Tips to Monitoring your Blood Sugars, plus a recipe for Roasted Vegetable Soup

By Kay MacInnis, Registered Dietitian with Providence Health

 

November is National Diabetes Month and November 14 is celebrated around the world to raise awareness about Diabetes.  According to information released about Diabetes in South Carolina there are 576,211 people in our state that have Diabetes, about 14 % of the adult population have diabetes.  Of these, it is estimated that 127, 000 don’t know that they have elevated blood sugars.  There are also 1, 315,000 adults in South Carolina with prediabetes.

WOW, that is a big number!  There is a three prong approach to managing diabetes—diet, exercise and medication.  How can we make some changes with our diet to impact blood sugars???

Here are a few tips:

• Pay attention to your carbohydrate intake—no this does not mean eliminating all carbs, it just means we need to modify the amount and quality of our choices.  Focus on whole grains and limit those things that are highly processed and loaded with refined sugars. Be smart about the choices for sweets—eat sweets with a meal rather than a snack!  Also you might think about not drinking sugar sweetened beverages that can have a BIG impact on lots of the numbers.
• Fill half your plate with non- starchy vegetables.
• Choose lean proteins.
• Include fat-free or low-fat diary
• Small portions of fresh fruits and healthy fats
• Have regular, timely meals evenly spaced throughout the day

A healthy diet can make a difference in blood sugar, weight and help manage or prevent related complications like heart disease or high blood pressure. Try this recipe and gets lots of color and nutrition on the road to controlling blood sugars!

 

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
• 2 small turnips, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 large onion, peeled and diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• ½ small head green cabbage, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp herbs de Provence
• 8 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground black pepper

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.  coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, toss the squash, turnips, parsnips, carrots, onion, celery, cabbage and garlic with olive oil and herbs de Provence.
3. Put the vegetables onto the prepared baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes or until they are cooked through and starting to brown.
4. Place the roasted vegetables in a large soup pot.
5. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender or in batches in an upright blender.
7. Season the soup with the sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and serve.

Nutrition Information: 90 calories, 2 gm fat, 0 mg chol, 18 gm carb, 250 mg sodium, 2 gm protein

Recipe from the Diabetes Cookbook: 300 Recipes for Healthy Living by Lara Rondinelli-Hamiliton, Rd, CDE

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This is another in a weekly series of healthy recipes from Kay MacInnis, registered dietitian at Providence Health in Columbia, S.C.

Kay promotes health and wellness, helping cardiac and diabetes patients eat their way to healthier lives. She works in consultation with the trained chefs at Providence, combining her nutrition knowledge with their food prep know-how to create delicious, healthy dishes for patients and the public. She also conducts a number of health and wellness events for the public, including the monthly Providence Cooks! classes.

“She doesn’t just give you the fish, she teaches you how to cook it.”

 – a Kay MacInnis fan and Providence Cooks! regular.