Cooking Easy: Healthy Quinoa and More for Diabetics

By Samantha Daniel

Cooking Easy Healthy Quinoa and More For Diabetics The Cooking Easy book centers on meal plans and recipes for diabetics. Diabetes is a condition, if left untreated, can cause great health concerns. The good news is that diabetes is easily treatable with the aid of diet and nutrition. People who eat a well-balanced diet of healthy nutritious foods do better and are able to stay away from the detrimental side effects caused by diabetes. Blood sugar and insulin are affected by the foods we eat, therefore if we consume the right foods we are able to maintain a balance with these within our body. Of all the diet plans out there few offers a great means of providing nutrition for the diabetic. The Paleo Diet is such a diet that helps to encourage the immune system to strengthen. The Stone Age people proved that eating a diet high in natural foods like a lot of vegetables and fruits and lean meats will help to live longer and healthier lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Healthy Lifestyles
• Release date: May 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781631878145

Book preview

Cooking Easy

Healthy Quinoa and More For Diabetics

Samantha Daniel

Copyright © 2013 Samantha Daniel

All rights reserved.

Introduction

Quinoa, Diabetic, Paleo This Cooking Easy book is about three different diet plans with the focus on helping to choose healthy foods by giving delicious recipes for each diet. The diets are Quinoa, Paleo Diet and Diabetic Diet, all three are excellent for sufferers of diabetes and those who simply wish to eat healthier. They also make good weight loss plans, to help lose unwanted fat and pounds and to maintain the weight loss once the weight falls off.

Quinoa is considered a super food by many including the United Nations and is hailed as one of the best diets out there today. Quinoa, related to spinach and beets, is not a grain like wheat, but more like buckwheat. It has no gluten, even though it acts like grains. Depending on how it is used within the recipe, it can be a replacement for protein too.

Quinoa has benefits that go beyond being a grain and sometimes a meat substitute. The ancient Incas used quinoa for medicinal purposes as an anti-inflammatory remedy. It also helps to lower hypertension too. But one of the main benefit of quinoa is the ability to lose weight and to maintain the weight loss. This offers a great addition to the diabetic diet and quinoa works well with Paleo diet too.

Quinoa goes well with the vegan and vegetarian diets. Quinoa contains a high level of amino acids, making it a great meat substitute and protein. Try the Quinoa Chili recipe or the Quinoa Salad with Black and White Beans. Quinoa is an excellent substitute for soybeans.

Quinoa works well with proteins like chicken, beef, lamb, pork, and even seafood. The Greek Pita is a tasty chicken meal. The Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Leek Tomato Quinoa and Roasted Garlic Sauce satisfies the beef lovers. Do you like Mexican or Oriental? Try the Mexican Fiesta with chicken or the Quinoa Stir Fry (chicken also). For a savory breakfast, try the Quinoa and Ham Omelet. Even lamb tastes good when created with Fried Quinoa. Pork Onion Soup makes a tasty lunch and the Pork Tenderloin with Quinoa Pilaf is a hearty supper.

For seafood lovers there are recipes using fish, shrimp and salmon. Try out the Quinoa with Roasted Fish and Veggies, Mediterranean Seafood Salad with Quinoa, Shrimp and Quinoa Croquettes with Sauce and the Salmon Quinoa Cakes.

The Paleo Diet is becoming a popular diet choice for many who wish to lose weight, maintain their weight loss, and become healthier. This diet is gluten and legume free featuring vegetables, meat and fruits.

There are a good number of entree recipes for Paleo Diet in this cookbook. A sampling is Salmon with Cherry Tomatoes and Roasted Asparagus, Paleo Meatloaf, and Green Chili Turkey Burgers. The side dishes and snacks include Tomato and Zucchini with Curry Sauce, Easy Collard Greens, Asparagus Salad and more. Snacks include a delicious Red Pepper Dip and a Chicken Salad with Fruit. For breakfast, try the Almond Pancakes, Cucumber - Blueberry Smoothie, Eggs with Kale and the Spinach Quiche.

Desserts are plentiful with the Paleo Diet. Just because the Stone Age people did not eat grains, they knew how to eat good desserts like a Chocolate Cranberry Pie and a Paleo Style Coconut Cream Pie.

Eating the Paleo Diet becomes a good lifestyle change and sets up for maintaining an ideal weight while becoming healthier. The Stone Age people were a healthy people with longevity to prove it.

Diabetics suffer from a condition that left unchecked and cause a great deal of health issues. Diabetic's number one symptom is insulin levels that are out of control. This is controlled and treated best with diet. By eating the right foods, the body is able to process and maintain proper insulin levels. Diet alone can sometimes treat diabetes so that other medications like insulin injections will not have to be used. Diabetics cannot ignore their condition because it must be monitored constantly. By eating right they are helping to insure their blood sugar levels stay normal. The more they are normal the less health issues they will have as a result.

