Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 10, 1 October 1992 — Health care providers train for Waiʻanae Diet [ARTICLE]

Health care providers train for Waiʻanae Diet

by Pearl Leialoha Page Health care providers from 14 rural communities met to learn the nuts and bolts of presenting the Wai'anae Diet to their clients last month in the first statewide training session led by Dr. Terry Shintani and the Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. The two-day training was part of a project to develop the Wai'anae Diet and was funded by matching amounts from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state Legislature.

The $140,000 grant also provides for a team ol Wai'anae diet experts to visit eaeh island to assist efforts to run the diet programs there. Further it will be used to develop a protocol manual, prepare a master plan to logically promote the diet through brochures, eook books, legislative efforts and marketing, and it will help fund a pilot project of the diet among children at Kaimuki Intermediate School. "I've dreamed of doing this for a long time," Shintani told the 36 participants at the training session at Mākaha Sheraton, Aug. 28. "The demand for the Wai'anae Diet is so great that on the neighbor islands,

some were going to go ahead and do it without any formal training," he said. "If people are healthy to begin with, the diet's no problem," Shintani said. " But if they have problems with diabetes or high blood pressure then they have to be monitored carefully. The diet normalizes people so fast, it's very important to do the diet with elinieal intervention," he said. Those with diabetes must reduce their last dose of insulin or oral medication prior to starting the program by 50 percent. More acute diabetic cases must monitor their blood sugar levels at least three times daily in the first three days and twice a day thereafter, adjusting the amount of insulin per doctor's orders, he said. The diet also alters many other health conditions, so a physician should be on site through the first week. Besides stressing medical intervention, the training also included: screening criteria, food procurement, health education, counseling, cultural education, and teaching the transitional diet for continuing weightloss, health building after the program is finished and follow-up procedures.