Diabetic recipes

I don't know a lot about diabetes other then you need to eat a low carb diet and you need to eat often. If you want to lose weight and get healthy you should be eating about every 4 hours any way.

My sister is diabetic so she asked me to help her find some recipes so this is going to be a link happy post he he. I don't know if these sites are good or not but I will post them and you can decide.


http://www.dlife.com/diabetes/diabetic-recipes/

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/healthy_diabetes_recipes_for_dinner?slide=1#leaderboardad

http://www.diabeticlifestyle.com/

http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/diabetic-recipes/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/healthy-recipes/diabetic/main.aspx

http://www.food.com/recipes/diabetic

 http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipes.asp?food=diabetic+&a=

Here is a start I hope to find some blogs to but for now this is what I searched and found. Let me know which ones are the best and if they are helpful at all :)

Ground beef vs Ground turkey

My blog on ground beef 96/4 vs 80/20 got the most hits so I decided to compare ground turkey to beef. Ground turkey like beef comes in different fat content levels. Walmart sells a 99/1 ground turkey ( 99/1 or 96/4 refers to the meat vs fat content, 99% turkey 1% fat).

I prefer the taste of ground beef over the taste  and texture of the ground turkey but a friend of mine suggested mixing the two in a dish so I plan on trying that out soon. 

With the leanest beef I can find at Walmart being the 96/4, the 99/1 ground turkey is going to have less calories and fat. If you remember from my post on ground beef, 1g of fat is 9 calories and 1g of protein is 4 calories.

Here is the nutrition on the 99/1 ground turkey:

• Serving size              112g (4oz)
• Calorie                      120
• Calories from fat       15
• Total fat                     1.5g
• Saturated fat              0.5g
• Cholesterol                65mg
• Sodium                      60 mg
• Total Carbohydrate    0g
• Protein                       27g

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Perdue-Ground-Filet-Of-Breast-Meat-Ground-Turkey-20-oz/16554172

It's really low in fat and has a lot of protein, good stuff.

96/4 ground beef nutritional facts:

• Serving Size           112g (4oz)
• Calories                  150
• Calories from fat     40
• Total fat                   4.5g
• Saturated fat           1.5g
• Cholesterol             60mg
• Sodium                   65mg
• Protein                    24g 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cargill-Extra-Lean-96-4-Ground-Beef-1-lb/16935586

The calorie difference between the two is not really that big, 30 calories. I believe the two are close in price as well. I am going to the store tomorrow and will do some price checking and edit post to include price difference.

Benefits to eating beef are:

• Beef is high in iron. 
• Vitamin B12
• Zinc for your immune system.
• Protein which is good for muscle and bone building.

Benefits to eating turkey are:

• Protein
• B-complex vitamins- promotes healthy blood circulation and controls your cholesterol levels.
• Vitamin B-6- protects against heart disease.
• Selenium- supports immunity and protects your body against cell damage which can lead to cancer.

They both have benefits and both are good for you.

I have read that ground beef from cows that are grass-fed is better for you. The multiple pages I read say that the hormones and shots given to ward off sickness due to feeding cows a corn/grain diet is not good for your body. I don't know if this is true or not but I plan on looking into it farther before I decide if it is worth the change.

Watch out when you by any meat you need to look at the nutritional information on the package if it does not have it then it should have the meat/fat on the package. Turkey and beef both have a lot of calories and fat at the low grades,  just because it says turkey does not mean it is lean.

I believe if you buy the extra lean ground beef it has around the same calories as the turkey close in cholesterol and not to bad on fat ( your body does need some fat). It is all up to your personal taste and likes. I plan to try to mix it up using beef mostly and turkey here and there.

How Diet Soda May Cause Weight Gain [VIDEO]

How Diet Soda May Cause Weight Gain [VIDEO]

Chicken Black bean soup

This is a new recipe I found and made my own. It's pretty easy to make and tastes awesome!

Marinade 2lbs of chicken for 1-2 days using McComicks grill mates chipotle pepper marinade, it is a seasoning mix (use directions on back of package).

While you are making the soup grill the chicken on your grill, I use a gas grill so if you use a charcoal grill I am sure it would taste different but should be all right.

