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How the Pump Changed My Life
If you’re a regular reader of Southern
Diabetes Today, you’ve seen my “Eating Wright” recipes
and possibly know I’m the chef for the Buddy Stall
Diabetes Learning Center located in Elmwood Park. What
you may not know about me, however, is that I have Type
1 diabetes. Diagnosed in 1990, I have lived with
diabetes now for 18 years. For the past 13 years, I’ve
wore an insulin pump to control my blood sugars.
The insulin pump has changed my life for
the better and I can not imagine my life without it.
When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I was only 13
years old. I had all of the usual symptoms; extreme
thirst, frequent urination and I was just plain tired
all of the time. My blood sugar was 1080 when I was
admitted to the hospital, which surprised all of the
nurses at Ochsner hospital in New Orleans, who could not believe that I actually
walked into the hospital on my own. Most people would
have been in a coma by then. Little did I know my life
had changed forever.
Talk about your rude awakenings! It was
do or die time, literally. This was a lot for a teenager
to take in. I was now going to have to watch every
little thing I ate and monitor my blood sugar multiple
times per day, along with taking injections of insulin.
My doctor first put me on NPH and Regular insulin, which
was a very unstable therapy compared to what we have
now. I remember being scared that I was going to die at
any moment for many years afterwards, living my life for
the moment, thinking that I would not be around for very
long.
As the years passed, I matured and gained
confidence in who I was and also how I was going to
handle this thing called diabetes. When I decided to
become a chef, I worked for Emeril’s Restaurant in New
Orleans, where I met another chef with diabetes named
Tom Wolfe, who now has two restaurants in town named
Peristyle and Wolfe’s in the Warehouse. He wore an
insulin pump and turned me on to the therapy. I
immediately brought this to my doctor’s attention and
two months later got on a pump.
From that day on, I have never looked
back and, as the Insulin Pump Representative for
Diabetes Management and Supplies, I am now involved in
helping insulin dependant people better the quality of
their lives through insulin pump therapy. I also teach
people with diabetes about food and what I’ve learned
through my experiences during culinary school and at the
many restaurants
I have worked at over the years. My
philosophy about food has been a straight forward,
home-style approach to gourmet cooking. I use the
techniques that I have learned and match them with
healthy types of foods that do not cause a spike in my
blood sugar. Just because you have diabetes, doesn’t
mean you have to sacrifice flavor in your food. My
style of cooking is not rocket science, it is simple and
I let the flavors of the foods speak for themselves. My
goal is to inspire others to get in the kitchen and
experiment with foods that are healthy and carbohydrate
conscious. |