Avandia hit the market, a triumph in blood sugar control. It helped with insulin resistance and it helped make the pancreas to produce more insulin. I took it and it worked better than anything else. I had my first hypoglycemic incident taking Avandia. My blood sugar hit a severe and dangerous low. It scared me enough to make me as vigilant about my lows as I am about my highs.
There was a piece of news that made me stop taking Avandia. Data had been released that 30% of patients treated with Avandia had heart attacks. I told Dr. Melvin, no more Avandia for me. He and I decided to go straight to insulin.
Now, the news comes out that Avandia will be removed from the market. It's a victory for T2D patients.
The history of oral medications is filled with stories of damaging, even deadly, side effects.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
It Says "'Sugar Free"
Some sugar substitutes will raise blood sugar! Read the label on your sweetener packet. Not the part that sells the product. All you will read is what you want to hear. Packaging is design to get people to believe they are buying what they want. Read the part of the label that lists nutritive information and ingredients. That will tell you what you need to know.
Here's how to use the information:
1. No calories, no carbohydrates, no rise in blood sugar. Simple.
2. Ingredients lists a word ending in ...itol, like sorbitol or erythritol. These are sugar alcohols, not the booze-type alcohol, but a sweet tasting compound having a molecular structure that chemists named, "alcohol." Sugar alcohols have a carbohydrate count. They raise blood sugar more slowly than sucrose (table sugar), fructose (the sugar in fruit), or carbohydrates from starch. To calculate the actual carb impact on your blood sugar, The American Diabetes Association recommends dividing the carb contribution of the sugar alcohol in half, then subtracting that from the total carb count. That way you can track your carbs and know what to expect to happen to your blood sugar.
3. Lactose, sugar in dairy products, is the sugar in "Sugar-Free" or "No Sugar Added" ice cream. As tempting as it is to believe you can eat all you want, sadly, it is not so. Read the label, you will see. Sorry for the bad news.
Here's how to use the information:
1. No calories, no carbohydrates, no rise in blood sugar. Simple.
2. Ingredients lists a word ending in ...itol, like sorbitol or erythritol. These are sugar alcohols, not the booze-type alcohol, but a sweet tasting compound having a molecular structure that chemists named, "alcohol." Sugar alcohols have a carbohydrate count. They raise blood sugar more slowly than sucrose (table sugar), fructose (the sugar in fruit), or carbohydrates from starch. To calculate the actual carb impact on your blood sugar, The American Diabetes Association recommends dividing the carb contribution of the sugar alcohol in half, then subtracting that from the total carb count. That way you can track your carbs and know what to expect to happen to your blood sugar.
3. Lactose, sugar in dairy products, is the sugar in "Sugar-Free" or "No Sugar Added" ice cream. As tempting as it is to believe you can eat all you want, sadly, it is not so. Read the label, you will see. Sorry for the bad news.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Food and Love
All of us feel better when we eat. There's the biology of eating: our bodies crave nourishment and fuel. Eating gives our body the substances it needs to function. We need calories for energy; protein to repair and build tissue; fiber, minerals and vitamins for the myriad of biological processes that go on in our bodies. When our bodies have what they need, we feel good.
There's the other feeling good domain, the psychology of eating. For all of us, eating carries meaning far greater than biological health. To some degree, more for some and less for other, eating means taking in love.
There's the other feeling good domain, the psychology of eating. For all of us, eating carries meaning far greater than biological health. To some degree, more for some and less for other, eating means taking in love.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Charlene Loves Red Beans and Rice
Charlene's doctor cautioned her to be careful about her blood sugar, to be careful about the carbohydrates and calories she consumes. She had been accustomed to eating whatever she wanted. Like most people who live in Louisiana, she loves her Red Beans and Rice. She grew up among generations of people accustomed to a meal of Red Beans and Rice once a week.
Traditional Red Beans and Rice appears on every one's table in New Orleans at some time or another. The dish has loads of flavor, along with a deep heritage in family life.
It also has loads of carbohydrates and fat. The red beans are big, red kidney beans boiled with some kind of seasoning meat, like smoked ham hocks or smoked sausage. different cooks have their own ways of seasoning the beans with onions, spices and herbs. The rice is always white, long or medium grain, refined rice, cooked separately. At serving time, you dish up a bowl of beans and add a big scoop of rice to each bowl, along with a substantial piece of smoked sausage on the side. The carbohydrate count in a meal sized serving runs around 120 grams, enough to send blood sugar skyrocketing.
When Charlene heard the news, she was shocked with disbelief, "What?! Red Beans and Rice are bad for you?" To Charlene, Red Beans and Rice is a nutritious, satisfying meal. To be fair to the dish, it does contain good protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber. The calories and carbohydrate make it dangerous to someone living with Type 2 Diabetes.
Charlene hung her head and put her hands over her eyes. She couldn't help but feel dragged down, "Another thing I can't eat."
Adapting to healthy diabetic eating challenge everyone. There's something we all must do: give up some of our favorite foods or reduce our portions.
For those of us living with T2D, a safe portion of Red beans and Rice is a small side dish of about 1/2 cup of red beans with cut up sausage and a tablespoon of rice, yielding about 30 grams of carbohydrate. That small a serving cannot satisfy Charlene's love for Red Beans and Rice. That small a serving also violates her lifelong custom, a custom going back generations, of making Red Beans and Rice the meal. It would leave her feeling deprived. Charlean would be left yearning for more and the yearning would be painfully hard to resist. For most people, the yearning overwhelms them and they give in to it. Even people who can resist their cravings most of the time, will give in sometimes (see Do As I Say No As I Do, below). We humans are like that.
Charlene might do better with a substitute for her traditional Red Beans and Rice than to tantalized, or tormented, be a tiny portion. The question to answer: "What would have the same taste satisfaction and carry the cultural satisfaction, while still being safe for a diabetic to enjoy?
Here are some ways to change this high carb dish into something more T2E friendly:
1. Increase the vegetables cooked with the beans.
Many cooks add chopped onion and bell peppers for flavor when they cook the beans. Increasing the amounts of these vegetables will help lower the carb count in a serving. Other vegetables to add that are flavorful and taste good with the beans are eggplant, zucchini, celery, and tomatoes. Substituting vegetables for most of the beans can give you a hearty, tasty carb safe meal.
2. Change the traditional smoked sausage to low fat turkey smoked sausage.
Smoked turkey sausage tastes great and lowers fat quite a lot.
