Just in time for the holiday season when everyone is thinking about preparing big meals¸ the pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo has launched a campaign, Two Reasons One Recipe, to encourage people with type 2 diabetes to improve their diets, and lower HbA1c levels and cholesterol. At the core of the campaign are two spokesmen, Dr. Yehuda Handelsman, Medical Director of the Metabolic Institute of America in Tarzana, Calif and Chef Franklin Becker, Executive Chef of Abe & Arthur’s restaurant in New York City. Chef Becker has type 2 diabetes.
I had the opportunity to send a few questions to Dr. Handelsman and Chef Becker, which they answered (sort of) via a video that you can watch below.
Why do I like the Two Reasons One Recipe campaign? First of all, it’s good to see a pharma company, who in addition to profiting off drugs to treat diabetes and high cholesterol, is also encouraging lifestyle changes that aim to tackle the epidemic and thereby reduce the need for their products.
Second, the website offers some good advice, including healthy cooking tips and tips for dining out. I don’t, however, agree with everything Two Reasons One Recipe recommends. I particularly dislike the fact that in the list of 20 must-have healthy items they include artificial sweeteners. I’m not a person who never, ever consumes artificial sweeteners, but I think the basic line should be that we try to avoid them for the most part (and we should not call them healthy items!). And in recipes like Chef Becker’s acorn squash… why add the coconut sugar? I know it has a lower GI than regular sugar, but it’s still sugar. On ASweetLife, we have a perfectly delicious roasted acorn squash recipe – no sugar.
Despite these minor complaints, I am in favor of campaigns to get people with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and everyone else to eat better. As some of you know, I recently launched a movement called Eat Responsibly* on Facebook. My goal with Eat Responsibly is to get people to change their attitude about junk food and fast food and regard them as they would alcohol. Limit intake. And know there is a limit. We can have dessert sometimes, as a treat. We can eat fast food once in a while. But these things cannot be our norm. They must be the exceptions and the splurges. I think Two Reasons One Recipe has the power to encourage people to eat responsibly. It’s a great stepping stone on the path to better health.
One other note: Chef Becker mentioned his baked apple recipe in the video. Where is that baked apple? I can’t find it! Was it just a ploy to get me to go through the entire site in search?
*You may have noticed that as of today 28 people, a number of whom are related to me, have pledged to Eat Responsibly. A recent CDC report predicts that by 2050, one in three Americans will have diabetes, and 29 will have pledged to Eat Responsibly. Let’s make that change!
