Conquering diabetes: What I eat

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Yes, kale - just one of the many vegetables I'm eating a lot of these days

Previous: Need vs. want
Series index: How to change your life

Ever since I decided to attack my diabetes, improve my health and change my life, I have gotten one question more than any other from friends, family, and even strangers.

What do you eat?

The short answer: I eat anything I believe will help me get healthier and stay that way.

I want to share with you the basic low-carb guidelines I try to follow 95% of the time to control my diabetes.

I want to stress that this is the approach I decided to take for my body and my health. I am not saying this is what you should do. This is what has worked for me, period.

What I eat daily: protein, vegetables, and fat

Protein includes beef, lamb, bison, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, eggs, some tofu, and probably a few more animals I'm forgetting. I eat protein at every meal — sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.

Vegetables includes everything green and most things orange, red, yellow and purple. I eat lettuce, kale, chard, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, onions, eggplant and zucchini. I eat more vegetables than anything else.

Fat includes butter, olive oil, avocado oil, avocados, nuts, nut butter, coconut, coconut oil and cheese. I don't skimp on fat. 

What I eat occasionally: fruit, legumes, chocolate

Fruit includes strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and occasionally other summer fruits like nectarines, melons, peaches and cherries. By "occasionally" I mean once or twice a week. In the winter I hardly ate any fruit at all; now that it's summer I'll probably have one serving of fruit 3-4 times per week. Why the seasonal difference? I like summer fruit more than winter fruit.

Legumes includes black beans, garbanzo beans or other incidental legumes that show up in restaurant dishes. I don't seek legumes out, but if they're in something I've ordered I won't pick them out.

Chocolate includes dark chocolate, usually 85%. I also like the stevia-sweetened chocolate from Lily's Sweets. I eat a few squares each week. A girl needs her antioxidants.

What I choose to avoid: grains, starchy vegetables, sugar

Grains includes wheat, barley, rye, corn, millet, oats...the whole category. The one exception I make sometimes are these low-carb tortillas by La Tortilla Factory. I eat 3-4 of these per week.

Starchy vegetables include potatoes, sweet potatoes, yucca, plantains and butternut squash.

Sugar includes anything containing sugar, honey, molasses, coconut sugar, agave, or any other sweetener.

No, I don't feel deprived

I settled on this way of eating because I thought it was well-suited for my tastes, my body and my life.

• I am apple-shaped and thus more likely to suffer from the cluster of challenges associated with metabolic syndrome. Some studies have recommended a low-carb diet for people with metabolic syndrome.
• I like low-carb foods.
• I wanted to focus on eating more vegetables.
• I don't have a sweet tooth. 
• I had never tried eating low-carb and know people who find it satisfying and helpful.
• I tend to overdo it on starchy foods, so for now it's easier to eliminate them entirely. (This may not always be the case. Or it may. I don't actually miss them.)
• It felt like something I might be able to do every single day for the rest of my life. I was looking for a lifestyle, not a diet. This has to last.

Got questions? I'd love to hear them, so leave me a comment. Just know that some of the answers are going to be along the lines of "because that's what felt right to me" instead of having any scientific foundation.

Conquering diabetes: Need vs. want

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Previous: Actions and consequences | Next: What I eat
Series index: How to change your life

When I decided that it was time to kick my diabetes to the curb and change the way I thought about my health, I realized that for a long time I had been confusing two important words: need and want.

There were a lot of food-related things I thought I needed.

I thought I needed to eat every few hours or I would get light-headed.

I thought I needed desserts and treats to feel happy and satisfied.

I thought I needed to eat when everyone else was eating or I would feel left out.

I thought I needed to eat breakfast or I would have no energy.

Now, to be clear, some people may in fact need some or all of these things. Some people do need to eat snacks or they get hypoglycemic and don't feel well. Some people do need to eat breakfast. Everyone's body is different.

But when I put some of the things I thought were my needs under a microscope, it turned out they weren't needs. They were wants.

This is about me and my health

In order to approach food, eating and exercise in a healthier way for my own body and life, I decided to reorganize my list of what I need vs. what I want.

My revised list looks something like this:

I need to get healthier. And stay that way.

That's pretty much it on the "need" side.

And that's when I realized that when the things I thought were needs conflicted with this one very basic need - the need to get healthier - then they weren't really needs. They were wants.

I might want cake, but I do not need cake. I am not going to die if I don't have cake. Quite the opposite, in fact: If I eat too much cake, I might very well die because of it (at some point).

I might want to eat just because everyone else is eating, but I do not need to. If I'm hungry and there's something that falls into the "make me healthier" category, I'll eat. But if not, not. I can still talk and socialize and sit at the table. Whether I eat or don't eat, it's my choice. And that's why I don't feel left out or deprived at those moments: I am making the choice that is right for me and my health, and that is the most important thing to me.

I might want to eat breakfast when I get up, but as it turns out, I can wait. After reading about intermittent fasting and how it helps some people lose weight and boost their metabolism, I decided to give it a try. (More on that in a future post.) Now I often don't eat until 10am or later - not because I'm actively trying to deprive myself, but because I am truly not hungry.

