Nutrition

Keto diet risks and what you can do

08/11/2021 by Julie RN DCES 1 Comment

When my metabolism started to slow down, I was willing to try anything to control my weight gain. Keto diets appear to be a miracle cure. Who doesn’t want to eat bacon every day? You can lose weight without being hungry. But is a keto diet too good to be true? Let’s look at some keto diet risks.

Quick fixes can lead to long-term problems

Any time you lose weight quickly, you risk the problem of slowing your metabolism rate. This causes you to gain weight more quickly when you are no longer dieting.

How many times have you gained more weight back after your quit your diet? There is a real reason for that problem!

Keto diets can cause nutritional problems that are hard to diagnose

Our body is complicated. Take, for example, calcium. For your body to use calcium supplements, you also need magnesium and
vitamin D. This combination is similar for every element in your body.

Doing keto properly, you should be eating green leafy vegetables and you’ll get the nutrients that you need. But many people think that a keto diet is a license to eat fatty meats and cheeses, but forget that they need to incorporate vegetables. Here’s a list of keto foods that are rich in calcium.

Trace mineral deficiencies are just as significant but even more difficult to diagnose. When you remove all fruit from your diet, you eliminate many trace minerals. Over time this can cause symptoms, for example, heart palpitations.

Doctors treat symptoms

Our medical system (AKA, your doctor) is trained to quickly access your problem, then fix the problem. If you complain of heart
palpitations, they will verify the problem by monitoring your heart rate, then recommend a pacemaker. Oftentimes, they do not investigate the root cause of your problems which could be an imbalanced diet.

What you can do

I recommend that everyone on a keto diet should take a vitamin supplement. You know that are at high risk for trace mineral imbalances. A vitamin and mineral supplement will help to offset the imbalances.

Your best bet is to make improvements. Make subtle changes to your diet that will improve your overall health at a pace that you can maintain. Here’s a recipe that I posted for low-sugar cookies. This is an example of a subtle change that will have a positive affect on your health in the long run.

Bottom line, the medical community does not know the long-term effects of keto diets. Are the unknown side effects worth the short-term gains?

Low sugar chocolate chip nut cookies

02/19/2021 by Julie RN DCES Leave a Comment

Cookies are a mainstay when it comes to the holidays, right? Or anytime you’re stuck at home (ahem, Covid…) But when you’re diabetic, pre-diabetic, or have gestational diabetes, you need to be extra aware of the sugar that you’re taking in. This low sugar chocolate chip nut cookie recipe is sure to be a hit in your household!

How am I qualified? I am a certified diabetes educator and I put together a recipe for chocolate chip nut cookies that clocks in at only 6 grams of sugar per cookie!

How does it compare?

McDonald’s chocolate chip cookie is 19 grams of sugar. Yikes! According to Fitbit, Toll House chocolate chip cookies are 14 grams of sugar per cookie.

Here’s the recipe!

Low-Sugar Chocolate Chip Nut Cookies

Makes 18 cookies with 6 grams sugar each

1/2 cup butter or margarine melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup Truvia Brown Sugar Blend
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup white flour
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup chopped nuts (you can use almonds, or pecans, walnuts, or peanuts)

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

In a large bowl combine the butter, vanilla extract, egg, water, salt, and Truvia Brown Sugar Blend. (Truvia should start to melt.)

In a separate bowl combine the flour with the baking soda. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts and mix well.

Now add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients while continuing to mix well.

Using a spoon, drop cookie dough onto cookie sheets forming 18 cookies. Keep in mind that if you make less than 18 cookies, your sugar content will be higher. To get the amount of sugar per cookie, take 18 x 6 grams of sugar to get the total sugar content for the entire batch. Then divide that by the number of cookies that you actually make. For example, say you form 15 cookies. So 18 cookies that the recipe suggests x 6 grams sugar each equals 108 grams sugar for the entire batch. Then divide by 15 cookies and you have 7.2 grams of sugar per cookie.

