I haven't had a single hypo since the other morning's 4-a.m-er. I attribute this to a much steadier range of BGLs, and the ease with which I can manage my diabetes when eating properly.
There's a seminar I'm going to next month about eating for life, focussing on auto-immune conditions- I'm so looking forward to it.
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Olive, spinach and leek frittata
I made this frittata for our Sunday breakfast, but it was so substantial and flavoursome, that, with the addition of a bitter green salad or steamed broccolini, it would be great for lunch or dinner, too.
Ingredients
A handful of mixed, pitted olives
1 leek, the lower half finey sliced
1 cup of Organic spinach, washed and torn into approx 4cm pieces
6 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
Cheese to top (I used blue cheese)
Olive oil for frying
Method
Preheat oven to 200'c.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add the leek. Saute until translucent. Add the spinach and wilt for a few minutes before including the olives. Stir to combine well then press these ingredients flat in the pan. Turn the heat to minimum.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add to the frying pan and stir so that it doesn't stick. Cook for a minute, then cover with a lid (if oven proof) or alfoil and slip it into the oven.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the eggs are cooked firm. Remove from oven, add cheese if using and return to the oven for a few minutes to melt and brown.
Confession: while this is a delicious veggie brekkie, vegetarians we are not, so, we did serve it with a generous portion of crispy bacon... Locally cured and so tasty!
Ingredients
A handful of mixed, pitted olives
1 leek, the lower half finey sliced
1 cup of Organic spinach, washed and torn into approx 4cm pieces
6 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
Cheese to top (I used blue cheese)
Olive oil for frying
Method
Preheat oven to 200'c.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add the leek. Saute until translucent. Add the spinach and wilt for a few minutes before including the olives. Stir to combine well then press these ingredients flat in the pan. Turn the heat to minimum.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add to the frying pan and stir so that it doesn't stick. Cook for a minute, then cover with a lid (if oven proof) or alfoil and slip it into the oven.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the eggs are cooked firm. Remove from oven, add cheese if using and return to the oven for a few minutes to melt and brown.
Confession: while this is a delicious veggie brekkie, vegetarians we are not, so, we did serve it with a generous portion of crispy bacon... Locally cured and so tasty!
Lazy Brekkie
Free range eggs from happy little chooks. Free range ham from happy, oinking piggies. Organic spinach leaves and aged parmesan. Served with a peppery home-made hollandaise. Mmmm.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Eye Fillet with wilted cabbage and a blue cheese & balsamic dressing
I have just enjoyed a very, very delicious lunch. I love meals like this because there's about ten minutes of cooking time, hardly anything to wash up, and they are soo tasty. Earlier this week I diced, as best as I was able with a hand recoving from surgery, half a cabbage head, and stored it in the fridge. I love cabbage; it's a great way to bulk out so many meals, and having it prepped in tupperware took the faff out of including it in most meals.
Ingredients:
Eye fillet
Shredded cabbage
Walnuts
Fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2cm wedge of blue cheese
Olive oil for frying.
Splash some oil into the pan and heat to moderate. Once it starts to smoke, add the steak and fry for 3 minutes either side. Add the diced cabbage and walnuts and half of the balsamic, place a lid on the pan and turn the heat as low as it goes. After three more minutes, turn the heat off and remove from a heat source. Leave covered until steak is cooked to your liking (this will vary greatly according to the meat and the heat etc- use the tongs to press the centre. If there's lots of softness then it's still rare- no give and it's getting to well done.).
Place the cabbage, walnuts and steak on a plate, and return the same pan with the residual juices to the heat source. Add the remaining vinegar and all the blue cheese and, over high heat, allow to thicken and reduce, stirring regularly. Top the steak with the sauce, and finish with parsley. Ohhhh, yeah!
Ingredients:
Eye fillet
Shredded cabbage
Walnuts
Fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2cm wedge of blue cheese
Olive oil for frying.
Splash some oil into the pan and heat to moderate. Once it starts to smoke, add the steak and fry for 3 minutes either side. Add the diced cabbage and walnuts and half of the balsamic, place a lid on the pan and turn the heat as low as it goes. After three more minutes, turn the heat off and remove from a heat source. Leave covered until steak is cooked to your liking (this will vary greatly according to the meat and the heat etc- use the tongs to press the centre. If there's lots of softness then it's still rare- no give and it's getting to well done.).
Place the cabbage, walnuts and steak on a plate, and return the same pan with the residual juices to the heat source. Add the remaining vinegar and all the blue cheese and, over high heat, allow to thicken and reduce, stirring regularly. Top the steak with the sauce, and finish with parsley. Ohhhh, yeah!
One day in and already a mis-hap.
The night before last, I woke up feeling queasy at 4.21am. I was hypo, with a BGL of only 2.6, which is very low for me. I'd made a beautiful veggie curry for dinner - perfectly low carb and jam packed with cabbage, spinach, carrots, broccoli, and sweet potato, tomatoes and a heap of fragrant spices (garam masala, turmeric, cumin, caraway seeds) and coconut milk. It was too good to pause for a photo!
That rounded out a perfect day of eating. Or, at least, it should have. But about twenty minutes after dinner I heard it. My name. My name being chanted over and over and over again from inside the fridge.
