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.
Friday, May 28, 2010
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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