My journey to better health

You know Suzzz, that was my first thought, the cinnamon. It might be worth the effort to
buy the sticks and run them through a spice grinder or a blender. The sticks are a little pricier
in the short term but in the long term I think it would be a saving. One of the things I learned
about spices especially was that salt is used as a filler. As to the meter i don't know.

If the spice bottle says cinnamon (and doesn't have an ingredient list), it is just ground up cinnamon. I don't think food companies can put in hidden sugar. They don't have to list it specifically, but they do need to put a list of ingredients that include "spice blends," etc.

Are you sure stress and hormones aren't playing weird games with you, Fiff? There's no real way to tell, but I would suspect it.

As to breakfast... Are you using the old fashioned oats or instant stuff? The instant might have some other ingredients in it. Old fashioned oats cooks in the microwave in about 4 minutes, so it isn't much longer than the instant stuff. It also might digest slower since it isn't shredded up so small. Cheese is a wonderful breakfast too. A chunk of cheddar and some grapes if you can handle them. If not cheddar and an apple.. Cottage cheese with some blueberries... Yogurt (plain Greek style) with some fruit stirred in. All are good for you and do stick to your ribs.

becky you got it....instant and esp prepacked oatmeal is filled with crap..salt salt salt and sugar without you even thinking about it!
as for cinnamon IF you're going to rely on that to lower your blood sugar you need to talk to a dietician or doctor first,. Why? because too much isn't going to help you...a small amount..esp over the day is fine but a spoonfull at once isn't good.
Also....and this came from a nurse the first time i was in the hospital..too much cinnamon can actually mess up your liver. and trust me ,you don't want to have to deal with that.
SO...if you really are serious...plain oatmeal (esp the steel cut) cooked in WATER not milk(remember milk adds what? ...salt and sugar!!!) i worked with a woman who had to eat that every day for years due to a health problem and after a while you get used to it. (just like i'm getting used to Trader Joe's 0 Sodium bread...it looks and tastes like something you'd feed a horse but you can eat it and actually kinda crave it after a while!)

Totally forgot that angle of it. I never the instant stuff anyway NASTY

Well, I wrote a whole post about instant oatmeal that disappeared... Anyway, I eat a serving of regular instant oatmeal every morning at work, because we have a hot water dispenser there. It doesn't have any sugar, and only 75 mg of salt. I didn't think that was bad at all. I eat it with a couple of teaspoons of honey. I had to acquire a taste for oatmeal - it was not something I touched until about 5 years ago. Because I had heard so many recommendations for steel cut oatmeal, I bought some and tried it. Ugh. I'll stick with the packets.

My mom seems to think it might be the actual physical stress of living in a cold apartment affecting my numbers (it's currently 45 in there, up from 42 the past few days). My numbers ran high no matter what I ate ever since the stress of dealing with the unemployment office. She thinks it's just taking it's sweet old time coming back down.

I gave away all the instant flavored oatmeal I had when I got my diagnosis....no way was I even going to try eating that with all the added stuff in it. Waaaaaaay too many carbs!

I make old fashioned oatmeal (whatever brand is on sale but always old fashioned style, can't find steel cut) with water only, no salt, no nothing else, just water and add the plain cinnamon as a stir-in when it's done. Sometimes I add a touch of splenda to it if I'm craving sweet. This morning my numbers were much better but I had a peanut butter openface sandwich for breakfast instead of oatmeal today. But the number I started out with this morning was almost 30pts lower than what I've had the past few days. (66)

It will be another year before I have access to seeing a doctor without going bankrupt. That's when the state will expand health coverage for single childless adults FINALLY. Meanwhile, I'm still making payments on the dr. visit from last July. $450 to see that dr. for 3 minutes, one lab test that said 'yes, you have a bladder infection' and get sent on my way. Sheesh......

Wouldn't be surprised. Still take care.

I make my old fashioned oatmeal with milk and salt. Gotta admit it, but I haven't been told I need to restrict sodium, so I'll stick with a sprinkle. Skim or 1% milk seems to be fine as far as fat intake goes. But, different strokes for different folks, right?

I've heard that cooking steel cut oatmeal in the slow cooker works really well. I don't have a slow cooker small enough to try it, but I'm thinking I might get one of those tiny ones so I can cook my breakfast overnight.

I had one of those tiny slowcookers but it wore out. If you have a recipe for overnight slowcooker oatmeal I'd love to have it. I can always warm up the leftovers.
I seem to be running mostly normal numbers now, except when it comes to the oatmeal. I now run about 20-24pts higher at the 2 hour mark than I did before. Maybe my body adjusted to the oatmeal? My nephew suggested quinoa but I'm not sure. 1 cup of it has 39 carbs, which is over my meal limit. 222 calories too. To the diabetics or family of diabetics: would whole barley be better than oatmeal?

Overnight oatmeal sounded good, so I looked up a recipe. It looks really easy. Hopefully it will be. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-oatmeal-recipe/index.html

Here's another: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-oatmeal/

Read some of the reviews - they talk about using small crocks or using a larger one and then putting a Pyrex dish inside the slow cooker. Then put some water into the slow cooker so it cooks in a water bath. Interesting suggestions.

becky and BC a little salt in your oatmeal's not a bad thing as long as you don't have a problem with it;) the steel cut i've had off and on and don't mind but i also like things like GrapeNuts (when i could still eat it). I think you have to either like the 'bite' (or texture or whatever) or get used to it.
i've got some great granolda from TJ's this winter that i've been adding more raisins to...but when i've finished that i've started to think i might try to make my own just to see how it would be.
anybody ever tried that?

