C-HIT Staff
For the roughly 9 percent of Connecticut’s population who live with diabetes, eating healthy and knowing how foods can affect the disease is crucial to managing it.
The Conn. Health I-Team, (www.c-hit.org) in collaboration with ConnectiCare and the Hispanic Health Council, is hosting a public forum featuring a sampling of healthy food choices on Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Lyceum in Hartford, where experts will discuss the latest developments in diabetes treatments and offer advice about how adopting a healthy lifestyle can help combat the disease.
The free event, “Recipes for Healthy Living: Defeating Diabetes,” will include a social hour, cooking demonstration and food tasting starting at 5 p.m. Billings Forge Executive Chef Becky Stevens-McGuigan will present her picks for good food choices, including grilled chicken skewers with salsa verde, watermelon and feta skewers, roasted sweet potato salad and a roasted cauliflower salad. Recipes will be available as well.
Stevens-McGuigan is a graduate of the Connecticut Culinary Institute and the University of Connecticut. She has spent time learning her craft throughout New England at places such as Oakland House Seaside Resort in Brooksville, Maine; The Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, N.H.; and The Black Forest Bakery and Café in Amherst, N.H. A constant theme everywhere she has worked has been seasonal and sustainable ingredients, a passion that has been growing since she was a child.
The “Defeating Diabetes” panel discussion will feature: Dr. Robert M. Oberstein, an endocrinologist and medical director of Diabetes LifeCare at Hartford Hospital; Dr. Latha Dulipsingh, director of Diabetes & Metabolic Services, Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center; Jane Querido, a registered dietician and diabetes educator at Diabetes LifeCare, Hartford Hospital; and Yolanda Burt, director of food and children nutrition services in the Hartford public schools.
Register in advance at www.c-hit.org.
“ConnectiCare has been helping people get the care they need for 35 years. Part of taking caring of yourself and staying healthy, is eating right. This is particularly challenging for those living with diabetes and those working hard to prevent its onset. ConnectiCare is pleased to be a sponsor of this important event bringing experts and the community together for an informative conversation on preventing or living with diabetes,” said Michael Wise, ConnectiCare’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
The event, moderated by Lorenna Monroig Ramos, a reporter and anchor at Telemundo Springfield/Hartford, runs from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Lyceum, 227 Lawrence St., Hartford. Free onsite parking is available. Live Spanish translation will be provided.
In Connecticut, just under 9 percent of adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, while another 83,000 residents have prediabetes but have not yet been diagnosed, according to the state Department of Health.
If untreated, prediabetes can turn into diabetes within 10 years. But if caught and treated through lifestyle changes, a prediabetic person’s blood glucose levels can return to normal.
The disease is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, and its reach is broad, affecting 13.2 percent of blacks, more than 12.8 percent of Hispanics and 7 percent of whites, according to the American Diabetes Association.
For more information, contact Lynne DeLucia at delucia@c-hit.org or 203-215-6373.
This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
