Hello, everyone! We hope that you had a pleasant Thanksgiving and that the weeks ahead are full of get-togethers with friends and family! For your holiday meal planning, don’t forget to stop by Pathfinder Produce for all your fruit and veggie needs. We’re open at the Pathfinder Village Commons each Thursday, now from Noon to 5 p.m. We also offer our convenient online ordering …. just place and pay for your order and plan to stop by either our Edmeston or Morris pick-up locations on Thursday afternoon. Easy!
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Thanksgiving week at our house is a fun combination of family visits, noshing, and relaxing next to the woodstove after spending time outdoors. This year was no different -- the guys watched football games and I cruised my Facebook feed. However, I was a little concerned that all the posts I received after Thanksgiving were on diabetes prevention and maintenance programs.
Yes, like everyone, I probably over-did it on Thanksgiving. I suspect these social networking posts weren’t targeted specifically at me, but that they were sent out en masse because diabetes is a growing problem in the U.S. The prevalence of pre-diabetes and the increasing cost of insulin is a public health perfect storm.
So, I did some research on diabetes and insulin responses … essentially diabetes happens when we either don’t make enough insulin (Type 1) or our insulin response isn’t sufficient to balance out blood glucose levels (Type 2). A good primer article to read on this is at Healthline.com.
And while diabetes is related to how our bodies metabolize sugars, it’s a more complex issue than just not eating sugar. I found this article on the Everyday Health website that explores the relationship between simple and complex carbs and Type 2, and also points out other factors that can influence if a person will develop diabetes. Along with general health guidelines, the article recommends keeping added processed sugars at minimal levels, less than 25 grams (6 tsp.) per day for women and less than 36 grams (9 tsp.) per day for men. (As a reference, one 12 oz. can of soda has about 39 grams of added sugar).
Of course, the other big news story on my Facebook feed was about romaine. For several days, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that all romaine lettuces be discarded due to E. coli contamination. More up-to-date stories still advise caution; read the labels of any lettuce you may have at home or are purchasing. If the package doesn’t list an area of origin or it indicates it was grown in the Central Coast area of California, do not eat it.
Harmful E. coli rears its ugly head in our food web every year; it is commonly found in cattle digestive tracts. Illness outbreaks are typically traced back to direct contamination from feedlots to processed beef, or are caused by indirect contamination of growing fields through agricultural run-off. Specifically, Shinga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria (STEC) can cause diarrhea or dysentery, UTIs, respiratory infections and other illnesses. More information on STECs and prevention are at the CDC’s website. Safe food handling and proper hand washing are essential steps.
Both news stories -- diabetes and STEC -- underscore that we all need to be aware of ongoing issues and educate ourselves on food safety.
Until next time, eat and be well,
Lori
