Posts Tagged ‘Diabetes’
Some Good Food for Diabetics
May 3, 2008
Like what I mentioned during my previous entry, I was soooo excited to try out the recipes on my new cookbook by Betty Crocker. So last Saturday, with the book in front of me, I planned out the dishes that I was going to prepare based on the Carb Choice scheme. I planned on cooking some pork, some chicken, and a dessert. I also bought ingredients for some other recipes that were in the book for next weekends’ cooking.
Since I wouldn’t have time to do some serious cooking during the week due to my work schedule, I have to prepare about 2 – 3 meals all at once for the whole week. So that’s what I did last Saturday. I went to the grocery to get the ingredients I would need plus I also bought some tuna in cans, a fat-free mayo, some pickle relish to make some tuna salad and some chicken salad from our leftover chicken we bought from Sam’s Club yesterday. I promised my mother-in-law that I was going to make her some tuna salad and chicken salad for my husband’s nephew who just started working. (She prepares his lunch. Such a sweetie my MIL is 
So there I was, back from the supermarket. I immediately started on the tuna and chicken salads first. Nothing special with those altho I added some slices of sun-dried tomatoes on the chicken salad that I made just to give it some extra zing.
Then I went on and cooked the “Asian Pork and Noodle Soup” and the “Cheesy Chicken Pasta Stew” from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. While I was preparing all the ingredients, slicing all the meat, chopping up the onions and the carrots and what-have-you’s, I was a little bit doubtful if they would turn out good since my impression was, diabetes cooking was going to be bland, to say the least. So, since this is my new lifestyle now, I braced myself for the “disappointment” I might experience.
But was I so surprised! They really, really, really tasted soooooooooooo GOOD! You wouldn’t even think that they were made for diabetic people because they were so flavorful. The Asian Pork and Noodle Soup tasted a bit like the Filipinos’ Tinola (due to the scent and taste of ginger) and the Cheesy Chicken Pasta Stew was to die for!
Unfortunately, due to copyright constraints, I cannot write down the recipe here. But I can probably give you the nutritional information for each of them and I can show you pictures of how they came out.
- 1 serving: 235 calories
- Fiber: 2g
- Sodium: 160mg
- Cholesterol: 70mg
- Protein: 26g
- Carbohydrate: 15g (which translates to 1 Carb Choice!)
- 1 serving: 325 calories
- Fiber: 2g
- Sodium: 440mg
- Fat: 15g (Saturated 8g)
- Protein: 27g
- Cholesterol: 80mg
- Carbohydrate: 21g (1 1/2 Carb Choice)
Posted in Cooking Wonders, Diabetes | 
Tags: Betty Crocker Diabetes Cooking, Cooking, Diabetes | 
1 Comment »
Diabetes on the 2nd Week
April 30, 2008
Today ends week 2 of my now type-2 diabetic life since I was diagnosed last April 16. I have to log this in here because I don’t want to forget when to celebrate my diabetes anniversaries (ha ha ha).
Much has changed in the past two weeks. For one, I’ve totally stopped eating rice. That’s a feat considering that I’m Filipino and rice is part of my meals almost 3 times a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks in a year in my 43 years of life in this earth. (That’s 31,304 meals, at least.) I’ve also said goodbye to fruit juices, sodas and chocolates. I’ve been drinking more water instead.
Second, I’ve started exercising and counting my steps. I’ve enrolled in the 10,000 Steps program sponsored by my office and Kaiser Permanente and I’m on my second day on the pedometer they sent as part of the program. I’ve put in 11,000+ steps last Monday but went down to 5,400 steps yesterday. Yes, flog me, I’m human. I get lazy, too… sometimes.
I’m now 130lbs from the monstrous (hehehe) 137 lbs I used to be before that ominous meeting with my doctor. That’s good, right? Not the meeting but the weight loss. That’s like 3.5 lbs in a week! So I have about 20 to 25 more lbs to go. When I lose all that (in about 5 weeks maybe???), I should be at my ideal weight and I can then share clothes with my two skinny sisters.
Also, being the geek that I am and because I wanted to know more about diabetes and how to live with it, I ordered 2 books from Amazon.com. The first one is called “The First Year Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed” by Gretchen Becker. The book introduces Type 2 diabetes to one who was just newly-diagnosed with it and walks you through your first year of having the disease. I have to admit that it was overwhelming for me – with all the things I need to keep in mind. Until I realized that I should read the book piecemeal by piecemeal. The book is divided into what you need to know on Day 1, Day 2, The first week, 2nd week, 3rd month, etc. So if you’re on week 3 of being diabetic, then that would be the only time to read that part of the book. (Hmmmm… that’s what I get for not reading the preface.) It’s a good book, tho, once I got passed being overwhelmed. I have it on my bedside table and this time around, I read it the way its supposed to be read.
