Just Diabetic Meal Plans, Holiday Meals, Vol 1

Working his way through college, Wayne earned a B. S. in Chemical Engineering and started his working career as a marketing trainee in New York City. While living in New York, Wayne immediately found a wonderful world of food! His love affair with food and wine had begun. Following the short stint in New York City, Wayne was transferred to Glens Falls, NY where he met the other love of his life, Mary Turano. Wayne and Mary married in 1971 and moved back to New Hampshire. Shortly thereafter it happened. Wayne was diagnosed with what we now call Type 1 diabetes. With the fear of not being able to eat all of the recently found food he had so quickly become fond of, Wayne put on his engineering hat and set about calculating the food values of everything he wanted to eat. With no formal dietary or food preparation training, Wayne began creating wonderfully diverse menus. At a meeting of the American Diabetes Association chapter in Dallas, which Wayne hosted at his home, the attendees remarked how his meal plans should be put in a book so that others could benefit. Neither Wayne nor Mary knew how to go about writing a book. But that did not stop them. Fast forward 22 years. Mary was teaching at the local high school and still consulting and testing. Wayne had just retired. He continued to share the kitchen with Mary and even enrolled in classes taught by Mike Bulkowski, who was a sous chef for both Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck before branching out and opening his own restaurant. As a result of these classes, Wayne earned an AAC certificate (Accomplished Amateur Chef). At his daughter’s house for a Christmas party in December of 2009, she asked if he could write out suggested meal plans for her diabetic, expectant patients. (She is an OB, MFM specialist). The spark was immediately reignited! . The rules and guidelines for meal plans had also evolved. ＂Carb counting＂ was now in vogue. The Glycemic Index was being used and Exchanges were not being used as much as they were in the past. One thing, however, that had not changed was Wayne’s abilities on the computer and he was definitely stronger in the kitchen. Wayne wrote an entirely new piece of software to calculate the food values of recipes and individual meals. He found a Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator to review all of his design criteria, subsequent recipes and meal plans.