Your PH

Important message from DR. SUDHIR V. SHAH M.D.,

D.M. (Neurology) Consultant Neurologist,

Prof. and HOD, Neurology,

V.S.G.Hospital, Ahmedabad. 

Director of Neurosciences, Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad.

Clinic Address:

206/7/8 Sangini Complex, Near Parimal Railway Crossing, Ellisbridge,

Ahmedabad-380006, Gujarat, India.

Tele No. (C) 079-26467052, 26467467 (R) 079-26621742

Recently I spoke at a health conference and had several great conversations with many health-conscious people. Although the questions I was asked during and after my presentation ran the gamut, there was one general reaction that came through loud and clear. Sheer surprise.

You see, I talked about the number that is THE most telling indicator about your state of health and is arguably the most important number to pay attention to if you want a life free of pain, inflammation and disease.

It’s not your weight.

Your BMI? Nope.

No - it's not your cholesterol. Or your triglycerides. It's not even your blood pressure!

It's your pH (pH factor indicates acidic versus alkaline ratio in your body).

Here is what kept my audience on the edge of their seats.

Alkaline pH -- why in the world?

In a flashback to high school chemistry, remember that the pH scale goes from 0 to 14.

0 is pure acid, 7 is neutral, and 14 is pure alkaline.

You came into this world with an alkaline pH.

It's how your body was designed and how you're meant to stay.

Without exception, ALL of your organs, tissues, bones and joints work best when your blood pH is slightly alkaline (around 7.365).

If your pH is even just a little too acidic, that's when your body can begin to literally break down. Aches and pains begin to creep up. Tumours (including cancer) can flourish. Diseases can rear their ugly heads. Although a number of factors can contribute to an acid pH, (including stress, environmental toxins, lack of exercise and smoking), far and away the number one factor is your FOOD.

Eating acid-creating foods (especially fast food, processed food, meat, dairy, refined carbs and hard to digest meal combinations) pulls your pH down toward the acid range.

On the other hand, when your diet contains many alkaline foods (like fresh fruits and vegetables) and is easy for your body to break down, you encourage a more alkaline pH.

A snapshot of your innards:

Let's take a look at your innards and see some examples of how your body can break down when you're acidic:

Your Heart

Your heart pumps an unbelievable 13,000 quarts of blood a day -- enough to fill a small swimming pool! If there are toxins in your blood, that puts a huge strain on your heart to do its job. Acid wastes, in your system also rob your blood of oxygen, which causes your heart tissue to deteriorate. And you don't want your ticker breaking down, do you?

Your Liver

The liver serves over 300 different functions -- with two of the most important being, to remove acid wastes from your blood and make alkaline enzymes for your body. If you're like most people who live in industrialized countries, your blood resembles a war zone, with far too many toxins floating around, and your liver is constantly being stressed cleaning them out. If that goes on long enough, it can completely shut down.

And so will you.

Your Pancreas

The pancreas is super important ... in fact, it's responsible for completing digestion in your small intestine. And it helps regulate blood sugar by producing insulin.

Like I said, super important.

More so than any other organ, the pancreas is extremely sensitive to your pH and absolutely CANNOT function when you're acidic -- it MUST have an alkaline environment. If your pancreas is not working right, you can be looking at type II diabetes, (which can kill you FAST).

Your Kidneys 

The kidneys create urine and help get rid of excess acid from the body. About one litre of blood passes through them every single minute! If your blood has too much acid and toxins, your kidneys are over-stressed and unable to do their job.

(Ever hear of Dialysis? Kidney stones?)

Your Stomach

When your stomach properly breaks down your food, the small intestine can finish the job and digestion is completed like it should be. But foods that are acid-creating are hard for your stomach to break down, and in its efforts to do its job, it may overproduce acid. The result can be poorly digested food, fewer nutrients being absorbed, and acid rising up into your throat. Acid reflux, GERD, IBS, hiatal hernia and gastritis are all on the rise and this is why. The typical American diet is LOADED with hard to digest, acid-creating food.

Your Colon

Wastes are supposed to easily pass through the colon and "out your back door." But if digestion has not been accomplished properly, they don't move through like they should. Instead they can clog your colon walls, become a breeding ground for bacteria and disease and cause you to put on weight.

Plus, the toxins can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream, make you ill and encourage the development of food sensitivities. It’s no surprise that colon cancer is the number one cancer killer, and that so many people suffer with IBS, diverticulosis/itis and chronic constipation, is it?

An acid pH is GOOD -- when you're DEAD.

