Living with diabetes can be a pain sometimes but eating for diabetes can be made simple by following a few steps. The quality and quantity of the foods being eaten are important and food intake that is colorful, and fiber filled, is high quality and can help with the management of blood sugars and overall health.   Focusing on eating these foods is better than dwelling on what not to eat. Including beans and healthy fats along with whole grains, fruits and veggies, in controlled amounts, allows for an optimal intake of powerful antioxidants which helps to keep a strong immune system. Here are a few tips to help:

Include legumes
Include beans, peas or lentils. These are high in fiber and provide protein, magnesium and potassium to name a few. Beans may also help improve gut health.

Add a healthy fat
For a healthier heart, add avocado slices, nuts, or olives.

Decrease saturated fats
If meat or poultry is covering half of the plate, consider making that a quarter of the plate and increase the veggies to help fill your tummy.

Include whole grains
Bulgur or farro are both whole grains which help when eating for diabetes.  Both are wheat products, and if you need gluten free, amaranth, quinoa, sorghum or brown rice can help you add whole grains to your food intake.

Know your portions
If you don’t know the amount that a portion of a food should be, consider a smaller plate for the meal.  Also, look at the size of the utensil you are eating with because these are larger than they used to be, which means each fork or spoonful will hold more food with each bite you take, resulting in a faster intake and possibly a larger intake.  Taking longer to eat a meal can help with digestion and smaller bites can help with weight control.

Make sure to add color
Add a fruit or veggie so that you have color on your plate. These foods can help provide a stronger immune system.

To be successful in making changes with eating for diabetes, work on one of these at a time, such as including beans in a meal 3-4 times a week, until a new habit is formed.  You will soon see how eating for diabetes can be simple.

You know avocados taste good, but did you know there are many ways to eat them other than guacamole?  This nutritious, always available fruit, does not contain sugar and provides healthy fat, almost 20 vitamins and minerals including potassium, folate and fiber, which all help to keep a strong immune system.  This is National Heart Month and, as always, a good time to eat a tasty, smooth and creamy avocado. 

Avocado University invited me to learn about Avocados from Mexico recently.  This was an all day event that I was not paid for. A registered dietitian is on staff to provide valued and trusted evidence based nutriton information. Because of this, I am excited to share the benefits of eating an avocado.

Ways to eat an avocado:

Spread a serving of ripe avocado on toasted whole grain bread and, if you like, add your choice of topping such as sunflower seeds. Scrumptious! A serving is 1/3 of a medium or 2.5 Tablespoons of an avocado.

Added to a side dish, such as with a grain or veggie.   There was a nice spread for lunch, but the dish that I remember the most was the farro with brussels sprouts and diced avocado.  Dreamy. That was a definite go back for seconds.

Eat a serving of yummy avocado in place of butter, mayo or margarine. A simple shift to help keep a healthy heart.

How about take your favorite guacamole recipe and add it to a veggie burger? 

Consider adding avocado to the filling for a deviled egg.  For more ideas and flavorful recipes go to https://avocadosfrommexico.com/

Heart disease is a number one killer of men and women and being kind to yourself nutritiously is an excellent step to take to fight back.  Avocados offer an abundance of flavor along with heart protecting benefits.  Treat yourself to good health, eat an avocado during National Heart Month and throughout the year.

Knowing how to handle the holiday goodies will help you bring in your new year feeling ahead, and not feeling you have further to go.  These goodies will be appearing in many places such as the office, school parties, church gatherings, family gatherings, and checkout counters to name a few.  

Feasting on holiday goodies can go on all season and get out of control, if you let it. Thanksgiving and Christmas may each only be for one day each year, but it is the time between these two holidays when it becomes easy to get off track with all the seasonal goodies around. This is a whole month of foods to navigate.  Doing things to enhance our health can really be put on the back burner.

As you bite into a holiday goodie, notice the size.  No matter the size, make it more than one bite.  If putting a food on your plate, consider if it could be cut into smaller sizes. This would be such as a brownie. An inch by one inch can be plenty as you indulge in all the holiday goodies this season.

Savor it. It’s not a race to finish.  Having a second or third serving will not make the first one taste any better than it already does, so slow down. A lot.  While indulging in holiday goodies, remember that you are in control of the foods you put into your mouth. This can help you get through the moment. 

Without guilt, you can enjoy holiday goodies.   A small bite will satisfy you and you can enjoy other goodies as well and not feel any guilt afterwards.

Holiday goodies can be enticing, delightful and relished.  Come January, instead of working to lose any additional weight gained and feeling guilty, savor the holiday goodies and you can continue on your journey of enhancing your health.

Flavor can be added to foods using herbs and spices, but many times we forget this.  Do you find yourself using the same seasonings all the time? Adding different seasonings to foods can be easy and tasty! Using more herbs and spices allows for a way to enhance the flavor of food while using less salt and can be very helpful for someone trying to decrease their sodium intake.
These are just a few herbs and spices to consider for flavoring your food. Continue reading Ways You Can Spice Up a Dish to Improve Flavor →