Healthy Eating

When my sister and neice and one year old nephew visited Saturday, it wasn't long before we headed to the Winkle traditional trip to Frisch's Restaurant. A Big Boy, onion rings, cole slaw or salad is a favorite in my family. Dad took us all when we were little. And, we love a day off from healthy eating!

One time my hereford steer won Reserve Champion at the Brown County Fair and Mr. Frisch bought it. But he gave it to my 4-H Club Leader Fred Stivers and he showed it all over the east coast after the fair!

I am sure that steer ended up on a bunch of people's dinner plate but my 4-H Advisor had fun with him first. Now I am older and have to eat more cereal and less beef. Sometimes that is just plain hard to do.

We liked the Museli in New Zealand and got back to our eating of Hodgson's Mills Golden Flax Cereal on cool days for a hot, healthy breakfast.

Some of you are Type 1 or Type 2 diabetics and I am close enough I don't want to be one.

Here is Hodgson's Mills take on gluten free foods for health and diabetes:

Diabetes
Living with Diabetes
Our featured article was contributed by diabetes expert Terri Miller, RN, BSN, PHN, CDE. Terri was very compassionate about helping people live a normal, active life with diabetes because she herself had Type 1 Diabetes for 30 years.

MNT: Medical Nutrition Therapy
As I was driving to work last week, I started thinking about the diabetes diet. For some reason, I began saying the words out loud, Diabetic Diet. I noticed something immediately. There is no way to say, Diabetic Diet with a smile on your face. In fact, I almost had to frown just to say the words correctly. What a pain to know that it is impossible to even say the words without a bit of depression in one’s voice! Possibly that is why the American Diabetes Association has thrown out the words, Diabetic or Diabetes Diet. In its place, the new way to think of this healthy diet is MNT, or Medical Nutrition Therapy. Now, this makes perfect sense to me. After all, I have been teaching diabetes for over 20 years. In all the years, I have known one very important fact. Every person with diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2 are all unique.

The truth is, if everyone reading this article were to eat the same size apple all at the same time (that includes people with and without diabetes), and we all checked our blood sugars exactly one hour after eating that apple, every single one of us would have a different blood sugar response. This is caused by the way the sugar (or glucose) is absorbed into our bodies, the blood sugar control we have before we eat the apple, the time of day, the medications we take, in fact, even all the other health conditions we have. Due to all of this, it has been recommended that the meal plans suggested to patients are unique and individualized.

I recently attended the annual American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) Scientific Sessions in San Francisco, which brings Endocrinologists and other specialists together from all over the world to discuss diabetes. One of the talks I attended was on the new ADA guidelines for meal planning. I wanted to share a few of the recommendations. First, we now follow evidence-based nutrition principles and recommendations. We look at large scale studies and expert consensus. That is, what most diabetes professionals believe to be true. Here are some of the recommendations:
Blood sugar control is now more important in the beginning over weight loss. We will attempt to get blood sugars in control first.

5 to 7% weight loss is all that is needed to help short term effects of blood glucose (sugar) control. It does this by helping the cells be more sensitive to the insulin therefore making it work better.
When we "add protein" to our meal, it does not slow the absorption of carbohydrates.
A carbohydrate is a carbohydrate regardless of the type of food eaten. Woo Hoo! Wait just a second! Before you go buy a 3 pound box of chocolates, or buy a dozen donuts, take heed on a warning here. This idea has been out for some time and I got really excited about eating just about anything as long as I calculated it into my carbohydrate serving. HOWEVER, I found out that processed foods, such as white rice and white bread make my after eating blood sugars SOAR! So, how can you tell if a carbohydrate is truly a carbohydrate for you? Test your blood sugar 1 to 2 hours after eating. If the results are less than 150 mg/dl, you win! If over, try whole grain breads and pastas. Oh, and remember, even if your blood sugars stay in control after dining with Tony the Tiger or Captain Crunch, processed foods with lots of additives rarely have a healthy amount of vitamins and minerals. A favorite statement I like to tell people when choosing healthy is, “It is healthy if it goes from the Farm to the Face.” In other words, fresh vegetables, fruits, and grains are chock full of good nutrients!

To get the best outcomes with Medical Nutrition Therapy, weight loss and increased activity (exercise) are also important.

To decrease heart disease, a person should consume 3 grams or more of soluble fiber from whole grains. It is best to have 7 grams or more of soluble fiber. 25 grams per day of Soy Protein can lower LDL by 10%! (Not to worry, there are other ways to get soy other than the squishy white stuff you find floating in your Miso Soup at a Japanese restaurant!) Try Hodgson Mill Soy Flour or Organic Soy Flour and mix half and half with your regular flour. Or, my favorite way to get soy is by eating Hodgson Mill Multi Grain Cereal w/ Flaxseed every morning. (mine too!)

Weight loss, exercise, and consumption of Omega 3 will raise HDL Cholesterol (That’s the good one…we want to raise it!) and lower LDL Cholesterol (And that folks is the BAD one!) Check out Hodgson Mill Milled Flax Seed which provides you with 2600 mg of Omega-3 Oils in each serving!

Veggies also lower Triglycerides so be sure to eat all your vegetables!
Finally, please remember that the meal plan outlined for people with diabetes is also a PERFECT meal plan for EVERYONE in the family. So share all these good tips with those you love. Best of luck on your meal plan. If you have any questions or concerns, please talk to the nice folks over at Hodgson Mill.

Living With Diabetes: How Hodgson Mill Can Help
Along with many diabetics, many doctors and licensed dietitians recommend Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastas and other products to promote patient health and assist in diabetes management. Whole Grain foods are often recommended as part of a diabetes-management dietary plan. Read more about Whole Grain Foods and Diabetes ~ full of great health facts about whole grain foods.

I am what I eat and I feel better when I keep these things in mind.

Hope you do, too!

Ed