Thoughts on the Banana Orange Blueberry Smoothie

Happy Monday,
Hopefully all of you are having a wonderful day so far. Today I'll be sharing my thoughts with you regarding the banana orange blueberry smoothie recipe from last week's TTT idea. I have to say that this smoothie was really good. I made one on both Friday and Saturday for breakfast. I actually really enjoyed it. However, I did make some minor changes. I used unsweetened almond milk in place of the fat free milk and frozen bananas to act as crushed ice since I used fresh blueberries. Frozen fruit is a great substitute for plain ice. I give this smoothie recipe two thumbs up.

I hope some of you had the chance to try this over the weekend. If you didn't, give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Let me know what you think in the comment section.

Thanks for reading.

Banana Orange Blueberry Smoothie

Hi There,
I hope everyone is having a great week so far. Hang in there. It's almost Friday. Today I'm sharing a smoothie recipe that sounds yummy. I found the recipe in a book that I borrowed from Kindle Unlimited. The book is called Healthy Smoothie Recipes for Diabetics by Max, Bernard. The book shares 30 smoothie recipes along with nutritional information. I'm a big fan of smoothies, especially for breakfast. I will most likely try a few of these recipes. Here is one that I will try tomorrow morning.

Banana Orange Blueberry Smoothie
Nutritional Information
Per serving: calories 115, carbohydrates 25g, fats 0.5g, fiber 1.6g, protein 4.1g, sodium 54.7mg
Ingredients
1 cup blueberries (fresh)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fat free milk, skim no added vitamin A
1 banana, fresh, peeled, sliced
1/2 cup vanilla fat free yogurt
Directions
Mix all of the above ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth or until you reach your desired smoothie consistency.
Yields 4 servings

Note: I always use unsweetened almond milk instead of cow milk.

I'm really looking forward to trying this smoothie. I hope some of you will try it with me and share your thoughts.

Also, as I mentioned on Tuesday, I'm currently working on increasing my walking time from 45 minutes to 1 hour. I plan on starting tonight. I at least want to try to walk for an hour 3 times a week and gradually build up from there.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday to share my thoughts on this smoothie recipe.

Thank you all for reading.

What's New in My Life

Good Afternoon,
I hope everyone is having a great day. First off, if you've been following my blog, I want to thank you. Sharing my experiences with you is turning out to be helpful and a lot of fun. As you probably know by now, my attempt at creating a diabetic friendly version of blueberry muffins was a complete failure. I will not use coconut flour ever again. Yes, it was that bad. You can read about it in yesterday's post.

On a more positive note, I just discovered that there is ice cream made with stevia. This makes me happy. I mean, who doesn't love ice cream? Seriously, I haven't enjoyed a scoop of ice cream since before I was diagnosed with diabetes. The brand is Halo Top ice cream. If I can find this in my local store, I'll likely buy it and try it so that I can share my thoughts about this product with all of you. If you've tried this or a similar product, share your thoughts in the comments.

Here's another exciting thing going on in my life right now. I recently went to the doctor for a quick check up. In the last three months, I was able to bring my A1C down from 6.4 to 6.1. When I was diagnosed in January of this year, my A1C was 11.3. You can imagine how proud I am of myself right now. My hard work is paying off. My goal is to get my A1C down under 5. If I can do that then my doctor will take me off of the meds. Honestly, most of my success is due to diet and exercise. I went from a brisk 30 minute walk, the first three months, to now walking for 45 minutes at a faster speed. I'm working towards walking for an hour every night. As far as my diet is concerned, here are some of the minor changes I've made. I've cut out most carbs. I eat more salads, fresh vegetables, and fruit. Don't worry, I still dine out with family and friends. We don't have to let diabetes stop us from enjoying ourselves. The idea is to not deprive yourself of the things you enjoy. Just be mindful of your food choices and practice portion control. For example, I went to a local steakhouse last weekend and I had a grilled chicken breast topped with cheese and avocado slices on a bed of tomatoes. For sides, I chose a salad and steamed vegetables. The food was really good and I had a great time with my friends. Simple changes like these are what have helped me regain control of my life.

If you have any ideas or suggestions related to diet and exercise, please share them in the comment section. Also, feel free to share your personal stories with me as well. Remember, if you don't want to post in the comment section, you can always message me directly.

Thanks for reading

JUST NO!!!

Hi All,
I hope everyone is well. I know I said that I would save Mondays for random topics and discuss TTT results on Tuesdays, but I'm going to have to switch those days around. The results from last week's trial recipe can not wait.

As you can probably tell from the title of this post, my results were not good. Infact they were so bad that I won't even bother sharing pictures. Just to make things clear, I'm talking about the blueberry muffin recipe that I created using substitutions of coconut sugar and coconut flour. I'm more than sure the original recipe, with regular sugar and flour, is great. Anyway, the coconut sugar was fine. It has a good taste and I would try it again. However, the coconut flour was horrible. The package stated that it could be used as a equal substitute for regular flour, but I don't think that's the case. When I added the wet ingredients to the flour, it was like the coconut flour absorbed it all. The flour mixture stayed completely dry even after I decided to add an additional cup of milk. I went ahead and tried to bake the muffins anyway. The results were horrendous. The muffins came out in crumbles. I couldn't even touch them without them falling apart. This recipe was disappointing to say the least. I'm going to have to try a different kind of flour. Please, if any of you have any suggestions, feel free to share them in the comments.