There is one time when you're SUPPOSED to have an acid pH. When you're DEAD. Your body automatically becomes acidic upon death so it can decompose like it's supposed to. I don't want that happening any time too soon, do you?

So ... how do we get this magic 7.365 pH?

Hopefully you've gotten the idea of how important it is to have a slightly alkaline pH while you're still breathing and vertical. 

Now I'll tell you the 4 steps to attaining and maintaining an optimal alkaline pH:

Step 1- Check your pH at regular intervals

You can get a saliva test or urine test kit at most drug stores or health food stores.

The saliva test is the least accurate and urine is slightly more accurate. You can also have your blood tested by a doctor. This is the most accurate measure but also the most expensive. If you want this done and your doctor won't do it, find one who will.

The normal pH for urine is about 6.5-6.8 (it's acidic because urine is an exit for toxins), for saliva 7.0-7.4 and for blood 7.365 is your target.

If you're testing your pH with saliva or urine, it's important to perform the test several times at different times of the day, since pH can be affected by what you eat or drink.

Step 2- Drink pure water

Aim for at least 5-8 glasses per day.

Stir in a little fresh-squeezed lemon juice to make it more alkaline if you'd like.

Alkalizing drops are also available at health food stores.

Water means water and does not mean coffee, tea, Gatorade, soda or other sweetened drinks.

But avoid drinking tap water as it can contain chlorine and/or fluoride.

Strive to drink filtered or bottled water.

Step 3- Eat more alkaline foods 

The important thing to note here is you CAN continue to eat some "good" acid foods that have valid nutrients - so if you don't want to give up that juicy steak you love or that roasted chicken, you don't have to.

Just make sure that those acid foods are counterbalanced by a good portion of alkaline foods. 50/50 is a good place to start, and the more alkaline, the better.

"Good" acid foods include nourishing things like:

*Eggs, *Fish, *Chicken,*Turkey’ *Brown rice, *Yogurt, * Beef (preferably grass fed and organic).These foods have nutrients that do benefit your body. So it's not necessary to eliminate them. You just need to make sure to keep them under control, and make sure they represent no more than 50% of your calories.

And remember it's NEVER a good idea to eat processed food, fast food or drink soda. Keep those to a bare minimum or preferably none at all.

Step 4- Keep your digestion efficient 

In order to keep your digestion humming, it's vital to eat meal combinations that are easily broken down and don't cause your stomach to over produce acid, and make sure you have adequate enzymes to do the job.

Simply put: 

Easy digestion = proper elimination of wastes = a more alkaline pH

Poor digestion = acid waste build-up = Sickness and a  more acid pH

Without the proper enzymes for digestion, you can suffer from gas, bloating, constipation, waste build-up ... and  you'll have a more acidic pH!

So remember -- while your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol,  etc., are all very important too, it's vital to keep your eye on the MOST important number -- your pH.

Do that and your body will thank you many times over. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

31 Great Tips for Health and Exercise!

31 health and exercise tips that will help you get the most out of your daily, your daily health efforts and your exercise. Remember, it's the little changes to our lifestyle that make the most change. And real change takes time and consistency. Apply some of these tips every day and watch as your health gets better while your fat get lower!

Vitamin D - A brief article

* Vitamin D is used around the world to treat Psoriasis.

* Seasonal Affective Disorder is caused by a melatonin imbalance initiated by lack of exposure to sunlight.

* Chronic vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia because its symptoms are so similar: muscle weakness, aches and pains.

* Your risk of developing serious diseases like diabetes and cancer is reduced 50% - 80% through simple, sensible exposure to natural sunlight 2-3 times each week.

* Infants who receive vitamin D supplementation (2000 units daily) have an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes over the next twenty years.

* Sufficient Vitamin D prevents osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, and schizophrenia.

* Vitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition. That's probably because it's free: your body makes it when sunlight touches your skin.

* Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which greatly impairs calcium absorption.

* "Rickets" is the name of a bone-wasting disease caused by vitamin D deficiency.

* Vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate type 2 diabetes and impair insulin production in the pancreas.

* Obesity impairs vitamin D utilization in the body, meaning obese people need twice as much vitamin D.

Shocking Vitamin D deficiency statistics:

* 32% of doctors and med school students are vitamin D deficient.

* 40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient.

* 42% of African American women of childbearing age are deficient in vitamin D.

* 48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient.

* Up to 60% of all hospital patients are vitamin D deficient.

