His pages now include a useful search engine for finding material within his site–as well as on the Web–and a navigational menu at the side of every page that makes it easier to find what you want.

Advice for Newbies
If you find Rick's full site overwhelming, try his Advice for Newbies, which is a distillation of the very basic things you need to know right away. Once you've mastered those, you can go back to the full pages.

Glycemic Index
One central concept of great importance to people with diabetes is the glycemic index. Rick explains on these pages what the glycemic is and why it's important for people with diabetes. He was one of the first people in America to call attention to the glycemic index and has kept in touch with the major researchers in this area, so any updates to the values can usually be found on his pages in a short time. These pages also describe the related concept of the glycemic load.

Glycemic Index Lists
If you want the entire list of glycemic index values, you can download them here.

The World E-Mail List
The Mendosa site has a long list of various e-mail mailing lists, sometimes called listservs. There's a diabetes list for almost every interest.

I'm on the World list, which is owned by endocrinologist Arturo Rolla of Boston. It's a semimoderated list, meaning that those who don't follow the rules are unsubscribed, and this cuts down on flaming and commercial posts advertising miracle cures. It's a fairly active list.

To subscribe, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diabetesworld .

PubMed
PubMed, run by the National Library of Medicine, allows you to search hundreds of medical journals for articles of interest.

Joslin Research Volunteers
If you're in the Boston area, you might want to check out this page of opportunities for people with diabetes (and some without diabetes) to participate in research at the Joslin Diabetes Center, one of the top diabetes centers in the world.

Most studies include a free physical exam; free lab tests, including tests that aren't generally done outside research settings; and free study drugs. Oh yes, and FREE PARKING close to Harvard Medical School and the major Boston hospitals.

I've been in several studies, and I've learned something new about my condition from each one. Just don't sign up for something you're not comfortable with.

Diabetes and Diet
Engineer and diabetes patient Derek Paice has published a small book describing how you can measure your own personal glycemic index of foods, which he calls the Substance Glycemic Index, or SGI, because it includes noncarbohydrate foods. You can download the book free in PDF form.