3. Use brown rice instead of refined white rice.
The higher fiber content in brown rice helps prevent blood sugar spikes. Have one serving of rice, about 1/2 cup.
Traditional Red Beans and Rice appears on every one's table in New Orleans at some time or another. The dish has loads of flavor, along with a deep heritage in family life.
It also has loads of carbohydrates and fat. The red beans are big, red kidney beans boiled with some kind of seasoning meat, like smoked ham hocks or smoked sausage. different cooks have their own ways of seasoning the beans with onions, spices and herbs. The rice is always white, long or medium grain, refined rice, cooked separately. At serving time, you dish up a bowl of beans and add a big scoop of rice to each bowl, along with a substantial piece of smoked sausage on the side. The carbohydrate count in a meal sized serving runs around 120 grams, enough to send blood sugar skyrocketing.
When Charlene heard the news, she was shocked with disbelief, "What?! Red Beans and Rice are bad for you?" To Charlene, Red Beans and Rice is a nutritious, satisfying meal. To be fair to the dish, it does contain good protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber. The calories and carbohydrate make it dangerous to someone living with Type 2 Diabetes.
Charlene hung her head and put her hands over her eyes. She couldn't help but feel dragged down, "Another thing I can't eat."
Adapting to healthy diabetic eating challenge everyone. There's something we all must do: give up some of our favorite foods or reduce our portions.
For those of us living with T2D, a safe portion of Red beans and Rice is a small side dish of about 1/2 cup of red beans with cut up sausage and a tablespoon of rice, yielding about 30 grams of carbohydrate. That small a serving cannot satisfy Charlene's love for Red Beans and Rice. That small a serving also violates her lifelong custom, a custom going back generations, of making Red Beans and Rice the meal. It would leave her feeling deprived. Charlean would be left yearning for more and the yearning would be painfully hard to resist. For most people, the yearning overwhelms them and they give in to it. Even people who can resist their cravings most of the time, will give in sometimes (see Do As I Say No As I Do, below). We humans are like that.
Charlene might do better with a substitute for her traditional Red Beans and Rice than to tantalized, or tormented, be a tiny portion. The question to answer: "What would have the same taste satisfaction and carry the cultural satisfaction, while still being safe for a diabetic to enjoy?
Here are some ways to change this high carb dish into something more T2E friendly:
1. Increase the vegetables cooked with the beans.
Many cooks add chopped onion and bell peppers for flavor when they cook the beans. Increasing the amounts of these vegetables will help lower the carb count in a serving. Other vegetables to add that are flavorful and taste good with the beans are eggplant, zucchini, celery, and tomatoes. Substituting vegetables for most of the beans can give you a hearty, tasty carb safe meal.
2. Change the traditional smoked sausage to low fat turkey smoked sausage.
Smoked turkey sausage tastes great and lowers fat quite a lot.
3. Use brown rice instead of refined white rice.
The higher fiber content in brown rice helps prevent blood sugar spikes. Have one serving of rice, about 1/2 cup.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Hypoglycemia: Quick Fix Food
If you're feeling jittery, blurry minded, sweating, test your blood sugar. You may be hypoglycemic. You can have the symptoms with blood sugar at any level. You need to measure for to be sure. You might get the symptoms like those of hypoglycemia if you're blood sugar is getting closer to normal after having been high, hyperglycemic, for a while. As your blood sugar gets closer to normal, your body and brain are adjusting to a new level. The sensation may tempt you to eat some carbs, which will defeat the adjustment you are needing to make in glucose levels. Only your meter will tell you for sure if your sugar is too low. If your meter displays a number under 70 mg/dl, your blood sugar is low enough to be called hypoglycemic.
You need about 15 gms of carbohydrate, or one starch exchange. Here are some foods that will bring your glucose back to normal:
5-6 hard candies
4 oz, 1/2 can, of sugared soda
1 Tablespoon of peanut butter
some peanut butter crackers, an amount giving you 15 gm of carbohydrate
You need about 15 gms of carbohydrate, or one starch exchange. Here are some foods that will bring your glucose back to normal:
5-6 hard candies
4 oz, 1/2 can, of sugared soda
1 Tablespoon of peanut butter
some peanut butter crackers, an amount giving you 15 gm of carbohydrate
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Why?
Sheila thinks the foods she eats gives her diabetes. Ron thinks it's genetic, occurring only in certain families. Both are partly right and wrong. Type II Diabetes is a very different disease from Juvenile Diabetes or Type I Diabetes. Juvenile Diabetes and Type I Diabetes are illnesses of the pancreas. The pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to keep blood glucose within normal range. In some cases, the pancreas has shut down completely, producing zero insulin. People with Type II Diabetes eventually wear out their pancreas, causing a shut down in insulin production, making the person insulin dependent.
How does someone get Type II Diabetes? T2D is a disease of insulin resistance. Genetics plays a big role. When both parents have T2D, their children will develop it. Body fat increases insulin resistance in everyone. Yes, everyone. An overweight person with T2D in the family will develop T2D early in life. A lean person with T2D in the family will develop it later. Obesity, all alone, is a big risk factor for T2D.
How does someone get Type II Diabetes? T2D is a disease of insulin resistance. Genetics plays a big role. When both parents have T2D, their children will develop it. Body fat increases insulin resistance in everyone. Yes, everyone. An overweight person with T2D in the family will develop T2D early in life. A lean person with T2D in the family will develop it later. Obesity, all alone, is a big risk factor for T2D.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Lynn and I had dinner together recently. Lynn is adapting to pre-diabetes changes in her metabolism and she's doing a great job. She's doing everything right. She counts her carbs. She lost weight. She walks nearly every day. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant. I love Ethiopian food, but it cannot be found in many cities in the US. I hadn't has it in years. Lynn, being the considerate person she is, agreed to indulge me.
Ethiopian food had some T2D friendly choices: kitfo, a spicy beef dish; vegetable choices, like collard greens; and an assortment of stews. The foods are served on injera, a spongy pancake made from teff flour. Teff is an ancient grain that is ground and used like wheat with injera on the side. Injera is also your eating utensil. You break off a piece of injera, and use it to pick up mouthfuls of food. So good.
Lynn did the smart thing. She asked for a fork. I did the dumb thing and ate with injera. Lots of it. Afterward, we went for a walk, stop in at a coffee shop where I measured my blood sugar. It was shockingly high, high enough that we sat, drank coffee and water and talked a good long time with me injecting fast acting insulin to bring my blood sugar down.
