Kitchen Creations, free diabetes cooking school, now offered in the evening – Valencia County News Bulletin

When the doctor tells someone they have diabetes, the first thing that often goes through their mind is all the different foods they will not be able to eat as they work to lower their A1C blood glucose level.

This experience is common, but does not have to be true, once you have attended Kitchen Creations, a free diabetes cooking school. New Mexico State Universitys College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences is offering an evening cooking school in Valencia County beginning Thursday, March 9.

This is the first time in many years that we have offered Kitchen Creations in the evening, said Laura Bittner, NMSUs Cooperative Extension Service family and consumer science agent in Valencia County. In recent years, our greatest request has been for morning classes. Hopefully, this evening class, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., will give people, who have missed out because of their traditional work schedule, an opportunity to attend.

The classes will be Thursdays, March 9, 16, 23 and 30, at Peralta Memorial United Methodist Church, 25 Wesley Road in Peralta. Registration deadline is Wednesday, March 1. Call 565-3002 to register.

Many people with diabetes are not sure what to do to improve their health, especially when it comes to food. Kitchen Creation goes beyond simply providing nutrition information to engaging participants in activities so they can immediately apply what they are learning. said Cassandra Vanderpool, registered dietitian and NMSU Extension diabetes coordinator of the program that is provided by New Mexico Department of Health Prevention and Control Program and NMSU.

Kitchen Creations is a series of four once-a-week, three-hour classes with an informal education component, as well as hands-on experience preparing delicious recipes that are low in sugar, salt and fat.

This is a fun, educational class that makes understanding and managing diabetes much easier, Bittner said of the class she team-teaches with diabetes educator Cathy Chavez. Its scary when you are first diagnosed. The program explains things very simply and in a very comfortable environment.

During the second half of the class everyone gets involved in making a meal with a combined total of 45 carbohydrates, which is a good range for many individuals with diabetes.

What is exciting is the food not only tastes good, its also incredibly filling, Bittner said. Its really about managing portion sizes and making sure you have a balance of carbohydrates and proteins in each meal or snack.

The best part of the class is the medical results.

Several months after attending the Kitchen Creations cooking school, a participant called and told me she had just returned from the doctor, and her A1C had dropped, Bittner said. She attributed the improvement to the changes she and her husband, who also attended the classes, had made in their cooking and eating habits as a result of what they had learned in our classes.

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Kitchen Creations, free diabetes cooking school, now offered in the evening - Valencia County News Bulletin