About
“A Life Well Eaten” is a program about diabetes, food, family, friends, and, most importantly, solutions. As a diabetic himself, Chef Adam Lambay shares a challenge unique to diabetics that he has faced and overcome. During each 30-minute episode, viewers learn valuable tips and tricks to cut the carbs and find more flavor discovering delicious diabetic solutions.
Chef Adam Lambay
“Living with diabetes is a challenge. My dad and my maternal grandmother were both diagnosed with diabetes when I was a kid, so I thought I knew a lot about the disease. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed that I realized just how little I knew and how difficult it was. It’s not just giving up donuts and cookies. Carbs are in just about everything… even vegetables!
Some people ask why I don’t just do Paleo, Keto, or Atkins. I tell them it’s because those are fads. Diabetes isn’t a fad.
Honestly, I wasn’t a very good diabetic those first few years. I didn’t take it seriously. As a chef I’m around food all day. It should have been easy for me but it wasn’t. And when I brought my family with young children into the picture it was even harder. I struggled until I stopped treating the diabetic diet like a science experiment, counting every little gram and teaspoon and quarter cup, and looked at it more as a dietary restriction. If you’re allergic to something you stop eating it. That meant I had to cut out the sugar and carbs.
I started looking at whole grains, vegetables and proteins. How do you fill up and be completely satisfied without pasta or potatoes or bread or rice? That’s the typical carb-heavy American diet. It’s affordable and, frankly, delicious. Temptation is everywhere. But once you stop eating all the sugar and carbs your body stops craving it. And you start craving the healthy stuff. When you do indulge your body tells you pretty quickly that it doesn’t like it.
What I’m saying is I’ve been there and I’ve struggled just like every other diabetic. But I finally figured it out. And I want to share my solutions with everyone. I want to show you how to cut the carbs and find more flavor.” ~~ Chef Adam Lambay
Adam has been a chef for over 25 years with experience in upscale, leading restaurants and catering operations, preparing all styles and nationalities of cuisine. He has worked as an executive chef in multiple restaurants, consulted on menus, and helped rethink failing restaurants. As the executive chef he created a successful farm to table restaurant for Chaumette Winery. And he’s a wonderful teacher. He taught cooking classes for the home cook for almost a decade. That’s actually where the Creator and Executive Producer of “A Life Well Eaten”, Robin Welch Orvis, discovered Adam… in one of his cooking classes!
Creator & Executive Producer
Robin Welch Orvis
“My sister has been a diabetic for over 30 years so I, too, thought I knew a lot about the disease. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed that I realized I didn’t have a clue and had no idea how difficult it had been for my sister all those years. I spent the first six months terrified to eat anything, but that wasn’t sustainable. I can be an obsessive researcher and started digging for answers. I read every diabetic magazine and article I could get my hands on. I searched the internet for low carb and diabetic-friendly recipes. What I found were a lot of unrealistic menus with gorgeous photos and high carb counts, sometimes 65g for the meal! There would always be a note at the end of the featured menu that if you couldn’t have that many carbs you should cut the drink or the dessert or both. Or maybe cut the portion size or cut-cut-cut. You get the idea. So my biggest takeaway was you hear a lot of can’t and don’t as a diabetic.
My hobbies have always been cooking, entertaining and gardening. But I stopped entertaining as it wasn’t fun anymore. It was just too darn hard. Nine months into my diagnosis I stumbled upon a cooking class for diabetics. Chef Adam lead the class and a whole new world opened up for me that night. Everything was fresh and seasonal and incredibly delicious. He made me look at food in a completely different way. So, just to make sure it wasn’t a one-off, I took a second class with him. It was just as good, if not better, as the first class. So as he was cleaning up at the end of the meal I boldly walked up to him and asked him if he’d be interested in developing a diabetic cooking show with me. He, of course, thought I was crazy as I had been peppering him with questions and comments all evening. He’ll be the first to tell you I got on his nerves!
I have learned so much from Adam as we have been developing the series. I entertain again, and I think I’m a better home cook than I was before. And my A1C and diabetes are now very well controlled. I’m not perfect and still have cheats but it’s become a lifestyle that I can do… most days!” ~~ Robin Welch Orvis
Robin is the Creator and Executive Producer of “A Life Well Eaten”. Robin spent a decade working on network TV productions in the 90’s. She left a successful career in Hollywood to raise a family. Now that she and her husband are empty-nesters, Robin has re-entered the production world by creating “A Life Well Eaten”.