Glycemic Index Cooking

I bought a recipe book a while ago and forgot about it. It’s entitled, Glycemic Index Cooking made easy: Lose Weight, Eat Well, and Boost Your Energy Levels Using Low-GI Foods. It’s written by Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller, Kaye Foster-Powell, Johanna McMillan-Price, Johanna Burani, Dr. Nadir R. Farid, and Kate Marsh. It’s published by Rodale, Inc., but the book does not give the location of the city and state where it originated except for the direct mail order edition from Avalon Publishing Group in New York, NY. I bought it in a wholesale store. They suggest getting their products at rodalestore.com, which may have been accurate in 2007, the year it was copyrighted.https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517V%2BNQmL-L._SX408_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

On page 185, a recipe entitled “Spaghetti with Summer Tomatoes and Basil” featured an entrée with only six ingredients. It suggested the presentation of the cooked food in an artful manner. My husband looked at it and said, “That looks like a girly meal.”

I asked if he was going to try it. He said, “Yes.”

The next thing I knew, he was back in the kitchen to dish up another bowlful. I marked the top of the page, “mmm good.”

I always use whole wheat pasta when it’s for the two of us. If company comes over, I may change the pasta to corn/quinoa pasta or artichoke pasta or white/enriched semolina pasta. The recipe didn’t specify what kind of spaghetti to use. Low glycemic meals are good for diabetics, from what I understand.

I’ve been crazy busy lately. As I read the Bible this morning, I thought I should be sure and blog tonight. I was reading in the book of Isaiah, and God was mad at the people for turning their backs on Him. He described the punishments He intended to unleash on Judah and Ephraim and Samaria. Yet, He promised them a remnant would be saved, from the line of Jesse, which was the father of King David. The prophet spoke of Jesus coming to the earth without naming Him directly. Jesus fulfilled the prophesy in Isaiah 9: 1 & 2, (NKJV) about a light shining in the darkness in Zebulun and Naphtali, etc.

Tornadoes may be heading our way tonight. They have touched down in PA. Tornadoes don’t normally come our direction. In Isaiah, God was furious because His people turned to wizards and mediums. In our town, I know of folks paying psychics for information about the future. God says in His Word, “Why aren’t the people coming to Me, asking for wisdom? They go to darkness instead of the light.”

I don’t even know how to pray for America, other than to say, “Dear God, please send revival.”

Then, I go about my day, buying groceries, cutting up tomatoes, getting research books from the library for things I want to write about. Jesus said that when He comes back, it’ll be like the days of Noah. People will be getting married, living ordinary lives, yet evil continued to grow worse and worse. I pray and then I take one step after another, trusting God and holding on to the joy He gives, because of the grace He gives.

May God bless you!

It Takes Time to Lose Weight

It usually takes time to do things that are worthwhile. I bought fava beans at a health food store and realized they expired in November of 2017. So, the day before yesterday I soaked them overnight. Then last night, I began peeling them and rinsing them. I intended to go to bed about two hours before normal, and then I remembered the beans soaking on the back of the stove. So, I began to peel them by hand and an hour after I hoped to be asleep, I told my husband there seemed to be a lot more of them than before I processed them. I counted sixty more to do after I’d peeled them for fifty-some minutes.

At that late hour, I rinsed them and placed them in the refrigerator in a covered bowl. Tonight, as I thought of going to bed, I remembered I’d never cooked them and after reading about fava beans, which are treated similarly to lima beans, I decided to cook them for half an hour, let them cool and then refrigerate them.

So, once again I am not going to bed early.

I got online to delete e-mails and found an alert for BeautyBeyondBones blog that I follow. She had a Brussel sprout, beet, grape, pistachio nut topping for salad recipe that looked really good. So, I spent fifteen minutes maybe watching Carolyn prepare this multi-colored seared vegetable dish on YouTube while my dried cooked beans cooled.

I’ve been thinking of eating habits because a young lady told me tonight at a Christmas play practice that she’s lost 41 pounds to get ready for a gastrointestinal operation to shrink the stomach way down so she can lose weight rapidly and hopefully keep it off.

I was reading cookbooks to prepare the fava beans and some of my books feature vegan or vegetarian ways of eating. When we were younger, my husband and I began eating according to Dr. McDougall’s advice, along with our family. His diet is carb-based. The hassle that I went through from my parents and other people shocked me. We dropped weight like crazy and ate a lot because we were hungry. The reason we quit was because it was harder to find restaurants that served vegan meals back then and I got tired of eating rigidly.

Now, we aim for vegan or vegetarian eating, but it is difficult to be totally immersed in that eating lifestyle, but when I’m stricter, I feel a ton better. All my blood work improved when we switched back, and we tried to eat a lot more raw food this time. As I eat a doughnut here, a handful of potato chips there, cake and ice cream at a birthday party, etc. I crave more fatty and salty foods, and sweets.

When I avoid that kind of feast-like eating, and then get away from the vegetables, the sweets and fatty foods don’t taste as good and I feel a little sick.