I like hot Grape Nuts. I just put the milk on and stick it in the microwave for about 45 seconds. I have to stir 1/2 way through to keep it from becoming a volcano, but it tastes really good.

My mom made granola when I was a kid. I really loved it, but haven't made it myself. Interesting idea to try tough. Would be delicious, huh?

Granola is supposed to be easy to make. I knew someone who did what with grape
nuts except they used yogurt.

oh yeah i loved hot grapenuts....it probably is very salty but i don't eat it now cuz i can't afford to crack or break off any more teeth. i already have three missing entirely and two that are broken but stil in there. pretty soon i'll have no teeth

I found a couple of low carb recipes for granola bars, I have everything in the recipe except the stevia drops. Sure sounds good though and would make a nice breakfast on the go bar. I went up 22 pts on oatmeal again, so I wonder......is that okay? I'm still below 110 at the 2 hour mark. Just wondering....Woodman's has the old fashioned oatmeal in a 10# box on sale for only $8.00


Walnut Blondies with Dark Chocolate Chunks

1 1/2 cup walnuts, divided
1 cup almond meal
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup toasted walnut oil (you could use melted butter if absolutely necessary!)
1/2 cup granulated erythritol (Truvia)
2 tsp vanilla
10 drops stevia extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup low carb chocolate chips (I make my own, see recipe here, but you can buy them or chop up an 85% cacao Lindt chocolate bar) I think I could get away with little crumbles of unsweetened baking chocolate!

Preheat oven to 325F and grease an 8×8 pan. Line with parchment paper and grease paper.
Chop and toast 1/2 cup of walnuts. Set aside.
Grind remaining walnuts until they resemble a coarse meal. Combine ground walnuts, almond meal and xanthan gum in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
In a large bowl, combine walnut oil, erythritol, vanilla and stevia. Stir in walnut/almond mixture. Add beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Stir in toasted, chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.
Spread batter in prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. The edges will be slightly browned and the center will be slightly firm to the touch.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Serves 20. Each serving has 8.8g total carbs (this varies slightly depending on what chocolate you use), but only 4.5g if you subtract erythritol.


Granola Bars with the Works
10 servings

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2/5 cup bran flakes cereal
1/8 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1 2/5 tbsp semi sweet chocolate chips
8/10 tbsp chopped pecans
2/5 tsp baking soda
2/5 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/10 cup SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend
1 2/5 tbsp butter , softened
2/5 tsp vanilla extract

1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
2 Coat 9" square pan with cooking spray.
3 In medium bowl, combine oats, bran flakes, coconut, chocolate chips, pecans, and baking soda. Mix well.
4 In small saucepan, whisk peanut butter, brown sugar blend, butter, and vanilla over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute.
5 Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir well.
6 Press mixture into prepared 9" square pan and bake until browned, about 15-20 minutes.
7 Cool completely before cutting into 10 pieces.

Amount per serving:
Calories 92.4 Total Carbs 8.1g Fiber 1.1g Sugars 2.6g Protein 2g Sodium 68mg Protein 2g Total Fat 5.9g Saturated Fat 2.2g Unsaturated Fat 3.7g

Found out something interesting this morning: despite it's claim on the label that it's low in carbs......do NOT have almond butter toast for breakfast. It spiked me so high I'd have been a lot better off with oatmeal and the numbers that has caused lately.

I tried oatmeal in the slow cooker with rolled oats. It came out too creamy for our taste. Maybe steel cut oatmeal would stand up to this long cooking better than the rolled oats. I never cared for steel cut oatmeal because I could never get it to be anything less than chewy, so maybe this would make it palatable to me.

I might give the oatmeal in a slow cooker a try on a Sunday.

Good grief, Fif! Could your brand of almond butter have added sugar?

It did.......the only kind we can get and it has "high fructose corn syrup" in it. The jar said 6g of carbs per 2 TBS.....I think it lied. I may have to figure out how to make it for myself. There is nothing else but peanut butter or this one kind of almond butter. How I wish they had sunflower butter, I bet that would be good. The one big drawback of being in a small town, not a lot of grocery stores to shop at.

I did quite well with the buttercup and dumpling squash...only went up 18 pts so did very well. I 'baked' the seeds in the microwave for snacking.

I think all you need to make almond butter is almonds and a food processor. Put them into the processor with some salt and grind until creamy. Our fancy grocery has a nut butter grinder next to bins of whole nuts. I've never done it, but it looks like you just put in the nuts and grind away.

I wonder if my mini chopper from 25 years ago is strong enough for the job........it's the original one that came out that I got as a present all those years ago. Now there's several knockoffs of it on the market. I hope I don't need a fullsize blender to make almond or other nut butters.

Tried to make meatloaf lowcarb......without ketchup in it. Used tomato sauce instead....didn't turn out very tasty. Will have to experiment some to get some flavor into it. But my BGL didn't go up much so that was good.

Try tomato paste.

Tomato paste, garlic, chopped onions, sea salt, and LOTS of pepper. You can also add some Worcester sauce or A-1. Keep the A-1 light since I think it has added sugar. Worcester sauce should be pretty safe though.