VANCEBURG — The Lewis County Health Department invites the public to take part in a Diabetes 101: cooking class on Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m.

The class will offer demonstrations detailing how to prepare delicious, diabetes-friendly dishes.

Katie Brannon, an RN at the Lewis County Health Department who specializes in diabetic care, will be leading the class.

While the class is open and available for anyone interested, it is particularly beneficial for newly diagnosed diabetics.

Brannon explains that the class is discussion-based and offers various visual aids for reference including interesting models. The goal of the class is for each participant to gain valuable insights into effectively managing diabetes.

The class takes some time to inform participants the correct way to read and interpret food labels, how to count carbs and how many carbs per meal is considered acceptable to diabetics.

Those who participate will also get the chance to take part in a demonstration of a diabetic-friendly recipe and enjoy samples.

The demonstration will consist of a step-by-step walkthrough on how to prepare the dish.

The recipe will likely include stevia as a main ingredient as it is considered to be a great sugar substitute.

The recipe being used is still yet to be determined at this time.

Participants of Diabetes Cooking Class 101 will receive an information pamphlet that includes helpful information as well as a collection of recipes.

The diabetes cooking class is the precursor to the diabetes self-management education series which will be offered in the following months.

The DSMES is a much more in-depth class that has diet and nutrition as its main goal.

Brannon states that last year’s diabetes cooking class as well as the DSMES class were very successful.

“It was very beneficial last time. We had almost an 80% rate of people coming to the cooking class who also came to DSMES,” explained Brannon.

Spaces for the diabetes 101 class are limited so interested parties should call soon to reserve their spot.

To ensure that you have a seat in the class, please call 1(606) 796-2632 and ask for Katie or Alex. Registration for the class is open until Jan. 19.