Mailbag: Sugar-free candy column hits home

The David Hansen column about the lack of sugar-free candy at Easter time really hit home (“Diabetes soars yet no sugar-free Easter Candy,” March 20).

My husband has Type 2 diabetes, and two days before Easter he asked me if I was going to buy a sugar-free chocolate bunny for him.

I tried but didn’t find any.

But that’s not the whole issue. I can’t even find frozen dinners that are for really serious diabetes dieters. My husband is religious about what he eats and takes his blood first thing in the morning and last thing before bed at night. If his blood is over 120, he freaks out. His doctor wants it below that level, and he feels better when it’s between about 85 and 110.

So he doesn’t eat potatoes or pasta or grains. It’s veggies and chicken, turkey or fish and once in a while a steak.

We are seniors. He’s 80 and I’m 75, and I cook every night. We don’t eat out except on special occasions, and then we eat very carefully. Being a senior I wear out, and sometimes I’d rather not cook. I try to find acceptable frozen dinners that meet his requirements.

But, alas, there’s precious little even at the health food stores. Everything that says high protein and low carbs actually has grains or potatoes or pasta. I want dinners with lots of veggies and meat items.

I believe the time is ripe for a concerted push to alter the market.

Jan Rovan

Costa Mesa

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Diabetic, but with a sweet tooth

As someone who was diagnosed with diabetes 23 years ago, I want to thank David Hansen for his column about the lack of sugar-free Easter candy vis-a-vis the quantity of gluten-free products on the market. This is one of my pet peeves.

As he pointed out, 8% of the global adult population has diabetes, with nearly 30 million Americans either diabetic or pre-diabetic. One percent of the population may have celiac disease. And yet I can go into a trendy bakery in downtown Fullerton and find a wide variety of gluten-free baked goods and not a single sugar-free item. Not even to mention the ridiculousness of gluten-free vodka, olive oil, rice, etc.

Anyway I really wanted to say thank you for bringing up this issue. I may be diabetic, but I still have a sweet tooth.

Pamela Berg

Fullerton