* 76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing widespread vitamin D deficiencies in their unborn children, which predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life. 81% of the children born to these mothers were deficient.

* Up to 80% of nursing home patients are vitamin D deficient.

Fifteen facts that are important to know about vitamin D and sunlight exposure:

1. Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight.

2. The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don't generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home.

3. It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body.

4. A person would have to drink ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet.

5. The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. States are far from the equator.

6. People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D. That's why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men - it's a simple, but widespread, sunlight deficiency.

7. Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium,rendering calcium supplements useless.

8. Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body's bones and nervous system.

9. Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body's ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. This is how sunscreen products actually cause disease -by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.

10. It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.

11. If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.

12. Vitamin D is "activated" in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used.

13. Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body's ability to activate circulating vitamin D.

14. The sunscreen industry doesn't want you to know that your body actually needs sunlight exposure because that realization would mean lower sales of sunscreen products.

15. Even though vitamin D is one of the most powerful healing chemicals in your body, your body makes it absolutely free. No prescription required.

On the issue of sunlight exposure, by the way, it turns out that super antioxidants greatly boost your body's ability to handle sunlight without burning. Astaxanthin is one of the most powerful "internal sunscreens" and can allow you to stay under the sun twice as long without burning.

Other powerful antioxidants with this ability include the super fruits like Acai, Pomegranates (POM Wonderful juice), blueberries, etc.

Surprising Facts on Food Poisoning

Surprising Facts on Food Poisoning

During times of hot humid climate, everyone is worried about food poisoning. Simple and common-sense preventive measures like hand washing and proper preparation of foods will help prevent food poisoning.

Another common measure to prevent food poisoning is by heating or cooking foods appropriately. However, is this the case every time? It turns out that bacteria can even grow at hazardous levels even after heating foods!

In this article, we'll reveal to you the three most shocking facts of food preparation that is often overlooked and can actually cause food poisoning.

 Surprising Facts on Food Poisoning

## 1. You Cannot Determine Contaminated Food Just By Looking and Smelling!

It's impossible to tell if foods are contaminated with bacteria just by smelling or looking at them. They may appear fine but you can still get sick.

This is because most bacteria that cause food poisoning (e.g. salmonella, and E. coli) don't produce smell or any changes in appearance of the food.

Remember, don't be overconfident with your five senses when it comes to your foods. You just can't trust them when you're trying to determine contaminated or spoiled foods.

 You can't tell that a food is contaminated just by looking and smelling

One bacterium can multiply to thousands of millions in just a few hours.This means that a small amount of bacteria in a contaminated food will surely spoil it quickly under right conditions so please exercise caution.

## 2. Heating Foods Does Not Guarantee Food Safety

Don't get overconfident when heating foods. Even a properly prepared or cooked food is not a guarantee that it won't spoil quickly. You can still get food poisoning if you let it stand too long under improper storage temperatures!

The most common cause of this type of food poisoning is due to the bacteria"Clostridium perfringens". C. perfringens bacteria form spores that can withstand high cooking temperatures. When foods are kept at improper storage temperatures, the spores present will sprout and begin to grow to dangerous levels.

 Will Reheating Cause Food Poisoning?

The dangerous storage temperature zone is between 20 to 55 degrees Celsius (70 to 130A??F). Food poisoning can result in as fast as 8 hours once the food contaminated with large numbers of clostridium perfringens is consumed.

Although Clostridium perfringens does not cause food poisoning when they're in small amounts, it can still induce food poisoning once the contaminated food is reheated. This is because Clostridium perfringens can only grow vigorously in conditions of very little or no oxygen. More heat means less oxygen.

To prevent the growth of Clostridium perfringens, the food must be cooled to below 20 degrees Celsius (70A??F) within 2 hours after cooking. For example, after cooking stew or curry, when storing them, it is recommended that you transfer them to smaller containers then place them in the refrigerator, especially during summer season. Always remember that Clostridium perfringens cannot grow under freezing temperatures or refrigeration.

## 3. Hand Hygiene: A Common Pitfall

One of the basics of food poisoning prevention is "hand washing". It is one of the most important things when it comes to food preparation yet it is also one of the most commonly ignored.

 Wash your hands thoroughly to prevent food poisoning

Bacteria can attach to any parts of your hands all the way from the crevices and skin folds up to the tip of your nails. Therefore, bacteria can still spread through every surface of your hands if you don't wash your hands well.

Experts recommend 20 seconds of proper hand washing with soap and water.

Remember to always wash your hands prior to cooking and after going to toilet.

