A Unique Cooking Workshop For Children With Diabetes

The Goal of the Unique Workshop is to Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle and Correct Eating Habits Sheba Medical Center is holding a workshop with children aged 7-12 with juvenile diabetes. The workshop is being held in the Endocrinology and Juvenile Diabetes Clinic headed by Dr. Orit Pinchas Chamiel at the Edmund and Lily Safra Children's Hospital.

Children suffering form juvenile diabetes meet one another and together learn good eating habits by cooking and enjoying what they make. The children made dinner for themselves and their parents under the supervision of the clinic's dieticians, Orit Shemesh and Shira Levi and the clinic's nurse, Tzipi Ziv. 

The children prepared a colorful vegetable salad and learned about the importance of the variety of colors and kinds of the different vegetables. In addition, the children made cheese bourekas and learned of the importance of calcium. The bourekas came with eggs despite the fear of cholesterol. Eggs contain protein which is of great nutritional value. 

The children worked hard and baked a chocolate cake with proper thought given to carbohydrates, which can also be enjoyed. At the workshop, we learned how to put together a balanced meal that contains all the food groups: carbohydrates, proteins, fats and that it's permissible to eat everything in the right amount.

Before the meal, the children together calculated the amount of carbohydrates, measured the amount of sugar and injected themselves with insulin while exchanging tips and experiences.

This is the second year the workshop is taking place. The children said that they wait for the workshop each year and count the days till the next meeting.

Besides the cooking workshop the children attended, their parents had a discussion with the social workers of the clinic, Merav Herman-Raz and Noa Froelich in which they used treatment cards and discussed diabetes and how to cope with it. Topics covered include the problems dealing with a child suffering from diabetes, setting limits, involvement in managing the children's disease and the day to day anxiety about the child's welfare.

The parents advise one another, reassure one another and compare  notes but mainly use the group as a source of support. At the conclusion of the workshops, the children and parents share a festive meal that was prepared by the proud children