We'd had friends over on Sunday night and Roch had made the most divine chocolate brownies I've ever tasted, and there were leftovers.... And so...gulp...I did not make a very good food choice. I ate one. A whole one, and it was just so scrummy.
But boy, did I pay for it later. Before bed, my BGL was a whopping 14.4 (I'm nursing at the moment and my endocrinologist has advised I can relax my usual 4.0 - 8.0 range to up to 10.0). I adjusted my insulin and with the dosage advised, but, nonetheless, my BGL came crashing down too low, too fast.
And thereinlies the rub for this diabetic. I generally find it easier to avoid sugary foods and carbs than I do to cope with hypos and adjust insulin for difficult ingredients. If I can't carb count it, I just need to avoid it. The after effects of a hypo are, for me, a bit like a hangover. Banging headache and lethargy chief amongst my complaints. And I can't begin to tell you how wrong it feels, as a grown up, to feast on crap lollies in the middle night hours. I know there are going to be up days and down days, but this was a very timely reminder as to why I have decided to really commit to the best diet and lifestyle I can, for me. And I'm so hopeful this blog keeps me on my (still fully nerve receptive) toes!
That rounded out a perfect day of eating. Or, at least, it should have. But about twenty minutes after dinner I heard it. My name. My name being chanted over and over and over again from inside the fridge.
We'd had friends over on Sunday night and Roch had made the most divine chocolate brownies I've ever tasted, and there were leftovers.... And so...gulp...I did not make a very good food choice. I ate one. A whole one, and it was just so scrummy.
But boy, did I pay for it later. Before bed, my BGL was a whopping 14.4 (I'm nursing at the moment and my endocrinologist has advised I can relax my usual 4.0 - 8.0 range to up to 10.0). I adjusted my insulin and with the dosage advised, but, nonetheless, my BGL came crashing down too low, too fast.
And thereinlies the rub for this diabetic. I generally find it easier to avoid sugary foods and carbs than I do to cope with hypos and adjust insulin for difficult ingredients. If I can't carb count it, I just need to avoid it. The after effects of a hypo are, for me, a bit like a hangover. Banging headache and lethargy chief amongst my complaints. And I can't begin to tell you how wrong it feels, as a grown up, to feast on crap lollies in the middle night hours. I know there are going to be up days and down days, but this was a very timely reminder as to why I have decided to really commit to the best diet and lifestyle I can, for me. And I'm so hopeful this blog keeps me on my (still fully nerve receptive) toes!
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
A new commitment to diabeating it.
Over the weekend, my mother in law loaned me this book. And let me tell you, I found it to be a lifechanging read.
The author Lee Holmes herself suffered from an autoimmune disease which, according to her intro, she completely conquered and continues to manage through a commitment to a body-right eating plan. That's what I'm talking about!
Since last I posted, I would say I have been eating the right diet for me and my diabetes only seventy percent of the time. Winter and pregnancy, and then new-baby-ness all made me feel very time poor, and like the right food choices were sometimes too hard.
I have got to tell you, this is one of the best cook books I have read in a very long time, and I really devoured it, page by page, front to back, and then again, to make notes. I did an online shop late last night, filled with healthy organic choices to make implementing this lifestyle a bit easier. It was so inspirational.
Well, one day in and I am pretty pleased. My first confession, in the spirit of blognesty, is that I am writing this with a delicious glass of ice cold sauvignon blanc in hand. I am taking it one vice at a time, and, I have not had coffee all day, and have managed to stick to nutritious, natural whole foods for meals and snacks. Breakfast was organic porridge with a spoon of pure cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon to help keep my glood glucose levels stable.
Lunch was a huge win- sliced cabbage with onion, parsley and dill from the garden and a tin of salmon, walnuts and a mustardy mayonnaisey dressing, topped with a beautiful Barossa dukkah. It was unbelievably good, even if I do say so myself.
So. Wish me luck. One good food choice at a time is my mantra.
The author Lee Holmes herself suffered from an autoimmune disease which, according to her intro, she completely conquered and continues to manage through a commitment to a body-right eating plan. That's what I'm talking about!
Since last I posted, I would say I have been eating the right diet for me and my diabetes only seventy percent of the time. Winter and pregnancy, and then new-baby-ness all made me feel very time poor, and like the right food choices were sometimes too hard.
I have got to tell you, this is one of the best cook books I have read in a very long time, and I really devoured it, page by page, front to back, and then again, to make notes. I did an online shop late last night, filled with healthy organic choices to make implementing this lifestyle a bit easier. It was so inspirational.
Well, one day in and I am pretty pleased. My first confession, in the spirit of blognesty, is that I am writing this with a delicious glass of ice cold sauvignon blanc in hand. I am taking it one vice at a time, and, I have not had coffee all day, and have managed to stick to nutritious, natural whole foods for meals and snacks. Breakfast was organic porridge with a spoon of pure cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon to help keep my glood glucose levels stable.
Lunch was a huge win- sliced cabbage with onion, parsley and dill from the garden and a tin of salmon, walnuts and a mustardy mayonnaisey dressing, topped with a beautiful Barossa dukkah. It was unbelievably good, even if I do say so myself.
So. Wish me luck. One good food choice at a time is my mantra.
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