Diabetes and BBQ

[Learning to BBQ]

Congrats to you for getting your health in check! We are trying to shed a few pounds here too. We made an very interesting discovery last week using cauliflower. I had a hankering for pizza and she say's she can't have it because of the dough so I mention to her that I heard or read something not long ago about using cauliflower for pizza dough. She looks at me like I have two heads but she did some googling and found a recipe to try. Holy cow, you won't even want traditional pizza crust after having it.

I'll also look into some cauliflower rice recipes as mentioned above because we had to make this 'rice' to make the dough.

She found the recipe and made the crust but I think this is the one she used.
http://www.theluckypennyblog.com/2013/02/the-best-cauliflower-crust-pizza.html

 

[kathicooks]

I could really stand to know more about this?

Well then here you go!

Take a raw head of cauliflower and shred it - I use a food processor with the shredding blade - the one that looks like a cheese grater. I suppose you could shred by hand, but raw cauliflower is really hard to grate. if you don't have a food processor, but you have a blender, you can do it in small batches till you have slightly larger than rice sized bits.
Take the shredded cauliflower and microwave it with maybe a tablespoon of water sprinkled across the top. You aren't trying to really moisten it as much as help it start steaming. I usually need 5-7 minutes. You don't want it mushy, just cooked enough thru that it's not quite crunchy anymore. A little bit softened. VERY CAREFULLY dump it into a clean dish towel and again VERY CAREFULLY wring it out. You'll be surprised at how much liquid will come out. The more water you get out of this, the more like real fried rice the texture will be. But please don't burn yourself on this. If you plan ahead (not my strong point) you can cool it down before wringing it out.

Then, in a large frying pan heat some oil, dump in some chopped onions and cook till they start to brown, add in some shredded carrots, garlic, chopped celery, shredded cabbage, sliced pea pods - basically whatever sounds to you like it should be in your fried rice. Get them to barely cooked and pour them into another dish. Then, scramble up some raw eggs, pour into your frying pan (just add a little more oil - you don't need to wash it out) and let it cook like a thin flat pancake. Once it's nearly set, you can either scramble it up a bit or flip it over (I use a really large pan so I usually flip it in sections, which leads to some unintentional scrambling). Flip that out on to a cutting board and cut into long ribbons. Now, dump your cauliflower into the pan (hope you picked a really BIG pan, and add in the cooked veggies. Add soy sauce, a dash of rice wine (or very tiny dash of apple cider vinegar), ginger (I use the tube of paste from the grocery store produce section) and sesame oil. give it a stir, add salt if needed, and at the last minute, toss the egg ribbons back in.
Of course you can add meat (leftover rotisserie chicken is great, so is shrimp) if you want.
Sorry I don't have exact amounts - I do that kind of thing by feel.

 

[Bigr314]

Thanks for the link George.

 

[kathicooks]

And here's a favorite of mine. Cauliflower bread sticks - also doubles as a pizza dough.
http://www.jocooks.com/healthy-eating/cheesy-cauliflower-breadsticks/

they don't puff up like bread, but they are amazingly satisfying. I buy the Wellesley Farms marinara from BJs which is very low sugar, add some sautéed garlic and red pepper flakes and that's my dipping sauce.

 

[Single Malt Slacker]

I quit eating all refined carbs: sugar, HFCS, white flour, corn, cereals, pasta, potatoes, bread, crackers, chips, cookies, candies, juices, sodas etc.. I replace all the refined carbs with lots of above ground non-starchy vegetables like salad greens, spinach, asparagus, brussel sprouts, broccoli, green onions, zucchini, egg plant, green beans, portabella mushrooms etc. I usually steam them and cover with lots of butter. Or I might roast them with a bunch of olive oil. I use plenty of salt as my blood pressure has gone down from 140/80 to 110/60 due to change of diet and normalized blood sugars.

Thanks for sharing, Jennifer. I'm glad to hear that things are getting under control for you. This sounds an awful lot like what I've been doing for 2 months now. No Sugar, No Grains (or NSNG), which is a way of eating developed by trainer Vinnie Tortorich. It is very similar to low carb diets, Paleo, and the like. Basically, eat real food. I'm down 26 pounds and feel great. I thought that pasta would be my 'bridge too far' but not having it hasn't really bothered me. Zucchini noodles are pretty good. Not the same as pasta but good food nonetheless. The beauty is that I can still smoke most any meat and enjoy the heck out of it. I've adjusted a few of my go to rubs to eliminate sugar and that's that.

Good stuff!