6 ways to loose weight

Most people generally follow the conventional norm of dieting when it comes to losing weight. They will skip meals, keep fasts, consume low-fat products and take stairs instead of lifts. But, this type of calorie counting will only make them lose their mind, and not weight. Even the nutritionists agree that fasting and skipping meals is not a healthy way to lose weight. Such practices tend to make people look weaker and frail. But, there are some amazing ways of weight loss, which they do not pay much heed to. So, take a look at these simple tricks which will help in shedding kilos in a healthier manner.

 Fluids

Limit your drinks to water only. While you are trying to slim down, reduce your intake of tea, juice and coffee. If you are desperately craving for juice, then try eating a fruit instead of drinking a packaged one. This way, you get more nutrition without the excess sugar found in the packaged juice. Also, limit your coffee consumption to one cup a day, and tea to two cups. Avoid adding sugar to them. You can also opt for healthier options like green tea and decaffeinated coffee.

 Go Chinese!

Chinese food is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. From that, we do not mean the ‘Indian-ised’ and greasy version of the food. But the original Chinese dishes, which include boiled and crunchy vegetables, broiled meat and steamed rice. Traditionally, Chinese food is either baked or stir-fried. It consists of a huge variety of vegetables and healthy soups. Also, it involves a lot of seafood and soybeans, with minimal amount of sugar. So, having it can really help you to shed your excess weight. And, if you are not that comfortable with eating Chinese food, then there is still another Chinese trend you can try out. Try eating with chopsticks. This will help you to eat slowly. So, your body will have time to respond to your stomach’s cues saying that it is full, thus preventing you from consuming empty calories.

 Fat is Good!

You may find the above sentence to be an oxymoron, but it is true. Fat is good for you! It is the grease that helps your metabolic system to run smoothly, and helps you to lose weight faster. What most people do not know is that fats are both  good and bad as well. Fish, flax seeds and nuts are a source of good fats, while re-used cooking oil is the most dreadful form of bad fats. So, it is best to incorporate more of good fats in your diet.

 Revealed - Lose weight by just sitting 

If you equate weight loss with running for hours on the treadmill or being on a diet, then this video will change your mind.

 Spice it up

Adding some spice to your bland food not only enhances the flavour, but also helps you to lose oodles of weight. Add some extra spices to your food to cut down on your salt intake; salt is one of the biggest culprits of weight gain. Spices like turmeric, cinnamon, chillies and garlic are just a few 'healthy' examples. Turmeric helps the body to metabolise fats by decreasing the fat storage in liver cells, while cinnamon manages the blood sugar levels. Chilies, most importantly, have an ingredient called Capsaicin, which significantly improves fat burning process.

 Skip a rope

Skipping with a rope works on your cellulite. This helps you to tone your arms and legs. It can also help you to lose up to 450 calories in around 30 minutes. Moreover, this exercise improves blood flow, thereby keeping your heart healthy.

Join aerobics

Well, this is definitely a fun exercise to work on your entire muscle mass. Unlike other exercises, this activity focuses on every body part, thereby giving you a lean frame. During a one-hour session of aerobics, you can burn at least 400 calories.

So, now that we have revealed these weight loss secrets for you, follow these tips and shed that flab in a much effective manner! 

Understanding Carbohydrate for good diabetes management.

By Amy Tenderich 

1. How to Recognize a Carbohydrate

In this series, Amy passes on some wisdom she's picked up about “carbs” and how to keep them under control for good diabetes management.

• • •

Not sure what a carb is? Here’s the basic definition:

Carbohydrate = the sugars and starches found in grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.

This includes all sugary foods like sweets, fruit, and sugar itself, along with grains and starchy foods (pasta, potatoes, rice) that break down to glucose in your body.

To reiterate: carbohydrates are ALL the foods either made up primarily of sugar or those that convert to sugar in your system, including starches like potatoes, bread and pasta. Things like candy and muffins are obvious carbohydrates, but many are not so obvious.

Keep in Mind:

Most carbs have the same effect on your body, whether they’re in the form of a candy bar or a baked potato (see Tip 2 for exceptions)

 “Sugar-free” is not carb-free—don’t let marketing labels fool you into believing that some carbs “don’t count”

Fiber does the trick—high fiber content in a food (more than 5 grams per serving) can reduce the impact of the carbohydrate of that food on your BG (blood glucose)

As a diabetic, it’s critical for you to be aware of the carbohydrate content of your food, because limiting carbohydrates is an important tool for regulating both your daily BG levels, and your A1C over time.

