People have been asking for it and now it’s coming.

The Pike County Extension Office is offering the Pike County Diabetes Workshop and Cooking School from 9:30 a.m. until1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12 at Cattleman Park.

The registration fee is $5 and includes lunch.

“The purpose of the Diabetes Workshop and Cooking School is to provide a basic understanding of diabetes and the body’s inability to produce enough insulin or to use it properly,” said Parico Osby, regional extension agent. “Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. It helps glucose, which comes from the food we eat, enter cells where it is used as energy. Glucose is also known as blood sugar. When people have diabetes, their blood sugar reaches high levels and must be controlled.”

Osby said diabetes is at epidemic proportions in the United States.

“Alabama ranks as number two among all states in both adults and youths diagnosed with diabetes,” she said. “Therefore, diagnosis, treatment and control of diabetes is most important to good health and in preventing debilitating complications. The more we understand about the disease, hopefully, the better we will be at controlling it.”

The Pike County Diabetes Workshop will provide information aimed at better controlling diabetes and will be very beneficial to those who attend and those who have loved ones with the disease, Osby said.

Registration will be from 9:30 until 10 a.m. on May 12 with workshops beginning at 10 a.m.

The workshop topics will be Diabetes: Types and How They Differ and The Connection Between Meal Planning and Its Effect on Controlling the Disease. Also discussed will be prevention, interpreting blood glucose levels, complications, nerve damage, metabolic syndrome and treatment.

There will also be opportunities for questions, testimonials and comments.

“We’ll have handouts, recipes and free diabetic cookbooks as long as they last,” Osby said.

Following lunch, there will be an evaluation of the workshop by those who attend.

Presenters for the workshop will be Osby, Human Nutrition, Diet and Health; Bridgette Griffin, REA-Food Preparation and Preservation; and Wanda Carpenter, REA, Human Development and assistant workshop planner Tammy Powell, Pike County Extension coordinator.

To pre-register, call the Pike County Extension Office at 334-566-0985 or visit the office at 306 South Three Notch Street in Troy. Ask for Sheron Mitchell, administrative assistant, or Parico Osby, REA.