Ways to not kill your husband on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!    When my daughter was in kindergarten, her teacher told the class that if they did not wear something green on St. Patrick's Day, they would get pinched.  My poor daughter came home crying hysterically because she was so afraid of getting pinched.  She didn't have anything green to wear except some undies, so I think we went to Woolworth's to get her a green t-shirt so she wouldn't get pinched.  Back then, it was traumatic, but now she and I can look back at it and laugh.  Ahhh, memories.

Now to explain the title of this post.  Does your husband/boyfriend/significant other, etc. ever drive you completely crazy?  Sometimes mine does and today was one of those days.  I, on the other hand, could not possibly get on his nerves since I'm perfect!  Hahahaha.  Anyway, he would not listen to any advice I have been trying to give him over the past few weeks and today about his health, so I had to restrain myself from not punching his lights out (just kidding).  I love him to death, but he needs to quit trying to take his health into his own hands. 

Don't get me wrong.  We have a great marriage, but husbands and wives do get on each other's nerves.  He is at work now where there are no women or wives to nag at him and I'm sure he is much happier.

So ways to not kill your husband on St. Patrick's Day consist of cooking him his favorite pork chops, only make them healthy so he will never know, which is what I did.  Here is the recipe (with the less fattening, low carb ingrediets).

Smothered pork chops

6 to 8 pork chops
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup flour
Olive Oil
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 can fat free condensed Cream of Mushroom soup
1/3 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Season pork chops with garlic powder and seasoned salt (mixed together).

Put beaten eggs in a small bowl.  Lightly dip the pork chops in the flour, then the eggs and then coat with the Italian breadcrumbs. 

Pour some olive oil into a skillet or frying pan and heat it up.  Add the pork chops just to brown on each side - about 2 or 3 minutes each side.  Then place the pork chops in a 9x13 pan, cover with foil and bake for an hour.

After the pork chops have baked an hour, mix the soup and milk together and pour over pork chops, cover with the foil and bake 30 additional minutes.  Pork chops will come out so tender and tasty.

And here is what they looked like (I say looked because they are all gone).  I did not put the breading on mine and they came out tasty and seasoned just right with just a little bit of gravy.  This really is a low-fat, low carb recipe if you don't add the breaded coating to the pork chops.

Then you boil some eggs so they won't go bad to make deviled eggs for snacks, which are good for low carb diets, as shown here.

I just add some mayo, a little regular mustard and a little Colman's dry mustard, which I love.  Yum!

Last but not least, you load up the dishwasher if you still have any tension left over in you so that you can sit down and eat a nice calm dinner with your husband that you really do love very much and want him to live a long time and take care of himself.  And he finally understands.  This post is all in fun.

And you top the meal off with some steamed carrots, broccoli and asparagus (and rice and some green beans for your husband), and things are once again ok. 

My blood sugars have been running in the upper 80's to low 90's lately when I get up, which I am happy with.  So keep up the low-carb and exercise and eat lots of veggies and your body will thank you for it.  Oh and drink lots of water.

Type 2 Diabetes Risk Test from the ADA

Here is a risk test for Diabetes Type 2 from the American Diabetes Association. It's a pretty good one.

Stonyfield Organic Yogurt

I don't know if any of you ever eat Stonyfield yogurt, milk, eggs, etc., but I love their products. And they have farm cams on their website. If any of you know me, I was raised out in the country and used to have chickens. I love the video from one Stonyfield's farm cam where he is collecting eggs. I also used to milk cows with my Great Aunt Lizzie, and they have lots of those videos, too. They show what it's like to live on an organic farm. They have several videos on organic food, which has taught me a lot. I know if I had eaten better early in my life, I would not have this blog on managing your diabetes. Enjoy and visit their site at www.stonyfield.com (the farm cam is on the bottom right)! And their yogurt is yummy!

12 Ways to Never Get Diabetes

This article from Prevention Magazine shows 12 ways not to set yourself up for Diabetes. I think they are all pretty much true.

Since I'm on immunosuppressant medicines, my cold has lasted longer than my husband's. I was supposed to go to see my children and granddaughter in North Carolina this past weekend and I was going to stay a few weeks, but here I am, still hacking and blowing my nose. I am convinced if I would have taken good care of my health, mind and body long ago, I would not have needed a kidney from my daughter and I certainly wouldn't have diabetes. But I'm lucky that I'm taking care of myself now and that I have family and friends that love me. Hope everyone has a nice Wednesday.

Great Article on Managing Your Diabetes

This article posted at "The Atlantic" is what I'm trying to do with this site and my life, and this article finally discusses it. I did not know that if you control your blood sugars for a year, your diabetes is considered "in remission", as state in this article.  How interesting.