My husband has decided to eat out less, choose better foods at home and not worry about being perfect at eating healthy. I’ve noticed his weight is sliding down some and he acts more energetic lately.

I’m bringing the snack at a function we go to weekly and when I asked a friend for advice, she suggested I not choose a dessert. It’s usually a dessert and sometimes one cooked with a sugar substitute. The only sugar substitutes I use are a stevia kind or xylitol. I use honey or maple syrup or other natural sweeteners and occasionally sugar, but I try and buy raw sugar and limit its use. At least one member of our group has diabetes.

I don’t know how long God intends me to be on this earth, but I’ve noticed that when I eat healthily, drink enough clean water and get exercise I feel a lot better than when I don’t. I think I remember George Burns, the comedian saying if he knew he was going to live this long, he would have taken better care of himself. He lived to be a hundred years old. He’s not the only one who’s said that.

I’ve been thinking I’d like to lose a small amount of weight, but if I decide to pursue it, it’ll take planning to achieve it. I attend a few functions regularly that supply rich snacks or a meal. I’ll have to bring alternatives with enough to share. Hallelujah Acres founder, Rev. George Malkmus suggested vegan eaters tell folks, “I need to eat this way for my health, and people usually understand.”

I also know that it may take a while to get the weight off, but it didn’t come on overnight. It’s been sneaking up on me as I gradually changed habits back to the way I ate when I wasn’t too fussy about the choices in front of me.

People say not to start a diet before Christmas. I don’t call losing weight being on a diet. I just say, “I’m cutting back.”

Instead of eating four Christmas cookies in a sitting, I can have two and not start them until later in the day. When I start my day eating sweets, I crave them all day long.

I hope you are well! God bless!

Disease Fighter

I cleared a cluttery spot on Friday night before accompanying my husband and friends to a person’s home for a macro nutrient-filled meal. We liked everything from the soup to the dessert except for a red cabbage dish that tasted bitter. I added a ground sesame seed/salt combination on top and it tasted better. This family has opened its doors for over twenty years to the community for a Friday night meal for a donation. This was our first time being there in Upstate NY.

It’s quite a drive from our house so I don’t know how often we’ll get there. After eating an all whole food vegan meal with different kinds of seaweeds incorporated into the recipes I stumbled upon a DVD once home, from de-cluttering earlier in the day.

My husband and I just watched it: “Forks Over Knives” in combination with “Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue” which showed shopping and food preparation.

     (image from http://www.benbellavegan.com/book/the-china-study/

T.Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II, MD in The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health stated that people who changed to a whole food, plant-eating diet found reductions in cancer, heart disease, diabetes 2, immune diseases, bone diseases, mental deterioration and eye diseases, etc. This book was copyrighted in 2004 and published by BenBella Books, Dallas, TX.

Protein from meat and dairy is hard on the body according to many researchers and a handful of doctors that I’m aware of.

When my husband and I were eating vegan a few years ago and making raw carrot juice with celery or greens in it, I went to the eye doctors for an exam. The cataracts the doctor kept track of from a previous visit had completely disappeared.

Dr. T. Colin Campbell suggests as a person increases their fruit and vegetable intake by four servings (1/2 cup), their chance of stroke goes down by 22 %. By adding additional varieties of veggies and fruits, the chance of stroke decreases accordingly until there’s a 100% chance of no stroke. Over sixteen servings a day is what I figured. This includes potatoes, corn, etc.

What I like about this kind of diet is that a person can eat until they’re full as often as they want and they will lose weight. The only time I gained weight eating this way was to reach for the bread and nuts too often. They are higher in calorie.

In the Bible after Creation, in Gen_2:16, (ESV):  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.”

According to the Bible, mankind didn’t eat meat until after the worldwide flood.

Here’s food for thought.

May God bless you.

Wham!

Life surprises me every once in a while. I coast along and then Wham!

My husband and I drove to Rochester, NY for our 40th wedding anniversary. I wanted to drive to Brockport State College to reminisce about our meeting there and falling in love there. 🙂 Which we did.

My sister, Barb asked me to call her on Sunday night. I almost put her off until Monday night since we’d be home then. Now I’m glad I didn’t.

She got ketoacidosis which placed her in ICU on Monday afternoon. Diabetes got out of control with a lack of insulin input so her body looked for fat for nourishment. It poured out of storage and the lack of insulin made it indigestible so her blood got hit with toxins, from what I understand.

Four days later she’s beginning to talk a bit. This is a woman with a verbal flair.

I thank God for the many people praying and for her recovery. She began with a blood sugar count over a thousand when one hundred plus is the preferred range. Her blood pressure dropped to 80/35, way too low.

Thank God for her friend Karen finding her, for medical help in Austin, TX – she’s at Seton – and for all the people praying. God has heard your prayers and she’s on her way. Blood sugar and blood pressure is much, much better. Her kidneys are beginning to improve.

Thank You, Jesus.