2. Good and Bad Carbs Really Do Exist

While it’s true that most of our commonly eaten carb foods have similar effects on your BG, some do have advantages over others. These advantages stem from containing fiber (which slows absorption of the sugar content) and other nutrients, present especially in fruits and vegetables. These extra-beneficial carbohydrates tend to be in the group of foods with a so-called “low glycemic index.”

The Glycemic Index (GI)

The Glycemic Index (GI) is an attempt to scientifically determine the impact of individual foods on your BG levels. Here’s how it’s calculated:

To set the GI value of a particular food, say a slice of bread, ten volunteers eat 50 grams (about 2 ounces) of the bread in the morning after fasting, and their BG is measured over the next two hours. The total rise in glucose during this two-hour time period is calculated. Several days later, the same 10 volunteers drink 50 grams of glucose, and have their BG measured in the same way over the next two hours. Then the two glucose sums are compared, and the difference in value between the test food and the ingested glucose becomes the GI value for the tested food. You can find the GI value of hundreds of foods in a database maintained by the University of Sydney, Australia, at www.glycemicindex.com.

You can even submit samples of a food, along with a check, and the research team will measure its GI for you.

What’s important to know here is that foods with lower GI values have a lesser impact on your BG in the first two hours after you’ve eaten them. They take longer to absorb into your system, so they are generally good choices for people with diabetes. (Low-GI carbohydrate foods are otherwise known as “slow-acting carbs.”)

Using GI in Real Life

As simple as it sounds, the Glycemic Index isn’t so easy to utilize in real life. Foods don’t always affect your BG the way you would expect them to based on their GI value, due to a number of variables:

Most of your food is not eaten directly after fasting, as it was during the GI testing.

In real life, foods are eaten in various combinations and amounts, and the method of cooking (boiling, grilling, baking).

The age of the food also changes the GI impact.

For these reasons, lots of people don’t use the Glycemic Index, but rather work to keep their carb intake down by focusing on eating more fiber, fruits, and vegetables.

It’s also important to know that real, unprocessed foods will always be better for you than any fabricated “low-carb” product. That stuff is often extremely high in fat and chemicals, and has in some cases even been altered specifically to be indigestible, so that your so-called “free” chocolate will create a nasty stomachache.

3. How to Avoid Carb Overload

Carbohydrates actually comprise the main source of energy for your body, but eating too many can overwhelm your sluggish insulin response system. That’s why it’s important to spread out your carb intake throughout the day, rather than loading up on them all at once.

The trouble is that so many of our typical meals contain far too much fat, and almost all carb: chili with French Fries, spaghetti with garlic bread, cereal with toast and juice. These are all examples of ALL-CARB meals.

What's a Balanced Meal?

Everyone talks about eating balanced meals. But do you really know what a “balanced meal” is? It’s a mix of carbohydrate foods, alongside protein and fibrous foods like beans and vegetables—ideally not too much of anything at one sitting.

Achieving balance means learning to “mix it up” a little. It helps to keep thinking about places where you can swap a healthy protein choice for one of those high-carb choices. For example, instead of high-carb breakfast* cereal with fruit and yogurt, try scrambled eggs with a little fruit and yogurt on the side. Or for dinner, instead of pasta with garlic bread, try a lean meat accompanied by a slice of bread or two (not more).

About breakfast: it is true what they say about it being the “all-important” first meal of the day. Eating breakfast jump-starts your energy and your metabolism (your body’s food-processing system) for the day. Research studies even show that people who’ve successfully lost weight and kept it off for over a year are those who consistently eat a reasonable, healthy breakfast every day.

4. How to Learn and Practice Carb Counting

Carb counting is a tool for managing your BG levels by calculating the precise amount of carbohydrates you are eating at each meal and snack. It is used intensely by many people with Type 1 diabetes to set the appropriate insulin doses for the food they eat.

Here’s how it works: Carbohydrate in foods is measured in grams (g). One “carb serving” is the amount of a food that contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.

People with diabetes are often advised to eat no more than 3 carb servings per meal, or 45g of carb for women; and no more than 4 carb servings, or 60g carb, per meal for men.

For calculating your carbs:

Packaged foods of course have nutrition labels that can help you understand the carb content of those foods. But to read those labels correctly, be aware:

Table sugar (sucrose) and glucose are listed separately on food labels. This doesn’t mean much. Despite the separate listing, they have the same effect on your nutrition and BG (blood glucose) levels as most carbohydrates. You’ll want to look at the total carbohydrate count instead.

