Fighting Against Myself

Once again, I'm BACK! Not sure for how long... so enjoy the reading :)

Since January 2013 my husband and I have decided to make some important changes in our lives. We've seen up close and personal the devastating effects Diabetes has on the body. Responsible living can prevent so many disorders and diseases. So why is it so hard to change? It's hard to change bc we live in a FastFood and ReadyMade world. As a modern-day mother, it's hard to find healthy options to feed my family without buying a box or this or a can of that. It all comes pre-packaged! So, as a nurse, I've studied the basic requirements of nutrition and i've come to the conclusion (along with so many other professionals out there) that a low-carb, high-protein diet is what is best for the balanced functioning of our bodies.

This is basically how it works:

Carbs are all over the place in pretty much all foods that we eat. But there are different kinds of carbs. We hear from the media that carbs are evil. This isn't true.  There are "healthy" carbs and "useless" carbs (therefore, unhealthy). Did you know that your veggies have carbs? These would be the right  carbs to be eating. A potato, for example, is a different kind of carb. It's "useless." It contributes very little to our nutritional needs because it's loaded with starch. We don't need that.

So what happens in our bodies is that when we overload it with useless carbs, our body reacts and tries to process it as fast as possible, but we can't keep up with the intake so our body (because it's so smart) decides to store it. And we all know what stored stuff looks like on our bodies.... FAT.

This, of course, is a basic interpretation of what happens to starches in our bodies. There is a very similar process with sugars. The exception in sugars being that it also manipulates the glucose/sugar levels in our bodies. When our glucose levels rise and fall too often and over an extended period of time, we can develop diabetes. In German the name for Diabetes is Zuckerkrankheit  (transl. Sugar Disease). Very appropriate!

So i've become very creative at cooking. I use less heavy starches like potatoes, mandioca, noodles and bread & i have replaced them with healthier options like sweet potatoes (believe it or not!) and integral rice. We always accompany our meal with a salad. I can't say i've been starving. We definitely are eating (a LOT!). It just boils down to lifestyle decisions. Until you get to the place where you realize with your entire being that this is the way that you need to go, you won't make it. It's not an easy 30-day plan. It's not instantaneous. It's not something to do at the last minute before you die... it's a forever and day-to-day commitment and INVESTMENT in the rest of your life.

So, that's what's going on here... lots of meat and no noodles. HA!

have a great weekend!
cd