I read a large assortment of magazines, both print and online, to keep current on nutrition news and research as well as to get recipe ideas for meals and snacks. I just finished flipping through a magazine targeted to diabetics and I have to say I am appalled!
Over 90% of the recipes included a starch. While whole grains are important, they are not necessary for every meal! And we certainly don’t need every meal to have a grain or starch component equal to or exceeding the other ingredients of vegetables and proteins. It is particularly important for those who are diabetic to control foods that convert quickly to sugar and eat more foods that don’t!
Over 90% of the recipes called for including some type of processed item such as a seasoning mix or a sauce. I get that people are looking for convenience but it is not necessary to sacrifice health for convenience. It really isn’t that difficult to use real ingredients (without all the chemicals and preservatives) to make seasonings and sauces for our meals.
And when the recipes called for dairy components, they were always non-fat or reduced-fat. That is straight out of the USDA Food Guidelines playbook … and all wrong for our health! I guess the folks coming up with these recipes haven’t gotten the message that fat is not responsible for making us fat. We need fat … good fat … to be healthy! And organic or raw, whole-fat dairy is good fat.
These folks need to take a look at some of the current research in epigenetics! It is all of those processed and fake ingredients in our foods that are screwing with our genes! Our genes don’t recognize processed sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, dyes, chemicals, and genetically modified foods so they become confused about how to deal with them. They give mixed or bad signals to our cells causing altered biological processes and initiating / promoting diseases like diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune disorders.
Diabetics need recipe information based on real foods … lean and organic proteins, lots of whole and fresh vegetables with some fruits, and healthy sources of fat like avocados, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil and milk as well as seasonings that include fresh herbs and spices. Incorporating these foods into their lifestyles will help diabetics manage their condition and for people with Type II diabetes, possibly reverse the condition altogether!
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