Good Carbs & Bad Carbs Fruits

July 16, 2015
Kevin Angileri
health tips
2 Comments
Bad carbs and good carbs fruits

Aren’t Fruits Full Of Carbs – Advice For Diabetic Patients:-

We are often told that fresh fruits are extremely good for health. But what about the sugar contents in the fruits? Aren’t fruits full of carbs? But do you know that there are two types of carbs- the good carbs and the bad carbs? Well, it is what makes the difference. If you have fruits that are enriched with good carbohydrates then they will not harm you in any way. Your blood sugar or obesity problems will not be affected at all. Rather you will be able to handle them easily.

Fruits enriched with good carbs and other nutrients:

  • Apples and pears are low in sugar and contain a sufficient amount of fiber and so satisfy your sweet tooth you can go for these fruits without disturbing your pancreas.
  • Although grapefruit is a citrus fruit unlike other fruits of the same group are not high in sugar and can be taken in salads paired with avocado slices but without sprinkling sugar on top.
  • Apricots and peaches too are a smart way to get vitamin C and fiber in a tasty way. They have the same nutritional elements like apples and pears.
  • Figs are low in sugar and store a lot of fiber. Do not miss them during the season.
  • Strawberries, Cranberries, Raspberries and Grapes are some of the best fruits that have low in sugar and supply sufficient quantity of good carbs to the body for energy and metabolism as well. You will often see jams and diabetic sugar-free desserts prepared with these fruits for the natural sugar in them are just right enough to offer you a tasty treat.

 There are certain fruits which are high in sugar and other essential nutrients. A normal individual especially children can have them profusely, but if you are a diabetic or an obese patient or trying to stay low on carbs avoid the following fruits.

Fruits to avoid – Bad Carbs:

Watermelons are really a tempting fruit. But they are very high in sugar and carbohydrate contents. So avoid it.

  1. Mangoes and Papayas are those fruits that attract everyone. But they are full of sugar and carbs that cannot be digested easily. So it is better to avoid them.
  2.  Pineapples are good sources of enzymes that treat joint pains and inflammation. But the high sugar content in them is harmful for many.

Nature is full of all the necessary nutrients that we require to stay healthy. It is our task to pick out the ones that are best for us.

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Controlling Diabetes Naturally

April 24, 2015
Kevin Angileri
health tips
2 Comments
How to control your diabetes naturally

Big Improvements Via Small Changes

If you are a diabetic, what is your goal?  If you ask a hundred people, you will get the same answer.  I want to live a long and healthy life.  Isn’t that what you are saying, right now?  Most of us,however, don’t know how to get started.  We go to our doctor appointments and take our meds.  That’s it.  We expect miracles, just by following those rules. Trust me, it is not enough.

If you really want a long and healthy life, you will have to do more.  Right now, you are on a computer somewhere on this small planet and you have all that is necessary.  You have information.  Now, you must turn that information into knowledge.  Today, right now, start learning everything you can about this debilitating disease.  Don’t wait till you are unable to make the changes necessary.  There are millions of pieces of info that can help you fight this disease.  Your doctor can only spend 15 or 20 minutes for your appointment.  It is up to you to find ways to fight diabetes. The answer isn’t just taking your daily meds.  Learn what to eat and drink and what pitfalls, you run into everyday, that make diabetes worse.

Controlling Diabetes Naturally

Here are few starting steps, you can do to start controlling diabetes.  They are simple and easy and won’t change your everyday living.  But, they will get you on the road to a healthier You.

Drink More Water:

Water will save your life.  Stop drinking sodas, even those that are sugar and caffeine free.  If you have a taste for orange juice, eat an orange.  Remember that the processed fruit drinks have none of the actual fruit in them.  They have added other chemicals and preservatives so they keep on the store shelf.  Eat the real the thing, and feel better.

Controlling Diabetes With Food – Change Your Eating Habits:

Let’s talk about eating….my favorite subject.  If you are like me, you are a fast food junkie.  I have eating them from the very first day they opened.  Oops. I have given my age away.  Well, what do we do about fast foods????  Starting today and for the next 30 days try this. Cut your visits to the fast food place from 4 or 5 to once a week.  Make a healthy sandwich and piece of fruit for lunch.  A fast food lunch will generally cost about $5.00 and your homemade lunch will cost under $2.00.  Wow, eat better and save money!!!  What a deal.

Controlling Diabetes With Exercise

: Let’s talk about exercise, my least favorite subject.  If you are like me, you despise exercising.  So, for the next 30 days, lets not exercise.  Sound good?  Here comes the “but”  For the next 30 days, take two 15 minute walks.  One in the afternoon after lunch and one in the evening, after dinner.  That’s it….no lifting weights or sit-ups.  Just walk.  I know, you are wanting to know how fast, should I walk.  It does not matter how fast, just get off your dead “b__t”.  I will tell you this.  After religiously walking, after 10 days, you will increase your speed. That is the great thing about making a concerted effort to do something.

This may all seem a bit trivial right now, but 30 days from now, you will see improvement in your health.  You are going to feel BETTER.  Isn’t that the reason, you are here?

