Why I LOVE Coconut Oil

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It is fast becoming the new super food.  It always has been but everyone is noticing it now.

And that includes me!

I've been using it for a few months now and I keep reading and discovering new ways to use it.

I cook and bake with it instead of vegetable oil.
(Or I use part olive oil and part coconut oil)
I replaced margarine a long time ago with good ol' butter but now I'm sort of replacing butter with coconut oil.
I love the taste.
I love cinnamon bread so I toast it and spread coconut oil on top instead of butter.
Coconut oil melts at 76 degrees so that's faster than butter!
Love the taste.
One of my most favorite things is putting a teaspoon of coconut oil in my coffee.
Here's how I make a cup of coffee now.
I put a teaspoon of coconut oil in my cup with a little sweet butter. (Yes, butter)
Then I run my coffee from my Keurig into the cup.
I add a drop of vanilla and some cream plus a little stevia.
I whip it up with a whisk (but I have a milk frother coming!)
like this one:

Try this for your morning coffee.  It's heavenly!
If you feel any oil on your lips just rub it in because it's great for your lips and skin.
I always wipe a little on the back of my hands every time I open the jar!!
Now for the health benefits of coconut oil!!!
There's many, many, many!!

Here's some sites that talk more about the heath benefits.

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/oils/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html

http://authoritynutrition.com/top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil/

http://coconutoil.com/

And many ways to use it!!
http://wellnessmama.com/5734/101-uses-for-coconut-oil/

So try it and keep and open mind.
(It helps your mind too by the way!!)

Shirley

Oatmeal

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I eat a lot of oatmeal!

I eat it a lot of times for breakfast 

but also either oatmeal or Cream of Wheat (flavored) for a bedtime snack.  

Makes my tummy all warm and full!

I have always bought the boxes of Quaker Oats with the little individual envelopes that you can add water to and cook up in the microwave.

Easy!

My favorites being Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal and Cinnabon Cream of Wheat.

Heaven knows how much I've spent just for the convenience!

I recently saw an idea on Pinterest about just bagging up your own!

Simple and much healthier.

Why didn't I think of this!!

Just look at all the added stuff in those envelopes!!!

Doing it this way, it is just 100%whole grain rolled oats,

plus whatever you add like brown sugar etc.

Much healthier and a whole lot cheaper!

I made up my bags with 1/2 cup of quick oats and a healthy tbsp. of brown sugar.

(and maybe a little swirl of sugar free maple syrup after it's cooked!)

To make it I just pour it in a bowl and add about 3/4 cup of water and microwave it for 1min 40 sec.

Came out perfect!

I use Walmart's quick rolled oats so that alone is cheaper than Quaker and it has a softer consistency which I like it.

An added plus is that you get more to eat for a little less carbs somehow.

1/2 cup of oats this way is 27 carbs plus of course about 12 carbs for the brown sugar.

The envelopes had 34 carbs for much less an amount!

This way is a very healthy helping of oatmeal in the morning!

(You can cut it in half for kids using 1/4 cup of oats.

You'd have to experiment with the amount of water to get it right.)

Here's the site where I saw this.

http://amylovesherlife.blogspot.com/2012/01/who-likes-saving-money.html

There's some good ideas in the comments of different things to add.

Try it, you like it!!

I'm going to try making Cream of Wheat next.  I think it's farina??

Shirley

It's Always Something . . . Diabetes

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Pre-diabetes

That's what they named it.

I finally was successful in figuring out how to start another blog.
So if you are diabetic or a senior and want to check it out, here's the link:
 http://shirleysworldproblems.blogspot.com/

I found out a couple months ago that I'm what they are calling "pre-diabetic".

Since then I've found out that it just means that the diabetes was detected in an early phase.

I always thought to myself that I would never be surprised if I got it as it is in my genes on my mother's side.  My aunt and my grandmother both had type 2 diabetes.

