Tag: soup

What to Eat in October

Emma5 Comments

We’re still working our way through home-grown courgettes (!!), tomatoes and carrots, but what else is seasonal at this time of year?

At the Diabetes Diet, we try our best to eat seasonally (it’s not always easy in Scotland), as seasonal food locally grown and produced tastes the BEST. It also helps you do your bit for the environment, by cutting down on food miles (the distance food travels to reach your plate) and it benefits your local economy. Wouldn’t you prefer to put money directly in a farmer’s pocket, than add to the vastly-inflated profits of a supermarket?

Anyway, October brings many of the benefits September does. While many fruits and vegetables are now gone for the year, there are plenty of delicious other options.

MEAT

  • Pheasant
  • Lamb
  • Partridge

FISH

  • Mussels
  • Mackerel
  • Oysters

VEGETABLES

  • Wild mushrooms (if you’re going to pick these, please make sure you know what you’re doing!)
  • Root vegetables, such as celeriac and carrots
  • Kale
  • Beetroot
  • Cabbage
  • Fennel

FRUIT

  • Apples
  • Damsons

Looking for some ideas for what to do with your seasonal ingredients? Puzzled about how you can make them low-carb so they fit with the way you eat? We have some suggestions for you…

Make gluten-free gravy using carrots and onions, and serve with pork and chicken.

Our carrot and almond soup recipe is an established family favourite. If you want to make it a main course, add some boiled eggs or poached chicken for added protein (and satiety). Or make yourself a delicious salad with the recipe for a Carrot and Dill version.

Love lamb? Our low-carb, gluten-free moussaka makes the most of lamb mince (making it more affordable too). Try this African stew, also.

Jovina Cooks Italian has inspired us hugely, and this Brindisi Fish Soup uses mussels and is packed with flavour. It also uses aubergines, which are seasonal in October too.

Hate cabbage? Add bacon, cheese and sour cream, and you can make anything palatable to even avowed cabbage loathers. Try this Cabbage Casserole recipe and convince the brassica haters it’s true.

Celeriac has a very distinctive taste. Make the most of it in this braised celeriac recipe. You can use it as a replacement for potatoes to accompany your roast dinner. We also have a yummy recipe for soup.

Low-Carb Lunches – Asparagus Soup

Emma8 Comments

asparagusAsparagus – I’m not 100 percent keen on it as a side vegetable, but when you fry it with onions and garlic, add in stock and double cream, it becomes something else entirely…

Try this for lunch. When I have soup for lunch, I always add two boiled eggs for extra protein. It also makes an unbelievably filling dish. You might struggle to finish it all.

Asparagus Soup

  • Servings: 3
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

  • 400g asparagus
  • 2tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 1 medium-sized onion, sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1tsp salt
  • Freshly-ground black pepper
  • 600ml water or chicken stock
  • 60ml sour or double cream

Chop the asparagus into one-inch pieces. Fry in a saucepan with the rapeseed oil for five minutes. Add the onion and garlic, cover the pan and cook over a gentle heat for another five minutes.

Add the water or stock, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer for ten minutes.

Add the cream or double cream and blend until smooth. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

4-5g net carbs per serving.

Asparagus wee… if you’re someone who gets this (your pee smells really strong after eating asparagus), Asparagus soup is going to give you a bad dose of it. There’s an explanation here about what causes asparagus wee why some people get it and others don’t. 

 

Continuous glucose monitors may need human back up

kaitiscotland1 Comment

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This story from Diabetes in Control Disasters Averted series describes why it is a good idea to check a finger prick sample of blood if there is a discrepancy between your recorded results and how you feel.

CGM? Still Perform the Fingerstick!

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College student, type 1 diabetes, wears a pump and CGM. She has good family support. Several of her family members get her CGM readings on their phone. She received a call from her mother about 2:45 am waking her up. She told her to treat her low blood glucose, which patient reported to be 41. (UK 2.2)

Patient states her alarm had gone off, but she did not hear it. She performed a fingerstick because she didn’t feel like she was low. It was 149. (UK  8.2) (See report.) The CGM recalibrated. She did not treat because she did not need to.

DCMS310

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She was always taught to check a fingerstick before treating. She was glad she was taught that. Had she not checked she may have had to deal with a high glucose level later.

Lessons Learned:

  • Technology helps, but it needs human input.
  • CGM’s accuracy may have proved to be accurate enough to treat from, but experience tells us each person responds differently, and accuracy can vary from person to person.
  • If symptoms don’t match readings, perform a fingerstick.
  • My recommendation is to continue to perform a fingerstick before treating, even though some say one does not have to.