Staying Healthy This Fall

October 26, 2019

Staying Healthy This Fall

By Jackie Rustom

My name is Jackie, and I have been interested in diabetes education for several years. I'm curious as to what foods diabetics can eat, how often they can eat them, and what portions they should be consuming. I try to make snacks that are sugar-free, gluten-free, and low in carbohydrates. I have been posting foods that I've been experimenting with on Instagram, and not all of them go well. I am also interested in finding foods that are gluten-free and dairy-free because I realized that a lot of people must avoid foods with these ingredients. I know that it's hard to make healthy and tasty foods that meet diet limitations.

According to the 15 ounce can of Kroger brand pumpkin, 1/2 cup of pumpkin contains 3 grams of fiber, 30 milligrams of calcium, 2 milligrams of iron, 250 milligrams of potassium, and 930 micrograms of vitamin A. Pumpkin meets 10% daily value (DV) of iron, 100% daily value of vitamin A, and 11% daily value of dietary fiber. I did not realize that pumpkin was so nutritious, and I have become obsessed with pumpkin over the past month since I have had trouble incorporating enough and vitamin A in my diet.

My recipes also have flax seeds, chia seeds, and pepitas, which all have healthy fats and fiber. I have the Simply Nature brand of flax seeds which contain 32% DV of dietary fiber, 10% DV of calcium, 25% DV of phosphorus, 6% DV of zinc, 8% DV of iron, and 30% DV of magnesium. I have the Simply Nature brand of chia seeds which contain 32% DV of fiber and 4% DV of calcium. I have raw pepitas from Kroger which contain 9 grams of protein, 2% DV of calcium, 15% DV of iron, 6% DV of potassium, and 2 grams of fiber. Before doing the social media posts today, I had not realized how nutritious the seeds really are. I tried to incorporate flax seeds or chia seeds into my smoothie, and I try to consume a smoothie each day.

I also use creamy no stir peanut butter in my recipes. This peanut butter has 7 grams of protein, 1% DV of calcium, 4% DV of iron, and 6% DV of potassium. Peanut butter is a good source of unsaturated fat and protein. Proteins should be incorporated in fruit smoothies in order to prevent all the ingredients from converting to glucose.

I am glad that I have finally been able to substitute sugar in recipes, whether it be sweeteners, a fruit, or a healthy oil. One of my goals in the next few years is to find diabetic friendly foods that are nutritious and tasty. I find that a lot of these types of foods may not always taste good.

Throughout the rest of this blog, I listed all the posts from Twitter and Pinterest along with the full recipe for reference. Thank you so much for reading this blog! I enjoyed taking over the Memphis DPD social media sites today!

To learn more about unsaturated fats, please refer to this website: 

https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/is-peanut-butter-healthy

1.      Pumpkin Pie Spice Smoothie

I’m giving tips on how to stay healthy this fall! Start the day with a Halloween themed smoothie!

·         8 oz orange juice or 1 orange

·         40 g carrots

·         118 g pumpkin or 1/2 cup

·         6 oz yogurt

·         2 tbsp flax seeds

·         1 tbsp chia seeds

·         1/2 tsp cinnamon

·         1 tsp vanilla

·         1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

‪2. Beef Pumpkin Squash Soup

·         1 white onion

·         16 oz of carrots

·         1 bunch of celery

·         3 acorn squash

·         1 butternut squash

·         1 spaghetti squash

·         1 lb of 90% lean ground beef

·         6 cans of low sodium chicken broth (about 570 mg per serving)

·         1/2 cup olive oil

·         1/4 cup sunflower seeds

·         1/4 cup pepitas

·         3 tsp of each spice to taste: salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, Allspice

Look at all the colors! Green, orange, yellow, white, and brown! It’s important to have a variety of fruits and vegetables! This recipe is full of fiber, healthy fats, and vitamin A!

Next time, I would add about 1/3 cup of seeds and 3 cans of chicken broth. Too much chicken broth and fats aggregate GERD. The excessive sodium and fat in the soup bothered me.

Directions

1. Bake the acorn squash, spaghetti squash, carnival squash and pumpkin at 400 degrees. Check on the squash after 45 minutes. Cook for another 15 minutes if the squash isn’t soft.

2. While the squash and pumpkin are baking, dice the onion, carrots, and celery. Add the spices, olive oil, and chicken broth in a large pot. Set the pot aside.

