DIABETES & FOOD

This event was held on Saturday 20 November 2021 to mark World Diabetes Day and a centenary of insulin

It was a well attended day and a good opportunity to explore our attitude to food and learn new techniques around healthy eating.

We are very grateful to the speakers and workshop leaders who gave their time, the chefs who provided a delicious lunch and the band who entertained us during the breaks.

Anne Murphy, Sheffield city councillor and a former Lord Mayor of Sheffield, was our host for the day, and she started by welcoming everyone. She went on to describe her own diabetes journey, which began when she was diagnosed at the age of seven. As a teenager she went through a rebellious stage when she refused to acknowledge the impact diabetes could have, but then later realised that she had to take the condition more seriously. However it certainly did not hold her back in pursuing a successful career as a social worker and, as a youngster she would not have believed it if she had been told she would one day be a Lord Mayor.

The main morning presentation was by Lamorna Hollingsworth, a nutritionist and personal trainer, who spoke about intuitive eating as an alternative to attempting to follow set diets. Restrictive diets can often work for a short time but then when you revert to your normal regime you put on weight again. It may be better to have a more relaxed relationship with food, to listen to your own body and not be intimidated into being told what you should and should not eat.

The British Heart Foundation has an informative section on intuitive eating and the 10 principles guiding it. Click the button below.

The afternoon speaker was Dr. David Unwin, the “Low Carb GP”, who told us that when he first practised as a GP he regarded people with diabetes as problem patients, but then he discovered that Type 2 diabetes could be put into remission by following a low carb diet. His Practice in Norwood has had a lot of success with many patients managing to reverse their diabetes by altering their diet and pursuing a more healthy lifestyle.