Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
The Pocahontas County Diabetes Support Group meets once a month so members have a chance to share stories and recipes and gain educational materials provided by group educator Terry Wagner and the Pocahontas County Family Resource Network.
For the past three years, the group has been joined by Dr. Samantha Minc, a vascular surgeon who, with her educational program, is on a mission to save the feet of diabetic patients.
Minc worked with Diabetes Support Group to publish a collection of local recipes with diabetic friendly modifications.
The book also includes Minc’s research into amputation prevention for diabetic patients.
Although an initial version of the book was released this past summer, Minc and West Virginia University staff who were involved in the research, returned to Pocahontas County last week for a special support group meeting with a new version of the book and a new partnership that resulted from its publication.
Last Monday, the group met at Marlinton Presbyterian Church for a meal featuring recipes from the book. The meeting included a roundup of what has happened in the past three years and introductions of those involved.
Minc was joined by Dr. Assaf Glazer, who traveled from Israel to meet with the group. Glazer is the CEO and co-founder of Vinst, an AI-powered platform for healthy and easy cooking tips.
Glazer spoke to the group about his personal connection to diabetes and why he is passionate about providing healthy alternatives. Glazer has a background in cooking, adding that his father has Diabetes 1, so diabetes friendly food is very important to his family.
“Truly, home cooking starts with our family; it starts with our community; it starts with our recipes,” he said. “I was looking at the recipes [in the book] and I said, ‘I need to meet them.’ I cannot really see how things happen without being here and meeting the people.”
Prior to the meeting, Glazer and Minc joined Wagner and the FRN staff on a tour of the community which included a stop at the IGA and the Hidden Creek Farm Market in Hillsboro.
Seeing what the community has to offer helped Glazer see that it is possible to have healthy meals.
“You have everything to make a change if you want to make a change,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with you. I believe this won’t be the last time I will be here. I think it’s a project that takes years and it will be the community at the center of that.”
Since the meeting included a meal, Minc asked Glazer if he would like to cook something for the group and he chose to do a dish he likes to make for his father. The dish uses Freekeh which is a Mediterranean roasted green wheat.
Glazer’s dish accompanied the meal of stuffed peppers, chicken enchiladas and cauliflower rice, cooked and served by Anne Walker of Handmade West Virginia Market.
The meeting included an update on the Farmacy program, as well as a brief presentation by Minc concerning diabetic foot health.
Farmacy is a fresh fruits and vegetables program provided through Community Care of West Virginia and the FRN. Patients with diabetes are signed up for the 16-week program by prescription from their doctor.
The program includes classes taught by Rhonda Puffenbarger of the FRN.
“We educate about carbohydrates and everything that goes with the different vegetables,” Puffenbarger said. “We check the A1C and lipid panel at the beginning and at the end of the class. You see a difference from the beginning to the end.”
Dunmore farmer Ruth Bland is the producer for the program, and she provides fresh fruits and vegetables for all the participants.
Bland said she noticed in the first year that patients were only taking vegetables they were familiar with and from then on, she decided she would make sure that everyone had an opportunity to try a variety of produce
“There were a lot of families that got introduced to kohlrabi,” she said, laughing. “Different types of squash and beans. We’re doing different varieties that have a different taste.”
Puffenbarger’s classes include recipes that go with the not so familiar vegetables and she said she has received positive feedback from participants who enjoyed trying new things.
FRN director Stacy Vandevender added that the Farmacy program has grown statewide and has helped diabetes patients or pre-diabetic patients get on the right track.
“It’s basically the concept that food can be medicine,” she said. “A healthy diet, the knowledge on how to cook, how to count your carbs, and which vegetables can have a huge impact on your health, especially if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic.”
At the end of the meeting, participants received a copy of the new Pocahontas County Diabetes and Heart Healthy Cookbook.
