Travelling with diabetes: Create memories, not stress
Guest article by Phyllisa Deroze Travelling is my favorite hobby. As a kid, I treasured my family's summer trips, driving to visit relatives. I fell in love with travelling because it gave me opportunities to see new places, try different foods and create memorable moments. As a college student, I spent hours on the internet planning trips to places that I couldn't afford to visit in real life. Today, I'm fortunate to travel several times a year and I have visited more than ten countries since being diagnosed with diabetes. It was scary at first. When I was newly...
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Dining Out With Diabetes
How nice it is to share a good meal in good company, leaving stoves and crockery behind to be waited on at a restaurant! The problem is that many dishes on the menu often tend to increase blood sugar. Dining out with diabetes: mission impossible? Not at all. What’s good (and healthy) on the menu? To follow your diet plan more easily, you should try to choose restaurants with good variety, substitutions at no extra charge and generally healthy options… but you still have to spot the pitfalls!...
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Give Some Sparkle To That Water
At the cottage, on the beach or during an evening with friends, it’s nice to keep a glass in hand without worrying about your blood sugar rising with your alcohol level. Drinking water is an excellent plan, but why not tickle your taste buds at the same time? Iced tea Commercial iced teas are often loaded with sugar, but homemade tea infusions, hot or cold, are simple, economical and low-calorie! Hot infusions You can infuse your tea as usual for a few minutes (in 65°C water for green tea, 80°C for oolong tea or 95°C for black tea), then leave it...
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Hyperglycemia
When there isn’t enough insulin in your body, or when the hormone becomes ineffective, your cells are unable to use the available glucose, which then builds up in the blood. Hyperglycemia occurs when glucose levels rise above target values, i.e.: Over 7 mmol/L fasting or before a meal Over 10 mmol/L two hours after a meal Chronic hyperglycemia is what causes the long-term complications of diabetes such as blood vessel and nerve damage, blindness and kidney failure. Signs Fatigue or drowsiness ...
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Diabetes friendly dark chocolate dessert
Dark chocolate bark - a diabetes friendly desserts indulgence Don't get us wrong—even though it's rich in antioxidants, dessert recipes with dark chocolate aren't exactly healthy food. However, because it packs huge flavor into a small serving, you can get that sweet tooth satisfied when you crave without digging deep into the sweet cookie jar. This recipe uses Christmas colors, but you can substitute any nuts or dried fruit you prefer. No Bake and Low Carb Dark Chocolate Bark...
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A Stockpile Of Snacks
When you need to eat something, there’s only one defense against fast food restaurants: be prepared! Lunch ideas Low-sodium vegetable or minestrone soup Veggie chili Tuna salad with low-fat mayonnaise, diced celery, lemon juice and peppercorns in a whole wheat tortilla Whole wheat pita with turkey, hummus, dried tomatoes, feta cheese and spinach Quinoa salad with red beans, broccoli, coloured...
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Too Good To Be True
“Lose 15 pounds in 15 days!”, “Burn calories just by sitting!”, “Discover the marvelous superpowers of the magical Malaysian Meme Beans!”... you've probably heard promises like that before. The idea of losing weight effortlessly sounds great, but what’s the truth of it? Miracle diets, shock diets and company Extreme diets promise drastic and rapid weight loss using severe calorie deficits and dietary restrictions. Of course you’ll shed pounds like crazy if all you have is smoothies or cabbage soup. But in the end, it’ll only harm your...
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Take a new look at your lunchbox
Whether it's your child's school lunchbox or something to eat at your desk, it's easy to get caught in a lunchtime rut. Here are a few diabetes-friendly lunchbox ideas to help you shake things up without a lot of extra preparation or planning. Start with dinner. If you're already cooking, make extra food. You can just reheat and eat, but you don't have to. Tonight's roast chicken makes a great quesadilla with a little cheese and sweet red pepper. A baked pasta dish becomes finger food when cut into...
