For diabetics diet happens to be just as important as anything else when it comes to managing their blood sugars. Recent studies however have shown that we do not get enough servings of green veggies that we are supposed to.
Veggies are the forgotten ingredient in our diets and I think this is because they are not naturally sweet and the recommendation is either to eat them raw or steamed and even with their nutritional value, it is commonly harder to get someone to eat them as is, case an point, your mum probably had to make you eat your veggies while the other foods were mainly woofed down as a kid.
Do you think that resistance to vegetables growing up follows you into adulthood?
There is an excellent book by Mrs. Jessica Seinfeld, yes that Mrs. Seinfeld which I discovered recently called Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
I found it recently when I was researching my next point which is finding creative ways to add veggies to your diet. Now my motivation here was getting Re to eat more veggies and like any kid, I had hit a brick wall with my creativity. Bribing just wasn’t working anymore and I could only take one more your food is nasty dad before I went crazy.
Anyway Mrs. Seinfeld has a lot of creative ways of adding veggies to the diet in her book and while it is intended for kids diets, I think some of her ideas could be adapted to adults finding it hard to do the same. For example her veggie puree ideas are easy to make and are excellent
An example
Broccoli puree
1.cut into florets
2.Steam for 6 or 7 minutes until florets are tender but still bright green. If they turn an olive green then they are overcooked.
3.Puree in a food processor or blender for about 2 minutes and add a few table spoonfuls of water for a smooth creamy texture.
The recommended amount of daily servings for veggies can be had in one sitting or in every meal the key happens to be adding an emphasis on a wholesome nutritious diet with all the recommended vitamins, proteins and minerals.
Veggies are an expensive part of your diet however and I would be remiss from adding a few tips on veggie shopping tips since that is the premise of this blog.
1.Buy Veggies when they are in season: Out of season veggies are always expensive because of the added overhead it requires to have them at the local store.
2.Shop at the local farmers market: The farmers market will always have locally grown veggies and are generally a lot cheaper than grocery chains.
3.Shop on Monday: Veggies are perishable and most local markets will stock up on weekends because that’s when most people shop so you will find bargains on Monday when they are trying to get rid of the surplus.
4.Shop around: Never be satisfied with the status quo always shop around for deals, use coupons and if you are at the local market then remember to haggle and negotiate.
5.Join a communal: These community programs are very economical to join plus the added advantage of harvesting your own veggies which could be a nice added activity for the whole family to enjoy.
So go green and be healthier.
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Ronald Gregory is a diabetic and a blogger you can follow his works at the poor diabetic blog. which is a resource for those fighting diabetes without the aid of medical coverage.Join a community of people learning and sharing how to manage diabetes frugally with all the savings available in our lives at http://thepoordiabetic.com
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