 

[Zippylip]

Never give up on the complex carbs. Those veggies are the path to healthy eating for us that have diabetes.

great advice, I think it applies to all of us, diabetes or not...

 

[bbqgeekess]

Good for you. Just gotta keep at it. Good to hear from you, I wondered where you were.

My A1C was 9 to 11 for the past 4 years. In two months of low carb diet (and intermittent fasting Dr. Fung style), I've stopped injecting 120 units of insulin, stopped the Metformin and now have an A1C of 5.7 which is in the safe range. I imagine as I lose more weight (and I have a lot to lose) the A1C will improve even more. Hoping for A1C of around 5.0 to 5.4 in the near future.

Gonna stick with it Lost over 40 pounds so far. Weight loss has plateau'd lately but it will resume -- I am highly insulin resistant and carb intolerant. So I just have to give my body time to become more insulin sensitive.. that's the only way I am going to lose weight, as high levels of insulin keep fat stored and make it hard to burn.

 

[bbqgeekess]

Congrats to you. I know personally how hard that is to accomplish. I just went through the same thing since January. I was on metformin for my diabetes, blood pressure meds and cholesterol medication. I lost 84 pounds( from 254 to 170) off all meds now. It can be done with having an addiction to bbq. Again congrats to you. Well done!

Amazing accomplishment! Thanks for the complement. I'll keep it up. Lots more weight to lose.

 

[bbqgeekess]

Attagirl Jennifer!
I'm Type II as well and when first diagnosed I pretty much eliminated carbs. I eat a lot of beans, meats, fish (sardines and kipper snacks make great quick lunches), fruits and veggies. (Bananas are bad for me by the way.)
I have lost 50+ lbs and dropped my A1c from 10.1 to 5.6. I'm still taking Metformin but am going to see about getting off of it.
Keep up the good work, and post about your meals. Those of in the same boat can benefit from that.

Wow sounds like we've accomplished about the same. A1C of 10-11 down to 5.6.. lost 44 pounds.

Btw, Metformin is supposed to be a great medicine and doesn't hurt you .. only helps from what I am told. It's really the only diabetes med that people generally agree is safe from what I've read. I only really quit it because I was having chronic diarrhea with it.

Amazing accomplishment.. keep up the good work! So happy for you that you got it under control. Type 2 diabetes is a dietary disease that only is ever properly treated with an appropriate diet. (ANd for me personally, it's a low carb diet because I am highly carb intolerant -- my macronutrient composition I target each day is : 10% carbs, 20% protein, 70% healthy fats. (no margarine, no trans fats, no hydrogenated fats, no refined oils, no seed oils.)

 

[bbqgeekess]

My bride to be has been on a no carb diet for a long time, she says they don't agree with her hips. To each their own, I have tried to make her some "main stream" foods pizza with cauliflower acting as the dough and zucchini lasagna, tried to make black bean and garbanzo bean noodles but failed, if u got some tips for noodles I'm all ears.

For pasta, I substitute with thinly sliced cabbage (like matchstick thickness). e.g for spaghetti, I make cabbagetti:.. raw thinly sliced cabbaged, topped with hot spaghetti meat sauce with some tomato sauce, but not too much because tomatoes have sugar in them. (I've heard spaghetti squash is great noodle substitute as well.. but it takes longer to cook.. cabbage you just slice it and it's ready.)

Also use cabbage to replace noodles in stir fry. Ijust fry up the cabbage with the veggies.. very filling, delicious, great flavor!

I also have a device called a spiralizer and turns, for example, a zucchini into noodles... aka "zoodles". Do a search on google images for "zoodles" .. quite delicious.

 

[bbqgeekess]

Google zoodles. Basically noodles from zucchini. I never like spaghetti squash, but like zoodles. I only boil them for 2-3 minutes to keep them from getting too mushy.

I did the paleo/whole 30 diet which sounds like what people are describing. Lost 20 pounds on it and felt great, but its a commitment. I'll probably do it again, but you really need the whole family to be on board with it. My love of bread is strong, and it takes me about 2-3 weeks before my cravings for bread subside. BBQ and paleo/whole 30 go great together, but weekly planning is key, if I don't plan ahead, I fall flat on my face diet wise.

Yeah I am comitted to eat low carb, high fat diet the rest of my life. It's the only diet that is compatible with my metabolism. Highly carb intolerant. I'm 45 and at the rate I was going (A1C of 11 for past 4 years) I'd be lucky if I saw 60 years of age.. had already started suffering peripheral neuropathy in limbs.. Now A1C of 5.8, lost 44 pounds, off insulin & meds, and have 1/2 the feeling is back in my limbs already after just a month on the Low carb, high fat (LCHF) / ketogenic diet.

