Glucerna 1-2-3 Challenge: Empowering the patient to manage their diabetes with the help of technology

Diabetes is no joke. It is said to be a growing health problem in the country and also a growing worldwide epidemic. As of 2011 DOH figures, it is the 8th leading cause of mortality in the Philippines. Along with high blood pressure, it is a leading cause of kidney failure and hemodialysis. (You wouldn't want to have kidney failure.) With diabetes, you may also have other complications like heart diseases, stroke, eye complications, nerve damage, skin complications, hypertension and even erectile dysfunction common among diabetic men. Preventive measures you have to do especially if you are obese and have a family history of diabetes include the following:

• Take plenty of fiber from veggies, fruits, beans, nuts and whole grains.
• Increased physical activity or exercise, watch your weight and lose extra pounds.

Now if you happen to have diabetes already, follow your doctor's advice, take your medications and do your end of the bargain especially regards with your lifestyle.

It is nice to know that with the help of technology, patients are now empowered to take control of the management of their diabetes. Such is the case with the Glucerna 1-2-3 challenge from Abbott.

The Glucerna 1-2-3 challenge is a 12-week program specifically made for diabetics to learn simple techniques to help them manage their diabetes with a healthy lifestyle. This is done with the help of a set of online tools found in the website http://www.glucerna123challenge,com.ph and the corresponding mobile app which is available for Iphone and Android smartphones. The online tools provide tracking tools to monitor blood sugar levels as well as progress reports, easy meal plans and recipes, daily exercise plans and step-by-step instructional videos and guidance as to how to incorporate Glucerna  into the healthy diet.

By the way, Glucerna is a specialized nutrition product for diabetes patients to slow their progression as well as prediabetics to help delay or prevent the onset of diabetes for use in conjunction with overall diabetes management plan. The latest formulation of Glucerna is the Triple Care Specialized Nutrition with benefits which coincides with the 1-2-3 challenge of:

• managing blood sugar or glucose levels
• support heart health
• manage well your weight

Glucerna chocolate flavor (The other is vanilla)

According to Abbott, Glucerna  provides

• an advanced, slowly-digested, low glycemic index carbohydrate system to avoid sudden peaks of sugar levels and manage blood sugar response.
• a unique heart-friendly lipid blend rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and omega-3 fatty acids to help support heart health
• key ingredients to help reduce waistline as well as weight
• 225 calories per serving
• 32 vitamins and minerals

In other words, Glucerna's advantage is you know exactly what you are taking in, very vital for patients monitoring calories and blood sugar levels.

I say let us take advantage of this technology and take control of our health. So, you want to respond to the Glucerna 1-2-3 challenge?

Gionee Elife E7: A Smartphone that takes DSLR -Quality Photos

Let me introduce you to Gionee Elife E7. You might ask, what's Gionee? First time to hear of Gionee? Well, with the rise of this smartphone brand especially with the introduction of its flagship Elife E7 unit, I am sure you will get to hear of Gionee more.

Before I talk about Gionee Elife E7, let me show you two food pics and a selfie.

Notice the clarity of the pictures. Even if you zoom on them, you will still see the details.

Even with the front camera, this selfie photo is very clear

All of the 3 preceding pictures with DSLR quality were taken using the Gionee Elife E7 camera (including front camera). The Elife E7's camera is perfect for physicians who often have photography as a hobby. Doctors can also take clear pictures of powerpoint slides during conventions with its PPT memo mode feature in it's built-in Charmcam camera app. In the PPT Memo mode, the smartphone automatically cuts, adjusts angles, sharpen images and turn a series of photos of Powerpoint slides into one PDF file for easy viewing and sharing.

Auto Beauty and Makeup Effect

Bluetooth capability (orange-colored Elife E7)

Elife E7 plays very clear video with dts system.

The camera app itself has professional and normal digital camera features like Auto mode, Panorama mode, sports mode, HDR, self-timer among others, Perhaps, pictures of slides focused on a microscope will be clear using this phone making it a nice companion for medical students too. Of course, bloggers would love this smartphone unit especially food and travel bloggers.

So what makes the pictures high quality? The front camera is an 8.0MP F2.2 Aperture cam and the rear camera is 16.0MP F2.2 Aperture. With this smartphone, no need to bring bulky cameras. Truly #madeforshooting to #enjoylife .

Here are the Elife E7s other pertinent specifications:

• Dimensions: 150.6mm X 75mm X 9.7mm
• It uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800  Quad Core processor clocking at up to 2.5 GHz with 2GB/3GB LPDDR3 memory.
• The display is a durable scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 5.5 inches Full HD LTPS screen with resolution up to 1920 x 1080 and viewing angle up to 178 degrees.
• Type: Ultra-sensitive capacitive
• Operating system is Android 4.2 with Amigo 2.0 interface
• Memory is 32GB ROM + 3GB RAM
• Battery is 2500 mAh
• Data Service: GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+ (and I'm not sure about the LTE)
• With Wireless FM Radio, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC, 5G Wi-F
• Ports: 3.5 mm headphone jack, Micro USB 2.0, support OTG
• Comes with Charger, cable, protective case, protective film, 3 NFC tags, OTG Cable, earphones
• Comes in 7 colors including yellow, green, orange, white and black (which I saw myself)

The price of the Elife E7 is around PHP 24,500. This unit will be available in Cebu smartphone stores.

Other line up of Gionee phones:

With these quality of phones, I am sure Gionee will become a major player in the local smartphone scene.