{"id":29681,"date":"2016-02-17T14:42:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T20:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=29681"},"modified":"2016-02-18T09:56:52","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T15:56:52","slug":"south-side-diabetes-project-changing-nutritional-norms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/south-side-diabetes-project-changing-nutritional-norms\/","title":{"rendered":"South Side Diabetes Project Changing Nutritional Norms"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anna Boisseau <\/strong><\/p>\n

Passersby at an Auburn Gresham Save-a-Lot sport a mixture of confusion and annoyance as they squeeze past the small gathering of 10, who are listening to Mary Lucy, a dietetic technician, speak about the appropriate daily portion size for servings of fruit. <\/p>\n

\u201cBananas have a lot of sugar, right?\u201d asks Gregory Thompson, one of the participants huddled near the orange selection. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, and that\u2019s why you can only eat half a banana,\u201d Lucy responds, flipping through her colorful measuring cups meant to demonstrate the healthy amount of carbs. <\/p>\n

The shoppers are here for a grocery store tour by the South Side Diabetes Project. Founded by Dr. Monica Peek and Dr. Marshall Chin of the University of Chicago, one way the project combats the high rate of diabetes on Chicago\u2019s South Side is through community outreach programs like this one. They have formed relationships with businesses that don\u2019t typically partner with medical organizations, like Walgreens and Save-a-Lot.
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our work is stuff that doesn\u2019t even sound like I should be doing it,\u201d said Peek of the non-medical programming that the South Side Diabetes Project sponsors. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople spend a relatively small part of the time in contact with the healthcare system,\u201d Chin said. \u201cThe other 99.9 percent of time they are living at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Chicago Health Atlas, many of the communities on the South Side have diabetes rates of over 12 percent. This is much higher than in affluent North Side neighborhoods, where the rate is generally less than 5 percent. <\/p>\n

As one of the biggest predictors of diabetes is obesity, Dr. Peek said their program is hoping to confront cultural norms around diet. \u201cEating in an unhealthy is way more prevalent in certain communities,\u201d she said. \u201cThe biggest predictor of someone\u2019s health is where they live, more so than where they go for health care.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Participant
\u201cI was up here one day picking up some stuff and I noticed people standing around and asked what it was,\u201d said participant Elizabeth Jones of the grocery store tours at Save-a-Lot. She has attended the classes for the past year and a half. (Anna Boisseau\/MEDILL)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep down diabetes and high blood pressure. It\u2019s so prevalent in the black community,\u201d said Lucy, who has been with the South Side Diabetes Project for the past year and a half. She rotates through the program\u2019s different grocery stores teaching participants about healthy eating habits. Participants are given before and after tests and leave the tours with 10-dollar gift cards to purchase healthier foods. <\/p>\n

According to Lucy, when she first began giving tours last year, a lot of people would buy processed food items like boxes of mac-n-cheese or spaghettis. Now she sees much more fresh produce or frozen fruit and vegetables in participants\u2019 carts. <\/p>\n

Staff from the diabetes project take pictures of grocery store receipts to see if their classes are working. Many of the Save-a-Lot shoppers said they saw a dramatic shift in their lifestyle since they began attending the tours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was up here one day picking up some stuff and I noticed people standing around and asked what it was,\u201d said Elizabeth Jones. A big cook, Jones has attended the tour for the last year and half and has learned healthier options for her recipes like using ground turkey instead of ground beef. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was at 210 [pounds],\u201d said Margaretha Ward, who has had diabetes for 11 years. \u201cSince I got back in diabetes class at Save-a-Lot, I\u2019m 160.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory Thompson said he suffers from the side effects of diabetes, including losing feeling in his feet. But since joining the tours, he has lost 60 pounds. Thompson spent Saturday\u2019s tour asking Lucy specific questions about his diet and taking diligent notes after learning he should reduce the amount of eggs and juice he consumes. \u201cIt\u2019s more than helpful. It\u2019s saving people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said of the South Side Diabetes Project. <\/p>\n

According to Chin, untreated diabetes leads to serious side effects like blindness, kidney failure, and nerve damage in the feet which can result in amputations. This is why it is important that diabetes patients learn how to change their diets, which is sometimes hard in South Side communities that don\u2019t have access to grocery stores with healthy options. <\/p>\n

\u201cFresh healthy food can be hard to find in low income neighborhoods in Chicago,\u201d Chin said.
\n

\"Participant
Gregory Thompson takes notes on what he learned in today’s grocery store tour. He said he plans to reduce the amount of eggs in his diet. (Anna Boisseau\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nSheila Clay said she is generally satisfied with the options she finds at Save-a-Lot. As part of the grocery store tours, she\u2019s been able to request new items like lentils and coconut oil. She said she learned about nutritional food through South Side Diabetes nutritionists. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was a salt eater and I was a margarine eater,\u201d said Clay. Now she said shelooks for fresh produce options, adding she wishes Save-a-Lot would include more organic food.<\/p>\n

The tour ends near the dessert section, where Lucy suggests shoppers purchase single-serving ice cream cups if they want a sweet treat. She also points out honey as a good alternative to chocolate syrup. One shopper picks up a honey container, notes the expensive price, and promptly puts it back. Even at cheaper grocery stores, not every healthy option proves cost effective. <\/p>\n

Photo at top: Facilitator Mary Lucy demonstrates the nutritional value of cucumber peels. (Anna Boisseau\/MEDILL) <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anna Boisseau Passersby at an Auburn Gresham Save-a-Lot sport a mixture of confusion and annoyance as they squeeze past the small gathering of 10, who are listening to Mary Lucy, a dietetic technician, speak about the appropriate daily portion size for servings of fruit. \u201cBananas have a lot of sugar, right?\u201d asks Gregory Thompson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":29689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,675,585],"tags":[1354,99,1355,138,1361],"class_list":["post-29681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-health-and-science","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-diabetes","tag-food","tag-food-deserts","tag-nutrition","tag-public-health"],"yoast_head":"\nSouth Side Diabetes Project Changing Nutritional Norms - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/south-side-diabetes-project-changing-nutritional-norms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Side Diabetes Project Changing Nutritional Norms - 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