I really did feel hopeless just over 2 months ago, cried all the time.. felt I could never get control over diabetes.. injected insulin and just kept getting fatting and still had poor blood sugar control. All those days are gone now. I look forward to 90 years now instead of just 60 years.

I don't ever even remotely consider sugars, breads, pastas, flour, starchy veggies etc anymore. And I don't miss them at all. Actually surprisingy got over them pretty darn quickly. I much prefer veggies and serve fried or steamed veggies with every meal. e.g. had a spinach, sausage stuffed fritatta topped with feta cheese this morning, with a splash of lousinana.. delicious!

 

[bbqgeekess]

Thanks for sharing, Jennifer. I'm glad to hear that things are getting under control for you. This sounds an awful lot like what I've been doing for 2 months now. No Sugar, No Grains (or NSNG), which is a way of eating developed by trainer Vinnie Tortorich. It is very similar to low carb diets, Paleo, and the like. Basically, eat real food. I'm down 26 pounds and feel great. I thought that pasta would be my 'bridge too far' but not having it hasn't really bothered me. Zucchini noodles are pretty good. Not the same as pasta but good food nonetheless. The beauty is that I can still smoke most any meat and enjoy the heck out of it. I've adjusted a few of my go to rubs to eliminate sugar and that's that.

Good stuff!

That's so awesome! Glad you lost that weight and maintaining it. This is a lifetime diet for me and it makes sense. I focus on whole foods as well. I shop really only on the edges of the store (not middle aisles) .. e.g.: meats, veggies, cheeses, deli meats. I don't really buy anything boxed, canned or frozen these days except maybe for some black beans, tomato sauce, frozen berries, etc.. all of which I eat in moderation.

Have you read Gary Taubes book "Why We Get Fat"? If not, I think you'd really like it.. it's like $10 on Amazon if I recall. Another great book "The Obesity Code" by Dr. Jason Fung.

 

[Westx]

Look up the Wheat Belly diet. Very good diet. I have went from 214 to 185 the last year and a half. I haven't been that strict on it and still cheat some but it does work.

 

[bbqgeekess]

Look up the Wheat Belly diet. Very good diet. I have went from 214 to 185 the last year and a half. I haven't been that strict on it and still cheat some but it does work.

Awesome, the author of that book, "Wheat Belly" is mentioned several times in Jimmy Moore's Keto Clarity book. I just finished Keto Clarity tonight. Great book

Congratulations on your weight loss and continued maintenance. I intend on eating low carb, high fat the rest of my life --even after I lose all this weight--because I'm so carb intolerant: skyrockets my blood sugars and keeps insulin levels high which makes it impossible to lose weight, or maintain weight loss.

 

[chingador]

congratulations!!! That is awesome to hear.

 

[OferL]

Congrats on taking control of your health. I personally believe medicine should be considered a second option after lifestyle changes. Good to see that worked out for you.
BTW portobello mushrooms are wonderful. We use them a lot here. Stuffed grilled or sautéed or in stews or just plain fresh in a salad.

 

[SmokinJohn]

Welcome back. Glad to hear you are doing well. Keep up the good work!

 

[JohnH12]

The SIL was told he was diabetic several years ago. He decided against any meds and only took better control of the food and drink with a lot of exercise.
It took a couple of years but he's now got a clean bill of health with all his levels well in the normal range.
We also gave up cooking anything with sauce on the smoker and grills. It's SPOG only for us with a little cayenne or other peppers for heat occasionally.
Sauce is available on the side for any who want but it's just a store brand thing. Any picky saucers are welcome to bring their own but not many do so.

 

[TowneSA]

My wife is an insulin dependent diabetic so I understand the struggle is real. Something that has worked well for us is different salsas and pico de gallo in place of sauces. I even tried some different fruit based salsas (mango, peach, etc..), just watch the fructose. Probably the most difficult thing for us to manage are the sides - they all seem to be full of carbs and sugars.

 

[bbqgeekess]

Congrats on taking control of your health. I personally believe medicine should be considered a second option after lifestyle changes. Good to see that worked out for you.
BTW portobello mushrooms are wonderful. We use them a lot here. Stuffed grilled or sautéed or in stews or just plain fresh in a salad.

Yeah I just recently discovered portabella.. like 2 week ago. Insanely good flavor broiled with olive oil & salt.

I haven't bbq'd or grilled much in the past months, but I imagine some grilled/roasted stuffed portabella on my weber would be pretty darn tasty Maybe with a wood chunk.