I should have asked for a fork. I ordered kitfo and collard greens. Excellent choices. I can pat myself on the back there. My hot desire for injera overwhelmed my good judgement. Next time, I will ask for a fork.
Ethiopian food had some T2D friendly choices: kitfo, a spicy beef dish; vegetable choices, like collard greens; and an assortment of stews. The foods are served on injera, a spongy pancake made from teff flour. Teff is an ancient grain that is ground and used like wheat with injera on the side. Injera is also your eating utensil. You break off a piece of injera, and use it to pick up mouthfuls of food. So good.
Lynn did the smart thing. She asked for a fork. I did the dumb thing and ate with injera. Lots of it. Afterward, we went for a walk, stop in at a coffee shop where I measured my blood sugar. It was shockingly high, high enough that we sat, drank coffee and water and talked a good long time with me injecting fast acting insulin to bring my blood sugar down.
I should have asked for a fork. I ordered kitfo and collard greens. Excellent choices. I can pat myself on the back there. My hot desire for injera overwhelmed my good judgement. Next time, I will ask for a fork.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Glycemic Index and Inflammation
There appears to be a connection between refined, high glycemic carbohydrates and inflammation.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Inflammation: Gluten
Athletes pioneer in nutrition, for obvious reasons. They want their bodies to work at peak performance. Inflammation interferes, again, for obvious reasons. Researchers have found a culprit in the inflammation process: gluten, the protein in wheat. The findings apply to normal people, not just the people with celiac disease. Celiac disease, an autoimmune condition, makes the person who has it completely incapable of tolerating gluten. The inflammation in the celiacs' bowel makes little hairlike cells, call celia, lay down flat, hence the name, celiac disease. Someone with celiac disease becomes very ill with inflammation of their GI tract if they eat gluten. They suffer with constipation; diarrhea; bloating and gas; fatigue; depression. Untreated, celiac disease leads to low bone density, dangerous weight loss, and anemia.
For the normal, in the sense of not having an autoimmune disease, athlete, a low gluten diet improves digestion and absorption of nutrients. They look to other forms of carbs, rather than wheat and flour carbs. That means less bread and bagels; fewer pretzels and crackers. They find substitutes for pasta. Sugary foods, like cookies, pastry and cake, are loaded with empty calories. They are high gluten and athletes avoid them anyway. When athletes reduce their gluten intake, they improve their recovery from strenuous exercise, reduce susceptibility to colds. They have more energy. When they are stressed, the stress is less likely to show up as heartburn, bloating, or bowel problems.
Here are some healthy carb sources that keep gluten out of your system:
1. Fruit. Remember, small servings for us
2. Beans and lentils. A serving for us is 1/3 cup. You can add them to vegetable soup, stews and gumbo. Hummus, made with chickpeas, is a great dip with celery or other raw vegetable dippers. Bean dips are good that way, too.
3. Sweet potatoes, winter squash, peas, potatoes and corn. These are starchy vegetable, high in carbohydrate. They are nutrient rich and great sources of fiber. Remember to limit the amount you eat for your blood sugar's sake.
4. Oatmeal, quinoa, rice and amaranth. You've heard of oatmeal and rice, for sure. Quinoa and amaranth may be more mysterious to you. You can have these grains and products made from them in small quantities. Quinoa makes a lovely pilaf and it substitutes beautifully for wheat in tabbouleh.
Reducing carbs means substituting vegetables for carb-rich food. Here are some substitutes for wheat products:
1. Instead of a sandwich with bread, make a lettuce wrap. Wrap whatever you'd put into a sandwich in a leaf of Romaine or other leafy lettuce.
2. Make your favorite mac and cheese with cooked vegetables instead of macaroni. Broccoli or cauliflower florets work beautifully with the cheese.
3. Lasagne noodles pack lots of carbs. Layers of eggplant slices, pre-baked, make a wonderful substitute.
4. Pizza? Whatever you like on you pizza, put it on a bed of greens. Tastiest salad you ever ate.
5. Wheat noodle and spaghetti have a tofu counterpart, shiritaki. The Chinese call shiritaki "long tofu." It takes on the flavor of whatever you combine it with, having little flavor of it's own You can find it in the refrigerated section of a natural foods groceries or order it online. You must rinse it well to remove it's "fragrance." Heat it in soup, sauce or anything you'd use spaghetti for.
For the normal, in the sense of not having an autoimmune disease, athlete, a low gluten diet improves digestion and absorption of nutrients. They look to other forms of carbs, rather than wheat and flour carbs. That means less bread and bagels; fewer pretzels and crackers. They find substitutes for pasta. Sugary foods, like cookies, pastry and cake, are loaded with empty calories. They are high gluten and athletes avoid them anyway. When athletes reduce their gluten intake, they improve their recovery from strenuous exercise, reduce susceptibility to colds. They have more energy. When they are stressed, the stress is less likely to show up as heartburn, bloating, or bowel problems.
Here are some healthy carb sources that keep gluten out of your system:
1. Fruit. Remember, small servings for us
2. Beans and lentils. A serving for us is 1/3 cup. You can add them to vegetable soup, stews and gumbo. Hummus, made with chickpeas, is a great dip with celery or other raw vegetable dippers. Bean dips are good that way, too.
3. Sweet potatoes, winter squash, peas, potatoes and corn. These are starchy vegetable, high in carbohydrate. They are nutrient rich and great sources of fiber. Remember to limit the amount you eat for your blood sugar's sake.
4. Oatmeal, quinoa, rice and amaranth. You've heard of oatmeal and rice, for sure. Quinoa and amaranth may be more mysterious to you. You can have these grains and products made from them in small quantities. Quinoa makes a lovely pilaf and it substitutes beautifully for wheat in tabbouleh.
Reducing carbs means substituting vegetables for carb-rich food. Here are some substitutes for wheat products:
1. Instead of a sandwich with bread, make a lettuce wrap. Wrap whatever you'd put into a sandwich in a leaf of Romaine or other leafy lettuce.
2. Make your favorite mac and cheese with cooked vegetables instead of macaroni. Broccoli or cauliflower florets work beautifully with the cheese.
3. Lasagne noodles pack lots of carbs. Layers of eggplant slices, pre-baked, make a wonderful substitute.
4. Pizza? Whatever you like on you pizza, put it on a bed of greens. Tastiest salad you ever ate.
5. Wheat noodle and spaghetti have a tofu counterpart, shiritaki. The Chinese call shiritaki "long tofu." It takes on the flavor of whatever you combine it with, having little flavor of it's own You can find it in the refrigerated section of a natural foods groceries or order it online. You must rinse it well to remove it's "fragrance." Heat it in soup, sauce or anything you'd use spaghetti for.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
What You Don't Know Can't Hurt You- NOT!
