Author Archives: Administrator

You may already know… or maybe have been wondering why I’ve been trying new recipes with soy milk or using agave sweetener and looking at nutritional information at restaurants but a few weeks ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, a relatively common condition where I am either not able to produce enough insulin or have developed a bit of insulin resistance.

First I did a 1 hour glucose tolerance test where I had to drink an extremely sweet orange flavored 50gm glucose drink and test my glucose 1 hour after. Since it came back higher than normal, I had to do a 3 hour glucose tolerance test where you fast for at least 8 to 10 hours then go to the lab to have your blood drawn before eating anything, drink another extremely sweet orange flavored 100gm glucose drink and have your blood tested at 1 hour, 2 hours, and 3 hours. Three out of four of my numbers were high so I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (usually two out of four being high is enough).

So I went for diabetes and nutritional education and have been testing my blood sugars four times a day. Right before breakfast, 1 hour after breakfast, 1 hour after lunch, and 1 hour after dinner. I’ve been following a low carbohydrate diet consisting or small meals and snacks throughout the day. The first week was really tough as I just didn’t know what to eat and it was just hard to be eating so frequently.

The recommended carbohydrate diet is as follows:
(1 serving of carbohydrates = 15 grams)

8am Breakfast = 2 servings
10am Snack = 1 serving
12:30pm Lunch = 3 servings
3:30pm Snack = 1 to 2 servings
6pm Dinner = 3 servings
9:30pm Snack = 1 to 2 servings

Of course mixed into all of this includes proteins, vegetables, fruits, and fats.
And to give you an idea on how much 15 grams of carbohydrates are:
1 slice whole wheat bread
1 8oz cup of milk
1 small apple
1/3 cup cooked white rice
2 small tangerines

I’ve never been a rice lover (my family will back that up) but since I haven’t really been able to eat any, I feel like I’m craving it. I know that I can’t tolerate white rice well but brown rice has been working out a bit better for me. I’ve been learning a lot about “low glycemic index” carbohydrates as these tend not to make your glucose levels spike as high or as fast.

So far everything has been going well. I lost a few pounds the first week because I as having trouble finding the type of foods I wanted to eat but have finally had time to shop and found myself some things I enjoy eating. Dinner is still the hardest meal of the day because I want noodles or rice but the portions I’m allowed are so small that it’s not satisfying.

My best find for a snack is FAGE Greek yogurt which per 8 oz (1/2 cup) has 7g carbohydrates with 15g protein. Protein is more filling and with the low carbohydrate content, I can still add my slightly sweetened granola for my mid-morning snack.

I am monitored by a diabetes nurse weekly by telephone and since my numbers have been good and within range, I am now allowed to decrease the number of glucose checks. Now I have to perform daily morning before breakfast checks but only three times a week do I have to do the whole sha-bang (checks 4X/day). Yay for me! Per my nurse practitioner, baby seems to be growing normally and been kicking vigorously (15-20 mins to kick 10 times) so I hope I’m on my way to having a healthy baby.

Since I still like my baked goods, I’ll be experimenting more in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for some trial (and error) recipes!

Venus & Yogurtland in Berkeley, Protein Style at In-N-Out

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We had a very nice day out today in the bay area. Our friends Tiff & Alex are visiting from Southern California so we met up with them in Berkeley for brunch.

At first we attempted to go to La Note but at 11:20am, the wait for 4 people was 45 to 60 minutes. Venus Restaurant, just down the street, had a shorter wait and seemed to go through customers faster, so we only had to wait about 15 to 20 minutes.

Ron ordered their very beautiful looking pomegranate mimosa, served with a juicy blackberry.

I ordered the chicken sausage scramble which is chicken sausage, mozzarella, roasted bell peppers, caramelized onions, fresh basil, mixed with three eggs and served with home fries and toast ($10). The chicken sausage was a little bit sweet and nicely pan fried. The home fries were excellent and I loved how they toasted the bread (this is whole wheat) because it was a bit chewy.

Ron ordered the 2x2x2, this with 2 eggs sunny side up, bacon, and flapjacks ($10.50). Flapjacks fluffy and delicious. Alex also ordered the similar dish with sausage instead and got the extra blueberries mixed with the flapjacks. His looked yummy too (sorry, no picture).

Tiff ordered the Venus Benedict, 2 poached eggs and sliced tomato, open-face on an english muffin, with ham, spinach or avocado topped with lemony hollandaise and served with home fries ($10.50). This looked really delicious too.

After we finished brunch, we headed for a walk through the Berkeley campus and reminisce about our school. Many of the buildings are the same and look like they’ve been cleaned up or are being restored. Ron and I took this picture by the campanile:

It was a very peaceful walk through campus considering that school is out for winter break. Lots of stores were closed either for the long Christmas weekend or for the winter break. We made a big loop from Shattuck, through campus, down Telegraph, then back down Durant to Shattuck.

Before leaving Berkeley, Ron and I went to Yogurtland, the first one I’ve been to in the Bay Area. Currently they are having limited edition Tokidoki cups and spoons, so cute! Plus there is a sweepstakes to win a shopping spree and free yogurt.

We tried three flavors of yogurt: taro (thumbs up), egg nog (thumbs up), and pecan praline (thumbs down) and three toppings: brownies (thumbs down), mochi (thumbs up), and slivered almonds (thumbs up). At 30 cents an ounce, this bowl cost $2.10. Also, Yogurtland has all their nutritional information on their website.

We spent the afternoon shopping then had dinner at In-N-Out. We tried a few things from their “secret menu”. Their corporate website lists a few of their secret items but I found this more comprehensive secret menu list online.

I ordered a double double “protein style”. Basically, any burger “protein style” eliminates the bun and instead everything is wrapped in lettuce. Quite good actually, it felt less greasy because of the refreshing lettuce.

Ron ordered the double double “animal style” with “extra toast”. I think “animal style” is well known but “extra toast” is the bun a bit more toasty. We also ordered fries “well done” which made them extra crispy.

Yum… good way to end the weekend.

Venus Restaurant
2327 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(510)540-5950

Yogurtland
2236 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA
(510) 548-8001

In-N-Out
11 Rollins Rd
Millbrae, CA

Chevys Fresh Mex and Sherlock Holmes

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http://www.chevys.com/menu.aspx

Ron and I enjoyed a relaxing day in the city. First we hit the Ferry Plaza (sadly no farmers’ market today) for a nice stroll and a delicious cup of coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee Co. then wandered back downtown near Moscone Center to have lunch. We ended up at Chevy’s Fresh Mex since we both hadn’t eaten there in a long while.

I had their Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad. Surprisingly quite filling with all that chicken. Could have used a tad bit more dressing.

Ron ordered the Taste of Chevys, a platter with one beef and one chicken enchilada, one chicken crispy taco, and one chicken tamale. Also served with rice, your choice of beans, and a sweet corn tamalito. This was a very large plate of food but then Ron didn’t have breakfast like I did.

I have to mention that their menu is pretty cool, it lists the nutritional information for most of their dishes, including protein, carbohydrates, fat, calories, sodium, etc. You can also find it here at HealthyDiningFinder.com and look for other restaurants in your area. I’m not sure which other establishments are participating but I’m sure the number will grow with our health conscious community.

After lunch we headed over to Century Theaters at the Westfield Mall to catch Sherlock Holmes. Although the reviews sort of imply that the movie wasn’t very good, I still enjoyed it for the most part. The difficult parts for me were the language (sometimes I couldn’t understand the accent) and the length (sitting there for over 2 hours was not comfortable). I liked that there was a solution to each little mystery and that Holmes seems quite neurotic.

By the time we left the theater, it was a bit drizzly outside so went for a bit of shopping then headed home to call it a day.

Almond Cheesecake

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http://splenda.tastebook….Cheesecake-Bars

I am experimenting with some sugar substitutes and using less all purpose flour in my baking. Splenda has some recipes to use a a basis for making your own alterations. Instead of using Splenda, I used a blue agave sweetener, available at Costco in San Francisco.

There are a few tricks with blue agave sweetener:

1. Use less (because it is 25% sweeter than sugar)
2. It’s additional liquid (reduce other liquids by 30%)
3. Bake longer and at lower temperature (reduce temperature by about 25 degrees F)

Here is the recipe from Splenda and how I changed it in italics:

Ingredients

¼ cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated (I used only 1/8 cup blue agave since I like things less sweet)
1¼ cups graham cracker or vanilla wafer crumbs
⅓ cup light butter, melted
¼ cup toasted sliced almonds, finely ground (I used about 1/3 cup almond meal, available at Trader Joe’s)

12 ounces reduced fat cream cheese (I used one 8-ounce package)
½ cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated (I used 1/4 cup blue agave)
2 large eggs
¼ cup reduced fat sour cream (I used FAGE Greek yogurt since I didn’t have sour cream)
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (excluded)
¼ cup toasted, sliced almonds (I used slivered almonds)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix crust ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Press into prepared 8×8 pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until firm. (It took about 20 minutes to brown.)Mix cream cheese and SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener (substitute blue agave here) together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl, and mixing well after each addition. Add sour cream (substitute Greek yogurt here), vanilla and almond extracts; mix well. Pour over prepared crust.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 47 minutes, or until firm.

5. Top with toasted almonds.

Since graham crackers are actually very high in sugar, if I was to make the crust again, I would just use almond meal for the entire recipe. I think it does need the extra cream cheese so would use the entire 12 ounces (but I only had one 8 ounce package on hand…). The taste was pretty good though, I don’t think you can tell that I didn’t use cane sugar and the toasted almonds on top were quite a nice addition even though I didn’t use almond extract in the cream cheese portion.