Peanut Butter Smoothie & Chocolate 'Malt' Smoothie

This is a great smoothie.  It tastes like Reese's Pieces in a glass.  So good.  More than that, it is also healthy and less than 300 200 calories!  Sounds like a great breakfast to me.  It also keeps me full all morning.

Peanut Butter Smoothie

1 scoop Vanilla Attain Powder. (You could substitute SlimFast powder or any meal replacement or protien powder.)

1 Tbl. Creamy peanut butter

8 oz. or 1 cup Coconut Milk

1 Cup crushed ice

1 Medium Banana

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Pour into 2 glasses.  Enjoy with a friend.  :)

 This tastes like a chocolate malt shake, only it's not a shake, and there isn't any malt.  How is this possible?  Nutella.  Oh yeah!  My friends know that I have a slight obsession with Nutella, but I had never considered adding it to a smoothie.   After all, it is a high calorie treat.  But- it's only 10 calories more than peanut butter.  I can work with this.  :)  Turns out, it is delicious and I still came in around 200 calories. And it seriously tastes like a creamy, yummy ice cream shake. Decide for yourself.  Make this soon!

1 cup Vanilla Soy milk
1 small to med. banana
1 Tbl. Nutella
1 scoop vanilla Attain powder
1 cup ice

Blend well and pour into 2 glasses, if you can stand to share.  But you must share, or it's not 200 calories. lol.

Calorie breakdown--

1 scoop attain powder -- 120 cal.
1 banana 90-105 cal. depending on size
1 cup soy or coconut milk 70-90 cal. depending on brand
1 Tbl. Peanut butter 90 Cal.
1 Tbl. Nutella 100Cal.

Each shake averages 190 Calories, based on 2 servings per recipe, or 380 calories for the entire recipe. :)

Another Food Log

Are you so excited?  Can you believe anyone posts pictures of what they eat every day?  Can you think of anything more stimulating?  Okay, all sarcasm aside, this log does help me stay on track, so thank you for reading it.  I hope it is still helping you.  :)

Breakfast was interesting. I test my glucose levels fasting, and they were right in line so I grabbed 2 peanut butter balls and started my day.  Peanut butter balls are really filling.  I forgot to eat a regular breakfast and after getting the family to where everyone needed to be, went ahead and worked out.  No breakfast and a hard 45 min. workout.  Duh!

After my work out, I realized that I hadn't eaten.  I tested my sugars and I was at 74.  Yeah, I was low.  But for only 2 peanut butter balls, I wasn't too bad.  That peanut butter probably saved my bacon. lol.  I grabbed a Skor Bar.  I only had 1/3 of it and gave the rest away.  (Kids you know.)  Anyway, it was just the right amount.  But I have to be more careful.

For lunch I had left-over stir fry.  It's not as pretty as a left over. lol  Anyway, I didn't feel like making rice, so I put it over chow mien noodles.  Ideally I would have over brown rice, but this was okay too.

Snack time with my low sugar, coconut ice cream bar. 100 calories of yummy.

5 crackers before dinner to keep me going.

taco casserole. Yum.  Lots of lettuce on bottom.

My favorite little pick-me-up, frozen blueberries.  So good.

A couple handfuls of cereal, because it was easy, out and I wanted a snack.  Better than chips I guess.

Eating to Take Control

This week feels good.  Food-wise I am doing better. Exercise-wise I am doing better, and blood sugar-wise I am doing better.  It is amazing what a difference food makes in the body.  Eating well can help us feel good, energetic and healthy.  Eating poorly, can make us cranky and sluggish.  I believe in balance. I think you can have a cookie here and there as long as most of the time you are eating healthfully.  I'm getting closer to that balance.  And you? How is your journey?

Through out the day, when ever I wanted a snack, I just grabbed 2-3 peanut butter balls.  It's nice to have something quick that doesn't kill my sugar levels.

Breakfast was cereal and almond milk.  Nothing too exciting, but tasty.

