Eating Healthy

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

This is the next video in my series about the different groups of carbohydrate foods. And this week, we celebrate heart health and soluble fiber with beans, peas, and lentils.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

No doubt potatoes stored away in root cellars during harsh winters have saved millions from starvation over the centuries. But the capacity of starchy vegetables to efficiently store lots of glucose (starch) requires those of us with diabetes to understand how to fit these nutritious foods into our daily eating plan.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Grains may be the very first food purposefully farmed in ancient times, partly because they are easy to store for long periods. And grains pack energy in starch. Good news for ancient people, but a real challenge for those of us managing diabetes now. Watch this video to get the nutritional facts about grains.

Welcome back to Diabetes Every Day, I’m Toby Smithson….please remember to subscribe and sign up for my newsletter. I’m here to inform and support your daily efforts at managing diabetes, and this next video in my series on the various groups of carbohydrate foods is about grains.

Be Sure To Check Out – The Other Videos in This Series: Diabetes and Carbohydrates – What You Need To Know About Dairy, Diabetes and Carbohydrates – What You Need To Know About Nonstarchy Vegetables, and Diabetes and Carbohydrates- What You Need To Know!

True Grain or Not – We Only Care About The Carbohydrates.

Grains have been a dietary staple food for humans for a long time, in part because they store well. Grains have strong cultural connections too, and that makes managing our intake of these concentrated carbohydrate foods a real challenge. And, of course, grains are everywhere.

Once again, our definitions of dietetics differ somewhat from our botanist’s friends. “True grains” are all members of the same scientific family…..rice, corn, oats, barley, rye, and wheat.  But we’ll talk more about corn when we consider starchy vegetables, and we’ll include foods like quinoa that don’t fit into that definition but resemble true grains. We don’t really care about scientific classification here….we care about carbohydrates.

What Are My Portions?

Grains concentrate carbohydrates like starch. For the most part, a portion of 1/3 cup cooked equals 15 grams carbohydrate, plus or minus a gram or two. That’s white or brown rice, quinoa, teff, amaranth, barley, and millet. For some grains, the 15 grams carbohydrate portion is ½ cup cooked – oats, kasha, wild rice, tabouli, and cream of wheat, for instance. Then we have the “is it grain or not” question with cornmeal, where grits offer a ½ cup portion and polenta a 1/3 cup portion. As main dish, grains are tricky. Order take out from your favorite Asian restaurant, and you’ll likely get this little container of rice along with it….except this little container holds ten 1/3 cup portions….150 grams of carbohydrate. If you come from a cultural background where rice is THE staple food managing the carbs from rice can be a challenge.

Of course, grains are used to make many other challenging foods… bread and pasta would top the list, I’m guessing. One slice of most bread or 1/3 cup of cooked pasta is where you’ll encounter 15 grams of carbohydrate. The bread group would also include tortillas and crackers. And don’t forget “breading”, which can add carbs to otherwise low carbs foods like fish, chicken, or even nonstarchy vegetables, and baked goods containing flour. Breakfast cereals are another dietary challenge where too often, the carbohydrates from the grain are magnified by more carbohydrates from added sugar. For commercial products, the nutrition facts label is, once again, essential for managing diabetes.

Be Sure To Check Out – Can People With Diabetes Eat Bread

I Always Recommend…

From a nutrition standpoint, I always recommend getting the most nutrition possible from carbohydrate foods….like more nutritional benefits justify the carbohydrates, which, as we know, will impact blood sugar. In the grain group, this bargain means go for whole grains whenever possible. Refined grains, like white rice or white bread, have been processed to remove the “bran” and the “germ,” leaving only the endosperm. In general, the carbohydrate content is the same, but whole grains retain some important nutrients and maybe, more importantly, much more dietary fiber, which the American diet sorely lacks.

Did You Know?

Centuries ago, humans learned how to make alcoholic drinks from grain, and that’s worth a mention. While “distilled spirits” are carb-free drinks with a lower alcohol content, like beer have a pretty wide range of carbohydrate content. Check online for the nutrition facts on your favorite grain-based beverages.