Black bean soup:


2 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
2 ribs of celery, trimmed and chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small red onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed using garlic press
1 tsp dried cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried chili powder
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3 x 15oz cans of black beans
1 x 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 cups of corn kernels
sea salt and ground black pepper

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, and bell peppers. Sauté until onion becomes translucent, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and spices. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add stock, beans, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Using a hand-held blender, puree soup to desired consistency. Add corn and let simmer for 5 minutes.

When soup is done dice up the chicken and add it to the soup. Season with salt and pepper . Then serve hot.

5 reasons to log your food and workouts

If you want to lose weight logging is super important because there is so much you can learn from it. It is a great health tool and can make or break your weight-loss goals.

The hard facts are losing weight is all about numbers. You have to burn more calories then you eat to lose weight. A little fact, 1 lb is 3500 calories. How can you lose weight if you have no idea what you are burning or how many calories you are eating?

I know it can be a bit of a pain in the beginning to log every day. The good news is that all the sites I have checked out remembered the food I logged in the past, so it will get faster and easier the more you use a program or site.

Here are five reasons you should log your food and workouts.

Help you reach your goals: Logging will help you to reach your goals faster. Sure you can lose weight without it but if you know what you are burning and eating you will have a huge advantage. If your you need to eat 1500 calories a day if you log 1400 then you know that you are only 100 calories away from your food goal for that day.

Most of the websites will help you figure out what calorie amount you need to eat and burn to meet your goals. The best way to use the logging would be to plan out your meals and logging in advance that way you are prepared for the day. You will also need to log your workouts and activities as you go. I was surprised to find out how many calories I burn doing non-workout type activities such as cleaning house, making dinner, and so on.

Nutrition: You will learned more then you ever thought possible about nutrition by logging. I used the Bodybugg when I was logging/losing weight. The site is easy to use and has tons of charts and graphs to help you with your weight-loss goals. Also by wearing the Bodybugg I was able to learn exactly how many calories a day I burned so I could adjust my calorie intake based on my calorie burn (in short I ate more using the Bodybugg  because I knew I could and still be at a calorie deficiency).

 Here is what Bodybugg came up with for my nutritional needs which could differ a bit from yours:




I like the Bodybugg program because at the time I had no clue what my nutritional needs were. The website took my information IE height, weight, age, and so on and  it told me what I need to eat, burn, and a nutritional needs graph so I could learn quick. I already knew my fiber and protein needs but was unsure about the rest.

I found that if I ate bad I had a hard time staying in my calorie range and meeting my nutritional goals. You may also find out the better you eat the more you can eat.

I love all the graphs and stats. I could try to beat my calorie burn each day which was fun to see. My best burn was on a day I did not workout. I cleaned house all day because my family was coming from out of town to stay a few days and that day I burned over 4000 calories! Who would have thought clean house would burn so many calories?

The Bodybugg comes with a cost though you have to buy the bodybugg device that you wear and pay to use the website as well. It took out all the guessing though, you know what you are burning each day and if you log your food it tells you how many calories you ate. Very easy to use and very easy to lose weight with! I wish it were a little cheaper because everyone who is losing weight should use this system.

If you don't want to invest in the bodybugg there are many free sites to log at:

http://caloriecount.about.com/ I like this site because it grades you on your food choices teaching you how to make better choices.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/ this site is great because they have recipes that are healthy on their site and they also have a recipe app which is free and I love it.

Helps to Motivate: Logging can be very motivating. Seeing a calorie deficiency lets you know you are on your way to losing those unwanted love handles. You can make a game of it as well trying to beat your miles walk/ran or calorie burn each day. Making goals like I am going to walk 2 miles today instead of 1 helps distract from the grind and feels really good when you accomplish that goal.

Workout Progression:  Logging your workouts will tell you how well you are progressing. If you want to lose weight fast you need to lift weights and do cardio. Logging your weight, sets, and reps will show you how far you have come from where you started. This is a great motivator too! It is encouraging to see you went from walking at 3mph to 4mph or you started out curling 10s and now 20s are cake. It also helps you figure out if you need to push yourself a little harder.

You learn how to maintain a healthy lifestyle: You will not have to log your food/exercise for the rest of your life. When you log you learn how many calories are in the different foods you eat, how much you burn and what it takes to maintain or lose weight, and you will be able to do it without logging some day. You will learn portion size and be able to get the right portions for your diet. You may need a food scale to help you with your logging but they are fairly cheap I got mine at Walmart for $25 or so. I was able to log food without labels taking the guessing out of logging.

In short logging can really help you lose your unwanted weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle.