Read The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook Online
Authors: Mark Hyman
Tags: #Health & Fitness / Diets, #Cooking / Health & Healing - Low Carbohydrate
The Blood Sugar Solution Cookbook (8 page)
You could sauté onions, garlic, mushrooms, or even vegetables along with your fish or chicken to make it interesting.
Once it is cooked, season your fish or chicken with additional sea salt, up to 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, and lemon juice if you choose.
Follow the same guidelines for fish and chicken, or simply add cubed tofu to your vegetables before steaming or sautéing.
Rinse and drain your favorite canned beans (I prefer the small white cannellini or navy beans). Heat them in a saucepan with 1–2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt. Add sautéed, chopped vegetables to the beans if you like. Be creative.
To cook brown or black rice, bring 4 cups filtered water to a boil. Rinse 2 cups uncooked brown or black rice, put it in the water with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and ½ teaspoon sea salt, and cover. Bring to a boil and then simmer on the lowest heat, covered, for 45 minutes. Do not stir. Remember to limit your servings of grains to no more than ½ cup of cooked grain.
Remember to add spices to your cooking. Place some slices of ginger in the water while you’re cooking rice, or add 1–2 teaspoons turmeric for delicious yellow, Indian-style rice. These are powerful anti-inflammatories and give the rice a wonderful aroma and flavor. Add fresh rosemary, chopped fresh cilantro, or fresh crushed garlic to your vegetables.
Then serve. That’s all there is to it.
You don’t have to follow fancy recipes or spend hours in the kitchen every night to eat the Blood Sugar Solution way. Just stick to real, whole, allergen-free foods, and you’ll watch the pounds come off as you approach UltraWellness.
While I recommend that you avoid eating out on the Blood Sugar Solution program, I understand that this is sometimes impossible. Some people are obligated to go to business luncheons, for example. In that case, I recommend you follow these guidelines when eating out:
- Ask for grilled fish or chicken.
- Ask for a large plate of vegetables, either steamed with a side of sliced lemons and olive oil or sautéed in olive oil.
- You may have a salad, but skip the dressing and ask for extra-virgin olive oil and sliced lemons instead. Ask for some grilled chicken, shrimp, or salmon on top of your salad.
Take time to notice how every bite of your food looks, feels, and tastes in your mouth. When you think about what you are about to eat, how does it make you feel? What sensations does the aroma invoke? Savoring your meal is an act of gratitude toward your body and the earth. When we eat unconsciously we eat more. Avoid multitasking while eating. Turn off the phone, TV, email, and computer and take a break from media while you focus on nourishing yourself.
Follow these steps to practice mindful eating:
- “Take Five” before a meal.
In one minute transform your metabolism by taking five slow breaths. Breathe in through your nose and count to five; pause; breathe out through your mouth and count to five. Repeat four more times or until you feel relaxed and ready to begin your meal. - Offer gratitude
before your meal. - Bring your attention
fully to the food. - Follow the 20-Minute Rule.
It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that it is full. If you eat quickly, you can easily overeat. So take your time. Put your fork down between bites. Chew your food well. Your digestion and metabolism—and your waistline—will thank you.
I encourage you to read two extraordinary books about the psychology of eating that can help you address the emotional and psychological barriers to true self-care and eating well. They are both by Marc David:
Nourishing Wisdom
and
The Slow Down Diet.
UNJUNK YOUR LIFE
Do not underestimate the power of removing addictive substances from your body. In order to do this effectively, you will need to clean out your pantry of all the junk. Benjamin Franklin said that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” That has never been truer than for those with diabesity. By the time you have late-stage or even early diabesity, you need a pound of cure. If you have advanced diabesity, you need 10 pounds of cure!
This program is designed to reset and reboot your biology and metabolism. That is why you have to unjunk your diet, which will unjunk your metabolism. Eventually you may be able to enjoy a wider range of food and treats. Your body is the best barometer. If you get cravings or gain weight (or aren’t losing weight), it’s time to reassess how foods that raise your blood sugar may be sneaking in. Is it too much sweet potato, or that little bit of honey, or worse? Get focused and get healthy again.
Cut out:
- Sugars in all forms,
from syrups, nectars, and honey to Stevia, sucralose, and xylitol. If you have to ask, “Is this okay?”
it isn’t
. Small amounts (¼ to ½ cup) of alcohol in cooking are fine. - Flours in all forms,
including seemingly benign gluten-free flour. Avoid bagels, wraps, pasta, pastries, bread, etc. - All processed food.
Stay away from toxic factory-made “foodlike substances.” Most packaged food consists of sugar, corn, flour, and soybean oil combined with chemicals, all shaped into different sizes and colors. It is injection-molded food, not fit for human consumption. - Gluten and dairy.
Avoid all forms, and remember to read ingredient labels for hidden sources.
If you are on the Advanced Plan:
Avoid all grains, starchy vegetables (beets, sweet potatoes, parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas, taro, turnips, winter squash, etc.), and all fruit (except ½ cup of berries per day).
There is one key principle to remember as you use the recipes in this book and put together your meals every day. You want to create the perfect plate. This will balance your blood sugar by allowing you to feel full from eating an unlimited amount of low-glycemic vegetables along with a moderate amount of protein (the size of the palm of your hand), a small amount of whole-grain or starchy vegetables, and a small amount (½ cup) of fruit as a treat. If there is a dish containing grains, sweet potatoes, or squash, the serving size should be only ½ cup and fill only ¼ of your plate.
