Robert talks about his personal journey with diabetes. Cooking and healthy eating. Chef, Author, Speaker and a Person Living with Diabeties Growing up in Los Angeles offered a culinary experience I will always cherish. Family cooks and guests in my home were experts in preparing Jewish, Mexican, Middle and Far Eastern as well as traditional dishes, which gave me a love for food and the creative outlet it provided. After graduating from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in 1976, I continued to expand on my love for food and cooking, taking jobs with different hotels and restaurants and even trying my hand at my own restaurants. In 1998 I was diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes. Much of what I heard in those early days was about the foods that were prohibited. I suspected that my days of good eating were over; yet as I worked through my ups and downs, I came to realize that the selection of foods I could and should eat was vast and included many of my favorites. This motivated me to attempt to create delicious, diabetic-friendly dishes that were also easy to prepare. As a nationally recognized author, public speaker and spokesperson for all people affected with diabetes, I now travel the country speaking on the benefits of healthy eating not only for people affected with diabetes, but also for anyone who would like to eat well and live a healthy lifestyle. With my focus on healthy cuisine, I have been offered many opportunities to showcase nutrition and food preparation, as well as give talks and presentations on food as it relates to diabetes. I have spoken at hospitals and health fairs all over the country. I have been a guest on TV shows, radio programs and podcasts. I have appeared on ESPN’s Cold Pizza, Paula Sands Live and The Diabetic Power Show, among others. I have also been featured in Diabetes Health magazine, The Radish and Diabetic Living Magazine and worked with companies such as Diathrive, Sanofi, American Diabetes Association, Kroger and Hy-Vee grocery stores, Blue Cross Blue Shield and many more! In addition I have had the pleasure of working with Al Roker, Ben Vereen, Richard Simmons, Ann Curry, Indy car racer Charlie Kimble, The Amazing Race Winner Nat Strand, Lee Iacocca and Dr. Denise Faustman of Harvard Medical School, just to name a few. In addition to all that, I have written 3 different cookbooks and am a keynote speaker at many of the Taking Control Of Your Diabetes conferences all across the USA. My goal is to live happy and healthy and to create recipes that celebrate great-tasting food that both diabetics and non-diabetics can enjoy. My cookbooks are filled with tips, tidbits and humorous anecdotes that I hope will make cooking fun! You are not what you eat, you are how much you eat! So good luck, and happy cooking! Chef Robert Lewis, The Happy Diabetic ®