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Safeway offering free diabetes food tour, clinics

Bay Times - 4/18/2018

STEVENSVILLE - Coming soon to your local Kent Island Safeway, a 70-minute food tour with a certified diabetes dietitian to educate the public about what foods to eat and not eat, if you have diabetes, or don't wish to get the disorder by learning to eat smart! The Safeway program is titled "Eating Healthy With Diabetes."

To sign up for the free tour, you must call 1-877-728-6655 (Albertsons Specialty Care - which owns Safeway) to pre-register, or register online at http://www.safeway.com/eatinghealthywithdiabetes.

Once six or more people have pre-registered, the local Chester tour will be confirmed. A tentative tour date of Saturday, May 10, beginning a 10 a.m. has been set for Chester, however, enough people must pre-register before May 4. The Kent Island Safeway did have a tour last year, so the program is not new.

The tour also provides an option for free individual educational series clinics for people who have already been diagnosed with diabetes, which includes free A1c blood checks and analysis. The series includes one free group class which provides a take-home workbook covering all the main topics related to diabetes control, followed up with four individual consultations with a specially trained pharmacist.

The program provides a valuable free 34-page "Tour Guide" booklet titled "Eating Healthy with Diabetes." The booklet is packed full of information easily understood and practical applications to help people eat sensibly to control diabetes.

Some of the best recommendations I received from the booklet included the following: "Chewing well aids digestion. Your taste buds are on our tongue, so the moment you swallow, the tasting party is over! Chewing enhances feelings of fullness. Eating slowly equals satisfaction. Slow down by using mini spoons and forks for those high enjoyment foods. It makes sense that the faster you eat, the better chance that you consume more than you need."

"Eat dark green leafy vegetables everyday." Drink more water or sugar free beverages. Learn what you should and should not be eating. Eat plenty of seafood, lean meats, cheeses, eggs and even bacon!

"Cut back almost entirely on breads." This was difficult for me, as I love different kinds of breads. There are a few dark whole wheat breads that are rated with carbs less than 4 percent, but most breads are really high in carbs.

"Know your ABC's, A - A1c, B- Blood Pressure, C - Cholesterol." These are essential personal numbers you must keep track of.

In January 2017, my doctor informed me that my blood sugar was dangerously high. So high that if it went any higher, I'd have to be classified as diabetic. That meant, once classified diabetic, I'd always have that classification, meaning my blood glucose (sugar) levels are too high, effecting my blood pressure and bad cholesterol. That would make me more likely to suffer heart disease and stroke. None of those were things I wanted to deal with the remainder of my life.

Based on advice from my doctor, he told me to lose weight, following the Adkins Diet (which means eating little to no foods with large amounts of carbohydrates). I found myself shopping at the grocery store immediately looking at the nutrition facts list on everything before I'd buy it. If the "carb" numbers were above 8 percent, I wouldn't buy it or eat it.

I joined the YMCA in Centreville and started an organized exercise routine with daily weekday visits. I set a goal to lose 50 pounds (about one pound per week) during the year, which I did achieve. Along the way, exercising and watching my diet for the first time in my life, I was successful in dropping my blood sugar levels out of the danger zone for diabetes.

My doctor was thrilled, asking me, "How did you do that?" I told him, "I just did what you told me to do." I was surprised at his reply - "No one every does what we tell them to do! They might take the medicine we prescribe, but no exercise or change their diet. Then they come back in a few months asking, ?Why am I still having a problem? or nothing has changed.' Well, they weren't willing to do what we told them they had to do to successfully deal with the problem."

I'm happy to report the program at Safeway worked for me, and all of the information was free. I highly recommend it. Give them a call, pre-register, and tour the store to become more educated.

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