Cooking instructor Linda Sutton says there's a history of diabetes in her family she doesn't want to repeat.

"Actually, the complications of diabetes on one side of the family and cancer on the other is what prompted me to look for options to maintain my health," she said.

Looking on, Dr. Neil Barnard says a meat-free, oil-free diet like the one Linda’s using can reverse diabetes.

His new book cites results of a study published in the Journal Diabetes Care.

“The improvement in blood sugar control was three times stronger than that with the best current diabetes diet. We now believe a low fat vegan diet is state of the art," Dr. Bernard stated.

It’s a drastically different theory than other weight loss diets that encourage eating unlimited amounts of meat.

"Inside the cells are microscopic collections of fat. The fat is stopping the sugar from getting out of the blood into the cell. When you take the fat out of the diet, it comes out of the cells and we reverse the cause of the diabetes," noted Dr. Bernard.

Dr. Bernard is giving a free lecture Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Norfolk.

He’ll have a book signing at Barnes and Noble on Va. Beach Blvd. in Va. Beach on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

ROMAINE TACOS (from Linda Sutton)

Makes 8 Romaine Tacos

Ingredients:

8-10 large romaine heart lettuce leaves

1 package of vegan soy chorizo (12 oz.)

2 tbsp. water

½small chopped red onion

½red pepper, chopped

½green pepper, chopped

16 tsp. mild salsa

1 cup vegan cheddar cheese, shredded

Method:

Rinse and towel dry romaine leaves and set aside.

Open chorizo, empty from plastic casing. Do not cook or fry in the casing but empty contents from the casing.

Place skillet over medium high heat.

Add 2 tbsp. of water to skillet in order to steam fry vegetables.

Add onion and peppers to the skillet.

Stir until onions begin to become transparent.

Move steamed vegetables to side of skillet.

Add chorizo, turn up the heat.

Stir continuously until the chorizo sizzles and is heated thoroughly, about four minutes.

Add veggies to the ground chorizo mix. Remove from heat.

ASSEMBLY:

Spoon mixture into the vein or rib of the lettuce leaf. (about 1/8 cup per leaf)

Top with shredded vegan cheese

Spoon 2 tbsp. of salsa on each leaf.

Serve immediately.

©2007 Linda D. Sutton, All rights reserved.