There are lots of old sayings against curiosity and learning. They encourage ignorance. Ignorance can spare you the emotional suffering that comes from knowing bad news. That's why we say, "Ignorance is bliss." A diabetic who is ignorant of the danger of an ice cream sundae can enjoy that sundae more than the one who knows what all that carbohydrate will do. The person who knows is likely to skip the ice cream entirely, which will feel like a deprivation even while the person can feel proud to have made a healthy choice. Things get complicated when you know.
Ever Think About Happiness?
Am I happy? Looking at life from the downhill side of middle-age, I see happiness in a way that might be different from the way most people see it. Happiness is a young person's quest. We look for happines when we think its possible to avoid the losses and disappointments and regrets and resentment that are just a part of life. I think more about, "Has there been enough of the good stuff in life?" I'm not thinking in terms of balancing the positives and the negatives, by saying the good outweighs the bad or counterbalances the bad. I'm thinking about how "shit happens" and can we endure it while feeling life is worth living. Does life bring enough love, joy, success, gratification to feel satisfied? Is there enough, that's all. Is life good enough.
Am I satisfied? Our actions can bring us regrets. We try and fail sometimes. Our hopes may end in disappointment. We all suffer losses and tragedy. We love; we hate.. we've been loved and hated. It's all part of life. Can you say you are satisfied with life? That's the important question. I am satisfied.
Am I satisfied? Our actions can bring us regrets. We try and fail sometimes. Our hopes may end in disappointment. We all suffer losses and tragedy. We love; we hate.. we've been loved and hated. It's all part of life. Can you say you are satisfied with life? That's the important question. I am satisfied.
Friday, May 28, 2010
A Funny Thing is Happening
Lettuce wraps to replace sandwiches generated some feedback of a most peculiar kind. In general readers' feedback has been positive, but peculiar. It's peculiar because it isn't coming from diabetics. It's coming from people living with diabetics. But, mostly, it's coming from people needing to change their diet to control inflammation. The first person to tell me how my recipes would help with inflammation piqued my curiosity. How interesting. Then came others. Very interesting!
I've started researching inflammation and discovered a connection between T2D and imflammation. I will keep you posted as I learn more.
I've started researching inflammation and discovered a connection between T2D and imflammation. I will keep you posted as I learn more.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Is Your Doctor Mad or Sad?
The Mad, as in Angry, Doctor. My internist friend, Dr. Debra, gets in a snit from time to time, "I am sick of getting calls from diabetics. They whine, 'My blood sugar is over 400 and I can't get it down.' At least once a day, someone is calling with high blood sugar. I am sick of it!" She gets mad inside. She gets mad because her patients take such poor care of themselves. She cares about their health more than they do. The frustration builds until she feels angry.
Dr. Debra knows how her patients get glucose levels over 400 mg/dl. They eat too much. They sit too much. They forget or skip their medication. They play games with their insulin. Most of the blood sugar emergencies come from things like devouring a bag of chips in front of the television or eating a whole pie at one sitting or a spaghetti dinner with canoli for desert. Each crisis happens to patients whole need to loose weight, but won't or can't for some reason.
Dr. Debra knows these blood sugar catastrophes can be prevented. That makes her angriest of all.
The Sad Doctor A family member died of a heart attack this past year. He was 50 years old, obese with uncontrolled blood sugar and high blood pressure. Mikey never believed his blood sugar posed a threat, "I don't feel sick. Don't you think I'd feel it if my blood sugar was too high?" He reasoned, "If my blood sugar is too high, my doctor should give me more medicine." He had similar ideas about his blood pressure. Mikey was an intelligent man, but ignorant. He thought warnings and instructions from his doctor were trivial things doctors just say.
Mikey's doctor told him about the connection between his high blood sugar and damage to his heart. Mikey laughed it off. Mikey's doctor told him loosing weight would help get his blood sugar under control. Mikey laughed that off, too. Mikey believed his doctor was going overboard with scare tactics. He took his medicine, he didn't feel sick. His logic told him he was fine and his doctor was exaggerating.
It was a very sad doctor who signed Mikey's death certificate.
Dr. Debra knows how her patients get glucose levels over 400 mg/dl. They eat too much. They sit too much. They forget or skip their medication. They play games with their insulin. Most of the blood sugar emergencies come from things like devouring a bag of chips in front of the television or eating a whole pie at one sitting or a spaghetti dinner with canoli for desert. Each crisis happens to patients whole need to loose weight, but won't or can't for some reason.
Dr. Debra knows these blood sugar catastrophes can be prevented. That makes her angriest of all.
The Sad Doctor A family member died of a heart attack this past year. He was 50 years old, obese with uncontrolled blood sugar and high blood pressure. Mikey never believed his blood sugar posed a threat, "I don't feel sick. Don't you think I'd feel it if my blood sugar was too high?" He reasoned, "If my blood sugar is too high, my doctor should give me more medicine." He had similar ideas about his blood pressure. Mikey was an intelligent man, but ignorant. He thought warnings and instructions from his doctor were trivial things doctors just say.
Mikey's doctor told him about the connection between his high blood sugar and damage to his heart. Mikey laughed it off. Mikey's doctor told him loosing weight would help get his blood sugar under control. Mikey laughed that off, too. Mikey believed his doctor was going overboard with scare tactics. He took his medicine, he didn't feel sick. His logic told him he was fine and his doctor was exaggerating.
It was a very sad doctor who signed Mikey's death certificate.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Traveling with T2D
I just returned from a trip to New York City with my two grandsons, Nino and Felix, and my daughter, Shannon. We all had a fine time with the Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Natural History and the Lion King.
We stayed in a suite hotel. A fully equipped kitchenette allowed us to cook for ourselves and store milk, juice, salad and sandwich makings. We ate out very little, in part, to save money and, in part, to have more nutritional meals than restaurant fare offers. With tasty lunches for the boys, we circumvented the lure of fast food. Nino and Felix like turkey sandwiches with lettuce and tomato. Shannon does, too. I had lettuce wraps with turkey and tomato. We splurged one lunch at a Broadway deli that offers quadruple stacked sandwiches. Nino and I shared a pastrami on rye that yielded enough extra pastrami for lunches the next day. Lettuce wrapped pastrami tastes great! Shannon and Felix shared a giant turkey sandwich with lots left over, too. One day, we had street food. Nino wanted to have NY hot dog, so he got one. Shannon, Felix and I had kabobs made entirely of meat. We all minded our calories and I minded my carbs the whole trip.
