Diabetes effects 25.5 million American – AND celebs aren’t immune. Stars battling the disease include Mary Tyler Moore, Halle Berry, Sherri Shepherd, Nick Jonas, Patti Labelle, Randy Jackson and Delta Burke.
BUT a NYC chef is doing what the celebs can’t in an effort to illustrate the plight of diabetics less fortunate — like those living on food stamps.
To make his point, until the end of February, award-winning chef Karl Wilder told The ENQUIRER’s website that he’s been subsisting on the U.S. government's daily individual average stipend of $4.50.
“I’’m doing this to show just how difficult it is to buy healthy, nutritious food that fits a diabetics requirements when inflicted with this dread and often debilitating disease,” he says.
"Living day-by-day on food stamps is a difficult challenge enough for more than 45 million Americans, some 15 percent of the American population. But it's especially hard doing so for those trying to manage their diabetes."
This is the second time Wilder has spent an eight week stretch eating on a food stamp budget. The first, which concluded at the end of last August, was a successful benefit for the San Francisco Food Bank, which collects and distributes food to food pantries, soup kitchens and other groups that feed the needy.
"I took up this cause because of my own childhood circumstances," he explains. "Living in Minnesota as a kid I saw just how difficult it was for my divorced mom to hold down three jobs in order to feed five children. And while diabetes wasn't a factor in my family and we never went hungry, if things had been different and mom was unable to work we could have easily fallen through the cracks.
"My mission in doing this challenge once again is to to underscore the difficulties of eating healthy on a diabetic diet with the average dollar amount a person on food stamps receives.”
And for those who want to follow Wilder’s progress, they can go to his website: www.fusiononthefly.com. Also on his site are his 10 tips for healthy eating on a budget!