Finally… The Popcorn, Grain or Not?

Finally, I’ll settle the “is it or isn’t it a grain” debate by introducing you to my favorite whole grain….popcorn. What’s my favorite thing about popcorn? As a person with diabetes, my favorite thing is the portion size because we’ll find our 15 grams of carbohydrate not in 1/3 cup, like with pasta or rice, but in a portion, 9 times larger…. 3 full cups popped. If that’s not a great way to end this look at grains, I don’t know what would be.

Be Sure To Check Out – 10 Best Foods for Diabetes – Pantry Edition

Join me again in a few weeks to discuss starchy vegetables where we’ll find potatoes and, yes, corn starring in a different role.

Cheers to your health.

Don’t forget to take a look at our most frequently asked questions.

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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Chick-fil-A is one busy place, but as we know, eating out virtually anywhere is tricky when we have diabetes. I’ve reviewed Chick fil A’s menu for you, and have some recommendations.

Here’s My Answer On Chick-Fil-A

I have many friends that keep telling me that they love this restaurant, and on our recent road trip, every chick fil A that we drove by had long lines of cars – a very busy place. SO, I’ve been super curious about what is on their menu. What are the best food choices at this fast-food restaurant? What are the best choices for people with diabetes at Chick Fil A? So, here are my answers on what you can eat at Chick Fil A.

Let’s Review Our Options – Nutrition Information

As a review, when we are looking at the nutrition information, we want to focus on the total grams of fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sodium, and protein. For this series on “eating out,” I set the parameters at 750 calories, 50 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams saturated fat, 0 trans-fat, and 750 milligrams sodium as our upper limits. Ready?

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Grilled chicken sandwich: 320 calories 41 grams carb, 6 grams fat, and 28 grams protein…this is their lowest sandwich in saturated fat (with 1 gram) and 680 mg sodium per sandwich. The only side that can somewhat fit into this meal is the Kale Crunch side BUT, it does push this meal above the milligrams of sodium by 70 milligrams.

Be Sure To Check Out – Diabetes and Carbohydrates – What You Need To Know About Nonstarchy Vegetables

Grilled Nuggets

They also offer grilled nuggets which are also a good option since they are: 130 calories, lowest in carb with only 1 gram, low in fat (3 grams), the saturated fat is only half a gram. The grilled nuggets have 25 grams of protein and 440 mg sodium. If you’d like to have a side, I was able to calculate two sides with the grilled nuggets as the entrée. You can add a fruit cup and waffle potato chips. In total, this meal will be 410 calories; 40 grams of carb; 16 grams of fat; 4 grams of saturated fat; and 690 milligrams of sodium.

Salads – A Moment of Aha

Ok, this may be an aha moment for you. Salads aren’t the best selection as most of the choices are higher in saturated fat compared to the other entrees offered.  And don’t be fooled by the salad options thinking that salads would be the healthiest and lowest in carb choice because the salads here also contain carb – they aren’t low in carbs. The salads average between 540-850 calories; 31-61 grams of fat; 6-13 grams saturated fat; 29-41 grams of carbohydrate and wow, the sodium content of the salads is anywhere from 1020-2220 milligrams – that’s half to the full amount of sodium requirement for the whole day in just one salad.

My Findings

Hats off to this restaurant, they do have the nutrition information on their website. That is great news for us. That offers us the opportunity to check the nutrition info before we order so we make the most informed decision about what we are eating to help manage our blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. I’m glad I could find a couple of “in target” options for us.

Be Sure To Check Out – Toby Shares Four Tips For Eating Out

Until next time, cheers to your health.

Don’t forget to take a look at our most frequently asked questions.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Everybody loves chips. Remember, “bet you can’t eat just one?” Well, people with diabetes can eat chips AND even more than one. Watch this video for professional guidance.

Can I Eat Chips?

Another big thank you goes out to my viewers for suggesting this topic… can I eat chips? Is there a certain chip I should be eating if I have diabetes? And…What should I be looking for to find the best chip? There certainly are a lot of choices when it comes to chips. Typically, the chips you buy at the grocery store can fill one to two full aisles! So, I’ll choose a couple of varieties of chips as a sampling…potato, corn, or veggie chips and give you an overall assessment.

