The following is from CDC.gov:

Having diabetes shouldn’t stop you from enjoying holiday celebrations and travel. With some planning and a little work, you can stay healthy on the road and at holiday gatherings with friends and family.

The most important step in managing diabetes during holiday travel and festivities is preparing. Know what you’ll be eating, how to enjoy a few traditional favorites while sticking with a healthy meal plan, and how to pack necessary supplies for a trip, and you’re all set to celebrate!

Feasts and Parties

Before you go, take these steps to make sure you stick to your healthy meal plan.

• Eat a healthy snack to avoid overeating at the party.
• Ask what food will be served, so you can see how it fits into your meal plan.
• Bring a nutritious snack or dish for yourself and others.

You don’t have to give up all of your holiday favorites if you make healthy choices and limit portion sizes. At a party or holiday gathering, follow these tips to avoid overeating and to choose healthy foods.

• If you’re at a buffet, fix your plate and move to another room away from the food, if possible.
• Choose smaller portions.
• Choose low-calorie drinks such as sparkling water, unsweetened tea or diet beverages. If you select an alcoholic beverage, limit it to one drink a day for women, two for men, and drink only with a meal.
• Watch out for heavy holiday favorites such as hams coated with a honey glaze, turkey swimming in gravy and side dishes loaded with butter, sour cream, cheese or mayonnaise. Instead, choose turkey without gravy and trim off the skin, or other lean meats.
• Look for side dishes and vegetables that are light on butter, dressing and other extra fats and sugars, such as marshmallows or fried vegetable toppings.
• Watch the salt. Some holiday favorites are made with prepared foods high in sodium. Choose fresh or frozen vegetables that are low in sodium.
• Select fruit instead of pies, cakes and other desserts high in fat, cholesterol and sugar.
• Focus on friends, family and activities instead of food. Take a walk after a meal, or join in the dancing at a party.

Traveling for the Holidays

Leaving home to visit friends and family means changing routines. Make sure you remember to take care of your diabetes while traveling. Check blood glucose (sugar) more often than usual, because a changing schedule can affect levels.

Remember Your Medication

• Pack twice the amount of diabetes supplies you expect to need, in case of travel delays.
• Keep snacks, glucose gel, or tablets with you in case your blood glucose drops.
• Make sure you keep your medical insurance card and emergency phone numbers handy, including your doctor’s name and phone number.
• Carry medical identification that says you have diabetes.
• Keep time zone changes in mind so you’ll know when to take medication.
• If you use insulin, make sure you also pack a glucagon emergency kit.
• Keep your insulin cool by packing it in an insulated bag with refrigerated gel packs.

On the Road and in the Air

Get an influenza vaccination before traveling, unless your medical provider instructs otherwise. Get the flu shot, not the nasal spray.

• Wash hands often with soap and water. Try to avoid contact with sick people.
• Reduce your risk for blood clots by moving around every hour or two.
• Pack a small cooler of foods that may be difficult to find while traveling, such as fresh fruit, sliced raw vegetables, and fat-free or low-fat yogurt.
• Bring a few bottles of water instead of sweetened soda or juice.
• Pack dried fruit, nuts, and seeds as snacks. Since these foods can be high in calories, measure out small portions (¼ cup) in advance.
• If you’re flying and do not want to walk through the metal detector with your insulin pump, tell a security officer that you are wearing an insulin pump and ask them to visually inspect the pump and do a full-body pat-down.
• Place all diabetes supplies in carry-on luggage. Keep medications and snacks at your seat for easy access. Don’t store them in overhead bins.
• Have all syringes and insulin delivery systems (including vials of insulin) clearly marked with the pharmaceutical preprinted label that identifies the medications. Keep it in the original pharmacy labeled packaging.
• If a meal will be served during your flight, call ahead for a diabetic, low fat, or low cholesterol meal. Wait until your food is about to be served before you take your insulin.
• If the airline doesn’t offer a meal, bring a nutritious meal yourself. Make sure to pack snacks in case of flight delays.
• When drawing up your dose of insulin, don’t inject air into the bottle (the air on your plane will probably be pressurized).
• Stick with your routine for staying active. Make sure to get at least 150 minutes of physical activity every week. Ten minutes at a time is fine.

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An expiration date is assigned by the manufacturer of a drug to represent its shelf life. Medication breaks down over time – liquids separate into layers and solids may become powders. The expiration date is the time in which the medication is safe to take and will have the desired result. Expired medicine includes both over-the-counter medicine (i.e. cold medicine, vitamins, aspirin) and medicine that has been prescribed by a doctor.

Medications can expire before the expiration date if they are not stored properly. When air, humidity, heat, or sunlight makes contact with medications their potency and consistency regardless of expiration date can change. When storing your medications you want to store them in cool, dry, and dark places –somewhere in the neighborhood of 59 and 80 degrees. Storing medication in the bathroom or kitchen cupboards is very common, but those places are the last areas to store your medication. Those locations can have heat, humidity, and sunlight and medications will break down and lose potency under such conditions. In fact, when medication expires and it loses potency, it could be very dangerous, especially to those with health conditions where they are dependent on the medications such as high blood pressure medication.

Medicine storage areas should be cleaned out every six months to a year. Always keep your medicine in its original container – this keeps it safe and it will be easier to know if medicine has expired.

Remember, if a medication has expired, be aware of how to properly dispose of it. Flushing it down the toilet or pouring it down the drain might lead to contamination of your area’s water supply. Throwing it in the trash may eventually contaminate the soil. Ask your pharmacist if there is a recycling program in your neighborhood or call your local hazardous waste disposal department.

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By Elizabeth Cohen
CNN Senior Medical Correspondent

(CNN) — Next week, the long-awaited H1N1 vaccine is expected to arrive. At least three of the four vaccine makers have begun shipping their products to undisclosed distribution centers.

There are two types of the vaccine available: the flu shot, an inactivated vaccine containing fragments of killed influenza virus, and a nasal spray, which is made using a weakened live flu virus. The nasal spray will most likely be the first to be widely distributed, however certain groups, including pregnant women, young children and people with compromised immune systems, cannot receive the nasal spray.

So far officials of the National Institutes of Health say that in clinical trials they’ve seen no serious side effects and that study subjects who have been immunized have generated a good response.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine for certain high-priority groups because they are more likely to have serious complications if they develop swine flu. These groups include: pregnant women; caregivers and household contacts of children younger than 6 months; everyone between the ages of 6 months and 24 years; and people ages 25 to 64 with existing health problems.

Even people who are not in these groups can get the vaccine. But now the vaccine is almost here, the question is, “Do you want it?” We looked through our Empowered Patient inbox and it turns out that many of our readers still have questions. We consulted a team of experts to get their answers, which are edited for brevity and clarity.

When can I expect the H1N1 vaccine to be available where I live?

While the first supplies of the H1N1 vaccine are due out next week, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be available in your city. Since only 6 million to 7 million doses are expected next week, you might have to look around for it at the beginning. However, federal health authorities have stressed that within the next few months there will be plenty of vaccine to go around; 75 million doses will be produced before the end of the year.

Where can I find the vaccine when it comes out?

Check with your doctor, your children’s school and your local public health department. Right now there’s no central list of locations where swine flu vaccine will be offered, but the Department of Health and Human Services plans on putting information on Flu.gov as soon as possible.

For more answers to questions, continue this story at CNN.com