Whenever I travel, I prefer a hotel room with a kitchenette. With a stove and refrigerator, I can keep foods on hand to help me stick to my meal plan. Grocery shopping and cooking appeal to me, so what sounds like a chore is part of my enjoyment and relaxation when I travel. I have a cooking kit that I pack with me: seasoned salt, olive oil and a small chef knife (Since I check my luggage, its not a problem.) I also bring tea bags with me.
For breakfast, I like a small, about 1/4 cup, serving of cottage cheese. A good T2D breakfast can be oatmeal or cereal with milk, 1% or skim. Have a few berries, if your food plan permits. You just can't get that in a restaurant without paying too much for too large a serving.
The best lunches, at home and traveling, for those of us living with T2D include lots of vegetables, a little protein and limited carbohydrate. Salads, open-faced sandwiches, clear broth soups, lettuce wraps fill us with good fiber, vitamins and minerals and great flavor.
Dinner can be so easy, its shameful.. and the housekeeping staff does your dishes in the morning. Get yourself a cut of your favorite meat, in a reasonable amount rather than restaurant serving size amount. Pan grill it. Serve yourself a big green salad. You can make one for yourself at the grocery salad bar.. no potato salad or pasta! Have a little bread if you can handle the carbs, and you are all set.
Remember, too. You can bring your lunch on the plane as long as it is made of solid foods. Salads and sandwiches you make yourself will be better and better for you than airport food. It will also cost quite a bit less.
We stayed in a suite hotel. A fully equipped kitchenette allowed us to cook for ourselves and store milk, juice, salad and sandwich makings. We ate out very little, in part, to save money and, in part, to have more nutritional meals than restaurant fare offers. With tasty lunches for the boys, we circumvented the lure of fast food. Nino and Felix like turkey sandwiches with lettuce and tomato. Shannon does, too. I had lettuce wraps with turkey and tomato. We splurged one lunch at a Broadway deli that offers quadruple stacked sandwiches. Nino and I shared a pastrami on rye that yielded enough extra pastrami for lunches the next day. Lettuce wrapped pastrami tastes great! Shannon and Felix shared a giant turkey sandwich with lots left over, too. One day, we had street food. Nino wanted to have NY hot dog, so he got one. Shannon, Felix and I had kabobs made entirely of meat. We all minded our calories and I minded my carbs the whole trip.
Whenever I travel, I prefer a hotel room with a kitchenette. With a stove and refrigerator, I can keep foods on hand to help me stick to my meal plan. Grocery shopping and cooking appeal to me, so what sounds like a chore is part of my enjoyment and relaxation when I travel. I have a cooking kit that I pack with me: seasoned salt, olive oil and a small chef knife (Since I check my luggage, its not a problem.) I also bring tea bags with me.
For breakfast, I like a small, about 1/4 cup, serving of cottage cheese. A good T2D breakfast can be oatmeal or cereal with milk, 1% or skim. Have a few berries, if your food plan permits. You just can't get that in a restaurant without paying too much for too large a serving.
The best lunches, at home and traveling, for those of us living with T2D include lots of vegetables, a little protein and limited carbohydrate. Salads, open-faced sandwiches, clear broth soups, lettuce wraps fill us with good fiber, vitamins and minerals and great flavor.
Dinner can be so easy, its shameful.. and the housekeeping staff does your dishes in the morning. Get yourself a cut of your favorite meat, in a reasonable amount rather than restaurant serving size amount. Pan grill it. Serve yourself a big green salad. You can make one for yourself at the grocery salad bar.. no potato salad or pasta! Have a little bread if you can handle the carbs, and you are all set.
Remember, too. You can bring your lunch on the plane as long as it is made of solid foods. Salads and sandwiches you make yourself will be better and better for you than airport food. It will also cost quite a bit less.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day
Today being Mother's Day, Ted is taking me out for brunch at a favorite French Quarter restaurant. It's a perfect opportunity to talk about navigating a restaurant menu.
Remember, menus are the restaurant's sales instrument. Everything about it is designed to make you want to indulge.. eat everything. You know that feeling when you can't make up your mind because everything looks so good. Inducing that feeling is the menu's job.
Everything about a restaurant is designed to tempt. Restaurant decor has qualities that arouse desire, enhance your mind's perception of the food, urge you to eat more, and ease you into spending more money. Fast food chains have it down to a science proven to work. Let's take color for an example of a design element that encourages restaurant patrons to eat. Researchers found that certain colors, like shades of red, orange or yellow, jazz up your appetite. Complex colors, like peach, aqua, and burgundy, make you perceive the food as more delicious. Some colors, like blue and white, minimize excitement about food. When you see a white tablecloth, you will always see colorful flowers to counterbalance the effect of the whiteness. Often you will see wooden items or baskets or green accents to keep the white from being boring or dampening your excitement for the food. Red tablecloths make people eat faster.
The restaurant's tactics tempt us. They also add to our pleasure in eating out. We enjoy our food more when restaurants uses all the tricks. It's why we eat out, to enjoy the food. We will choose the restaurant that gives us the most pleasurable experience.
Resisting Restaurant Temptations For someone living with T2D, the alluring offerings can seduce us to make some dangerous choices. With temptation enticing us to stray from our diets, we need strategies to help us keep our resolve. I've devised a few that I'd like to share.
Bread I love bread especially dense bread like sourdough French or crusty Italian. I struggle to resist them. If my dining companions agree, I'll ask the wait staff to take it away. If I'm eating with someone who loves bread, I ask them to keep the bread on their side of the table. If the bread smells good, and I get a whiff, I'm in trouble. I will allow myself a very small piece, just to taste. With practice, I trained myself to limit myself when I must taste and only when I must. Mostly I avoid.
When sandwiches are the order of the day. Eat the filling and give the bread to your companion. Most sandwiches can be turned into lettuce wraps, a yummy alternative to a sandwich. Restaurants will bring you lettuce leaves if you ask them. They will also serve the sandwich filling on a salad. If you must have a sandwich, have it open faced.
Potato I love potatoes, too. Who doesn't? French fried, mashed, baked, hash brown. Potato salad, Lyonaise, scalloped, potato chips and home fries. Yummy and dangerous to our blood sugar. I haven't been successful with training myself to limit myself to a taste.
