So at this point you've gotten a lot of information about diabetes. That's excellent, but I worry that if you don't also get the stuff you need to make it easier to make healthier lifestyle changes, the information won't do much more than stress you out. I think a mistake a lot of folks who write books about diabetes--and even some of the dietitians I've encountered in my own life-- make is that they assume that everybody has the skills, time, money, and equipment that would make huge dietary changes a no-brainer. Even if the writers and dietitians are aware of these obstacles, there isn't really a list of the things you need to get motivated and to keep up the changes in the long run.
When I was growing up, you were the cook in the family and I'm glad you taught me how to work with what I have on hand to make something that is filling and tasty. Your basic formula used to start with a boxed side dish like au gratin potatoes or dirty rice mix, some meat either on the side or cooked into the mix, and maybe a canned or frozen vegetable--usually corn or peas. When I want comfort food, this is what I still do even as an adult. Last night, I added some leftover chicken from the other night to some boxed macaroni and cheese and called it dinner. It wasn't healthy, but it was delicious and filling and made me feel better at the end of an otherwise blah sort of day.
You're a great cook, but these foods are not the ones that will help you keep your blood sugar and blood pressure under control because they are so full of carbs, starches, sugars and sodium. Even if you have low-carb prepared foods, there's still a good chance they're full of sodium and doing your blood pressure no favors. The easiest thing to do is to cook all your own food from scratch so that you know what all is in it and can control it. Problem solved.
Really? Who actually thinks this is easy? Maybe people who don't have to think about preparing healthy food, or those who grew up learning how to cook from scratch and actually like to do it. Most of the working people I know don't have those luxuries.
It's not easy, but it can certainly be less difficult. I have an idea.
Step 1: Purge the pantry of most of the prepared foods. Donate them to a food pantry or someone else you know who likes them. As someone who buys macaroni and cheese in 2s, I understand how one can accumulate so much Hamburger Helper when it's on sale more frequently than it gets eaten.
Note that I didn't say you should get rid of all of it, since we all need a little junk food every once in a while. Just don't keep enough of it in the house that it makes sense as your automatic dinner starter.
Step 2: Get stuff that will make foods taste good so that you can buy meat and vegetables and cooking them will be easier. If you stock up on meat and frozen vegetables when they're on sale, then you'll be able to pull together a meal with the stuff on hand just like you did before, but it will be much healthier.
So I looked at the ingredients lists for the recipes in the cook books and made a quick list of the herbs, seasonings, etc. so that I could figure out what sorts of things you would need to have on hand if you wanted to try those new foods. Here's what I came up with:
Dry stuff:
- garlic powder (not garlic salt)
- oregano
- chili powder
- dill weed
- basil
- cumin
- sage
- sea salt
- parsley
- onion soup mix
- steak grilling seasoning mix
- chicken grilling seasoning mix
- worcestershire sauce (reduced sodium)
- stone ground mustard
- vinegars (apple cider and white)
- oilve oil
- light italian salad dressing
- low sodium soy sauce
- spray canola oil
It also turns out that from those ingredients, you can make all sorts of marinades for meats. In fact, that's why I included the light Italian dressing. One of my favorite ways to marinate pork chops is to put them in a gallon plastic bag with half a bottle of a dark beer, a heavy squirt of that stone ground mustard, a teaspoon of minced garlic, a pinch of sea salt, and a splash of olive oil.
You can get those supplies at just about any grocery store and even some dollar stores. I recommend that you go to an ethnic market or look for the ethnic foods section of your grocery store for the herbs and spices because they are a lot less expensive than the main US national brands. In this case, the small bottles cost less than $2 each. At some stores, you can get the spices and herbs in bulk and put them in your own bags/bottles. I don't recommend buying a spice set because they are often much more expensive than getting individual bottles, you don't get to pick and choose what's in them (so you'll get stuff you don't want or need), and you have no idea how fresh or stale they are. At least with individual bottles on a grocery store shelf, you can look at the dates.
If you can spare a few extra dollars for any one thing on this list, I recommend getting a nicer extra virgin olive oil. A little goes a long way, so you don't need a huge bottle.
Step 3: Restock the shelves with the new stuff so that it's in front of you when you are looking for food and so that you can find what you're looking for easily.
Now that you've got a good base set of seasoning ingredients, it won't be too expensive or annoying to pick up just one more if a new recipe calls for it--like the rosemary I forgot to include with this list. Sorry about that!
Love,
Mel
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