3. When the pumpkin and squash are done baking, add them into the pot.

4. Cook the beef (90% lean). Combine the meat with vegetables.

5. Bring the pot to a rapid boil and bring to a low simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free, and Low-Carb Oreos

For the Keto Oreo Cookies

• 1 1/3 cup almond flour
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp black cocoa powder or more regular cocoa
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp espresso powder or instant coffee (optional)
• 5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (dairy-free substitute: coconut oil)
• 8 tbsp Stevia
• 1 egg 

For Vanilla Cream Filling (Butter can be used instead if that is preferred)

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter (dairy-free substitute: coconut oil)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla (gluten-free substitute: almond extract)  
• 1/16 tsp salt
• 1/2-1 cup powdered Stevia to taste

This recipe should make about 24 cookies if they are made into small cookie shapes.

This recipe idea is from the following website:

https://www.gnom-gnom.com/gluten-free-keto-oreo-cookies/

      I feel like I simplified a lot of the website’s steps.

 

Directions

For the Keto Oreo Cookies

1.     Combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, xanthan gum, melted butter, Stevia, and egg into a large bowl. Use a whisk to mix the ingredients well. These ingredients were very easy to mix by hand. There should be a smooth texture that forms after a few minutes and the dough should be easy to form shapes.

2.      Use plastic wrap to cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight.

3.      When you’re ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a cookie sheet. You may line the cookie sheet with parchment paper or simply use non-stick spray. Make circular dough rounds with a rolling pin that are about 1 inch in diameter in the shape of small Oreo cookies and place onto the cookie sheet.  

·         My lessons learned from this step: The dough should be very thin in order to allow for as many cookies as possible to be made. Keep in mind that if the cookies are too big, they will only make about 10 giant cookies and there won’t be many leftovers. There should be thin small cookies!

4.      The next step should be to place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking the cookies because it helps the dough form shapes easier.  I did not do this step, but I think it would have helped make smoother dough.

5.      Bake the cookies for 8-12 minutes. My cookies were done after 8 minutes and I could tell since they looked puffy and darker colored. The recipe called for baking the cookies until they are crispy, but I liked them soft out of the oven because they hardened in the refrigerator.

6.      Allow the cookies to cool for about 30 minutes. The cookies need to be cooled down enough for the filling in order to prevent the filling from melting. I was able to apply the filling after about an hour.

7.      For the Vanilla Cream Filling: Mix unsalted butter, coconut oil, vanilla, and powdered sweetener in a large bowl. I chose stevia as my sweetener. These ingredients were also very easy to mix by hand, so I would not bother with an electric mixer or blender.

·         I suggest using 1/2 cup of the sweetener at first. If you feel like you need more sweetener, you can always make more filling. It was hard for me to guess how much I needed. I would rather make less at first, so I don’t end up with extra ingredients. After about 5 minutes a creamy texture will form, and the filling is ready to be used. If coconut oil was used, do not refrigerate the filling because it will turn into a complete solid and it will not be spreadable. Coconut oil must be left at room temperature.

8.      After the filling is made, use a butter knife or spoon to spread it on to the cooled down cookies. The cookies are ready to be tasted! If you refrigerate them, the filling will set into the cookies and they will now taste like a healthier version of Oreos!  

These Oreos are a great replacement for candy! They contain almond flour and stevia. The blanched almond flour is Kirkland brand from Costco and contains 3 g of fiber, 70 mg calcium, 1 mg iron, 177 mg potassium, and 3 mg of vitamin E.

4. Pumpkin Spice Fiber Balls

Make pumpkin dessert sugar free, dairy free, gluten-free and full of fiber, protein, and vitamin A! If you have gluten intolerances, be sure to get gluten-free oats!

This recipe was inspired by the Healthy Teaching Kitchen. They give me a lot of good ideas on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and this one really stood out to me.

Ingredients

·         1 cup old fashioned oats

·         1/4 cup pumpkin

·         2 tbsp peanut butter

·         2 tbsp pepitas

·         1/3 cup flax seeds

·         1/2 cup olive oil

·         1/2 tsp vanilla

·         1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

·         1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Crush and blend the oats, pumpkin, peanut butter, pepitas, and flax seeds until they’re about halfway blended into a food processor.

2. Add the vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and olive oil.

3. When there’s a good solid consistency, form each into a ball shape and put onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes.

5. How to make pumpkin spice fiber balls

I have been obsessing over pumpkin and on-the-go snacks lately. Please watch my YouTube video about how to make these healthy snacks!

https://youtu.be/fw07gWaE4FA

Thank you for watching! It was fun taking over the social media sites and cooking all this food!