The food’s listed “serving size” is key. For example, a can of soup may say it contains 30 grams of carbs per serving. Check the number of “servings” in the can! Let’s say there are 2. Then if you eat the whole can, you’ll need to DOUBLE the amount of carbohydrate listed to understand how many much you’ve eaten – in this case 60 grams of carb.

For foods that are not labeled:

You can use a kitchen scale to weigh your food, which some people find extremely helpful, especially in the beginning while they’re getting familiar with serving sizes.

You can also learn to eyeball it pretty accurately using your fist as a unit measure. Think of your fist as a ball of 15 carbs (as long as your fist isn’t unusually large).

Compare a pile of rice or pasta to your fist. If it looks about the size of one fist, it’s about 15 g of carb. Two and a half fists is about 38 carbs, and so on.

5. What a Nutritionist Can Do For You

You might want to get some help learning about food and carbohydrates. People are often afraid that a nutritionist is just going to be preachy, or send you home with a dull, tasteless meal plan. Not necessarily so.

These experts can be helpful either through a one-on-one session or through attending a group class. They have loads of answers to your questions, brochures, and even visual aids that help you picture the “right” and “wrong” carbohydrate choices for optimized diabetes management.

You could also say a nutritionist's job is to "help improve your relationship with food." Their job is to help you find the good-for-you foods that you actually enjoy eating, and focus on building out those healthy habits.

Most health plans will cover all or part of the cost for seeing a nutritionist, as nutrition counseling has proven extremely helpful for people with diabetes. Your primary doctor may have some good recommendations for you too, or perhaps you can ask a friend who knows a good nutritionist.

Between Nutritionist Vs. Dietitian

These titles are often used interchangeably. While there is some difference in their training and expertise, essentially the job of both is to advise people on the health impact of their food choices, and help them make better choices for their individual health needs.

Kidney-Friendly Food - Recipe - 1

Kidney-Friendly Food

Diabetes raises your risk of kidney problems, but this delicious recipe may benefit your kidneys and help protect you against other health problems too.

Creamed Onions

Onions are rich in flavanoids, including a powerful antioxidant that helps fight free radicals associated with kidney disease and other chronic conditions.

• Calories 117
• Carbohydrates 15g
• Fat 5g
• Protein 4g

By 

A holiday staple in many households, creamed onions are usually bathed in a rich white sauce made with heavy cream. In this version, we roast the onions for an added layer of flavor and lighten up the sauce with low-fat milk. The result is a luxuriously silky sauce with a sweet roasted onion flavor for far fewer calories and less fat. We like the smaller size of pearl onions, but boiling onions also work well.

photographer: Ken Burris

Ingredients

• Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
• 3 pounds fresh or frozen pearl onions, or boiling onions
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups low-fat milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon white or black pepper
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

1. Reheat in the microwave on High, covered, stirring frequently, or on the stovetop over medium-low heat.
2. 12 servings, about 1/2 cup each
3. Preheat oven to 400°F.
4. If using fresh onions, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add onions and cook 1 minute to loosen the skins. Drain. When cool enough to handle, trim both ends, leaving enough of the root end to keep the onions whole while roasting. Peel off the skins. Toss the prepared fresh onions (or frozen onions) with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Spread in an even layer in a roasting pan large enough to accommodate all the onions in a single layer. (If you’re using fresh onions, a 9-by-13-inch pan is large enough; if using frozen, you may need a larger pan.) Roast the onions, stirring occasionally, until soft and brown in spots, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add broth, stirring and scraping up any brown bits. Return the pan to the oven and roast for 10 minutes more.
6. About 30 minutes after the onions start roasting, start the cream sauce. Melt butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking, until the mixture bubbles and is free of lumps, about 30 seconds. Whisk in milk, then add bay leaf, thyme, pepper and the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a gentle boil, whisking often. Reduce heat to the barest simmer and cook, whisking often, until the sauce has thickened to the consistency of thick gravy, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Discard the bay leaf.
7. Stir the roasted onions and any broth from the pan into the cream sauce. Stir in lemon juice. Transfer to a serving dish and serve warm.

Nutritional Facts

Servings

12

Per serving

Calories

117

Carbohydrates

15g

Fat

5g

Saturated Fat

2g

Monounsaturated Fat

3g

Protein

4g

Cholesterol

6mg

Dietary Fiber

2g

Potassium

250mg

Sodium

243mg

Added Sugars

0g

Exchanges

1 vegetable

1 fat

Carbohydrate Servings

1

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