Eat an Avocado for National Heart Month

Diabetes, Heart Health, Nutrition,

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.

Feasting on Holiday Goodies without Weight Gain!

Diabetes, Snacks, Weight Management,

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.

Succeed with Diabetes During the Holidays

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Here are a few tips to succeed with diabetes during the holidays. Yes, it is possible! The diagnosis of diabetes can leave you feeling like enjoyments in life, such as the holiday table, have been taken away, but knowing a few tips can help. So how does someone go about handling this situation?

1. Remember that YOU are in charge! By making decisions and knowing your portion sizes, you can control what and how much you eat. The issue of portions can be handled well and you can relax and enjoy food during the holidays.

2. Notice how many bites you take while eating “a bite sized serving” of a food. Whether dressing, turkey or a brownie, two to three bites may be in that one size you put into your mouth in one bite. Try smaller bites and you will be surprised how much longer it takes to eat.

3. Contribute to the spread of foods by providing your own dish. More than likely you will find that you are not alone during the holidays when it comes to trying to manage blood sugar.

4. Ask yourself if you must have a serving of every dish on the table. If yes, do you have to eat it all at once? There is ample time so that you can go back for more, later in the day.

5. High fiber, immune system protecting, non-starchy veggies can help you feel satisfied. In Texas, radishes, bell pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes are available, to name of few.

6. As you eat during the holidays, remember to savor your foods. That means slowing down and tasting and feeling the crunch or the smoothness of food as it rests on your palate and relish in the flavor.

The holiday table is a time of enjoyment and you can do that, without guilt, and succeed with diabetes.

 

Ways You Can Spice Up a Dish to Improve Flavor

Diabetes, Heart Health, Meals, Uncategorized, ,

Blog Ways to Spice Up a Dish

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 →

The Challenge of Decreasing Sodium- My Personal Struggle

Heart Health, Nutrition, Uncategorized, Well Woman, , ,

Blog The Challenge of Decreasing Sodium

Decreasing sodium is a major overhaul. I still remember the countless faces that I made when trying to eat lower sodium foods and that was nearly 35 years ago. Never realizing how hard this would be, I thought just get foods marked lower sodium. Wrong! They were awful! When I began my venture with eating less sodium, I was putting salt on fruit and eating canned veggies and soups, along with prepared popcorn and sausage, biscuits and lunch meats. Taking a diet like that and thinking it would be easy was a huge mistake. It was hard making those adjustments. Suddenly my food didn’t have any flavor. I would make air popped popcorn and try to sneak in seasoned salt to give it something to make it taste good. The popcorn didn’t taste bad without added seasoning, it just didn’t taste.  At all.  Gradually I got to where I am today. It took some determination and making mistakes.    Continue reading The Challenge of Decreasing Sodium- My Personal Struggle →

How to Know if You are Eating Too Much Salt

Diabetes, Heart Health, Uncategorized, Well Woman, ,

Blog How to Know If You Are Eating Too Much Salt

Too much salt can leave a person with several complaints that are not always recognized as being from excessive salt intake.  You may notice:
A bloated abdomen
Swollen feet and hands; shoes that normally fit very well are too tight
You may not be able to remove your rings or make a tight fist with your hands
You’re in a brain fog unable to think clearly
Pushing your thumb onto your arm or leg can leave an indentation that doesn’t go away quickly when you remove your thumb.
When exercising, your breathing changes. Deep breaths are not easy and nose breathing doesn’t feel as though it has provided sufficient oxygen.
You feel sluggish causing your pace to slow.
If you experience any of these, take a moment to think about the foods you have been eating. You may notice that you didn’t add any salt to your food, so you wonder how you could have eaten too much. Unfortunately, salt is already in many foods and you just don’t realize it. Because of this, overeating sodium can be very easy to do. If you don’t have any heart related issues you may not feel a need to make a change with the salt you are eating, but if you notice any of these signs or symptoms, you may benefit from noticing where your salt comes from.
An easy place to start is to simply look at a food label of the foods you are eating. Using the recommendation of 2300mg a day, you can check the product for serving size and sodium content. Most prepared foods will have high amounts. Lunch meats, bread with seasonings added and soups are some of the main contributors. This is a starting place. Once you discover your culprit, then you can try alternatives. Be kind to yourself and start with a small change to ease into the flavor change so that your taste buds can adjust to the flavor changes. 

Ten Tips for Weight Loss Success in 2018!

Diabetes, Heart Health, Nutrition, Uncategorized, Weight Management, Well Woman, , ,

Blog Ten Tips for Weight Loss Success in 2018

You made your resolution to lose weight once and for all in 2018 and that can change quickly as a hectic schedule seems to take over your life and logical thinking. Sometimes the immediate thought, is that you just can’t do this, well that is not the case at all. Many times, the issue is that you just set yourself up to do way too much. Success with weight loss, can begin with small changes, not dieting. Diets don’t work. Think how many times you have tried the dieting route in the past and yet, here you are starting over. You may have lost it, but then regained the weight that was lost, plus a few more pounds. The beauty of small changes is that they are subtle and help you succeed in making changes so that the weight stays off.
These are tips that can help you reduce calories and be successful. See which ones can help you out: Continue reading Ten Tips for Weight Loss Success in 2018! →

Coping with Stress this Holiday Season!

Diabetes, Heart Health, Snacks, Weight Management, Well Woman, , , , ,

Blog Coping With Stress this Holiday Season

This can be a very fun time of year and it can also be filled with stress causing our immune systems to weaken which can cause us to become sick. I used to think that this is because it was cold and flu season. But I have learned that there is more to us getting sick, than that. During this time of year, we have many more things that can cause stress. Continue reading Coping with Stress this Holiday Season! →

Different Ways to Flavor Water

Nutrition, Weight Management, Well Woman, ,

Blog Different Ways to Flavor Water

Water can be dressed up several different ways to change the flavor and to be cool and refreshing. This clear beverage can help you stay hydrated and it doesn’t supply calories. With more than half of our body weight coming from water, we have to have it for optimal health.  If we are not having enough liquid throughout the day, we can feel hot and tired. Continue reading Different Ways to Flavor Water →