LEMON WATER BENEFITS

WILD SALMON VS FARM-RAISED SALMON

Did you know that wild salmon can have up to 6 grams less fat in a 5-ounce portion than does farm-raised? (Remember the fat in salmon is mostly healthy fat.)

OMEGA-3 EGGS

Do you know what it means to purchase eggs labeled Omega-3?  It simply means that the chickens who laid the eggs were fed flax seeds which could make the eggs have a higher content of the heart-healthy fatty acids, Omega-3s.

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DIABETIC PRESCRIPTION: EXERCISE

I know! Most of us hate the word exercise, let alone the actual activity involved. Well, get over it! Once we've allowed ourselves to become diabetic, we no longer have a choice. We must exercise!

Yes, you read that right. I really did say, "Once we've allowed ourselves to become diabetic." I'm talking to us Type 2 diabetics on that one, you Type 1s don't have to accept that remark. Now before you get all mad, have steam coming out your ears and start sputtering, "Who does she think she is, telling me I'm responsible for the fact I became diabetic," hear me out. Did you know you had diabetes in your family history? Did a doctor ever tell you to lose weight? Did a doctor ever tell you to change your diet or lifestyle? Did a doctor ever tell you to get more exercise (there's that dirty word again)? Did you gorge on sweets and/or carbs? You get the point. But there is a diabetic prescription: EXERCISE!

We helped to create this problem in our bodies, now we have to take our medicines. And that doesn't stop with pills and shots. Just consider exercise another of the medicines we have to take. I read somewhere that exercise is the diabetes treatment almost everyone can benefit from. I backed up, read that again and the light bulb came on. I got it! Exercise is another of our treatments and we need to think of it as such. It's not something we know we should do, something we might get around to someday, but something we have to do just as we have to take our other prescriptions the doctor gives us.

We don't, however, have to go out and join a gym or buy expensive equipment. Of course you can if you want to and it is a good thing to do, but it isn't necessary. We can work exercise into our everyday lives! We Americans have become very lazy as a whole. This is often caused by some terrific technological advances and inventions. But we can't use that as an excuse. Following are some easy ways to get started adding more exercise into your everyday routine. Give them a try. After all it is YOUR life that matters.

1. Hide the remote controls; they make it too easy to be lazy. This includes the garage door remote. Getting in and out of the car to open the garage door is good exercise.

2. Carry your groceries from the car to the kitchen one bag at a time. More steps and lifting; more exercise.

3. Instead of stacking things by the stairs to avoid extra trips up and down, make the trips. Stairs are a great way to get exercise.

4. Push the kids or grandkids on the swings. Play frisbee with them, etc. Quality time with the children is an added benefit.

5. Go for a walk. Start with a short walk and work your way up to several blocks or 30-40 minutes. If the weather is bad, go to the local mall and walk.

6. Walk around while talking on the phone instead of plopping down in a comfy chair.

7. Stop driving around the parking lot for ten minutes trying to get a parking spot next to the entrance. Park farther away and enjoy the walk.

8. Put items you use often on higher shelves so you do more stretching and reaching to get them.

9. Housework is an excellent exercise. Vacuum an extra time per week, etc.

10. Gardening is another wonderful exercise.

I'm sure you can think of other ways to add exercise to your daily routine. Take that prescription seriously. Do whatever works for you but do something! Take that most-hated prescription: EXERCISE!

FOODS (CARBS) HIGHEST IN RESISTANT STARCH

A couple days ago I mentioned some of the foods that are high in Resistant Starch (RS). Below is a list of some of the foods highest in RS. Try to eat some RS foods at every meal when possible or at least a couple meals a day.

This list starts with the foods highest in RS and goes down accordingly.

• Bananas (note: buy your bananas as green as you can eat them for the most RS. A mostly green banana medium-size, approximately 7 to 8-inches, has 12.5 grams of RS while a ripe banana of the same size has 4.7 grams.) Can't stand greenish bananas? That's okay. The ripe banana still has more RS than other foods.
• Oatmeal ( 1/2 cup uncooked, toasted, comes in right under the ripe banana with 4.6 grams)
• White beans, (1/2 cup has 3.8 grams - the highest of all the beans)
• Lentils (1/2 cup has 3.4 grams)
• Potatoes (Surprised? Yes, one small cooked potato has 3.2 grams!)
• Garbanzo beans (1/2 cup has 2.1 grams)
• Whole-wheat pasta (1 cup cooked has 2.0 grams)
• Brown rice (1/2 cup cooked has 1.7 grams)
• Pumpernickel bread (1-oz slice has 1.3 grams)

This is a very small list of RS foods. But you have probably gotten the idea that some of the carbs you are afraid to eat are actually what you should be eating. As with any food, you should not go overboard but you should include resistant starch foods in your daily diet.

