Sugar is killing me! I need help?!
Answers: I have very high blood pressure and don't really know how to cook. I love eating but can't eat a lot of foods due to sugar and salt. I want to start eating healthy but really don't know where to start. I've gone to health stores but see a lot of salt and sugar in the ingredients. What can I do? If you have recipes or ideas for me please tell me as I will be very grateful. Thank you.
I had health problems for years (celiac disease and other problems), and I had to monitor my diet carefully. Also, I am a trained chef, and I worked as a private, vegetarian chef, cooking for people with various health concerns.
You are going to need a cookbook or two to get started. You have already discovered (and rightly so) that you cannot trust the health food store to provide you with healthy options. Much of what they sell, you can find at the local 7-11 for less money.
You will have to learn to cook, in order to control your food intake, ingredients, and to learn what is healthy and what tastes good. Stop thinking about shortcuts such as fast food and convenience food. Nevertheless, cooking doesn't have to mean hours in the kitchen.
The American Heart Association has some cookbooks. You can look on Amazon for "American Heart Association Cookbook." Also, they provide a small cookbook online for free. You can find it here: http://www.deliciousdecisions.org/cb/ind...
You might spend some time at a bookstore to browse the healthier cookbooks. Dean Ornish has a diet plan for people with your health concerns, but I will tell you now that he is hard-core, not for the faint-hearted (no fat, no sugar, no salt, only whole grains, meat only a couple times a week). You can probably be a bit more liberal and still achieve your goals.
If you would like a used copy of this or other books for less money, go to www.abebooks.com. This is an excellent resource for used books.
The foundation of a healthy diet is whole grains, low-fat dairy if you want, fresh vegetables (and fruit if tolerated), and some low-fat meat. There is a large variety of things you can eat; you just haven't had many of them yet.
Stop eating sugar and salt. Put the shaker away. Toss the sugar and sugary foods. Prepare proper meals, and make leftovers to freeze for when you don't want to/aren't able to cook. Rather than shopping at health food stores, spend more time in ethnic stores (such as Mexican, Asian and others), where you will probably find more produce for less money, and a larger variety of unprocessed foods.
De-emphasize the role of food in your life. You will be okay if you skip a meal, for instance. Quit snacking--it is unnecessary. Find other things to enjoy in life that don't involve food. Don't be discouraged as you make the inevitable mistake, or you find yourself unaccustomed to new flavors (and the lack of sugar and salt). Keep on with your new diet and lifestyle. Don't give in to anxiety because you aren't eating the way you are used to eating.
If you aren't walking at least 30 mins a day, 5 days a week, I suggest you get started on that too, if you are able. Learn to ignore ignorant but well meaning people who tell you that you don't have to try so hard, or that it's okay if you have ice cream. Do what is right for you; be polite to others, but politely refuse to give in.
You are welcome to email me via my Y!A profile if you would like more specific ideas. The best of luck with your new lifestyle.
You could try Stevia, which is a sweetener that you can use.
Or, you could try using Splenda. But I have yet to try that myself. I have tried Stevia, and it is more natural sweetener, I have read.
Well for most baking recipes you can replace sugar with apple juice. Apple juice brownies are very tastey.
Use fruits in general to satisfy your need and desire for sweet things.
As for salt, try cooking with sea salt? Should be at the health food markets.
Also they sell low sodium microwave meals and soups these days for quick fixes.
Always try to use honey instead of sugar. :)
Hello there! :)
Instead of using sugar, try using honey (has only natural sugar that comes from flowers) or Stevia ( a herb that tastes sweet.) As for salt, try to avoid it altogether. There's a spice called Mrs. Dash. It has everything in it, except salt. I use it for cooking. :) Good luck! For more help:
http://www.highbloodpressureinfo.org/foo...
you need to get a low salt cookbook or a diabetic cookbook.
Stevia is a natural sweetener.
I would also suggest looking up "diabetic" recipes.
Eat mostly foods that have complex carbs like fruits and veggies. Most of the sugar you consume should come from fruit. Try not to consume too much salty foods. Drink lots of water... The usual stuff
I've heard that if you don't consume a lot of carbs for breakfast, you'll have less of a craving for carbs/sugar for the rest of the day. And drink plenty of water to stave off salt cravings, because if you feel even a little dehydrated, you're more likely to eat salty foods like chips.
And be cautious around sweeteners, especially the ones that contain aspartame (Equal and NutraSweet). Some may have worse (in my opinion) effects than sugar in the long run.
And exercise! Can't forget that. sweat the sugar, salt, and other toxins out of your body
I don't use the artificial sweetner because they make my blood pressure go up. I have tried stevia and like it and it doesn't effect my blood sugar. Small amounts of sugar and honey do not bring up my blood pressure. I just learned to like the taste of things without sweetner, tea, coffee,cereal.
I love Mrs. Dash, I buy a few different varieties so I don't get bored. About the quickest meal I make is I take the frozen chicken tenderloins, just plain Tyson type no seasoning or anything, I spray a non stick skillet with Pam, put the chicken tenderloins in frozen, sprinkle with Mrs. Dash and cook on medium with a lid on it. I keep a close watch on it not to burn. I put a package of frozen vegetables in the microwave, I don't add anything to them. i put on the table with salad, bread if anyone wants it. It's my kids favorite meal and they have no idea it is healthy. If the weather isn't too hot I place cut up vegetables, usually carrots, potatoes, onions, a few tomatoes in a lightly oiled pan, or sprayed with PAM, toss them or spray the top with PAM, shake on some Mrs.Dash and roast them in the oven, we all like that. If you like chips you have to try the "pinch of salt" varieties of Lays, Fritos, Ruffles they are so great and alot less salt. It gets easier, the less you eat of salt and sugar the less you like it. Good luck!
fry a steak or piece of chicken in a skillet. make a salad out of fresh veggies
cook some veggies
eat a piece of bread
small piece of fresh fruit for dessert
the simpler your diet is, the easier it is to prepare and shop for. plain basic ingredients make the most diet friendly meals and you really don't have to know how to cook. avoid prepared foods.
avoid "artificial" anything. Just get along with plain food and you will learn to like it.
Health food stores are not the place to shop. just go to your regular grocer and get basic food---fresh, unprocessed food. then YOU control what you eat.
Yeah just use fake salt or light salt depending on how much sodium you can have. I also found a product called Mixed Up Salt, it's salt, pepper, garlic, and onion and few other things. It's nice. I like also salt as far as fake salt goes you can buy it at wal-mart or smiths/kroger stores.
I also go to a website called healthyheartmarket .com you can buy a lot of lower sodium foods there. When you click on an item they give you the nutrition panel so youcan see how much sodium and sugar there is. I buy from there all the time and I think that there prices are reasonable for health food type stuff. There is another website called livinglowsodium.com I think. Just google "buy low sodium foods" I also get a great salsa from either site (they both have it) called Frog Ranch salsa. Very yummy, I find that a lot of tomato based products that are low sodium taste much to sweet and the salsa is perfect.
Good luck....
You can e-mail me at kruisin_82@hotmail.com just put yahoo low sodium ideas or something like that in the title
ok. i able to find the following recipe for you only. other than that, contains sugar and salt.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/advanced... (if you want chicken without salt and sugar = at the keywords section--->chicken -salt sugar)
others;
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://www.foodtv.ca
http://www.taste.com.au
http://www.myrecipes.com