Healthy Living with Diabetes™: A New Approach to Managing Diabetes Without Dieting

I knew early on that I wanted to specialize in diabetes. I was a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) for about 3 years when I decided that one of my passions was to help people with diabetes enjoy their lives without the health-related complications of diabetes. (that was 30 years ago!)

I’m pretty sure this passion was laid down when I was a little girl. My grandfather had diabetes, he took insulin and had to eat a “special” way, different from the rest of the family.

When he would come for dinner or the holidays, my mom had prepared different food for him. As my mom was dishing the food into bowls and I was serving it to the table, she would always hand me two bowls or platters and say, “this one is for grandpa, this one is for everyone else”. I would march into the dining room and hand grandpa the bowl and say, “this is for you, grandpa”. He took it with a smile, and never said a word about not being able to eat what the others were eating.

This left a lasting impression on me. I always felt deep in my heart, “poor grandpa”.

So when I had the opportunity to pursue a specialty after working as an RDN for a little while, it was natural for me to pursue my Certified Diabetes Educator credential. That was in 1995!

Wow have things changed since 1995.

When I first learned about diabetes management, it was all about the FOOD! What foods a person with diabetes CAN eat, and what foods they CAN’T eat.

It was about helping clients lose weight to manage their diabetes.

It was about creating meal plans to tell them what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. As if they didn’t possess the ability to do this on their own.

I cringe now when I think about it. All I ever taught my patients and clients with diabetes was to follow a regimen, but they never learned what is happening in their body and how their eating and daily actions impacts their blood glucose.

Furthermore, I had already stopped taking clients who wanted a strict diet plan for weight loss, and I was teaching intuitive eating (a self-care feeding model where you learn to trust your inner wisdom to guide your eating. More on that here if you’re interested.)

So, it didn’t feel congruent to be teaching intuitive eating to recovered chronic dieters but to still be creating meal plans and telling my diabetes patients what and how to eat.

I finally figured out that I had to take a step back and get clear about how I was teaching diabetes education.

And I knew that I had to tie the non-diet approach into my work with my diabetes patients. This meant that aside from learning about nutrition (and yes, this is still important), my clients needed to learn about all the other variables that impacted their blood sugars.

That’s what Healthy Living with Diabetes: A New Approach to Managing Diabetes Without Dieting™ is all about. This program includes education in the following five areas: nutrition, movement, habits and behaviors, stress management and sleep hygiene. The focus is not on weight, instead we focus on creating healthy habits and behavioral change to better manage your diabetes. Throughout the program, you feel empowered to make choices that honor your body and your health.

Learn more about the Healthy Living with Diabetes Program™ and while your there, download your free eBook: 5 Keys to Managing Diabetes without Dieting.

Questions: Just email me at Bonnie@BRGHealth.com