a symptom (or impact) of diabetes.

I almost wrote "that's exactly wrong," but it's not exactly wrong ... the fact is, massive weight LOSS is a classic sign of diabetes, and one of the reasons I was diagnosed 20 years ago. Weight gain is a classic symptom/impact of getting diabetes under control, oddly enough. That's why it's so important for diabetics to work on weight control issues -- it can get out of hand quite quickly.

Now it's true that grossly obese people are at a greater risk of developing diabetes, but that is only tangentially related. So yes, losing weight is a good thing for diabetics, but weight gain is NOT a symptom of diabetes, per se.

Well I"ve become hooked on prospects over the past year or so.  The ones I'll take the most interest (below AAA) in this year are:

Ricky Romero, Brandon Magee, Chase Lirette, Kyle Ginley, David Purcey, Travis Snider, Yoherman Chavez (sp) and Balbino Fuenmayor

You're right. He's surprisingly mature for his age.

That's not "the good face"!

The reason there seem to be 2 different opinions about weight gain and diabetes is that diabetes is 2 completely different diseases, with 2 completely different causes.  Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease, where the body's own immune system attacks and kills the Islet Of Langerhans cells in the pancreas.  These are the cells which produce insulin.  Without insulin, blood sugar rises dramatically, and eventually, if not treated, will be fatal.  One symptom of this type of diabetes is weight loss, along with extreme thirst.  Usually hits early in life, often referred to as juvenile diabetes.  On the other hand, Type II diabetes is a metabolic problem, where the cells of the body develop a resistance to the insulin that the body is producing.  One of the principal causes of Type II diabetes is weight gain (along with a sedentary lifestyle).  Obese people are extremely prone to develop Type II diabetes.  Losing weight is one of the most important things for them to do in order to get their diabetes under control.  Obesity is becoming so prevalent in our society that Type II diabetes rates are soaring.  Used to be seen mainly in older people, but now even teenagers and young adults are getting it because they are obese and sedentary.

Ok, I'm not claiming to be an expert on this topic, but I have been a volunteer with the Canadian Diabetes Association for quite some time, I am a director for a camp for children with diabetes, and recently attended a convention in Ottawa for Diabetes Advocacy.  Being a type 1 diabetic myself for 23+ years, I guess I consider myself an unofficial expert.

The biggest problem with the general public's perception on diabetes is that all diabetics are the same, which is quite untrue.  There are several variations of diabetes and all are caused by different factors.  The two most common types of diabetes are type 1, also called juvenile diabetes, and type 2, aka adult onset.  The other two most known types are gestational diabetes (the name does speak for itselt) and a newer, extremely rare type, called type 1.5 (a blend of type 1 and type 2)

There is not really any exact known causes for type 1 diabetes.  Most experts agree that about 75 percent of type 1 diabetes is genetic (I'm sorry I have no link to data on this, however that is the number that was told to approximately 200 people in Ottawa two weeks ago, in a room full of qualified people), with the remaining 25 % caused by an unknown biological factor (rumors include contaminated breast milk, pancreatic viruses, etc...   Both my sister and I were diagnosed at 3 and 5 years old respectively (3 months apart) with a pancreatic virus that killed our pancreas and stopped it's ability to produce insulin)  Regardless of the age of the person with type 1 diabetes, the common link in ALL type 1 diabetics is that the pancreas does not produce ANY insulin at all.  The only way to control this is by taking an insulin injection (either by syringe, pump, etc...)  With some newer technology and research the ability to control this is growing rapidly, in fact islet cell transplantation has had type 1 diabetics living symptom free for over 2 years, with only a anti rejection needle being taken every 6 months or so.

In a type one diabetic, as Mick has said, rapid weight loss is not a good thing.  What happens is that with high blood sugar levels, as would be the case in undiagnosed diabetics, most of the nutrition that is taken in, is urinated out without being taken into the body and utilized appropriately.  It's almost as if they haven't ingested the nutrition at all.  As a result, rapid weight loss is very common, and one of the leading factors in diagnosing type 1 diabetes.  Other factors include extreme thirst, frequent urination (which is made even more noticeable by the extreme thirst), drowsiness, mood swings, etc...

In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas is still able to produce insulin, however not enough to fight off the amount of sugar/carbs that the individual is intaking.  The biggest misconception that most people have about type 2 diabetes, is that it's a "fat, lazy person" disease.  This is contrary to the facts.  Most cases of type 2 diabetes are genetics, and is complicated by weight, diet, exercise, or the lack thereof that is facing the entire North American society.  As a result, most cases of type 2 diabetes is not noticed until one of the above factors mentioned gets out of control.  There are many type 2 diabetics that go undetected because the individual does control themselves, and not until they get a little older and stop taking as good of care of themselves does their diabetes get noticed.  Type 2 diabetes can be controlled by diet, exercise, pills, or in extreme cases, they can take insulin.

In type 2 diabetes, rapid weight loss is still a bad thing, but a controlled weight loss is recommended.  (Is it ever a really good thing to rapidly lose weight?)  As Nigel said, in all but one of those cases, weight gain was one of the symptoms (impacts) leading to the diagnosis of diabetes.  I don't know for sure, but from what he's told me, I would make a small wager that the 3 cases with weight gain were a type 2 diabetic, and the other case, could have possibly been a type 1 diabetic, although I'm less willing to wager on the type 1.   Maybe after reading this, Nigel could confirm, just to let me know.

I hope that this is helpful and if anyone wants to know more about diabetes you can visit your local Canadian Diabetes Association, which has more information and knowledge by actual trained professionals than I could ever tell someone about.

As an aside, I'm going to mention that the convention in Ottawa was in regards to our National Ask Campaign, where we are pushing parliament members to take into consideration our plea, which is that "No Canadian Citizen pays more than 3% of their annual adjusted income towards medications, supplies, treatments, etc..."  This is for all health related issues not only diabetes.  I believe that the Canadian Cancer Society is also working hand in hand with us to bring this plea to parliament.  The Ask has been brought to the attention many MP's and Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, wore our diabetes advocacy shirt in Question Period March 26th of this year.  I just mention this to bring some more awareness to our wonderful Batters Box Society and the many respectable citizens that come across this site.

Looks like the F-Cats game has been postponed.  Luckily, Syracuse is in Durham N.C. which means there's a good change that the game will be a go since I notice that Buffalo has postponed their opener.