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Lighter Chicken and Leek Pie
4 steps to a lighter chicken and leek pie We've slimmed down this chicken and leek pie so it still has all of the comforting goodness of the original, without the extra fat, calories and carbs1. How? Skip the bottom crust. This may seem like cheating—of course a single-crust pie will be easier on the carbs. But it also means you don't have to pre-bake the bottom crust or try cutting through soggy pastry when you reheat the leftovers. Use a prepared top crust....
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Dining Out With Diabetes
How nice it is to share a good meal in good company, leaving stoves and crockery behind to be waited on at a restaurant! The problem is that many dishes on the menu often tend to increase blood sugar. Dining out with diabetes: mission impossible? Not at all. What’s good (and healthy) on the menu? To follow your diet plan more easily, you should try to choose restaurants with good variety, substitutions at no extra charge and generally healthy options… but you still have to spot the pitfalls!...
Read More Give Some Sparkle To That Water
At the cottage, on the beach or during an evening with friends, it’s nice to keep a glass in hand without worrying about your blood sugar rising with your alcohol level. Drinking water is an excellent plan, but why not tickle your taste buds at the same time? Iced tea Commercial iced teas are often loaded with sugar, but homemade tea infusions, hot or cold, are simple, economical and low-calorie! Hot infusions You can infuse your tea as usual for a few minutes (in 65°C water for green tea, 80°C for oolong tea or 95°C for black tea), then leave it...
Read More Hyperglycemia
When there isn’t enough insulin in your body, or when the hormone becomes ineffective, your cells are unable to use the available glucose, which then builds up in the blood. Hyperglycemia occurs when glucose levels rise above target values, i.e.: Over 7 mmol/L fasting or before a meal Over 10 mmol/L two hours after a meal Chronic hyperglycemia is what causes the long-term complications of diabetes such as blood vessel and nerve damage, blindness and kidney failure. Signs Fatigue or drowsiness ...
Read More Diabetes friendly dark chocolate dessert
Dark chocolate bark - a diabetes friendly desserts indulgence Don't get us wrong—even though it's rich in antioxidants, dessert recipes with dark chocolate aren't exactly healthy food. However, because it packs huge flavor into a small serving, you can get that sweet tooth satisfied when you crave without digging deep into the sweet cookie jar. This recipe uses Christmas colors, but you can substitute any nuts or dried fruit you prefer. No Bake and Low Carb Dark Chocolate Bark...
Read More A Stockpile Of Snacks
When you need to eat something, there’s only one defense against fast food restaurants: be prepared! Lunch ideas Low-sodium vegetable or minestrone soup Veggie chili Tuna salad with low-fat mayonnaise, diced celery, lemon juice and peppercorns in a whole wheat tortilla Whole wheat pita with turkey, hummus, dried tomatoes, feta cheese and spinach Quinoa salad with red beans, broccoli, coloured...
Read More Too Good To Be True
“Lose 15 pounds in 15 days!”, “Burn calories just by sitting!”, “Discover the marvelous superpowers of the magical Malaysian Meme Beans!”... you've probably heard promises like that before. The idea of losing weight effortlessly sounds great, but what’s the truth of it? Miracle diets, shock diets and company Extreme diets promise drastic and rapid weight loss using severe calorie deficits and dietary restrictions. Of course you’ll shed pounds like crazy if all you have is smoothies or cabbage soup. But in the end, it’ll only harm your...
Read More Take a new look at your lunchbox
Whether it's your child's school lunchbox or something to eat at your desk, it's easy to get caught in a lunchtime rut. Here are a few diabetes-friendly lunchbox ideas to help you shake things up without a lot of extra preparation or planning. Start with dinner. If you're already cooking, make extra food. You can just reheat and eat, but you don't have to. Tonight's roast chicken makes a great quesadilla with a little cheese and sweet red pepper. A baked pasta dish becomes finger food when cut into...
Read More Lighter Chicken and Leek Pie
4 steps to a lighter chicken and leek pie We've slimmed down this chicken and leek pie so it still has all of the comforting goodness of the original, without the extra fat, calories and carbs1. How? Skip the bottom crust. This may seem like cheating—of course a single-crust pie will be easier on the carbs. But it also means you don't have to pre-bake the bottom crust or try cutting through soggy pastry when you reheat the leftovers. Use a prepared top crust....
Read More