I usually ask for the potato to be replaced by extra vegetables. Restaurants will happily do that for you.
Rice I learned from testing my blood sugar that rice, even in small quantities, sends my blood sugar skyrocketing, a quirk of my particular metabolism not necessarily present for other people living with T2D. Testing yourself 2 1/2 hours after eating will tell you which foods will shoot your blood sugar up. Rice is one of my nemeses. So, I avoid rice.
Other people find brown rice, because it has some fiber, has less impact on their blood sugar than white rice. Full meal servings of dishes like fried rice and paella are far too much. Limit such dishes to a 1/2 cup side portion.
Starchy Vegetables Corn, sweet potato, winter squash and peas get treated like vegetables, but we with T2D need to think of them as starches like potatoes and bread. They are sources of fiber that can help with cholesterol, but they are high in carbohydrate, the substance that balloons our blood sugar. If you have a starchy vegetable, skip the bread, potato or rice because you have gotten your meal's quota of carbs in your vegetables.
Vegetables: Leafy, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red Here's where we can indulge. Cucumbers, spinach, cauliflower, summer squashes (yellow crook-neck, zucchini, patty pan) have so little carbohydrate we can eat lots. Broccoli, green beans, peppers, onion, cabbage are good-for-you choices. You can always order a steamed vegetable plate, even when its not on the menu.
We can eat salads with abandon, as long as we exercise caution with the dressing and toppings. Dressing on the side is the best strategy. Dip your fork into the dressing then into your salad. You get the taste of the dressing with the vegetables. Skip the croutons. Keep fruit like pears, apples or dried cherries to a minimum. They add unwanted carbs.
Pancakes, Waffles, and French Toast Pass them by entirely. Choose something else. For controlling carbohydrate intake, eggs are a better choice. Eggs Benedict without the English muffin is quite good. Of course, you need to balance that with your cholesterol restrictions.
Cereal, Oatmeal Most people like a big bowl of cereal and milk.. about 3 servings worth. 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cereal and a little milk is a serving. Take less if you are adding fruit. Nuts make a more T2D friendly topping. Raisins? Only 6 itty-bitty raisins. They are concentrated carb capsules.
Fruit Oh, it looks so harmless! We have lots of ways to rationalize indulging in fruit. It's natural, we say. It has fiber, we say. In truth, many fruits are sugar bombs. One fruit serving should be 15 grams of carbohydrate. Most of the time, we eat far more than a serving. When we eat a nice big apple, we are getting 2-3 servings in one piece of fruit. Half of a banana is one serving. Six to eight grapes, 1/2 cup of berries, one skinny slice of melon, one half of a small grapefruit each represent one serving. Not much to eat before you cross over into too much. Eat dried fruit cautiously, especially when it is sugared.
Eating fruit whole is far better than drinking the juice. The whole fruit has fiber, which helps your body handle carbohydrates. Dr. Melvin, my endocrinologist, when I first began working with him said, "No fruit juice. Ever." For me, that was one of the easiest restrictions to follow. I prefer water over juice anyway.
Beverages Water, Adam's Ale, is the best drink of all. With a squeeze of lemon, a very pleasant drink with dinner. You already know what to avoid: sweetened ice tea; sugar or corn syrup sweetened soda; beer; fruit-juiced based or sugared cocktails; sweet wines and liqueurs; sugar in your coffee or tea; non-dairy creamers in your coffee. Milk has some carbs, about 8 ounces is a serving. Wine and spirits have little or no carbohydrate. There are three cautions about alcoholic beverages: 1) they might lower your blood sugar too much; 2) alcohol can cloud your judgement and lead to some unhealthy choices; 3) alcohol taxes your liver.
Desert Skipping it entirely is best. Sharing it with someone else is good; the more people sharing, the better. Ted and I love to sample every restaurant's creme brulee. I have two teaspoons and he eats the rest. It works for us.
Rules of Thumb To summarize: 1) Avoid high carb foods if you can. If you cannot, allow yourself a taste; 2) Exercise portion control. Keep serving sizes small, usually half of a restaurant portion is a healthy serving size; 3) Indulge in green, yellow, red vegetables watching for dressings and toppings that add unwanted carbs; 4) Drink water; 5) Enjoy the experience.
Remember, menus are the restaurant's sales instrument. Everything about it is designed to make you want to indulge.. eat everything. You know that feeling when you can't make up your mind because everything looks so good. Inducing that feeling is the menu's job.
Everything about a restaurant is designed to tempt. Restaurant decor has qualities that arouse desire, enhance your mind's perception of the food, urge you to eat more, and ease you into spending more money. Fast food chains have it down to a science proven to work. Let's take color for an example of a design element that encourages restaurant patrons to eat. Researchers found that certain colors, like shades of red, orange or yellow, jazz up your appetite. Complex colors, like peach, aqua, and burgundy, make you perceive the food as more delicious. Some colors, like blue and white, minimize excitement about food. When you see a white tablecloth, you will always see colorful flowers to counterbalance the effect of the whiteness. Often you will see wooden items or baskets or green accents to keep the white from being boring or dampening your excitement for the food. Red tablecloths make people eat faster.
The restaurant's tactics tempt us. They also add to our pleasure in eating out. We enjoy our food more when restaurants uses all the tricks. It's why we eat out, to enjoy the food. We will choose the restaurant that gives us the most pleasurable experience.
Resisting Restaurant Temptations For someone living with T2D, the alluring offerings can seduce us to make some dangerous choices. With temptation enticing us to stray from our diets, we need strategies to help us keep our resolve. I've devised a few that I'd like to share.
Bread I love bread especially dense bread like sourdough French or crusty Italian. I struggle to resist them. If my dining companions agree, I'll ask the wait staff to take it away. If I'm eating with someone who loves bread, I ask them to keep the bread on their side of the table. If the bread smells good, and I get a whiff, I'm in trouble. I will allow myself a very small piece, just to taste. With practice, I trained myself to limit myself when I must taste and only when I must. Mostly I avoid.
When sandwiches are the order of the day. Eat the filling and give the bread to your companion. Most sandwiches can be turned into lettuce wraps, a yummy alternative to a sandwich. Restaurants will bring you lettuce leaves if you ask them. They will also serve the sandwich filling on a salad. If you must have a sandwich, have it open faced.