Hey, please “like us” on your social media and if you really like us, share this article, so your friends will see it, too.  Love you all.

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Best & Worst Food For Diabetes Patients

July 23, 2015
Kevin Angileri
health tips
2 Comments
Best foods and worst foods for diabetics

Food Habits of a Diabetic

Diabetes is one of the most common diseases of today. Irrespective of age, this problem has increased in large numbers. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, making the right food choices is of great importance in order to stay healthy and to avoid diabetes related other problems like heart disease.

Selecting The Right Foods

The rule of thumb for a diabetic is to maintain a healthy and nutritious diet plan to avoid blood sugar spikes. Anything that increases sugar levels of the blood has to be left out from the diet chart. And for this you need to know something more about the foods that you should have and the ones you must avoid even if you are very fond of them. Here is a list of foods that will keep your sugar levels under control and keep you fit.

Best Food for Diabetes

1. Whole-grain flours like wheat flour
2. Whole grains like brown rice
3. Fresh vegetables like greens, spinach, kale, lettuce and those that are rich in fibers
4. Fresh fruits, sugar-free jams
5. Baked or grilled low-fat meats, skinless chicken, baked or grilled fish, eggs, nuts, beans, tofu
6. Skimmed milk, low-fat yoghurt, non-fat sour cream, low-fat cottage cheese
7. Olive oils are the best, margarine, vegetable oils.
8. Low-fat sugar-free ice cream.

Foods Diabetics Should Avoid

1. White rice
2. Fried meats, fried fish, Pork, regular cheese
3. Blended coffee laced with syrup, sugar or whipped cream.
4. Bananas, peaches, melons and nectarines.
5. Doughnuts, pastries, bakery sweets
6. Fruit smoothies and regular ice creams
7. Fried foods and snacks like potato chips
8. Regular sodas, regular beer, fruity mixed drinks, dessert wines, energy drinks.

These are some of the different foods that you need to choose from if you are suffering from diabetes. Actually everything depends on your attitude and outlook. If you think that by refraining from those foods that are high in calories and sugar contents you are feeling healthy and fine, you will naturally stay fit and enjoy life. But on the contrary if you brood over your food feeling depressed that you need to give up on your favorite foods, then even if you maintain the prescribed diet you will not stay well.

The fact of maintaining a healthy diet regime is to love what you eat and maintain it willingly. Then even if you have a sugar-loaded pastry on your birthday, your sugar level will not rise.

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Why Is Exercise Important For Type 2 Diabetes?

July 17, 2015
Kevin Angileri
Healthy Tips
2 Comments
Why Is Exercise Important For Type 2 Diabetes

Why Is Exercise Important For Type 2 Diabetes

Exercises have been considered to be one of the most important ways of maintaining good health from the ages. Hence it is no doubt that exercises will help to control and reduce diabetes considerably including Type 2 Diabetes. How physical activities help to lower blood glucose level can be best understood if we know the causes of diabetes.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a problem that is tormenting individuals of all age groups around the world. It can happen to anyone at any time. So if you can understand the problems that are related to diabetes you can easily understand why doctors recommend exercises at the very start to control your blood sugar level. But what is diabetes? It is a condition when there is enough glucose in your blood but it is not utilized by the body properly and so the level of glucose rises up making you a diabetes patient.

Insulin production

You must be thinking why does not the body use the glucose when it is available? This is because the insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas is either not enough to open the cells of the body to allow glucose to enter which is used as energy resources or your body may not be reacting to the insulin produced by your pancreas in which case also, the blood glucose remains in the blood itself and gradually rises high for it remains unused by the body. It is for these two reasons that you suffer from diabetes.
There are mainly two types of diabetes namely Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes which is the most common type and is somewhat a chronic problem that lingers for life. Hence it is very important to treat Diabetes in the best possible ways to stay healthy and enjoy life like all others. In Type 2 Diabetes, the body fails to produce sufficient insulin and it may also happen that the cells are insulin resistant.

Visiting the doctor

When you visit a doctor complaining about your problems of weakness, frequent urination, dizzy feeling etc the first thing that he advices you is to go for a blood test to ascertain the blood sugar level, whether it is too high or within the normal range or it is on the rise. Accordingly he prescribes certain medicines and he emphasizes on physical exercises the most along with diet control and certain lifestyle changes.

Exercises to Check Diabetes

It has been proved that exercises make it easier to keep a check on diabetes. So anybody who is suffering from diabetes, do not sit back in dismay, rather get up and visit your nearest gym and talk to the professional instructor who can design your exercise routine according to your requirements and what suits you the best. Physical activity is one of the most important components of Type 2 Diabetes treatment plan.

How Does Exercise Affect Blood Sugar?