The other book, I’m more enthusiastic about. It’s called “Betty Crocker’s Diabetes Cookbook: Everyday Meals, Easy as 1-2-3” and this one, totally liberated me from my gloom. I was having the notion that since I have to go on a strict low-carb diet that there was nothing else that I could eat except romaine lettuce day in and day out short of turning into a rabbit as the days passed on. This book gave me other options.
The Betty Crocker cookbook talks about Carb Choices in maintaining your meal carb intake. As long as you stay within your allowed number of carb choice per meal, you can practically eat anything. It makes you think also about what you eat and how much of it you’re willing to have. Like, if you want another piece of oatmeal brownie (which counts as 2 Carb Choices) for dessert, then you have to forego something else with also 2 carb choices for that meal.
How do you compute for Carb Choices? Basically, every 15 grams of carbohydrate that’s specified on the nutrition information is considered 1 Carb Choice. And the three main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), you’re allowed 3-4 Carb Choices and each snack meal, 1-2 Carb Choices. So the cookbook tells you how much Carb Choices there are per serving for the recipes they featured and from thereon, you’d be able to plan out your meals. (More on Carb Choices next entry.)
So, aside from the obvious fact that I want to continue to live until I’ve seen the last of my nephews and nieces have their own kids, my more immediate goal is that when I go and have my blood work done in 3 months, my wonderful doctor would tell me that I’m in the pre-diabetic level and my numbers have improved dramatically.
Then that would be a very good day for me.
Hmmmm… I wonder if after I’ve gotten to my ideal weight, would that hotdog toaster I saw from my friend’s website be a good idea then? Just because it looks reallyyyyyy fun to have
Posted in Diabetes | Tags: Betty Crocker, Carb Choices, Diabetes, Diabetes Books, Hotdog Toaster, The first year, Type 2 | 2 Comments »
A Sweet Life… No More :(
April 22, 2008
Just last week I had been diagnosed by my doctor to have Type-2 Diabetes. Since my oral glucose tolerance test on the first weekend of April, I had a slight inkling that my doctor was going to say that. I really was not watching my diet and my weight considering that my mom’s side has a history of Diabetes. So it’s partly my fault. I should’ve been like my two sisters, they’re not, and never had been, on the chubby side. I guess, being the first-born child, I get all the “bad genes” – the fats, the diseases, all of it, I caught with a huge pail in front of me. Ha Ha Ha.
So when my doctor’s nurse left a message on our answering machine telling me to pick up the new prescriptions my doctor wrote for me, I half-knew it was for diabetes. I called her back and ask if I can get an appointmet with Dr. Alegado so that I can discuss this with him. So last Wednesday, in his office, he finally told me. The results of my Oral Glucose Tolerance Test showed that my sugar level is on the borderline – like really, really, reallyyyyyyyy right there on the border (126 mg/dl). Its like one foot in and the other foot out. But since one’s in, I might as well be considered inside. (‘Makes sense?)
My doctor hasn’t put up on the home test kit – yet. He’s giving me 3 months on my new meds (Avandamet) and then I’d have to go for another set of blood tests. And I have to make sure the numbers turn out good. So for the meantime, I’m staying away from the carbs – just vegetables and fruits and not a lot of bread, no white sugar and no rice. (Gosh, can you imagine an asian woman not eating white rice ever? Pure hell!)
And I’ve started exercising also. I even bought Leslie Sansone’s Walk Slim 4 Fast Miles and George Foreman’s Walk and Box. It seems to be working, I have to say. I’ve only been doing this for 5 days (the revised diet plan for 5 days and the exercise for 4) and I’ve lost 2 lbs already! So I guess, if you set your mind to it, you’d be able to accomplish your goal. And for me, not doing the daily blood testing is my goal. I want to be healthy to live longer and I know that Diabetes can be a bad disease if you let it.
So wish my luck. It’s going to be a battle but I’m ready. I’ll be posting my developments here. That way I’d be able to monitor my activities. I’m still lazy to jot down everything I eat so I won’t do that until I need to be on the daily blood test. And hopefully I don’t have to do that either.