Let’s Do an Assessment of These Chips

• I was specifically asked about the Multigrain Tostitos. Let’s start with that chip. I think the intrigue was that it is labeled multi-grain. When you look at the ingredient list, it contains -corn, buckwheat, and brown rice are the various grains in this chip. Per serving, which is 12 chips, there are 140 calories, 7 grams of fat, 1 g saturated fat (remember we want to keep our saturated fat consumption low each day- less than 5 grams per meal in total), 17 grams of carb, 1 gram of fiber (we can’t really say this is a high fiber food), and 110 mg sodium.

• The Regular Tostitos per serving of 11 chips contain 140 Cals; 7 grams Fat; 1-gram saturated fat;19 grams carb (1 gram fiber). NOTE this is the same grams of fiber as the multigrain Tostitos and 115 mg sodium.

• Baked Cheetos per 34 pieces serving contains 140 Cals; 5 grams fat; 1 gram Sat fat; 20 grams Carb (less than 1 g fiber); and 240 mg Sodium.

• I just randomly chose a potato chip to review so the Kettle Sea Salt Potato Chips which have a serving of 13 chips, contain 150 Cals; 9 grams fat; 1 gram Sat fat; 15 grams carb (2 grams fiber); and 100 mg Sodium.

• Ok, just two more types of chips before we get to the summary…Sun Chips per serving of 14 chips contain 140 Cals: 6 grams Fat; .5 grams Sat fat; 19 grams carb (2 grams fiber); and 170 mg Sodium.

• And the last chip for today is pretzels with 22 pretzels as a serving that contains 120 Cals; 1 gram Fat; 0 grams Sat fat; 24 grams Carb (less than 1 g fiber); and 320 mg Sodium.

The Overall Assessment

Pretzels are the lowest in fat and saturated fat but the highest in sodium – you can look at no added salt pretzels as another option. The Kettle potato chips and Sun chips ranked the highest in fiber, but… 2 grams of fiber is not considered a high fiber food, so I recommend getting your fiber from other food sources like fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains.

All of these chips were around the same number of calories per serving, but… you must remember to focus on the serving size because size definitely matters. I literally count my chips and put the rest of the chip bag away, so I don’t stray from the serving size.

Before I go, I want to leave you with some other options for chips in case the nutrition on these chips doesn’t match your needs. Alternatives that I like to use are balsamic beets – now, the portion won’t be large, but they are so flavorful that you may just need a handful.  In comparison, the veggie chips on the market contain 16 grams of carb, 7 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, and 230 mg of sodium per one-ounce serving. That’s certainly not a replacement for eating fresh or frozen vegetables.

Be Sure To Check Out – Diabetes Snacks For a Month

Some of My Favorites

Popcorn is a favorite. I like making my own so that I can control how much fat is in the popped corn, and it’s a cost-saving to pop my own corn. You can add a variety of flavorings by sprinkling cinnamon and a low-calorie sweetener for a caramel corn type of flavor or sprinkling your popcorn with parmesan cheese for a salty flavor that adds a little protein to the popcorn snack.

Another favorite is making Parmesan crisps, so you get that salty flavor in this crunchy snack, but also it’s low in carb along with a source of protein, so it won’t spike BGs.

If you’ve been watching my videos before, you know that I am a believer that all foods can fit into your eating plan. And to answer the question of “can I eat chips?” Certainly, you can. You just need to fit them into your eating plan. Review the food label to pick the best choice for you…think about things like “do you need low sodium due to high blood pressure?” “How much-saturated fat have I had for the day?” and you can also try some of the other chip options discussed today. And my best advice….don’t eat out of the bag and think you’re going to stop with a serving. Check the serving size, remove an appropriate amount, and put the rest out of sight. You’ll be amazed at how effective that strategy can be.

Be Sure To Check Out – What Are the Best Snacks for Diabetes?

Until next time, cheers to your health.

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