1. During exercise, the body requires extra energy and that is supplied by blood sugar or glucose. Even when you do something quickly, the muscles and liver release glucose for fuel. The maximum amount of glucose is used when you do moderate exercise for a long period of time like hiking. Your blood sugar level goes down through these movements. Thus it has been proved that physical activities especially exercise help to reduce diabetes problems.
2. During your workouts the muscles can use the glucose present in the body without insulin. It does not matter whether you are insulin resistant or you do not have enough insulin. When you exercise, the muscles get the glucose they need automatically thereby reducing the blood sugar level. It has been found that if you are insulin resistant, exercise makes your insulin more effective because the insulin resistance goes down and the cells can use the glucose more effectively.
3. Exercises can also help people with Type 2 Diabetes avoid and reduce long-term problems. Most diabetics have blocked arteries that lead to cardiac arrest. Exercise reduces chances of heart attacks by keeping the heart healthy and strong by lowering glucose level.
4. There are other reasons of diabetes namely tension, stress, overwork and lack of rest and peace of mind. Exercise has an amazing effect not only on the body but also the mind. You will often hear people speaking about feeling rejuvenated and fresh after doing their workouts. This also helps to combat diabetes.
5. Exercises help to reduce weight too since overweight individuals are often diabetics. So by losing weight through workouts, you can control diabetes also.

Importance of professional help

When your doctor advice you follow a fitness routine, he also tells you that you should do those exercises which are perfect for you. But how will you know which exercises are best for you? It is the professional health instructor who will design your exercises in the correct way so that your aim of reducing blood sugar level is successful.
All kinds of exercises are not fit for a person with diabetes especially if the sugar level is quite high. In such cases, the doctor and the experienced instructor sit together and decide on the moves that will benefit the patient greatly.

What kinds of Exercises are recommended?

There are three main kinds of exercise namely strength training, flexibility work and aerobics. All the three kinds of exercises are organized in a balanced way by your personal instructor to achieve the most.

Aerobic Exercises: It is best to start with aerobic exercises because they are light and the basics of exercise that you can do on your own. These exercises include walking, running or jogging and sports like tennis, swimming, basket ball and biking. Any of these exercises must be done regularly for at least 30 minutes. If you cannot do it at a stretch, break it into 10 minutes each but try to complete the total 30 minutes. It may be difficult at first, but with practice you can easily achieve that for you have to reduce your glucose level.

Strength Training: When you become used to aerobic exercises and do not feel much strain, you will be started on strength training. This training builds up lean and efficient muscles for which you need a lot of energy that is supplied by the glucose in your blood and thus reduces sugar level. So the more you use glucose, the better it is for your diabetes control. Pull-ups and push-ups are often recommended by trainers. Lifting weights for 20 to minutes twice or maximum thrice a week is enough to get full benefits of strength training for diabetes control.

Flexibility Training: Of the various types of exercises stretching is one of the most important flexibility exercises that allows one to ascertain how well the joints and muscles can work and also ascertain their strength levels. By doing the various stretches, you again consume a lot of energy that is derived from the glucose in your blood and reduces the level of sugar which is the main aim of exercise in Type 2 Diabetes.

The final word about exercises to help reduce Type 2 Diabetes is that you must do your workouts willingly and enjoy every movement. Motivate yourself and stick to your plan to enjoy amazing results of exercises in reducing Type 2 Diabetes.

Written by Kevin Angileri

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Turkey Stuffed Tomato Recipe

June 25, 2015
Kevin Angileri
Recipes
1 Comment
stuffed tomato recipe appetizer

Stuffed peppers are a very popular dish, but we thought of using a ripe firm tomato this time.  Just a little change up.  We used ingredients, we had on hand, just for convenience.  The nice thing about this Stuffed Tomato Recipe is that you can add or delete ingredients to suit your particular tastes.  The biggest difference is using ground turkey instead of ground beef.   Besides that, turkey is a little less expensive.  A bit healthier, too.

Prep time is about 30 minutes and cook time is about one hour.

Ingredients:

  • Six ounces of lean ground turkey
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked brown rice.  Instant brown works, as well
  • 4 or 5 large ripe tomatoes with stems attached (they make a great presentation).  Make sure tomatoes are firm.
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup of frozen peas
  • 2 tablespoons of EVOO(extra virgin olive oil)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dry Italian seasoning.  Most grocery stores have it in their spice racks.  Contains Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Rosemary and sage.
  • 3/4 cup of sweet onion, minced.
  • 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
  • 1 cup of herbed Italian breadcrumbs.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat an 8-inch-square baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook ground turkey in a skillet over medium-high heat, crumbling with a spoon, until brown and cooked through.  Place in mixing bowl

Add cooked rice to the bowl with the meat.

Slice enough off the top of each tomato to remove the core. Scoop out the tomato pulp using a teaspoon or melon baller. Finely chop 1/2 cup of the pulp and add to the bowl with the rice and meat. Season the inside of the tomatoes with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper and Italian seasoning.

Add peas, onion, 1/4 cup cheese, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to the rice mixture. Stir to combine. Divide the mixture evenly among the tomatoes and place the tomatoes in the prepared baking dish. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup cheese, breadcrumbs, oil and garlic in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the tomatoes.

Bake the tomatoes until the crumbs are golden and the tomatoes are soft, 20 to 25 minutes.  Top with baked tomato tops with stems.

We hope you enjoy this variation of a great entry.

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