I have a choice

You get the idea. Once I realized that the only true need I had was to help my body get healthier, everything else became a choice. And I have committed to myself to make better choices. Every. Single. Day.

Are you wondering whether I ever give in to the "want"? Yes, of course, sometimes. I'm not going to go the rest of my life without eating pizza. But I clearly recognize those times as the exception, not the rule. Because if I eat too much pizza, it's going to get in the way of what I need: to get healthier and stay that way.

(Also, I no longer settle for bad pizza. Or mediocre pizza. If I'm going to have pizza twice a year, it's going to be darn good pizza.)

Note: This is the second post in a series on how I improved my health by making some pretty big changes to the way I cook, eat, and take care of my middle-aged body. Nothing in this post is intended as medical or nutritional advice - it's my own experience with my own body. I listen to and consult with my doctors, and you should too. Start at the beginning with How to change your life: Actions and consequences

Almond-crusted pesto chicken breasts [low carb]

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Because I've been trying to follow a low-carb diet for the past year, I have spent a lot of time with almond flour. Almonds and almond flour are a staple of the low-carb high fat (LCHF) way of eating.

I've used almond flour for baking. I've made pancakes and waffles out of it. And I've used it as "breading" for vegetables, fish and chicken. It doesn't act quite the same as breadcrumbs or flour, but it's a very good substitute.

Following any healthy eating plan requires advance preparation. On the weekends, I often cook a large batch of chicken so I have something to pack in my lunchbox every day before I head to work.

This week I made almond-crusted pesto chicken breasts. Sometimes I make my own basil pesto, but I was pressed for time and used store-bought pesto. Which is totally, completely fine in a dish like this.

I packed the almond-crusted pesto chicken in my lunchbox with some oven-roasted tomatoes. One day I ate them cold. Today I warmed them in the microwave. I think I prefer it warm, but it was pretty darn good cold. I'll be making this again soon.

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Almond-Crusted Pesto Chicken

by Erika Kerekes June-28-2016

Chicken breasts brushed with basil pesto, coated in almond flour and grated cheese, and oven-roasted. An easy low-carb dinner recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup basil pesto sauce
• 4 large chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a sheet pan or baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or brush it with olive oil.In a shallow bowl or on a plate, mix together the almond flour, grated cheese, garlic salt, and pepper. Put the basil pesto sauce in another bowl.Dip both sides of one chicken breast in the pesto sauce, then roll it in the almond flour mixture to coat. Place the almond-coated chicken on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining three chicken pieces.Bake the chicken about 50 minutes, until it is cooked through. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 4 servings

Conquering diabetes: Actions and consequences

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A random selfie in May 2016, about nine months into my new lifestyle

Next: Need vs. want
Series index: How to change your life

Author's note: This is the first post in a series on how I kicked diabetes to the curb and improved my health by making some pretty big changes to the way I cook, eat, and take care of my middle-aged body. Nothing in this post is intended as medical or nutritional advice - it's my own experience with my own body. I listen to and consult with my doctors, and you should too. 

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Almost a year ago, I decided to change my life.

It started with a call from my doctor. Diabetes. My blood sugar numbers had crossed the line, moving from "we should watch it" to "that's not good and it's time to do something about it." I knew that, to some extent, my lifestyle habits were to blame.

Actions and consequences

As a parent, I have thought a lot about actions and consequences. I've tried to teach my boys to think about the results of their choices.

But when it came to my own life and my own health, I was in denial.

I have always struggled with my weight. I have had an on-and-off relationship with exercise. I have always hated and rebelled against dieting, being told what I can (or can't) eat, and how much I can (or can't) eat, and when I can (or can't) eat.

When I'm under stress, I eat whatever I want and I stop exercising. Self-destructive behavior, to be sure.

I started Not Ketchup, my condiment business, in 2014. Starting a new business is stressful on all fronts: You worry about money, you worry about sales, you dig deep for superhuman strength and try to create 27 hours in every day.

Combine that with normal family dynamics and you get stress. Which, for me, meant a lot of the wrong kinds of food and little to no exercise.

Giving out Not Ketchup samples at Central Market in Texas, June 2014

What did I think was going to happen?

The doctor's call telling me I now had diabetes wasn't a surprise. But it made me feel sad, and angry, and most of all guilty.

I brought this on myself. I ate badly, and too much, for too long. I sat on my ass and didn't move my body. Yes, there was probably some genetic predisposition involved. But my actions had developed into very predictable consequences.

The good news: I was not powerless. I could make different choices.

I could fix it.

The first day: Desperation and determination

As it happened, I was alone in my house the day my doctor called. My husband and both kids were away all week. Which meant I had seven days without anyone else around to get used to the idea that I was going to have to make some changes, decide what I was going to do, and get on with it.

That week was hard. Really, really hard.

