Living with diabetes

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AS someone whose life hinges on eating the right food, it is no surprise that diabetes sufferer Denise Jones takes a keen interest in the ingredients list of everything she buys at the supermarket.

Mrs Jones, who has type-two diabetes, took part in a recent community virtual shopping tour, run by Diabetes Australia Queensland, designed to help people see through the marketing gimmicks and other tricks employed by food manufacturers.

The aim is to teach people what to look for when buying food and where to find the nutrition information.

While the classes are designed for people living with diabetes, they are relevant to anyone who cares about their diet.

Dietitian Kirstie Bell, who ran Thursday’s information session at the Ipswich Health Plaza, said marketing gimmicks made it difficult and confusing for the average person to buy healthy food.

“Healthy eating is the corner- stone of diabetes management and prevention,” Ms Bell said.

“Take the word ‘lite’ for example; in milk that means low fat, but when you are looking at oil, lite means light in colour or flavour, not necessarily low fat.

“Cholesterol-free is another one; cholesterol is only found in animal products, but the phrase is often seen on vegetable-oil packaging. Vegetable oil never had cholesterol in it anyway. Again, it’s one of those marketing tools that are used to make a product sound healthy when in fact it has no nutritional implication at all.”

Despite being diagnosed with diabetes 11 years ago, Mrs Jones, 61, manages her condition without the use of medication.

This means her diet has to be spot on if she hopes to avoid feeling the effects of diabetes.

“A lot of what I was told today I already knew, but it’s always good to be reminded because you can forget little details here and there,” she said.

Shopping can be a time-consuming process for someone who has to check every ingredient on every label of every item they purchase in the supermarket.

Ms Jones said it used to take her several hours to get the groceries.

“Even with my glasses on, I couldn’t read some of the ingredients, so I ended up taking a magnifying glass into the shops with me so I could read it,” she said.

According to Diabetes Australia Queensland, about 16,000 thousand people in the Ipswich and West Moreton region have diabetes, and half of those don’t even know they have it.