Can a Flowchart Help You Make Better Food Choices?

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Flowcharting eating choices can keep them healthy Darya Pino at posted a flowchart for finding real food at the supermarket on her blog Summer Tomato yesterday. It’s an intriguing combination of guidance and humor. Darya in answering the question “Was it [the item found in the grocery store] ever alive?” if you say “NO” the next box says “You’re probably in the home improvement aisle.” Clearly no yumminess to be found there. But if you say “YES” the next box says “Well done, you’re at the produce aisle or meat counter.” Looking at Darya’s flowchart got me to thinking. If I could flowchart my decision points in eating I would have a really nifty thinking tool for keeping the yumminess on a healthy track. When I ran into new food or dish I would have a way to look at it and decide whether I wanted to eat it or not. Hmmmm… This

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Good Idea: Make It Into a Salad

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Having a salad makes for a simple, healthful, diabetic-friendly meal. I know. I know. Salads are boring. Lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. Lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. Lettuce, tomato, vinaigrette. How many days can I eat such plain food? Or the other complaint I hear is that salads are too fussy. To be interesting they have to be filled with exotic (and expensive) ingredients like dandelion. Somehow I don’t think I can just go out to the front lawn and harvest some of those. A well made salad is filled with flavor, nutrients, and yumminess.

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Happy New Year!

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Each new year promises so much. New hopes. New opportunities. New starts. But I can’t get to the new without dealing with the old first. Looking back over the last year I realized that my efforts to manage diabetes have stalled out. I have been within spitting distance of “tight” control for way too long. My A1C just hasn’t gotten below 7.0. It’s gotten close. But close don’t count. I’m not much of one for resolutions. The goal is clear to me. What seems to be missing is intention. So I am declaring my intention here and now. I intend to get my A1C below 7.0 in 2011 and to keep it there.

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Fight Hunger With Diabetes-Friendly Snacks

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When I’m out and about I never let myself get too hungry. I don’t always know where I’m going to end up or what kind of food I’ll find there. Waiting too long to eat is dangerous. My blood sugar levels can go wacko. And once hunger sets in I’m likely to eat anything whether or not it’s good for me or even yummy. My best defense in the fight against hunger is a diabetic-friendly snack. I always make sure I carry one with me. It’s part of being prepared.

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