Food and Health?

[Brooks]

a good sweet snack for diabetics

For foods that are almost entirely carbs I am always leery about that generalization until proven true for the individual by means of a glucose meter.

I'm actually in search of fat, from veggies like avocados or nuts. The good fats. (If Jicama had fats I would probably consider that a plus!) I'd just as soon avoid starchy veggies if they don't have much to offer. I do believe I should add more orange starches like sweet potato and squash and pumpkin to my diet somehow because of their micronutrients. I'm not lacking for fiber.

[inthegarden]

I understand, I don't like to recommend foods because everyone's health issue are different.
I question a lot of the 'new' finds and that is why I was asking questions.

[Ellen]

The article I read said the Jicama is high in dietary fiber, an excellent source of oligofuctose inullin, promotes 'friendly' bacteria in the gut, a good sweet snack for diabetics, no fat, rich in vitamin C, 1 cup = 24mg. A new superfood.
I had never tried it and wanted everyone's input. Thanks!

I stand corrected — I'll have to buy it more often!

[Gutmutter]

I'm watching PBS fundraising shows on healthy lifestyle/diet trying to nudge myself back on track. I know what to eat. I know what not to eat. Why is it so easy to get off track?

[Brooks]

Your NutriBullet is calling you, LOL.

[Gutmutter]

I went back a couple of years in the weight loss thread and tracked what had worked for me in the past. I found a book recommendation someone had made and read it on my Kindle. Lots of good ideas. It explained why not to eat sugar better than any other thing I've ever read, and I'm the kind of person who functions best understanding the why of things. It also suggested mini fasts - 20 hours. You don't go a whole day without eating. I decided to try it and went 18 hours (6pm - noon today) before I decided I was through. He also addresses the whole acid/alkaline thing well. The book is called Sleep Fat Wake Up Thin by Kenn Kihiu. Only $3 on Kindle.

[Brooks]

Good luck to you Gut, we do all need the individual plan that works best for us. For me a big part of it has been a constant barrage of Scary Nutrition Books, primarily ones with excellent explanations of the science. But that's partly because I wanted to lose some weight secondary to figuring out was was the best overall maintenance diet for me. Of the dozens I have devoured the last couple years compliments of my local library network, the four books I really wish my doctors and all my friends would read: The Modern Nutritional Diseases, 2nd edition, 2013, by Alice Ottoboni and Fred Ottoboni; The Queen of Fats, 2006, by Susan Allport; Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox, 2013, by Kate Rheaume-Bleue; and Death by Food Pyramid, 2013, by Denise Minger (and any of her blogs). Amazon reviews would give you a pretty good idea of their focus and value.

I'm a grazer. There does appear to be value to eating discrete meals and letting your body fully process it and then some before eating again, to maximize burning of fats (leptin response), but it just doesn't fit into my stress responses. I can't go longer than major meals without getting really grumpy so I don't know how others do it. ;^)

[ClosetRTWatcher]

I'm watching PBS fundraising shows on healthy lifestyle/diet trying to nudge myself back on track. I know what to eat. I know what not to eat. Why is it so easy to get off track?

I have had good success focusing on portion control in my own diet. BUT when I cook a really good dinner at home I find it very difficult not to go back for more, even when I know I am full. It's just soooo yummy!!

On days when I work or weekends when I'm out of the house I often don't eat a full meal until the end of the day. However, at home I can be a grazer. It is easier for me if we don't have snack foods that I like in the house!

[Gutmutter]

Thank you for those recommendations, Brooks! I'm going to read the reviews on Amazon right now.

[Brooks]

So one of my best friends who happened to be my closest coworker died suddenly several weeks ago (I mentioned that on another post - not looking for condolences here, thanks). I've been on a death march ever since at work while we look for a replacement who will still take a long time to train. Life was already pretty stressful. The great salads hubby had been making me for dinner were now out of the question because I now get home too late and all that embedded liquid just keeps me up at night. I haven't been able to shop for and prepare the extensive veggies I used in my lunch smoothies. I used all of this and more as an excuse to eat junk, lots of it. Having previously reached my weight goal I have been packing on the pounds, and not healthy stuff either. What might be different this time than anything similar years ago is I know just how unhealthy it is. But darn, it tastes so good! My coworker was one of the people who kept me in line as to what I ate. And so were all those scary nutrition books. Now I have to find the reserve to pull myself together again. I figured I should fess up here, part of the 12 step healthy eating program, right? If ~full knowledge of correct eating isn't enough, then maybe shame will help, heh. And that hubby is being evaluating this week for a heart transplant. My issue has always been one of motivation, and recent events knocked it right out of me.