If any of you tried this recipe with me then I apologize for this failed attempt. There's always a next time.

Thanks for reading.

It's Try This Thursday!

Hello,

Today is my first Try This Thursday (TTT) and I'm excited! I hope everyone is having a great day.

As a person with diabetes, I understand the frustrations that come along with all of the new diet restrictions. I don't know about you, but since I was diagnosed six months ago, I've been dying for some kind of dessert that won't land me in the hospital after eating it. I've been told that people with diabetes can eat whatever they want as long as they eat it in moderation, but I don't agree with that. My idea of moderation may not be the same as the next person's. I'd rather eat things that I know are healthy and diabetic friendly. Of course, I've messed up a time or two and indulged in some cake, I'm still human, but afterwards, I had to work twice as hard to regain control of my blood glucose levels. Trust me, the extra exercise and dieting in the days that follow are not worth that slice of cake. Before I continue, let me just say that I am in no way encouraging you to go out and eat sugary junk, I'm simply sharing my personal experiences with you. Anyway, I recently went out and bought coconut sugar and coconut flour because I want to try baking some of the stuff that I used to enjoy before my diagnosis. I know coconut sugar and coconut flour can be expensive and I'm not trying to be one of those people that share recipes with ingredients you've never heard of or simply cost too much. Let me share my secret with you. I found the coconut sugar and coconut flour at Big Lots for about $4. If you have Big Lots stores wherever you live, go check it out. You may be able to find some good deals. With that being said , let's continue. Since I've never tried coconut sugar and coconut flour before, I wanted to start off with a simple recipe. What's easier than blueberry muffins? I found this recipe for blueberry muffins at justapinch.com and I'll add the link to the original recipe below.

Easy Blueberry Muffins From Scratch
For this recipe I'll be substituting the sugar, flour, and milk. Also, the original recipe states that this recipe can be used for 6 large muffins or 12 regular sized muffins.

Link to original Recipe
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/breakfast/fruit-breakfast/quick-and-easy-from-scratch-blueberry-muffins.html

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup coconut sugar
2 eggs
2 cups coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cream together the butter and sugar
3. Add eggs, beating well
4. Add vanilla
5. Combine flour and baking powder in small bowl
6. Add flour to the butter mixture, alternating with milk
7. Fold blueberries into the batter by hand
8. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins
9. Bake for 30 minutes
10. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing

So there it is. I'll be trying this recipe over the weekend. I'm a little nervous about the substitutions, but the coconut sugar and coconut flour packages state that they can be substituted cup for cup so hopefully these muffins come out good. I'll be back on Tuesday to share my results. I hope some of you will try this with me and share your feedback as well.

Thanks for reading.

Simple Taco Salad

Here's a simple Taco Tuesday recipe that my family really enjoys. Not everyone will agree with this, but you can make changes as needed.

Simple Taco Salad
Ingredients
Ground Beef
Fritos Original Corn Chips (About 2oz per serving)
Shredded Cheese (Any cheese of your choice will do. I prefer Cheddar.)
Salad Vegies (Anything you choose)
For my salad I use a salad mix with different kinds of lettuce, shredded carrots, spinach leaves, tomatoes, green onions, and avocado.

Directions
1. Place a serving of cooked ground beef in a bowl.
2. Cover the ground beef with your salad and top with tomatoes, cheese, avocado, etc.
3. Pour about 2oz of Fritos on top and enjoy.

I usually grab a handful of Fritos and break them up and then sprinkle them on top. This helps to reduce my carb intake, but still gives me the crunch I desire. You can leave the Fritos out al together if you'd like. You can also make these taco salads right in the 2 oz bag of Fritos if you choose. I believe some people call these Walking Tacos.

What do you think?

Spinach, Banana, and Mixed Berry Smoothie

Before I was diagnosed with type two diabetes, I used to enjoy fruit smoothies not realizing that they were jam packed with sugar. Needless to say, after I was diagnosed, I stopped drinking smoothies and sugary drinks altogether. Lately, I've been trying my hand at making more diabetic friendly smoothies. Here's one that I really enjoy.

Ingredients
1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/2 cup Plain Yogurt
1 Banana (can be frozen)
1 cup Frozen Mixed Berries
1/2 cup Fresh Spinach

Directions
Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth. This usually makes enough for one serving. You can double up on the ingredients as needed. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm excited to get started and look forward to building a community of friends where we can exchange interesting and helpful information related to diabetes. This is my planned schedule for the blog. Every Monday I would like to spend time chatting with all of you. I'll share my personal experiences with you and hopefully you'll share yours in return. On Thursdays, which I'll refer to as Try This Thursday, I'll share something new to try. This could be a recipe, exercise routine, or anything else that might be helpful to people with diabetes. On the following Tuesday, we can discuss our thoughts on whatever we tried from the previous Thursday. I don't know many people with diabetes and I'm excited to meet others who share a similar situation. Of course, you don't have to be diabetic to join me here. Everybody is welcomed. Feel free to share your ideas, suggestions, or questions in the comment section. If you would like me to share your suggestions for Try This Thursday, send me a private message with TTT in the subject along with your name and the proper information about what you are sharing such as links, book titles, authors, etc. so that I can give credit to the information source. Thank you for joining me. I look forward to hearing from you. Don't be shy, stop by and introduce yourself.