BLUEBERRY SHAKE

This is the season for blueberries! Not only does the blueberry shake taste great, but it is packed with antioxidants. You can use any fruit in this basic recipe, but blueberries are a wonderful treat!

BLUEBERRY SHAKE:

1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese
1 cup water
stevia or splenda to taste
1 cup blueberries
1 scoop vanilla whey protein

Blend all in a blender. Add one cup ice and blend again.

Fat 3 gm, Carbs 30 gm, Protein 30 gm

CHICKEN TOSTADAS

CHICKEN TOSTADAS
makes 6 servings

6 Mission Low-Carb Tortillas
PAM cooking spray
1 lb cooked chicken breast
2 cups refried beans
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup chopped onions
shredded lettuce
3 oz grated cheese

Spray tortillas with cooking spray and bake for 5 minutes at 425F, or until crisp. Debone chicken and chop. Spread refried beans over cooked tortillas. Add chicken, salsa, cheese and lettuce. Add chopped onions.

Fat 9 gm, Carbs 28gm, Protein 33gm, Fiber 12gm

LEARNING TO LOVE NUMBERS

I have many people that ask why we need to get so exact that we need to count grams of fat, protein, and carbs. The answer is surprising: by learning to count, we get the freedom to use any food we want, as long as we hit the target numbers. Rather than talking about "eat more protein, and cut back on carbs" - we find many ways we can "cheat" on the diet, and still hit our targets. For instance, Blue Bunny makes a really good sugar free ice cream, and sometimes I want that after dinner. As long as I am hitting my targets, it is fine!

The other reason to learn to love numbers and logging is that it teaches you where your fat, protein and carbs are coming from. After one year of logging, I know exactly how many carbs and protein grams are in my best loved foods. And I can plan around that and hit my numbers.

Most people cannot believe how great they feel when they are hitting their targets. So, logging, and learning to hit targets is a necessary step. You will be a different person, a Ph.D. in food, and your body will show it!

DIET TO NORMALIZE BLOOD SUGAR

FOR WOMEN:
5'7" and under = 25gm fat 90 gm protein, 90 carb gram daily
5'7" and over = 25gm fat, 100gm protein, 100gm carb daily

FOR MEN:
5'7" and under 30gm fat, 100gm protein, 100gm carb daily
5'7" and over 30 gm fat, 125gm protein, 125gm carb daily

BE SURE TO ADD A PROTEIN BAR TO THESE TARGETS IF YOU EXERCISE 30 MINUTES.ALSO, BE SURE TO TAKE YOUR OMEGA 3 SUPPLEMENTS IN ADDITION, 10GM FLAX OR FISH OIL OR COCONUT OIL.

Remember, mildly hungry, not starving. If you are starving, you are losing muscle. That means you are slowing your metabolism.

Viola! Hunger and tiredness disappear the 2nd day of this!
YAY!!!!!

PROTEIN SHAKE FOR MEN

Lots of you love the Reese's shake, which tastes like chocolate and peanut butter, with 30 gm protein for great blood sugar balancing. But the 13 carbs in a Reese's shake are not enough for the larger amounts of muscle mass that men have. This shake has more carbs, balanced with protein.

So, here is a recipe for a protein shake for men:

1 cup 2% skim milk
1 scoop whey protein
1 cup frozen fruit
splenda or stevia to taste

Blend all in blender. Add one cup ice and blend again.

Fat 6 gm, Carbs 34 gm, Protein 27 gm, Calories 299

Great combinations of whey protein and fruit include chocolate whey protein with strawberries, or rasberries. If you like vanilla, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries also work well.

WHAT YOU EAT IS WHAT YOU FEEL

When I first started to manage my blood glucose with food, by hitting my target numbers for fat, protein, and carbs, I was simply stunned. I could not believe how much better I felt, starting with DAY 2 of this balanced carb and protein diet. Where before, I was hungry and tired all the time, by DAY 2 of the diet, the hunger had gone away, and my tiredness disappeared.

My sin was eating the average American diet. Once I began getting adequate protein, with half of my protein from whey protein, the hunger just went out the window. Instantly. Then, as I learned that the 100 gm of carbs to go with my 100 gm protein would not leave me craving carbs, my new way of life became complete.

This is a much better way of treating diabetes. Just learn to hit your target numbers. The target numbers are derived from 1 gm protein and 1 gm carbs for every pound of lean body mass. When you feed your body what it needs, the outrageous desire for more and more carbs just disappears.

Once I started hitting my target numbers, I felt BETTER from day to day, not worse, yet I was still losing weight! And my need for medications just disappeared.

So, if you want to feel better, learn to give your body the fuel mixture it is asking for. We know that if you learn to hit your target numbers for fat, protein, and carbs, that the body loses fat and gains muscle all on it's own. How much more of a clue do you need?

This is super nourishment on far fewer calories. Learn to live on lean protein, good carbs, and low fat. The stuff humanity has eaten for millenia. And you feel so much better!

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET

If you get a C-Reactive protein test, you will have a measure of the amount of inflammation in your body. This inflammation is the root of just about every disease: diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure problems, and a whole host of human misery. The wonderful thing, though, is that you can control the amount of inflammation in your body by the use of food.

Many other people, more educated than I, have written about this on the internet. What I offer is a food oriented way for diabetics to reduce their need for insulin and other medications. When glucose comes under control, then we can call this an anti-inflammatory diet.

The best way to control glucose, and to reduce inflammation, is to eat one gram of protein for each gram of carbs you eat. The protein builds muscle over the long term and raises your metabolic rate. When protein is taken gram - for - gram with carbs (get the good carbs, you know what they are!) then blood sugar tends to balance out on its own. The best quality protein with the lowest fat is whey protein.

The Omega 3's also play an irreplacable part - you must have them to build cell walls that allow glucose inside.

And other supplements are key for diabetics. See my posts on alpha lipoic acid, benfotiamine, and coQ10.

But the single most important thing you can do for yourself is to learn to hit your target numbers for fat, protein, and carbs. It is low fat - 25 to 40 gm fat, depending on activity level, and then 1 gm protein and 1 gm carbs for each pound of lean muscle mass. For most females, this is 90 to 100 gm protein daily, and 90 to 100 gm carbs daily. When you hit these target numbers, you are feeding your lean muscle mass and starving off the fat.

So, ya have to count. Log sheets are the only way for beginners. Luckily, most of us get the pattern fairly quickly and learn how much better we feel each day as we lose weight and gain muscle. Since morbid obesity is the common problem with diabetes, here is a solution that offers knowledge of food composition as a way to reduce inflammation.