May 22, 2007 — Seniors from around St. Croix came to the cafeteria at Juan F. Luis Hospital Tuesday evening for a cooking demonstration, learning that cinnamon is great for you but eating grapefruit and taking iron supplements can both interact badly with some drugs.
Wallace Phaire Jr., the hospital's executive chef, offered a television cooking show-style demonstration, cooking up several healthy, low-cholesterol, low-sodium dishes that are easy to prepare. While he cooked and talked, Letitia Henry, a nutrition expert with the University of the Virgin Islands, interjected periodically, talking about diet and its impact on cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Celia Victor, a pharmacist and director of clinical compliance for Human Services, spoke about the importance of taking medicine with or without food and according to the directions. She also discussed common drug and food interactions that can be dangerous to someone's health and even life.
Victor and Henry wore wireless microphones and walked among the audience as two video cameras caught all the actions, creating something of the feel of a daytime television show with audience participation.
“We are embarking on a very new way of doing things,” Henry said. “We are not just providing pharmaceuticals, but information you can use to help yourself. And rather than lecturing, we come in and show you how to do it. Over time, we will follow your lab work, looking at cholesterol and blood sugar, to see if the prevention and wellness aspects of the program are working.”
Phaire’s recipes, which were printed up and given out to the audience as well as demonstrated, focused on making familiar foods in a healthier way. This means less salt, less fat, less starch and less sugar.
“Instead of putting Sazon (salt and spice mix) in my pigeon peas and rice, I flavor it with thinly sliced lime leaves,” Phaire said. “The best are kaffir lime leaves, but our lime leaves here are very good, too, and easy to find. Just fold it up and slice it into thin ribbons.”
Phaire went on to say he uses a lot of dried herbs in his dishes, providing flavor without so much salt.
Henry offered several easy dietary changes that have been shown in studies to help with cholesterol and blood sugar.
“Did you know cinnamon is one of the best spices for you?” Henry said. “It helps to lower cholesterol and it has been shown to help blood sugar. In this case, more is better, so put an extra dash on your oats in the morning …. The bean family is a must in your pantry. They are an excellent source of fiber, which helps lower cholesterol. Half a cup four times a week has been shown to reduce your chance of a heart attack to the same as a vegetarian. So you can still have meat. But the next time you have peas and rice, make it more peas and less rice.”
Victor warned of several drug and food combinations to avoid.
“How many of you are taking Warfarin to lower the risk of blood clots?” she asked the audience. “Well, oatmeal will bind with the Warfarin and keep it from working properly.”
Iron supplements are to be avoided, too, because the iron binds with a wide array of drugs, making them ineffective, Victor said. She also mentioned the well-publicized interaction between grapefruit and cholesterol-lowering drugs.
“An enzyme in grapefruit reacts with some cholesterol drugs, like Lipitor," Victor said. "And more than just making the drug not work, it can bring on serious side effects, such as severe muscle pain. Some have died because they ate grapefruit while on cholesterol-lowering drugs.”
May is National Senior Citizens Month. The cooking demonstration, talk and dinner were organized by Human Services along with the UVI Extension Office as part of Human Services’ schedule of activities for Senior Citizens Month.
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