Some of my home made, diabetic friendly coleslaw for lunch. The recipe is here.

I found this diet juice.  It is so good.  It has 5 calories and 2 grams of sugar. What a nice treat.

Chicken tacos for dinner. Mexican food is easily transformed into diabetic friendly fare, if you leave out extra fats and sauces.  I boiled my chicken breasts and then flavored them.  No sauces, just salsa and a little sour cream. I added avocados for some good healthy fat, and because I love them.  They add all the creaminess that I need, but since I eat them fresh, instead of in guacamole, they are a really healthy addition.

I was only at a 74 blood sugar level last night, so I made some french toast.  I used home made, whole wheat bread, (which I bought from my neighbor's daughter.  She is quite a little baker, and making this as a fund raiser to fund her trip to a national clogging competition. I love entrepreneurship!) Any way, it is a fabulous all whole wheat bread, and she grinds the wheat fresh, so it is really yummy and nutritious.  I used boysenberry syrup.  

Back on Track

So the past two weeks, I have not been as diligent with my diet as I should be.  Yesterday, I decided to fix that.  I am back on a plan that controls the sugars and allows me to feel healthier.  I also resumed my workouts.  Exercising is never easy, but if you back off for a time it is so hard to start again.  It's better to not stop, but sometimes life forces you to stop.  Hopefully, I will be more diligent at making time from now on.

Shakes Alive! I eat a lot of these. lol

This is one of my favorite treats.  Frozen blueberries.  I am not a fresh blueberry fan, but frozen, these little babies are sooo addictive.  The process of freezing enhances their sweetness, and their texture is exactly like a little Popsicle. It's like eating little baby popsicles.  A serving is 1/4 c.  I think I always eat about twice that much.  (Also, if I make oatmeal for breakfast, I put a few of these in the bowl and pour the hot cereal over them and then I cover the bowl for a few minutes.  The blueberries swell up and sweeten the entire bowl. So good!)  Do yourself a favor and freeze some of these babies.  Yum!!

Tillamook Yogurt does not have growth hormones, or any strange preservatives.  It is sweet and yummy and I love it.  I love Yoplait too, but I really like knowing that there are no growth hormones in my yogurt, so I chose this.  It is a nice snack, but can raise sugars.  My sugars were only at 74, so I was pretty safe with this choice.

Lunch was lettuce wraps and cottage cheese with light peaches.  Not gourmet, but very satisfying.  Look how many wraps I can have.  That is more than a sandwich.

Dinner was hotdogs and sausages for the family.  Mine was a Louisianan style hot sausage.  I made my diabetic-friendly cole slaw, and cherry-pineapple salad.  That salad, is not salad, by the way- it is dessert.  Very good, but really sweet, even with my modifications.  I froze the left-overs, so I won't be tempted to eat them this week. 

I made peanut butter protien balls for a late snack.  Because these have honey, they still have sugar and raise sugar levels, but they are better than a cookie with refined flour and sugar.  Plus they have lots of protein and healthy oats, so yum.  :)

I ate doughnuts for Breakfast

Okay, I did eat doughnuts for breakfast, but only 2- and they were small.  Later I went back for a 3rd.  But I watched my sugars.  And they were baked, and they weren't really doughnuts. They were biscuits filled with jam and folded over.  I brushed them with butter, sprinkled on cinnamon sugar and baked them.  Tasted like doughnuts to my family, and they weren't fried.  Now they aren't exactly health food, but they are better than a deep-fried fat bubble filled with sugar.  (Did I mention that I don't actually like doughnuts?) Any way, that was the way the morning started. 

