The Home Cook Who Inspires People With Diabetes
Key takeaways:
Professional cook Biz Velatini didn’t let a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes limit her aspirations.
Instead, she uses her platform to inspire others about how to cook, no matter their dietary restrictions.
She takes diabetes medications and uses a glucose monitor to keep her insulin levels on track.
Biz Velatini is building a brand as a Chicago-based home cook who shares recipes with the masses online and in her cookbooks.
She also has Type 1 diabetes and knows a business built around food might seem odd for someone who is limited in what she can eat. But Biz sees it as a chance to inspire others who also have diabetes.
“It’s about ‘knowledge is power,’” she says. “I think I can help people lead a healthier life. Even with a chronic illness like diabetes, it doesn’t have to be the end of your life.”
Biz doesn’t consider herself a chef. She never attended culinary school. And she’s not alone as someone in the food industry living with diabetes.
“There are plenty of chefs out there with Type 1 diabetes,” she says. “Just like there are professional athletes who have Type 1 diabetes. We just figure out how to make it work in what we want to do for our life. It doesn’t have to stop you.”
Biz was 30 when she received her diabetes diagnosis. It was only then that she started cooking. That coincided with marrying her late husband, who grew up with home-cooked meals. Biz saw those two events as signs she should get busy in the kitchen. By 2008, she was keeping a daily blog — including recipes — for her family. That blog eventually turned into her business.
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For her atypical experience, Ozempic provides relief
Biz, now a 55-year-old widow who works with her daughter in her food business, admits being a food blogger with diabetes isn’t always easy. Even though she eats cleanly and takes good care of herself, she needs help managing her condition.
“I take fast-acting insulin every time I eat, and then I take a long-lasting insulin at night,” she says.
Her experience taking diabetes medications has been somewhat unconventional for someone with Type 1 diabetes, because her doctor has prescribed medications FDA approved only for people with Type 2 diabetes.
For years, in addition to her insulin, Biz took metformin, a medication that lessens sugar absorption and production and makes your body more sensitive to insulin. Metformin is approved for people with Type 2 diabetes.
People with Type 2 diabetes “usually take metformin or other medications that help your pancreas squeeze out as much insulin as possible. And you can really control your diabetes that way with diet and exercise,” Biz says. “But at some point, some people such as myself, there’s nothing left. They’ve done tests on my pancreas. I have like 0.0001% of insulin left in my body, which is why I have to take insulin now.”
In October 2022, her endocrinologist also prescribed her Ozempic (semaglutide), a prescription medication in an injectable pen that can be used along with a healthy diet and exercise to treat Type 2 diabetes. That medication also is not normally prescribed to those with Type 1 diabetes, but her endocrinologist suggested it as a way of reducing her insulin intake.
With Ozempic, “I take less insulin every time I eat,” she says. “I used to take 1 unit of insulin for every 4 grams of carbs that I ate. And now, I only take 1 unit of insulin for every 10 grams of carbs that I eat. That’s a significant reduction. And that’s the overall goal.”
Biz says she’s fortunate she didn’t have some of the common Ozempic side effects such as nausea and diarrhea after eating.
“I’m a recipe developer. I’m in food. It is my career,” she says. “So, to not be able to eat as a side effect — that wasn’t an option for me.”
Biz wears a Dexcom device to constantly monitor her glucose level. The continuous glucose monitor alerts her when her level gets below a certain number.
If her insulin is too high? “You feel like you’re walking through mud,” she says.
So she constantly monitors her body.
Cooking feeds her soul
Biz, who quit her job at a law firm in 2020 to focus on her growing cooking business, doesn’t consider her work limited to those with diabetes. She covers all kinds of recipes.
“Everybody eats. So it doesn't matter if you’re vegan, a carnivore, gluten-free — I’ve got all the categories on my blog,” she says. “Anybody who eats can enjoy my food.”
Yet, many people with diabetes follow her for her diabetes-friendly recipes and advice.
“The feedback has been amazing,” she says.
She doles out advice, too. For example, if you prepare and then refrigerate potatoes, pasta, or rice, reheating them reduces the glucose spike by 40%. Or, if you take a 20-minute walk after dinner, it will bring down your glucose levels.
Helping people inspires Biz. That’s why she chose to make a career change in her 50s.
“It’s never too late to change your life,” she says. “If I can share anything, it’s that if you put your mind to something, everything is possible. I jumped both feet in and never looked back.”
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