“National Diabetes Awareness Month” with Patti Labelle

November is National Diabetes Awareness month and News 11 spoke with the legendary Patti Labelle and nutritionist Liz Ward on tips for the upcoming holiday’s and how you can make some lifestyle changes.

Patti Labelle is an American singer and entrepreneur who is always on the go, and she says making changes to the way she cooks has helped her a lot.

“I’ve learned to cook better, as far as more healthy like instead of frying chicken you saltier it, you know with garlic and habanero peppers and any seasonings you’d like and it tastes great .. my veggies instead of using all the ham hogs and the stuff that we use as black families, I’ve let all of that go. And I learned to exercise and I’ve learned to walk my little doggy more and get in the pool and kick because I can’t swim and on stage I exercise a lot, you know get on the floor maybe sometimes I kick my shoes off and I have fun jumping on stage and with the nutritionist like Liz, she’s not my nutritionist but 23 years ago I did have a lady who told me what to eat and what not to eat and that’s where she comes in so handy for most people who are diabetic or pre-diabetic.”

Liz Ward says everyone is different and you should meet with a dietitian to accommodate the best diet just for you. Diabetes is a life-changing diagnosis that can be scary for most, but with the right steps, it can change your life for the better.

“Well in order to eat more mindfully you need to know what’s right for you, you mentioned about November being diabetes awareness month, 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with diabetes and but everybody is different you know so everyone’s needs are different so you need to meet with a dietitian and get a healthy eating plan that’s balanced and then what you can start doing right away is making a lot of substitution that are going to benefit you so by that I mean products like Hood Calorie Countdown which is a dairy beverage which has a lot fewer calories, a lot less sugar, and a lot fewer carbohydrates and that’s something you can use all day long in your coffee, in your cereal and your oatmeal and cooking and we have lots of recipes at hoodcaloriecountdown.com ”

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