March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Labels help diabetic shoppers > Millinocket groups try to make food purchases easier

MILLINOCKET — Shopping for the right foods is a real chore for many diabetics who control the disease through their diets.

But the Facility for Occupational and Rehabilitative Medicine and Millinocket Regional Hospital hope to make grocery shopping a little easier with a new food labeling program.

The two health care facilities are teaming up with Pangburn’s IGA and the Shop ‘n’ Save store in Millinocket to label “diabetes friendly foods” to help diabetics cut down some of the time they spend reading numerous food labels.

Hot pink sticker flags, marked with “D” to indicate diabetes friendly, are starting to appear near price stickers in the two Millinocket grocery stores.

This week, two diabetes instructors, Barbara Walker, a licensed practical nurse, and Louise Fitzpatrick, a registered nurse, along with Julie Walsh, a registered dietitian, are busy at the stores. The health care professionals are selecting foods that are good nutritional choices for people with diabetes and are labeling them with the stickers.

Walker said the colored labels were selected to attract the attention of shoppers.

“A lot of times people with diabetes will say, `Oh, I have to read all of these labels. It is so very time consuming,”‘ Walker said. “This will just help guide them in the right direction.

“When people with diabetes see the hot pink labels they will know it’s a good food for them,” said the LPN.

Fitzpatrick and Walker said grocery shopping can be very time consuming for diabetics, who must carefully count the amount of sugar, carbohydrates, proteins and fats they eat.

Sugar diabetes is a serious illness that affects the way a person’s body processes glucose, a kind of sugar needed to convert food into energy. The food a person eats directly contributes to the body’s blood glucose level, so managing their diets, along with appropriate medicine and exercise, are very important for diabetics, said the Millinocket diabetes instructors.

Walker said she was very impressed with the food-labeling project in Lincoln, so she decided to seek a grant so the program could be offered in Millinocket. Last year, Penobscot Valley Hospital teamed up with the Shop ‘n’ Save store in Lincoln to label healthy foods for diabetics.

The LPN obtained a $1,495 state grant from the Diabetes Control Project, a program of the state’s Department of Human Services, to do the labeling. It was one of a dozen grants given out to health centers across the state to help educate people about diabetes. Walker and Fitzpatrick are Ambulatory Diabetes Education and Follow Up instructors for the state’s Diabetes Control Project.

Health care facilities in Millinocket and Lincoln are the only two in Maine offering the food labeling program for diabetics, according to Cindy Hale, a nutrition consultant for the Diabetes Control Project. FORUM is one of several dozen diabetes education sites scattered across the state, which operate under the guidance of DCP.

Fitzpatrick said many people have diabetes. It’s estimated that 393 people in Millinocket have diabetes, or 6.2 percent of the population. Statewide, an estimated 70,000 people have diabetes, which is the seventh leading cause of death. The diabetes instructors say education is very important.

“If it can be diagnosed early and treated, there is a much greater chance of preventing complications, and people can live a healthier life,” said Walker.

The food labeling project will complement FORUM’s existing diabetes services. Fitzpatrick and Walker teach a comprehensive diabetes education course, offered a minimum of four times a year. The course covers the causes and symptoms of diabetes, glucose monitoring, insulin instruction, exercises, foot care, diet management and more.

For more information about diabetes education, call FORUM at 723-4581 or consult with your family physician.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like