Diabetic recipes include entrees, soups, side dishes, breakfasts, and desserts. The soups make for great lunches, try out the Black Bean Soup or the Tomato Soup with Chicken Breast, White Beans and Spinach. Main entrees include a Mushroom Risotto, Sweet Potato, and Peanut Curry with Beans, Stuffed Turkey Breasts, Steak Fajitas, Salmon and Asparagus with Garlic Lemon Sauce and a very good Hearty Beef Stew.

The diabetic side dish choices include a sampling of Thai Chicken Salad, Wilted Greens Salad, Baked Winter Squash, Sesame Kale, New Orleans Style Eggplant, Asparagus with Mustard Sauce and Brown Rice and Bean Salad. For breakfast, try the Carrot Zucchini Muffins, Quick and Easy Cheesy Tomato Quiche, Spinach and Feta Omelet, Baked Apple Pancakes, Sweet Potato Hash Browns and the Cheese Blintzers.

Finally just because you are diabetic does not mean you have to skip dessert. Enjoy an Apple Crisp, Banana Rum Cake, Peanut Butter Cookies, Fruit and Buttermilk Shake, Carrot Cake and Brownies with Berries and Cream.

The diabetic section includes a five-day sample meal plan to help you plan your menu. The five days can be adapted from the list of recipes so you will have many more meal plans to see you through a couple of weeks.

Diabetics especially need to focus on the nutrition contained within the foods they eat in order to maintain a healthy insulin level. The Appendix A gives all the nutrition information from the diabetic recipes, which makes meal planning easier.

When reading through this book and choosing recipes and creating menus and meal plans, note that the diet plans are interchangeable to a certain extent. All the diets in this book are healthy diets and are meant to give a change in lifestyle rather than a crash diet. Each one covers specific purposes, but people often make the change to the diet and sticks with it, making the diet a lifestyle habit to keep.

Section 1: Quinoa

What Is Quinoa?

About the Grain

Its scientific name is Chenopodium quinoa, and it has recently gained popularity as a grain of high nutritional value.

Quinoa is an annual plant which is a type of weed related to the goosefoot family. It is also closely related to the family of plants that includes spinach, table beet, and sugar beets and is susceptible to the same issues as these crops while growing. Unlike grassy grain plants, the quinoa has broadleaf and is not a legume but has a similar structure to buckwheat.

It is a remarkably efficient plant to harvest and just one pound of seeds is enough to harvest a whole acre of the crop. This was able to sustain an Andean family of ten for a whole year.

Quinoa History

The origins of Quinoa date back over 3,000 to the ancient Incan civilizations of South America. The indigenous tribes in the Andes area of Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Bolivia used it as a staple grain in their diet.

It is one of the few grains that is able to survive the high altitudes of the region and the harshness of the Andes climate. This area is subject to intense sun, drought, and occasional frost as well. All of these conditions the hearty grain was able to withstand for thousands of years. Its strength was admired by the Ancient Incans who called it mother grain and treated its harvest with religious reverence.

During the 16th century Spanish invaders came to the Andes region and forbid the growing of quinoa which was seen as Indian food. They favored the assimilation of the savage natives into their culture and so corn and potatoes took quinoa’s place. However, the grain endured and grew in the wild so that we could enjoy it today.

The modern popularity of quinoa can be traced back to the 1970’s when Oscar Ichazo, a Bolivian spiritual teacher, encouraged students to eat the grain as an aid to meditation. This began its rise in popularity in the Western World where even the United Nations has declared it a super food.

Health Benefits

Studies in recent history have shown that the phytonutrients in quinoa has anti inflammatory properties. The combination of properties has been shown to reduce conditions such as obesity in lab animals when fed on a regular basis as a preventative measure. These anti inflammatory phytonutrients include; Arabians, hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic, flavanoids, saponins, omega-3 fatty acid, and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) it is higher in healthy fats than other cereal grains and is shown to help reduce cholesterol.

Nutritionally, a ⅓ cup of cooked quinoa contains 160 calories, 2.5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein.

Quinoa also contains antioxidant phytonutrients in a high enough amount to be compared to those in cranberry and lingonberry. Unlike other grains, quinoa is a great source of protein, comparable even to that of milk. It also contains twice the amount of calcium found in whole wheat. Other vitamins that quinoa contains are; iron, phosphorous, and B vitamins. Also found in high amounts in quinoa members of the vitamin E family, especially gamma-tocopherol. Another benefit of quinoa is its tolerance for those with other grain allergies. For those with gluten intolerances, quinoa is commonly