It’s already Thursday! This week is flying. I have a busy weekend coming up with my cousin’s 18th birthday, horse-riding and markets Saturday and there is something on Sunday, but I can’t remember what.
It’s also been a busy week, we have stayed true to our commitment this week about exercising. Sunday we went to the gym, I did a ‘Body Pump’ class and Sam went for a run on the treadmill. Monday evening, I went to Pilates and Sam went for another run. Tuesday evening, Sam’s night off and I went to Boxing Bootcamp (which was definitely the hardest session I’ve done there, I think I did at least 100 push-ups and unmentionable amounts of burpees). Wednesday was my night off and Sam went to the gym with his sister. So that leaves tonight (running for me, night off for Sam) and Friday morning, we’re hoping to make it to the gym before work. So for the weekend, we are going horse-riding Satruday and hoping to squeeze in a gym visit Sunday morning. Let’s hope we can keep it up! We’re both feeling better already; exercise combined with natural eating.
Diabetes wise, I’m going great. The only ‘high’ BGL’s I’ve had in the past few weeks has been a 15.2 last night, I underestimated brown rice, and a 10.2 a couple of nights ago. It’s amazing, I don’t think I have ever had consistently good results like this. (Oops, I just checked my blood sugar right then and it was 10!). When everything is going well, it definitely makes it easier to devote time and energy towards managing it better. I will admit that when things are all going wrong, it can make me complacent and just plain ‘over it’.
Last night, the whole reason for my post, was my turn to cook dinner. I had planned to have Ten Minute Asparagus and Brown Rice. We had bought all the ingredients at our weekly shop over the weekend, and was all set to go. I started preparing everything, and so the first thing I do is put the brown rice on to cook and toast the almonds. Second, I make the dressing. Now I can be quite fussy about food and dressings especially, so I decided to taste it after I had made it. Well, I’m not sure what happened, whether my tahini was off or I put too much salt in it, but it was bitter. So bitter that I couldn’t even bear to put it on the meal. Sam thought I was just being funny about food, but even when he tasted it he said it was bitter. So, I was at a loss as to what to do, because I’m definitely a ‘recipe girl’, I find it harder to not cook by a recipe, especially when I’m not prepared for it. I really wanted asparagus and lemon, and I had already cooked the almonds and brown rice. I mulled around for a bit, searching for new recipes to no avail. Eventually I just decided to wing it. And it worked!
I made Asparagus and Lemon Brown Fried Rice.
Asparagus is low in calories and carbs, but quite rich in proten and is a good source of dietry fibre and iron, so it’s great to cook with. Especially, for vegetarians.
Lemons have to be one of the best and most versatile foods to cook with. Lemons are an awesome source of vitamin C. They also contain vitamin B6, potassium and folic acid among other things.
Brown rice is a better alternative to rice than white rice, purely for the fact that it is less processed, only the hard outer hull is removed. Brown rice contains a lot of the B vitamins (B1, B2, B3 and B6), as well as manganese, iron, and magnesium among others.
Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans), are an excellent source of molybdenum (‘a trace minteral needed to help the body detolivy sulfites, a preservative found in things like wine or luncheon meats), fibre, folic acid, manganese, protein, iron, copper and zinc (etc.) They can help improve blood sugar levels,
