My Grandma is a Genius

This weekend, I went and spent a day and a half with my grandparents, who live about two hours away. My grandma has been my inspiration for MANY things over the years; she taught me to sew and encouraged my creativity; her incredible cooking, baking, and gardening skills taught me to appreciate the home-made and experiment in the kitchen for myself; and her love and care has always supported me, especially over the last few months since my diagnosis.

I'm not sure how long it's been since I just spent an entire DAY with my grandparents all on my own.. in fact, I'm not sure if it's ever happened before. It ended up being one of the best weekends of my summer, and I can't wait to do it again sometime!

So let me dive into the eclectic elements that made this weekend so wonderful:

ONE. Fresh peach pie surprise.
Although I love all desserts, fresh peach pie is probably one of my all-time favorites. When I arrived at my grandparents on Friday evening, my grandma pulled out a mini-pie that she'd made special just for me!! It was a complete experiment on her part, and it ended up, hands down, being the best thing I've tasted all summer! Let me share how she concocted this sugar-free marvel....

First of all, she used a small pie pan, only about 5" I'd say. She took a low-carb tortilla and trimmed it to fit into the pan like a pie crust. She buttered it lightly, sprinkled it with cinnamon and Splenda, then baked it in the oven at 350 for a couple of minutes until it was just barely starting to brown.

Once it was cool, she filled it with slices of fresh peaches. For the glaze, she mashed up one peach and cooked it over the stove, mixing in less than 1 tsp of corn starch and less than 1/4 c. of Splenda. She let it cool just a bit, then poured it over the pie and refrigerated it.

Now, I wish I had a picture to show you, but I don't. It was so good that I'll confess to eating the whole thing in 2 sittings. This marvel ended up being maybe only 12-14 carbs for HALF of that little pie!! (And that's with Light Whipped Topping!) I actually even liked it better than a normal fresh peach pie. The glaze was SO good, and even more flavorful than the sugary gel that you normally use.

TWO. My grandma's sewing haven.
I love to sew, something that both of my grandma's taught me from a young age. This grandma has an incredible sewing room built in her basement, complete with more fabric than any normal person would use in an entire lifetime ;-) We spent much of Friday evening and Saturday afternoon in this lovely little room; she quilted, and I made a new tote bag. I don't care if you're diabetic or not. ALL girls love and need big purses!! Anyway, it was completely relaxing and therapeutic, and I now have a Vera-Bradley-ish purse that was inexpensive and one-of-a-kind!

Amy Butler Birdie Sling Tote Bag Midwest Modern Sewing Pattern

THREE. Home-made berry jam.
After growing up with all home-made jams, I'm rather biased against store bought preserves. Using some sugar-free pectin given to me by a friend and a combination of red and black raspberries, my grandma and I made several jars of delicious, healthy, and sugarless jam! Hello breakfast love.

Natural ingredients and no preservatives! 

Nothing so beautiful as fresh jam!

So that was my lovely weekend. Not to mention feasting on fresh garden veggies, visiting the world's cutest antique/vintage store, and lots of coffee. Thank you, God for family and creativity!

Sugar... the sickeningly sweet truth

American's are sugar addicts. No, really!!

According to WebMD, the average individual consumes 22 tsp. of simple sugars a day, which is a total of 355 calories. This is in comparison to the recommended amounts of 6 tsp/day for women and 9 tsp/day for men. Good grief!! That adds up to... approximately 129,575 calories of SUGAR per year. Women.. based on the recommended amounts, you should only get about 35,347 calories from sugar per year; men, 53,020 calories. We're consuming between 76,555-94,228 extra calories per year on sugar alone, on average.

Gag. Disgusting. And we wonder why America is fat???? Not to mention the fact that many Americans are completely inactive couch potatoes.

But sugar does more than make you fat. Eating excessive sugar causes a dangerous increase in blood fat levels and can triple your risk of heart disease, whereas low sugar diets actually protect against heart disease by lowering triglyceride levels and elevating HDL levels. Additionally, it greatly increases your risk of developing Type II diabetes later in life. Sadly, because of our eating habits, there is an increasing number of obese children being diagnosed with Type II diabetes... children who should have been able to avoid it had they been fed more nutritious meals and less sugar. A recent study revealed that 1 out of every 4 children is obese, and of those children, 70% of their parents thought that their child was healthy or even underweight. We don't even recognize healthy weight anymore!

I find that absolutely heartbreaking. As a kid, I was forced to eat my fruits and veggies, and I spent my days playing outside. I'm so thankful that my parents didn't feed me junk all the time!

Whether you are diabetic or not, it's time to wake up to the reality of our dreadful eating habits and do something to change the trends! No, you don't have to cut out all simple sugars, but please start considering the amount that you consume each day! One can of regular pop usually exceeds the recommended amount of daily sugar intake. Find ways to cut out excessive sugar, and practice eating fresh fruits for snacks and desserts, rather than candy, ice cream, and Little Debbies. Start using  sugar substitutes in your baking. While many tout the excuse that sugar substitutes cause cancer, they have been approved by the FDA. Some are less controversial than others, including Stevia and Truvia, which are natural sweeteners, and Splenda. One cup of Stevia has zero calories.. Splenda has 95.. and white sugar?? A heaping 770 calories.

Do yourself, your family, and friends a favor by exercising control over your diet. Our obsession with food and sugar is not only destroying our health, but it's also become an idol of our hearts. Wait. Did I just say idol?? Yep, I did. If you think that you can't live without that can of pop or daily piece of chocolate, think again. What are you truly depending upon? So-called "comfort food" or our Almighty, Holy God who has called us to excellence in all things, even eating and drinking??? (I Cor. 10:31).

Next time you're tempted to have a little coffee with your sugar, think again! Make a conscious effort to glorify God through the way you take care of your body... find your satisfaction in Him!Joy in Christ.... is truly the sweetest thing you will ever find.


http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/health-effects-of-sugar

Keepin' it simple... even with snacks

I'm a "snacker". Always have been, always will be.... unfortunately, we tend to snack on foods that are high calorie, high fat, and high carb (chips, cookies...... you know). So here's a couple of my personal favorite snacks!!

• Kroger's carb-master yogurt with ground flax seed. Don't be so skeptical! Each cup of yogurt is only 4 carbs and 60 calories, and mixing in a bit of flax adds a great nutty flavor (instead of topping it with, say, granola). Love flax seed.. only 2 net carbs in 2 T., and because it's high fiber, it'll help you stay full much longer. You'll see flax showing up again in other things.. I use it frequently! I like 
Bob's Red Mill Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal Organic -- 16 oz, available at Amazon and health food stores. (Haven't checked Kroger yet)

• Low-fat string cheese (like Weight Watchers) - Carb free :)
• 1/4 cup of peanuts - 5 carbs
• 1 Pickle spear - Carb free!
• Baby carrots... depends on how large they are, but it's a satisfying crunchy snack, and very low carb
• Sugar-free popsicles (carb content varies)

There's just a few things... if you don't mind going for a few more carbs, I also enjoy FiberOne 90 calorie granola bars (17 carbs), pretzels, and fresh fruit (especially berries!! They're also very low-carb in comparison to apples, bananas, melon, etc.)

Happy munching!

Coming Soon!

Check back for hints on managing diabetes while living life to its fullest!