The first thing I did was put on my sneakers and go for a walk. A long walk. That day, and the next day, and every day that week. Getting back in the groove when it came to exercise actually turned out to be the easiest part of my new lifestyle.

The second thing I did, and the much harder thing for me, was to decide to change my attitude about food.

Act as if

I am a big fan of the "act as if" approach to change. Act as if you're happy, and eventually you will be happy. Act as if you're extroverted, and eventually you'll feel comfortable making small talk at a party.

Act as if you want to eat like a healthy person, and eventually...you will be eating like a healthy person. And then, at some point, you'll be healthy. Or healthier, at least.

But my first step wasn't about acting. It wasn't in my body.

My first step was in my head. It was about thinking.

My first step was to think about food like a healthy person.

The unhealthy Erika thought about food as reward, as comfort, as compensation. The unhealthy Erika craved carbohydrates, particularly the white ones: bread, rice, potatoes, pasta. Craved them all the time, in any quantities, without restriction, without balance.

The unhealthy Erika thought about food with absolutely no consideration for the consequences.

No gray area

On that first day, I decided that I had to be able to look at food and think one of two things:

"That will make my body healthier."

Or...

"That will make me sick. Maybe not today...but someday."

I realize this is extreme. This is black and white.

But this is the way I have decided to approach it. This is what works for me.

Because it's not an exaggeration to say that, for me, at this point in my life, a large bowl of pasta or a piece of cake is going to make me sick. My doctor has the numbers to prove it.

And I have never been good at having a small bowl of pasta. Or "just a bite" of cake.

I made changes. I took action.

First action, then consequences

My actions over the past year have led to (mostly) very good consequences.

All the numbers that were scary a year ago are now normal, without medication.

I've had to replace every piece of clothing in my closet with a smaller size, including my underwear.

I've lost weight. I don't know how much, because I don't weigh myself and I don't own a scale. (More on that choice in another post.) And to be clear, losing weight was never my goal. My goal was not to be sick.

But most important: I feel better. I didn't realize how awful I was feeling until I made changes and started to feel better. I have more energy, my body hurts less, I sleep better, and I'm happier.

(The one negative consequence: I've lost three full bra sizes. My boobs have gotten smaller at twice the rate of the rest of my body. I guess I'm not complaining...but...seriously?)

In the following posts in this series, I'll share the details of the changes I decided to make: cutting out carbohydrates, eating more fat, finding healthy substitutions, and forming new habits.

These changes have worked for me. That doesn't mean my approach will definitely work for you. We are different people, you and I, with different body chemistry, different metabolisms, different shapes. Take it all with a grain of salt and understand that I am not preaching. My way is my way. You will find your way.

For anyone who wants to make changes but feels like it's just too hard - know that I have been there. For almost 50 years, I felt like becoming a healthier person just wasn't possible for me.

But I'm doing it. Because I want to. And I decided it was time.

Me in March 2016. Not perfect. But better.

Strawberries stuffed with goat cheese

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Have you ever stuffed strawberries with creamy fresh goat cheese? Wait until you see how easy this low-carb appetizer is. It's perfect for summer entertaining, whether you're hosting a backyard barbecue or throwing an elegant dinner party. If you have any guests who are following a low-carb diet or are gluten free or vegetarian, they will really appreciate this simple snack.

This hors d'oeuvre shows off the savory side of strawberries and brings out their natural acidity. I love the combination of sweet, fragrant strawberries and creamy cheese flecked with minced rosemary and lemon zest. All you need are five ingredients, a paring knife, and some practice with a piping bag.

I made a batch of these stuffed strawberries for the June meeting of Food Bloggers Los Angeles, our local blogging network. They were good, but then I had a flash of inspiration and sprinkled them with a tiny bit of salt. Sounds weird? It totally worked. Don't skip the sprinkle.

Note: You may have extra filling. It's delicious spread on toast, or you can use it to fill hollowed-out cucumber cups, cherry tomatoes, roasted mushrooms, or grilled zucchini boats.

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Strawberries stuffed with goat cheese

by Erika Kerekes June-26-2016

Ripe strawberries stuffed with a combination of fresh goat cheese and cream cheese flecked with rosemary and lemon zest. A wonderful summer appetizer that's low-carb, gluten free, vegetarian and grain-free.

Ingredients

• 2 pints fresh strawberries (about 2 dozen)
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese (chevre)
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, plus more for garnish if desired
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Equipment: food processor, piping bag with decorative tip

Instructions

Wash the strawberries. With a small paring knife, remove the hull (leaves). Cut a small circle into the top of each berry to make a small cavity. Place the berries upside-down on a paper towel to dry while you make the filling.Put the goat cheese, cream cheese, lemon zest and rosemary into the bowl of the food processor. Add a pinch of salt and a generous grind of pepper. Blend until smooth. Transfer the cheese mixture to the piping bag.Carefully fill each strawberry with goat cheese, creating a decorative swirl on top. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of additional salt. Garnish with the additional rosemary springs. Serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: 12 servings