Later in the day, when I realized that once again I hadn't eaten enough, it was too late.  Actually I had eaten, but I had worked hard, and I hadn't compensated for the extra exertion on my body.  I started to pass out.  Luckily, my hubby was home and put my feet up and finished making dinner.  Hubbies are not happy when wives do not take care of themselves.  I got that accusing look.  Controlling diabetes through diet alone isn't easy, and I got complacent.  He went to the store and bought 4 of my favorite candy bars.  He said they are to treat myself when my levels are in range.  It was sweet of him.  I know that it is also so that when my sugars sink too low, he has access to some fast sugars that I will eat. :)  That's my guy- always the problem solver. :)

Here is a picture of the doughnut, half eaten, because I remembered to photograph it half way through.

I also had my favorite smoothie.  However, I added peanut butter to it.  I wanted to make sure everyone got full and got some protien.  One of my kids said it tasted like a peanut butter cup. I thought it was really good too.

I remembered my morning snack.

and even had a little rice pudding. The craisins were delicious in it, by the way.

Lunch! Whole wheat toast, peanut butter and banana.  mmmmnnn.

No this wasn't dinner.  Because my sugars were so low, I didn't stop to take time to photograph my dinner.  I just ate.  We had baked chicken, salad, and some rice pudding.  After dinner, my hubby went to the store.  He bought all sorts of little goodies that I haven't been buying. Sabotage!!!  Just kidding.  He put most everything away, out of my sight before I even realized he was unloading groceries. These however, were left out. And yes, after checking my sugar levels, I had a late night snack of Oreos.  Yes I had 6.  Please, do you actually only eat 2? My sugar levels were still within range this morning.  On the high end, but in range. 

A Little Stress Will Do Ya- Yeah, do ya in. . .

So I had a strange day.  Actually it's been a strange week.  I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, yesterday was a little harder than most days.  Unfortunately, I learned, stress messes with your blood sugar levels.  I was pretty erratic yesterday, and I don't like that. When sugar levels are out of whack, so is your mood.  It's a little like watching the pendulum on a wall clock.  Thankfully, not every day is like yesterday.  Anyway- here is the meal log. :)

I started out great with my Attain shake.

Lunch was a turkey and cheese sandwich with a glass of almond milk

Dinner was a burrito, made at home. Just refried beans, a little meat and cheese and some taco sauce and sour cream.  Now the tortilla was larger than I normally use and beans, while full of protein, can add carbs.  So this may have been the reason for my elevated levels, but I really only had one.  This is what I had, and I had water, not milk or anything else.  So when my number came in at 136, I was a little shocked.  Stress is probably very much to blame.

The biggest problem is that I was hungry, and needed to take my vitamins.  I can't take those on an empty stomach.  So I opted for 1/2 banana and peanut butter.  Banana was a dangerous choice, because it is a very sweet fruit, but it was easy, and like I said, I was hungry.  I was only at 87 when I woke up this morning, so I guess it was okay.  :)

Week Two

So I didn't track my food or my blood sugar over the weekend, but Monday was a new day.  It's hard, but I am getting there.  I really hate having to check my sugar so much.  But I would hate the alternative even more, so for now this is what I need to do.

Peanut butter on toast with half a banana and 1/2 glass of 1% milk.

I wasn't hungry at snack time, but I decided to have a cheese stick anyway. This 6 small meals stuff is going to take some training.

Lunch was a cucumber, 3/4 of a tomato, a 1/2 c. of cottage cheese and about 7 whole wheat Ritz crackers.  I didn't expect to get full.  In reality, I was stuffed.

One of my favorite snacks. 2 Tbl spoons Craisins and Peanuts.  That is 1/4 cup of yummy trail mix.

I burned dinner--- oh well.  This is pork loin roast - Grilled, er Charred, er Blackened.  And salad.

1/2 cup sliced strawberries and 1 tsp chocolate sauce with real whipped cream is a yummy and fairly healthy dessert.

This is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on homemade whole wheat bread.  Pretty healthy for a bedtime snack, right? Wrong!  While calorie-wise I could afford it.  And while I was truly hungry, this little baby is bad on my sugar levels.  I woke up this morning at 108.  I should only be at 95 at the top end, so this little number can no longer be a bedtime snack.  Back to cheese and crackers. :)