Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A fear of fruit, living as a Diabetic

Parties interested in donating funds to Harlem Hospital may issue a check payable to Harlem Hospital Center, with a note stating it is for Diabetes Education. Donations should be sent to the attention of the Executive Officer Ms. Denise Soares, RN; M.A., Executive Director located at 506 Lenox Avenue NYC 10037.


A few of you have asked if you can help and this is how you can help. $5.00 is not too little. They need 300,000.00 to fund the department and begin teaching hands on classes but it can be raised a dollar at a time.

When I did the living on a food stamp budget project I heard from many people who told me "There should be classes, we should teach 'these people' how to cook and eat well. While the comments were often racist and hostile they were right, we should teach everyone living with diabetes the best way to live.

In the past it has often been via brochures written by dieticians who can't cook but take existing recipes and make chemical substitutions or they are via a 'cooking demo' which only teaches that the demo chef knows how to cook.

Harlem want to do this as a hands on class, with everyone working to create a meal or dish.

If you can help...please do.
 
Along with my bread and cheese in the mornings I eat fruit, often a lot of it with tomato, cucumber and olives. I have a fear of fruit because I tend to pair it with other carby foods.

This morning I experimented with a 'safe' pasta. Shirataki noodles, they are made with yam fiber and lime. 0 carbs, 0 calories. With bacon eggs (and yes cheese) it made a very decent carbonara.

Lunch was a potential minefield. I was taken out for a very delicious lunch at a Chinese buffet. This is San Francisco and my standards for Chinese food are very high. This was a delicious meal.

I had shrimp dumplings, shu mai, beef dumpling in rice paper, a big serving of broccoli, green beans, about 1/4 cup of Kung Pao chicken and 4 shrimp in a slightly sweet sauce and a few pieces of roast duck. I was overly careful and had no rice and no noodles.I got home and painstakingly calculated the amount of sugar in the slightly sweet sauce, the amount of car in the dumpling wrapper, the calories, the nutrition ....and on, and on.

My carbs are a little low still, 22% of my calories for the day, but the meal was a little high in fat. Duck can do that to a meal and I eat the skin and the fat...the meat too.

Since I was close to Chinatown for lunch I did did my shopping there.

I found fresh pea shoots and live red shrimp. Like lobster these shrimp taste best when tossed into the fire live. Sorry Peta. I had them for dinner with the pea shoots in a little garlic, just salt and pepper on the shrimp. An absolutely delicious meal and priced within reason. (The shrimp were a deal)

The meal was light so after I had two ounces of the raw milk cheddar I had picked up at Trader Joe's and some blackberries, one measured cup.

This is not easy but I am beginning to get the hang of it. With my carbs at 23% today I am going to give myself permission tomorrow to loosen up just a bit.

My calories were 1,674 which were I trying to lose weight would be ideal. I had a satisfying day ate well and enough, however I am not trying to lose so I have to make an effort to eat a bit more.

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