Potato I love potatoes, too. Who doesn't? French fried, mashed, baked, hash brown. Potato salad, Lyonaise, scalloped, potato chips and home fries. Yummy and dangerous to our blood sugar. I haven't been successful with training myself to limit myself to a taste.
I usually ask for the potato to be replaced by extra vegetables. Restaurants will happily do that for you.
Rice I learned from testing my blood sugar that rice, even in small quantities, sends my blood sugar skyrocketing, a quirk of my particular metabolism not necessarily present for other people living with T2D. Testing yourself 2 1/2 hours after eating will tell you which foods will shoot your blood sugar up. Rice is one of my nemeses. So, I avoid rice.
Other people find brown rice, because it has some fiber, has less impact on their blood sugar than white rice. Full meal servings of dishes like fried rice and paella are far too much. Limit such dishes to a 1/2 cup side portion.
Starchy Vegetables Corn, sweet potato, winter squash and peas get treated like vegetables, but we with T2D need to think of them as starches like potatoes and bread. They are sources of fiber that can help with cholesterol, but they are high in carbohydrate, the substance that balloons our blood sugar. If you have a starchy vegetable, skip the bread, potato or rice because you have gotten your meal's quota of carbs in your vegetables.
Vegetables: Leafy, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red Here's where we can indulge. Cucumbers, spinach, cauliflower, summer squashes (yellow crook-neck, zucchini, patty pan) have so little carbohydrate we can eat lots. Broccoli, green beans, peppers, onion, cabbage are good-for-you choices. You can always order a steamed vegetable plate, even when its not on the menu.
We can eat salads with abandon, as long as we exercise caution with the dressing and toppings. Dressing on the side is the best strategy. Dip your fork into the dressing then into your salad. You get the taste of the dressing with the vegetables. Skip the croutons. Keep fruit like pears, apples or dried cherries to a minimum. They add unwanted carbs.
Pancakes, Waffles, and French Toast Pass them by entirely. Choose something else. For controlling carbohydrate intake, eggs are a better choice. Eggs Benedict without the English muffin is quite good. Of course, you need to balance that with your cholesterol restrictions.
Cereal, Oatmeal Most people like a big bowl of cereal and milk.. about 3 servings worth. 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cereal and a little milk is a serving. Take less if you are adding fruit. Nuts make a more T2D friendly topping. Raisins? Only 6 itty-bitty raisins. They are concentrated carb capsules.
Fruit Oh, it looks so harmless! We have lots of ways to rationalize indulging in fruit. It's natural, we say. It has fiber, we say. In truth, many fruits are sugar bombs. One fruit serving should be 15 grams of carbohydrate. Most of the time, we eat far more than a serving. When we eat a nice big apple, we are getting 2-3 servings in one piece of fruit. Half of a banana is one serving. Six to eight grapes, 1/2 cup of berries, one skinny slice of melon, one half of a small grapefruit each represent one serving. Not much to eat before you cross over into too much. Eat dried fruit cautiously, especially when it is sugared.
Eating fruit whole is far better than drinking the juice. The whole fruit has fiber, which helps your body handle carbohydrates. Dr. Melvin, my endocrinologist, when I first began working with him said, "No fruit juice. Ever." For me, that was one of the easiest restrictions to follow. I prefer water over juice anyway.
Beverages Water, Adam's Ale, is the best drink of all. With a squeeze of lemon, a very pleasant drink with dinner. You already know what to avoid: sweetened ice tea; sugar or corn syrup sweetened soda; beer; fruit-juiced based or sugared cocktails; sweet wines and liqueurs; sugar in your coffee or tea; non-dairy creamers in your coffee. Milk has some carbs, about 8 ounces is a serving. Wine and spirits have little or no carbohydrate. There are three cautions about alcoholic beverages: 1) they might lower your blood sugar too much; 2) alcohol can cloud your judgement and lead to some unhealthy choices; 3) alcohol taxes your liver.
Desert Skipping it entirely is best. Sharing it with someone else is good; the more people sharing, the better. Ted and I love to sample every restaurant's creme brulee. I have two teaspoons and he eats the rest. It works for us.
Rules of Thumb To summarize: 1) Avoid high carb foods if you can. If you cannot, allow yourself a taste; 2) Exercise portion control. Keep serving sizes small, usually half of a restaurant portion is a healthy serving size; 3) Indulge in green, yellow, red vegetables watching for dressings and toppings that add unwanted carbs; 4) Drink water; 5) Enjoy the experience.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Insulin, My Best Friend
Insulin Dependent by Choice Too often, T2D people wait until they can no longer produce their own insulin to begin injecting insulin. They, and their doctors, wait until there's nothing else avilable to help them manage their blood sugar. Insulin becomes the last hope, the desperate final treatment. I want you to know how mistaken we are to think of insulin injections that way.
I started injecting insulin because what I learned about the pills' side effects scared me. Some meds put enormous stress on your heart. People have heart attacks, some die, caused by their diabetic medicine. Some meds force your pancreas to work harder to produce insulin, wearing it out. Your kidneys, too, have to work harder and suffer some damage.
When you start insulin injections early, you spare your pancreas, kidneys and heart the beating the meds give them. The insulin supplements the insulin your body naturally produces.
T2D, Insulin Resistance Type 2 Diabetes happens when your body cannot use your insulin properly. Insulin cannot do its job. Insulin takes sugar out of your blood stream and puts it into your muscles where it is used for fuel. Inuslin also tells your liver to stop making more sugar when there's enough in your blood stream. Between the foods we eat and our livers producing sugar, our blood sugar goes up when our bodies are resisting insulin. Insulin injections boost insulin blood levels to give the sugar out of the blood stream.
See What I Have to Say Please take a side trip to this website: http://changingdiabetes-us.com. When you get there, click on the "Voices of Diabetes" tab on the menu bar. The next page will have a side menu. Click on "Patient Video." You will see a blond woman with a play icon in the middle of her face. That's me. Play it and hear me talk about overcoming my fear of injecting and other things about living with Type 2 Diabetes. While your there, explore other pages and videos this site has to offer. There's lots of information and inspiration for you.
I started injecting insulin because what I learned about the pills' side effects scared me. Some meds put enormous stress on your heart. People have heart attacks, some die, caused by their diabetic medicine. Some meds force your pancreas to work harder to produce insulin, wearing it out. Your kidneys, too, have to work harder and suffer some damage.
When you start insulin injections early, you spare your pancreas, kidneys and heart the beating the meds give them. The insulin supplements the insulin your body naturally produces.