If you struggle to divide it up into 18 pieces, try this: divide the mix in half. Divide it in half again. Each quarter needs to make 4.5 cookies. That’s basically making 4 cookies and taking a pinch from each cookie and set it aside. Then each half of the mix should make 1 extra cookie out of the little extras that you set aside!

Any cookies that are mounded up should be spread out to allow proper baking.

Cookies will spread out while they bake so leave a little room between them. You’ll probably need more than one cookie sheet to make the full batch. Or bake the first batch and after your cookie sheet cools off, you can bake what’s leftover. *Remember the dough should be refrigerated while you wait!

Bake for 6-7 minutes in a preheated oven until the edges are golden brown.

Allow the cookies to sit for 2 minutes on the baking sheet after you take them out of the oven. Then you can place them on a cooling rack.

Variation

If you don’t want nuts, you can double the chips, but I would recommend using the mini-size chips for better texture. And remember that this may affect your sugar content.

You can also use whole wheat flour to add fiber.

I have not tried gluten-free flour.

If you want to try Truvia Brown sugar blend in your other recipes, you convert the regular brown sugar to Truvia by cutting the amount in half.

This recipe makes 18 cookies with 6 grams of sugar each.

I hope you enjoy baking these cookies for your loved ones!

Childhood Obesity: 3rd in a Series

05/24/2019 by Julie RN DCES 39 Comments

Parents have the responsibility to provide a healthy environment for their children.

But what is involved in a healthy environment?

A clean house with a safe sleeping arrangement
Providing for good hygiene
Emotional support and teaching coping skills
A sense of family connections
Add your own, this list can be very long!

Our health is holistic in nature. Without good sleep, you will not cope well with the anxieties of life. Without good food, you will not grow and develop properly. One part affects another, which will affect their health today and into the future.

Little changes make a big impact over time

Little changes you make have a ripple effect over time. If you switch from whole milk to 1% milk, you save 45 calories per glass OR 135 calories in 3 glasses each day. This is 945 calories per week, which equals 14 pounds in a year.

One hundred calories saved each day equals 10 pounds lost in a year. When you buy reduced fat milk, you change your environment at home. Small changes like buying lower fat foods can make a big difference over time. Your children are dependent on what you provide, so it’s up to you to make these little changes.

When you buy healthier breakfast cereal, they will eat it
Or switch to whole grain toast
When you buy cookies with less sugar, they will eat them
When you buy low-fat chips, they will eat them
If you buy apples, with a little prep, they will eat them too!

Cut out 100 calories and reduce sugar

Remember, 100 extra calories each day will cause you to gain 10 pounds each year. Considering how small the 100 calorie snack packs are, you can see how it is easy to eat too many calories each day. That’s why most Americans are gaining weight every year.

It is easier to avoid the temptations in the grocery store than it is to resist eating it every day once you bring it home. This should be a whole family affair. Don’t buy something for your mate and expect your children to resist eating it. It is unrealistic to expect your children to resist eating something you have in the house.

Changing to a lower sugar diet may be challenging to the whole family. But to provide a healthy future, it is important for you to control the amount of sugar in your children’s daily diet. Work with your children to find acceptable solutions. Help them make good decisions about the foods you provide in your home.

Incorporate exercise

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently changed its recommendations for daily exercise. Never before have they recommended 2-year-olds get added activities. The CDC realizes that parents need to encourage children at a young age to “move their way”. Dancing is a good example. Put music on and it is natural for kids to dance. Find things your children like to do.

Included in the CDC’s recommendations is a limit on screen time based on age. Screen time includes television and computer games. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing. Encourage them to get involved in activities.

Be the architect of your home

Children depend on parents to provide a good home environment. By keeping focused on their future, you will be motivated to do the right things.

For more information about the holistic nature of children’s health, download my free ebook. 👉 But before you download that, please make sure you’ve signed up for my email list! Anytime I put out a freebie, you’ll get a copy just for being on my list!

For more information about raising healthy children, please see my program, Kids at Risk for Diabetes.