Thursday - To carb or not to carb
One thing I vowed to myself when Elise was diagnosed, was that she would be allowed to eat what we eat, and there would be no "forbidden foods".
Having said that, I do know that there are some foods that Elise should avoid. But we tend to eat healthy, natural, non-processed foods; so most of what we eats fit into her "diet".
There are some foods that we try not to eat anymore (as a family) because of what they do to Elise's BG; pizza, mac & cheese, ice cream... anything that is high in fat and will cause lows and then horrible, horrible highs later on.
I know there are many people who believe in the low/no-carb diet, but bread and pasta remain some of Elise's favourite foods. With a lot of trial and error, we have learned how these foods will affect her BG, although thankfully, pasta does not seem to have any adverse affects.
Some of Elise's Favourite Meals:
Breakfast:
Granola with fresh strawberries, plus toast (whole wheat) and almond butter. Lately I've been putting cinnamon on her toast instead and she LOVES it.
Lunch:
Grilled cheese sandwich (ugh), yogurt or a homemade smoothie w/yogurt and some fruit (usually cantaloupe).
Dinner:
I make this pepper and sausage pasta dish that Elise LOVES. She would eat it every night if I would make it for her. I serve it with garlic toast, and she also drinks milk (actually it's a 70% white milk/30% chocolate milk mix... she's not a fan of plain milk). For dessert it's usually some sort of fruit.
Snacks:
Bread with almond butter
Banana
Grapes
Bagel with cream cheese
Goldfish crackers
yogurt (homemade or Yobaby)
Smoothie
Elise is also really good about eating veggies; broccoli, squash, carrots, celery, asparagus, peppers... I am so thankful that she's pretty easy-going when it comes to food.
I haven't been good about it lately, but I have posted recipes on my blog complete with carb counts, in the past. When Elise was first diagnosed, I was practically pulling my hair out trying to figure out what to feed her. This post has been the kick in the pants I needed to start posting those recipes again!
You are lucky that Elise is not a picky eater. We have a hard time with Tristan. He won't touch vegetables or fruits! Now my youngest goes nuts for fruits and vegetables... cantaloupe being his favorite!
ReplyDeleteWe are also changing our eating habits to try and eliminate a lot of the processed food. I will check out your recipes.... our next project.... homemade yogurt :)
Every time you mention that pasta with sausage and peppers my mouth waters!! What's for dinner tonight? I might swing by! :)
ReplyDeleteI would love the pasta with sausage and peppers recipe if you have time to post it at some point. I agree, all foods in moderation and I love that Elise likes a lot of variety for a kid her age!
ReplyDeleteI wish food could just call out it's carb count to you. No weighing, measuring, Calorie King hunting. I think someone mentioned a nice scanner - scan the food item (not a label, but the food itself) and voila - there's the carb count. Wouldn't that be lovely?
ReplyDeletelook forward to great recipes Joanne! What's for dinner??
ReplyDeleteAfter Tyler's dx, your blog taught me how to do the carb thing:)
I love that Elise will eat almost anything! I wish Zane was not picky like he is! He is the kid who will eat the SAME thing (and has) for every meal, every day!
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Elise is a rock star. And I would eat your sausage dish every night too if you would let me..
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely!! I want Matthew to be a normal kid, eating what he wants.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet....I want him to make healthy choices.
Like your sweetie, my sweetie loves pasta, too. I vowed to conquer that beast and so far, we've done well with it.....
Bring on the recipes---Nice and easy, though. I don't like to cook! :)
Your list of all the yummy foods Elise eats has made me very hungry indeed!
ReplyDeleteWe try not to make any food forbidden in our home, we always try to teach the girls that they can have treats once in awhile. We don't make it about the diabetes though, it's about being healthy...diabetes or no diabetes.
ReplyDeleteWe have our cake and eat it too...but only on those special occasions :)
Thanks for sharing, I may have to try that almond butter. It sounds delish and I have always wanted to try it.
I was diagnosed in 1979, when the list of forbidden foods was long. I can't even tell you how happy I am to read all of the Carb Posts (even if it's taking me over a week to catch up) and remember that kids diagnosed today never have to go through that!! :)
ReplyDeleteIf she like cinamon on her toast, you can try cinamon and splenda on toast, it's always a tasty treat.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow diabetic, pizza gets to me, I find it's the tomatoe sauce. But my husband and I make patches of our dough (we freeze the other batchees) and use brushetta as the tomatoe sauce. Hopefully these work :)