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RESISTANT STARCH FOODS

Note: This is a repost from my blog in 

September 2021. You can find resistant starch list in the index to the right, if you want to know more about them. A few days ago, t posted about carbs and dieting. I promised more about carbs so here is a follow-up. Have you ever heard of resistant starch foods? Possibly not. As with most things, there are carbs that are good for you and carbs that aren't so good for you. Think cookies, doughnuts, bagels, etc. These are not carbs you should be stuffing yourself with! Such carbs will not have a positive effect on your body! But there are RS foods (resistant starch foods), carbs, that you should be eating that will help you lose weight, keep weight off, control blood sugar, lower cholesterol and triglycerides, etc.

Resistant Starch may sound like a strange name but the name comes from the fact that RS foods resists digestion. RS doesn't get absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine like other foods therefore creating a chain reaction in the body that literally shrinks fat cells, preserves muscle and stokes metabolism. Yes, there are some foods that we don't want to be fully digested and absorbed into the body. We need foods that pass through our digestive system taking unwanted toxins, etc with them. Fiber is a good example. Fiber is important for passing through the digestive system and causing it to work properly. Think of RS foods in a similar manner.

You may be wondering if RS foods are exotic, expensive, etc. Good news! They are neither and you probably have them in your pantry right now. Some of the carbs highest in resistant starch are bananas, oatmeal, beans, even potatoes. Start eating resistant carbs at every meal and you will be surprised how quickly you will see your belly bloat disappear, start having more energy, drop some weight, etc.

More to follow in the next post.

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BUCKWHEAT

Many people think buckwheat is a cereal grain. Actually, it is a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel which makes it a suitable substitute for grains for people who are sensitive to wheat or other grains that contain protein gluten. Buckwheat is available as a gluten-free whole-grain flour.

Some of the health benefits of this healthy food are:

• Controlling cholesterol - Buckwheat's beneficial effects are due in part to its rich supply of flavonoids, particularly rutin. Flavonoids are phytonutrients that protect against disease by extending the action of vitamin C and acting as antioxidants. Buckwheat's lipid-lowering activity is largely due to rutin and other flavonoid compounds. These compounds help maintain blood flow, keep platelets from clotting excessively (platelets are compounds in blood that, when triggered, clump together, thus preventing excessive blood loss, and protect LDL from free radical oxidation into potentially harmful cholesterol oxides. All these actions help to protect against heart disease.
• Keeping the cardiovascular system healthy.  Buckwheat also contains almost 86 milligrams of magnesium in a one-cup serving. Magnesium relaxes blood vessels, improving blood flow and nutrient delivery while lowering blood pressure.
• May contribute to the regulation of blood sugar.  Canadian researchers, publishing their findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have found new evidence that buckwheat may be helpful in the management of diabetes.  Buckwheat is also a rich source of magnesium, a mineral that acts as a co-factor for more than 300 enzymes, including enzymes involved in the body's use of glucose and insulin secretion.
• Aids digestion.  Buckwheat has a high fiber content which helps to regulate bowels and moves toxins quickly and efficiently out of the body.  And this may help to prevent colon cancer.
• Buckwheat also has anti-inflammatory properties which our bodies always need.

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ANTIOXIDANTS EVERYDAY

As has been noted several times on this blog, antioxidants are vitally important to maintain a healthy body.  We know it is important to eat them every day and that is such a simple thing to do.  One of the easiest ways to add antioxidant-rich foods to your diet is to make a habit of adding berries such as blueberries, strawberries or raspberries to your morning cereal or oatmeal.  Fresh or frozen berries are fine so don't use the excuse that berries are out of season!

Another way to add antioxidants daily is to add a cup of fresh brewed tea, hot or iced, to your daily regimen.

There are many ways to add more antioxidants to your diet, but these are too of the really easy ones.

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OATS AND NUTS ARE IMPORTANT TO DIABETICS

Oats and nuts should play a major role in most diabetics' meal plan. That is not to say you have to eat loads of either. but to say they are important to controlling your blood sugar. Oats are easy to work into the diet through morning cereal, snack bars (watch sugar content), sugary toppings, etc. When you eat nuts, use the unsalted variety and do not smother them in candy coatings. Try to work a small portion of both into your diet often.

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BE A BAD HOST TO CANCER!

Integrative oncologist Donald Abrams, director of clinical programs for the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, tells his patients by way of analogy that when it comes to cancer, you need to be a bad host!  "I tell them that cancer is a weed, you are the garden, and our job is to make your soil as inhospitable as possible to further growth and spread of the weed.  The first approach I take is through diet and nutrition."

I first saw this quote in 2011 but I continue to think we need to make our bodies a "bad host" to cancer. There are many short articles on this blog about diet and cancer, if you are interested.

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