Diabetes Everyday

Living your best life with diabetes. Toby Smithson provides professional guidance with personal experience.

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Eating Healthy

Toby’s Diabetes-Friendly Meal Choices at Chipotle

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Choosing healthy meals at restaurants is possible, but it helps to have professional assistance. Toby likes that Chipotle lets us build a meal, so adding or subtracting ingredients is much easier than many other fast-food options. And the nutrition information is included, so no guessing is required. Watch this short video, then head for your local Chipotle Mexican Grill with confidence that your meal will be friendly to diabetes and heart health.

Hi everyone, Toby Smithson here with DiabetesEveryDay. We are back with another restaurant overview of what can I eat. Remember we are using 750 calories or less; 50 grams or less carbohydrate, 750 mg sodium or less, 5 grams or less of saturated fat, and no trans fat as our guide for choosing a diabetes friendly meal when we are eating out.

We headed over to Chipotle to find out which menu items would be our best bet. The nice thing about Chipotle is that their menu is a build your own which is perfect for us with diabetes. We get to select exactly what items will fit into our meal plan. Chipotle also has a nutrition calculator so you can see which menu choices fit best and if the item takes you over the limit of let’s say sodium or saturated fat or carbs…you can swap it for another menu item as you build your meal.

Here is what I found to be the best choices for us:

2 chicken tacos on crispy corn tortillas, fajita vegetables, romaine lettuce, and fresh tomato salsa

OR you can swap out the chicken for steak tacos with the same ingredients OR you can also swap out the tomato salsa for guacamole in the steak tacos

OR

Choose a burrito veggie bowl which includes guacamole. Add black beans, romaine, and fajita vegetables  OR swap out the guacamole for Roasted chili corn salsa.

And to drink, choose a 0 carbohydrate beverage.

These are the choices to meet our guidelines-it’s really eye opening once you start looking at the carb, sodium, and saturated fat content of the foods at restaurants.  I couldn’t add beans to the chicken tacos, for example, because adding beans pushed the sodium above 750 mg. Not adding beans left the carbohydrate content around 25 grams, but there you go. Eating healthy at restaurants is possible, but to meet all of our pretty generous guidelines choices are necessary.

Thanks for joining me today. Please remember to hit the subscribe button and comment below on the restaurant you’d like me to review next time. Until then, Here’s to your health.

One Simple Step To Naturally Lower Your A1C

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Would you like one simple step to naturally lower your A1C? Everybody likes natural these days, and that’s a good thing. So here’s a completely natural way to lower your A1C, and the case could be made that it’s virtually free.

Hi I’m Toby Smithson with Diabetes Every Day. Thanks for joining me today, please remember to hit the subscribe button and sign up for my monthly newsletter at diabeteseveryday.com.

What Foods Will Lower A1C Levels?

Today we are going to talk about one simple step you can take to reduce your A1C, yes, you heard me correctly. Not only will this one change help your A1C score (I’ll tell you by how much a little later), but it will also help you with digestion, constipation, and reducing your risk of heart disease. This small change can also help with curbing your appetite which can help with weight management. Have you guessed it yet?

Yes, it’s adding more fiber to your daily eating plan. On average, we are only eating about 16 grams of fiber per day. The dietary reference intake for fiber is 14 grams per 1000 calories consumed….that’s 28 grams for the standard reference diet of 2000 calories. So, we are not getting the amount of fiber we need and missing out on all the good NATURAL health benefits.

Let’s check out some of the delicious diabetes friendly food options that will help us bump up our fiber intake and provide both soluble and insoluble fiber

Nuts and Seeds

Chia seeds: 1 ounce provides 11 grams of fiber and 12 grams of carbohydrate. Remember to check out my chia pudding recipe. It’s a win win for getting more fiber and a chocolaty treat! Chia seeds can also be added to your oatmeal, yogurt, fruit or mixed with water for an egg substitute.

Nuts, almonds… At 3 grams of fiber and 6 grams of carb per ¼ cup serving.  In a one-ounce serving, there are 3 g fiber and 5 g carb. ¼ cup pecans 3 g fiber and 4 g carb

Sunflower seeds: 3 grams of fiber and 6 grams of carb in ¾ cup serving

Flaxseed: 2 tablespoons contains 6 grams of fiber and 6 grams of carbohydrate. You can add flaxseeds to your oatmeal, yogurt, salads or vegetables.

Beans and Lentils

Beans: black beans offer 5 grams fiber per ½ cup and 20 g carb and there is some great research showing that beans can often continue to give you steady blood sugar readings hours after eating the beans.

½ cup lima beans contain 5 grams of fiber and 22 grams of carb. Limas can be served as a side dish or in soups and stews

Lentils: in a ¼ cup serving uncooked there are 10 grams of fiber and 30 grams of carb. You can eat lentils as a side dish or main dish and serve them hot or in a salad.

Fruit & Vegetables

Raspberries: 1 cup of raspberries contain 9 grams of fiber and 17 grams of carb which you can have at breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack.

Orange: 1 medium orange contains 3 grams of fiber and 15 grams of carb. Again, you can have a serving of fruit with any of your meals or top a salad with orange segments.

Broccoli: 3-ounce serving has 3 grams of fiber and 4 grams of carb. Fruits and vegetables are very versatile. You can fit broccoli in your breakfast omelet, eaten raw in your lunchtime salad or roasted broccoli as a side dish to your dinner meal.

Grains

Oatmeal: 1/2 cup of uncooked oatmeal has 5 grams of fiber and 30 grams of carb. I love sprinkling cinnamon and a low-calorie sweetener on my oatmeal and to post the fiber further, I’ll add almonds.

Pearled Barley- ¼  cup uncooked  has 7 grams fiber and 37 grams carbohydrate

Both oatmeal and barley are “famous” for their soluble fiber.

And even this whole wheat burger bun has 3 grams of fiber at 22 grams carbohydrate

Including foods that are high in fiber has always been a message I’ve given in my role as a registered dietitian. And research continues to show benefits. Studies have consistently shown reductions of A1C by more than one-half of one percent, and a recent analysis of many studies finds significant benefits by increasing average fiber consumption by 15 grams per day to A1C, fasting blood glucose, insulin resistance, total cholesterol, “bad” LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, body weight and measures of general inflammation.

 Little changes- BIG results

You may also enjoy: 1% Reduction in A1C- A “Big Deal”