Diabetes Education Class

Today I taught a diabetes education class at the diabetes outreach clinic that is affiliated with the hospital. The RD who was at the center just left about 2 weeks ago, and they haven't found a replacement yet, so they had me teach the class. The first thing we had the students do was to prepare what their plate would look like at home using food models. All of the plates looked really good, with a lot of vegetables, and I was pretty impressed. Once we started teaching the class though, we realized that they just put on their plate what they thought we wanted to see, because none of them really ate what they put on their plate. Basically we just guided them through some basic healthy choices, and really relied on class participation. All of the students had a ton of questions, and there were so many misconceptions about their diabetes. I was trying to teach the plate method (1/2plate veggies, 1/4 plate starch, 1/4 plate protein) as the best way of planning meals. I think I got through to some patients, but others really were only their to try and get "approval" for what they were already doing. One woman insisted that eating two regular size Hershey bars before going to bed every night was what kept her diabetes under control. She even tried to convince everyone else that they should start doing it. I tried to explain to her that it was unlikely that the chocolate was controlling her diabetes, she didn't beleive me. All I could do was to convince the other students not to start doing this. Another woman told me she used a whole stick of butter to cook her vegetables each night. I told her that she was getting a lot of extra calories this way, but she didn't believe me, because there was some butter left in the pot after cooking, and she was convinced it was the whole stick of butter, and it only seasoned the veggies without actually absorbing or adding any extra calories. I told her maybe to try half a stick of butter next time, and slowly work her way down to maybe a tablespoon or so, but I don't think she believed me. On the other hand, one patient brought his wife and really listened to every thing I said, and I think he will go home and make some positive changes. So all in all, I think I helped at least one person, and maybe the people who didn't seem so interested in my advice will let it sink in over the next few months and then start making some changes. I hope.
Another thing I just wanted to share that was just funny that one of the patients said. He told me that the family history of diabetes was only on his mother's side, and not his father's, but almost all of the children had gotten diabetes, and he was confused about this. When I probed him a little bit more he said well diabetes is in your blood and you get your blood from your dad, not your mom. I sort of tried to correct him, and see why he thought this, and it turns out, since they do a blood test for a paternity test he figured that you must get your dad's blood. I had to explain to him that it wasn't true, and it seemed at least to help him understand why his siblings had diabetes. It just goes to show you can never assume that your patient's know or understand their disease.