Super Bowl Time (from this past January)

So what's everyone cooking for the big day tomorrow? My husband has to work, so I'm cooking a big pot of chili for him to take for all the guys. They are also having hot dogs and all the trimmings.
I'm just going to have some pinto beans, a salad, veggies and dip, chips and salsa and maybe a low-fat Fudgsicle (not all at once). That will be my supper and some snacks.

My blood sugar was 92 this morning. I'm pretty happy with that.

Tonight I Skyped with my granddaughter. We usually have a dance party and talk a lot, but she was a little shy tonight. She is 2 years old and my first grandchild. I love her very much. I had no idea what it would be like to be a nana, but I love it. I visit her about every 6 weeks in NC. We have a lot of fun. I usually don't have too much trouble with my blood sugars when I'm with her because we are always active.

Christmas 2011

I'm also cooking my first ever batch of homemade beef broth, but I don't know how it will turn out. I roasted the veggies in with my meat bones, but they burned. Is that normal?

Well I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow. Don't eat too much, but eat something good and sweet for me!

Here is the recipe for the Super Bowl Chili. I got the recipe from Onceamonthmom.com. She has the greatest and healthiest recipes, and she teaches you all about cooking ahead and how to freeze your foods. I love her site.

Finding out you have diabetes

It was in the Spring of last year 2011, when I found a new internal medicine doctor in Celebration. I haven't had great luck with finding really good doctors down here, so here I was going to another new doctor. And I was so nervous. I was 100 pounds overweight, had let myself go, told myself it was because I was taking immunosuppressive medications that I gained weight. And convinced myself that I ate pretty good. I had no idea how bad my health was at that time. But I was going to find out.

I had tried to find a good endocrinologist to see if my thyroid was the problem with all my weight gain, tiredness, dry skin and no energy, but even though I had an insurance plan that didn't need a referral, all the ones I tried to see wanted a referral. At that time, I was seeing a nephrologist in another city that was one of the worst doctors I have ever met. I tried to discuss with him that I needed counseling for the depression I seemed to be in. He said, oh, just up your medication and you'll be ok. I can take care of you. So I then asked him if he could refer me to a dietician to help me with my eating problems. He said, just cut back on your eating and you will be fine. I will take care of you. So the last request was to be referred to an endocrinologist to check my thyroid which had just quit working a few years back and a doctor had prescribed medication that I had been on and wanted to get it checked. And he said, I'll check your thyroid, you don't need to see a specialist. I'll take care of you. He never took care of me.

So finally, my husband found an endocrinologist close to our house that did not need a referral and I immediately made an appointment. I'm still not sure I like him, but there are not many around here. So he took some blood work to check my thyroid, did a sonogram on it and found nothing and said if he found anything wrong with my blood work, he would give me a call to come back in. Either way, he said his office would let me know the results of my blood work.

Weeks and a couple of months went by. I heard nothing. I called his office several times, but was told they didn't have the blood work back yet. Now his office is in a hospital and I knew he had that blood work back by then. So now, I'm finally seeing my new internal medicine doctor and his office is located in the same hospital as the endocrinologist's. And amazingly, he found my blood work in the computer and told me everything I needed to know and some things that I didn't want to know. He told me my cholesterol was high, my lipids were too high and that I had diabetes. That last part went right by me. And then I said, what!!!!!!

My A1C was 7.3. No one took my blood glucose that day, so I didn't know how high it was or how long I had been diabetic, but I know that I had felt bad for over a few months. And I had a couple of low blood sugars during those months that I didn't feel well. I had taken a long hot shower one night (something you are not supposed to do with diabetes) and did all the usual things after a shower - brush teeth, style hair, put on lotion, etc. - and all of a sudden, I started shaking and was dizzy and felt as if I were going to faint. My husband gave me some Coke (Coca-Cola) and I started feeling better. I had had to go to the bathroom a lot and my husband heard me say I was so thirsty everyday. Little did I know what I had.

So I finally got to see my endocrinologist and he immediately wanted to put me on medication, but told me that with my transplanted kidney, there was a good chance that the medicine would damage it. So I asked if I could try to manage my diabetes by diet and exercise and he agreed. So here I am, learning as I go. I did have an appointment with a dietician, but that appointment was 3 months away. I could have been dead by then. So I used the internet as my resource. As we go along, I will share with you some tricks and tips I've learned. But I am sure there is much more to know and hope all of you can share your health tips and experiences with diabetes or just with healthy eating and living.

Dreamfield's Pasta tastes just like regular pasta, but will not spike your glucose levels. It has a low glycemic index of 13! I use it and love it!

Dreamfields Pasta Tastes Great, Low Carb Pasta, Diabetic Pasta, Healthy Pasta Recipes.

I love this recipe. So easy to make and healthier than regular chicken pot pie. And so good on a cold night. 

Healthified Chicken Pot Pie Recipe - Special Occasions - Eat Better America.