Here’s how to create the perfect plate:
- 50 percent low-starch, low-glycemic vegetables (see list in
Chapter 2
) - 25 percent lean and clean protein (fish, chicken, eggs, meat, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole soy)
- 25 percent slow-burning carbohydrates (gluten-free whole grains, sweet potatoes, and winter squash)
If you are on the Advanced Plan,
make your plate 75 percent low-starch vegetables and 25 percent protein; skip the grains and starchy veggies.
Timing is everything when it comes to your metabolism. Not eating breakfast or eating too late can wreak havoc on your hormones and cause you to store fat instead of lose it. Pay attention to when you eat. Get into a regular rhythm. Your body loves consistency.
- Avoid eating like a sumo wrestler.
Sumo wrestlers gain weight by eating a big meal right before bed. You should always have a protein-based breakfast within one hour of waking up, eat a protein-based lunch and dinner, and have a small protein-based snack, such as nuts or seeds, midmorning and midafternoon. Stop eating at least three hours before retiring to bed. - Establish your rhythm and stick to it.
Your body evolved and exists today because of natural rhythms. Stick to a rhythm and a schedule of when you wake up, when you go to bed, when you exercise, and especially when you eat; this will optimize digestion, power up your metabolism, and synchronize your hormones.
Choose SLOW Carbs, Not LOW Carbs
Fiber added to any meal reduces the glycemic load and prevents spikes in blood sugar and insulin.
Aim for 30–50 grams daily. As with a stoplight, let green, yellow, or red be your guide.
- Fill half your plate with slow-burning, low-GL vegetables
such as arugula, asparagus, bell peppers, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, dandelion greens, hearts of palm, kale, lettuce, mushrooms, radishes, snap peas, tomatoes, watercress, etc. - Seaweed.
Kombu, nori, and wakame are all extraordinarily high in minerals, protein, and healing compounds. For more information on seaweed, create an account at drhyman.com/register, then go to the “Eat Your Medicine: Nutrition Basics for Everyone” report in the Downloads section. - Try shirataki noodles.
Made from konjac root (don’t buy the ones made from tofu), they have lots of sugar-busting fiber and no carbs or calories. Yes, that’s right—noodles with no calories!
- Whole grains.
Amaranth, brown and black rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, teff. Avoid all grains if you are on the Advanced Plan. - Legumes.
Adzuki beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, butter beans/baby lima beans, cannellini beans, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, fava beans/broad beans, Great Northern beans, kidney beans, lentils, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, split peas. Limit to
cup per serving if you are on the Advanced Plan. Avoid legumes if you are not making progress on the program, if you are extremely insulin resistant, or if you have digestive issues. - Dark berries.
Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, wild blueberries. Limit to ½ cup daily if you are on the Advanced Plan. - Stone fruit.
Apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums. Avoid these if you are on the Advanced Plan. - Apples and pears.
Avoid these if you are on the Advanced Plan.
- Starchy, high-glycemic cooked vegetables.
Parsnips, pumpkins, sweet potatoes/yams, winter squash. - High-sugar fruits.
Bananas, grapes, melons, pineapple. Avoid all fruit juice or fruit packed in juice.
- Processed carbs.
Flour-based foods such as bagels, bread, cakes, cookies, crackers, muffins, and pizza. You have to be careful, because even healthy-sounding words like “whole-wheat” or “gluten-free” don’t always equal authentic health foods. Foods such as whole-wheat bread or gluten-free pasta can wreak just as much havoc on blood sugar as their “white” counterparts—or even more. You know food is healthy when you can picture it growing in its natural state. Ask yourself how many steps were involved in creating the food. For example, compare an apple and apple juice. You can picture an apple growing in nature, and it has had nothing done to it before reaching your shopping cart, while the apple juice has been processed, treated, heated, flavored, etc.—you get the idea. - Gluten-containing whole grains.
Barley, einkorn, kamut, oats, rye, spelt, triticale, wheat. - Dried fruit.
Cranberries, dates, raisins, etc.
Choose Dark-Colored Plant Foods
Real food and spices are full of health-promoting phytonutrients. These molecules don’t just taste good, they literally boost your metabolism and upgrade your biological software. Use them liberally! Here are the compounds, and their sources, that make food medicine:
allicin—
garlic, onions
anthocyanidins—
berries, black rice
beta-sitosterols—
avocados, brown rice
capsaicin—
chile peppers
catechins—
tea (white tea is highest in antioxidants; green tea is a great option, too)
cinnamic acid—
aloe, cinnamon
curcumin—
turmeric
DIM (diindolylmethane)—
broccoli family
ellagic acid—
berries, walnuts
gingerol—
ginger
glucosinolates—
broccoli family
isoflavones—
soy
kaempferol—
broccoli, strawberries
lignans—
broccoli, flaxseeds, sesame seeds
omega-3, -6, and -9 fatty acids—
borage oil, sea vegetables
phytosterols—
nuts, seeds
prebiotic—
inulin from Jerusalem artichokes
probiotic—
kimchi, sauerkraut
quercetin—
apples, onions
resveratrol—
grape skins
rutin—
lemons, parsley
salicylic acid—
peppermint
saponins—
beans, quinoa
silymarin—
artichokes, milk thistle
sulfides—
garlic, onions, shallots
tocopherols—
vitamin E from whole grains