T2D, Insulin Resistance Type 2 Diabetes happens when your body cannot use your insulin properly. Insulin cannot do its job. Insulin takes sugar out of your blood stream and puts it into your muscles where it is used for fuel. Inuslin also tells your liver to stop making more sugar when there's enough in your blood stream. Between the foods we eat and our livers producing sugar, our blood sugar goes up when our bodies are resisting insulin. Insulin injections boost insulin blood levels to give the sugar out of the blood stream.
See What I Have to Say Please take a side trip to this website: http://changingdiabetes-us.com. When you get there, click on the "Voices of Diabetes" tab on the menu bar. The next page will have a side menu. Click on "Patient Video." You will see a blond woman with a play icon in the middle of her face. That's me. Play it and hear me talk about overcoming my fear of injecting and other things about living with Type 2 Diabetes. While your there, explore other pages and videos this site has to offer. There's lots of information and inspiration for you.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Cinco de Mayo Burgers
Modified Mexican For our dinner last night, Ted and I made hamburgers, customized to our nutritional needs, with a Mexican flare. Ted made the burgers and I made the vegetables. Ted had his burger on a tortilla and I had mine on a bed of lettuce.
Cinco de Mayo Burgers
Queso Salsa Salad
2 tomatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 green onions, slice into small rounds
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 c chopped cilantro
2 oz queso fresca (Mexican cheese) or Monterrey Jack, cubed
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkling of chili powder, optional
small dusting of cayenne pepper, optional
1/4 lemon
olive oil to drizzle
Combine the vegetables in a medium bowl. Season to your liking. Squeeze the lemon over all. Lightly drizzle olive oil over all. Mix and set aside until the burgers are done.
Romaine lettuce
Tear some leaves into a bowl. About three cups make generous servings for two. (Any leftover torn lettuce can be stored for a lunch salad tomorrow.)
The Burger
1/2 lb 85% lean ground chuck
1 or 2 Flour tortillas (for the non-T2D dinner companion), heated in the microwave
Make the ground chuck into two patties. Grill, broil, or pan fry in a none stick frypan to desired doneness.
Serve the burger sitting on the bed of lettuce and generoulsly topped with the Queso Salsa. Those who can eat tortillas will enjoy wraping burger, lettuce and salsa in a tortilla, buritto style.
Cinco de Mayo Burgers
Queso Salsa Salad
2 tomatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 green onions, slice into small rounds
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 c chopped cilantro
2 oz queso fresca (Mexican cheese) or Monterrey Jack, cubed
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkling of chili powder, optional
small dusting of cayenne pepper, optional
1/4 lemon
olive oil to drizzle
Combine the vegetables in a medium bowl. Season to your liking. Squeeze the lemon over all. Lightly drizzle olive oil over all. Mix and set aside until the burgers are done.
Romaine lettuce
Tear some leaves into a bowl. About three cups make generous servings for two. (Any leftover torn lettuce can be stored for a lunch salad tomorrow.)
The Burger
1/2 lb 85% lean ground chuck
1 or 2 Flour tortillas (for the non-T2D dinner companion), heated in the microwave
Make the ground chuck into two patties. Grill, broil, or pan fry in a none stick frypan to desired doneness.
Serve the burger sitting on the bed of lettuce and generoulsly topped with the Queso Salsa. Those who can eat tortillas will enjoy wraping burger, lettuce and salsa in a tortilla, buritto style.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Cinco de Mayo
Ola! Today is the day you see sombreros in the grocery store and lady check-out clerks bedecked with flower garlands on their heads. It's a celebration of Mexico's culture. That, of course, includes food. We all love Mexican food.
For people with T2D, Mexican food can be a mine field of temptation: rice; refried beans; tortillas. They are all dense carbohydrates. To control our blood sugar, we need to control carb intake. That means: 1/4-1/2 cup rice; or 1/3 cup refried beans; or 1/3-1/4 of a flour tortilla, depending on the size. No one eats such tiny quantities of these foods, no one. Imagine trying to make a burrito out of 1/4 of a tortilla.. not a pretty sight... or a tasty thought. Think of the little dab of refried beans that is 1/3 of a cup.. pitiful. A 1/2 cup serving of rice isn't quite as paltry as the other examples of T2D carb control, but a plate at a Mexican restaurant will have much more, as much as 2 cups.
It is possible to celebrate Mexican food. Making a T2D Mexican meal is easy. I'll tell you more later. Most of you will go to a Mexican restaurant to get your Cinco de Mayo meal. So, I'll start there.
Mexican Restaurant Strategy A standard Mexican restaurant offering that is great for people with T2D is Fajitas. It's marinated chicken or beef grilled with vegetable like bell pepper and onions.. tasty and very safe. Of course there's a down side. You must skip the tortillas. Give them to someone. If you know you can't resist, ask the waiter not to bring them. Albondigas, Mexican meatballs, are a good choice, too. A salad is always a good choice when you go light on the dressing.. And, don't eat the tortilla bowl.
Resisting temptation is hard to do. I know. It's important to do your best to let the high carb goodies pass you by.
For people with T2D, Mexican food can be a mine field of temptation: rice; refried beans; tortillas. They are all dense carbohydrates. To control our blood sugar, we need to control carb intake. That means: 1/4-1/2 cup rice; or 1/3 cup refried beans; or 1/3-1/4 of a flour tortilla, depending on the size. No one eats such tiny quantities of these foods, no one. Imagine trying to make a burrito out of 1/4 of a tortilla.. not a pretty sight... or a tasty thought. Think of the little dab of refried beans that is 1/3 of a cup.. pitiful. A 1/2 cup serving of rice isn't quite as paltry as the other examples of T2D carb control, but a plate at a Mexican restaurant will have much more, as much as 2 cups.
It is possible to celebrate Mexican food. Making a T2D Mexican meal is easy. I'll tell you more later. Most of you will go to a Mexican restaurant to get your Cinco de Mayo meal. So, I'll start there.
Mexican Restaurant Strategy A standard Mexican restaurant offering that is great for people with T2D is Fajitas. It's marinated chicken or beef grilled with vegetable like bell pepper and onions.. tasty and very safe. Of course there's a down side. You must skip the tortillas. Give them to someone. If you know you can't resist, ask the waiter not to bring them. Albondigas, Mexican meatballs, are a good choice, too. A salad is always a good choice when you go light on the dressing.. And, don't eat the tortilla bowl.
Resisting temptation is hard to do. I know. It's important to do your best to let the high carb goodies pass you by.
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