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A free workshop on reading and understanding food labels will be offered at PlaneTree Health Library on Oct. 18, with registered dieticians, diabetes educators and other health experts on hand.
The experts will demonstrate the proper way to read labels and how to ask questions to find out what's really in the products that consumers purchase.
"We'll have many displays with boxes and bottles and cans that people can pick up and then begin to ask questions," said event coordinator Christi Welter. The products will be those that people will recognize from their own kitchen, she said.
Scheduled speakers at the workshop include Kim Severson, food editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, who recently authored a book about trans fatty acids. She will speak at noon and then sign books afterwards. The book will be sold at a discounted rate.
People should be aware of how different foods interact and that sugar is not the only product to stay away from if one suffers from diabetes, organizers say. Some carbohydrates are sugars, so foods rich in carbohydrate might not be appropriate for people with diabetes or who are overweight.
Welter, who was diagnosed with diabetes about 10 years ago and had to watch what she ate, organized a similar workshop at San Jose Medical Center.
PlaneTree is located at 15891 Los GatosAlmaden Road in Los Gatos, next to Mission Oaks Hospital. The workshop will be staged at the hospital's parking lot. To reserve a seat, sign up as a volunteer or for more information, call 408.358.8483.
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