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10:03 p.m. - 2007-03-29 Quinoa (KEENWA)I am on a search for a diet I can live on. Being someone who goes for volume....that means fiber. Actually, I am working a plan of my own. I call it The Habit Diet. In other words....I have decided after 50 years yo yo dieting that I am not going to make changes over night. The heavens are not going to open up and a fairy angel with a wand is not going to come down and pronounce me able to eat like a bird with will power of steel.....I have to make small changes...one at a time. I change one thing and do it until it becomes habit, then change another. 1st was green tea. I started drinking a 15 ounce cup of green tea every day at 3PM...not a weight loss change in habit but a health conscious one...good for the arteries. Next was fiber. I started choosing as many fiber rich foods that didn't taste like cardboard in an effort to reach the holy grail of 25 grams of fiber per day. I am now habitually eating my two fruits and 3 veggie servings or more per day, have switched to Kashi for breakfast and a high fiber bread for my lunch sandwich. Walnuts. I now have a mid morning snack of a few walnuts....get those omega 3's without having to eat fish (yuck). Also, nuts hold me when I get hungry...a few walnut halves and a clementine orange and I have a nice healthy snack. So far so good.....Last night though, I found out my Sister has type II diabetes....WAKE UP CALL!!!!. We were on the phone together and I looked up how many grams of sugar one should have per day....50....as hard as it is to make up the 25 grams of fiber, that's how easy it is to over shoot the sugar without even knowing it. I started reading labels....OMG...even Weight Watchers yogurt at 100 calories is LOADED with sugar. Now that fiber has become habit....I will now learn how to avoid sugar....one step at at time. There are also all kinds of other things. Cinnamon...1/2 teaspoon per day has a positive effect on blood sugar. Very dark chocolate...relaxes blood vessels. Hersheys makes a 60 calorie stick with only 4 grams of sugar...OK...sure I want more than one stick but it is portion controlled and doable and hey...I get to have a bit of chocolate every day like that...guilt free. 4 ounces of dark purple grape juice or Pom juice has the same artery relaxing effect. FOOD AS MEDICINE. By the time you eat all the stuff that's good for you, there is no room for the bad. Today...I got adventurous and tried a new food. An ancient Incan grain called Quinoa (pronounced KEENWA)...very very high in protein. It cooks up like rice. While it was cooking it was quite pungent and I didn't think I could get past the smell. It looks like coos coos and sort of is bland tasting with kind of a bitter bite.....not real real tasty but I think it could be an acquired taste. Still...I think I'll make it again. I had just a little bit...1/2 cup and I was full. The combination of the protein and high fiber carbs....really it the satiety center in my brain....I wasn't hungry after. If a little bit of bitter grain can keep me from wanting an evening snack...I'll get used to the taste...but oh that smell!!! Yeah....I still want a Whopper with fries...but I also want to live long enough to finish my novel. P. I. Yarnsmith
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