But, you know, I am sort of surprised.  Mostly because I've always been thin and pretty active.

Obviously, that doesn't always matter!

I didn't have the signs I always associated with diabetes; thirst and frequent urination.

But I did have other signs that I tried to ignore.

Fatigue, hunger, tingling in hands and feet and at times, blurred vision!
Since I knew I was and probably have always been, addicted to sweets, I started counting carbs!
That is very hard for me, let me tell you.
The only way I could do it successfully is to write down every morsel that I eat and the carb. content.
After 2 months, it became a little easier and I am aware of the carb grams in many things that I eat.
I try to keep it under 180 per day but it was hard.  I want to make it below 150.
Now I read that that's the wrong way to do it.  You can't play around with the count so you end up at a certain number.  You can't eat nothing for lunch and save the grams for a big bedtime snack.  NUTS!
It's better to eat at an even level all day.
I'm also learning how the glycemic index of things comes into play.
This past week I've started testing my numbers with finger sticks and a meter.

This is a hell of a lot to learn and change at 72!  That's for sure.
I denied it at first, then was angry and now I'm rather depressed the more I read!!
But I'm always HUNGRY!!!!

Please, I'd appreciate any thoughts and help from you people in my blogging world that have type 2.
My A1c was 6.2 by the way.

I'll be writing more shortly in my other blog.

Shirley

Tales from the Hospital

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Just a quick update why I haven't been blogging the past few days.
I had to go to the ER by ambulance for the second time in a month for SEVERE abdominal pain etc.
I'm now admitted for the past couple days till they figure out what's wrong.
I'm never sick so this is rare for me and I certainly don't like it!
This post may look a little different because I'm trying to do it from my iPhone!
Not easy because it's hard to see.
What I know so far:  was maybe a bowel obstruction but that's cleared.  Gall bladder seems OK but they say that there's something wrong with the R kidney so now I'm waiting for a kidney Dr to see me.
In the meantime,  now allowed full liquids which I'm sort of afraid to eat. I have IVs and allowed up to walk.
That's about all I know.  So I wait along with my kids who have to pet sit at my house.
I'm trying to keep my mind positive.  All the nurses and doctors are so nice.
There was a beautiful sunrise out my window this morning.

UPDATE  1/17/14

I ended up being in the hospital till this evening.  Almost a full week!

They did all kinds of testing including an upper GI barium swallow and thought they saw an obstruction.  So yesterday I went to surgery for an exploratory laporoscopy.  My appendix was a little enlarged and maybe inflamed so they took that out but there was no obstruction.

This evening I came home with some pain and a lot of bloating from the gas they use during the procedure to separate the organs.  Well, at least I know all my other organs are fine.

I was discharged this evening.

In a few weeks I have to have an endoscopy and then a colonoscopy.  Oh thrill!!!

I hate all these things that seem to be going wrong at my age!

It sure is different being on the other end.  I liked being the nurse a lot better than the patient!!

Both my kids took care of my animals while I was in the hospital.  If they hadn't been around to do that, I don't know what I would've done!

Shirley

Carrying On

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I'm feeling a little more human today.

Did I tell you that my daughter talked me into getting a Nutra Bullet.
I read about it and watched the video and I guess it can only help with my nutrition!
I've been making a drink in the morning and having it for breakfast or for lunch.
Since the doctor put me on a low sodium diet, these taste really good.
The first two days I made a green toxin cleansing blast which had spinach, banana, pineapple, apple and pear in it.  Yummy good.
Today I had the Vita-Berry Blast which was spinach, banana, blue berries and strawberries.

The finished color isn't too pretty when you mix green, blue and red but its really good.

 Do any of you use the Nutra Bullet??

I am on a low sodium diet because the actual reason I was admitted to the hospital last week was because my Potassium levels were dangerously low!  So since sodium depletes potassium, there you go!  Plus since one of my BP meds had to be stopped I have to watch my sodium intake.
All I can say, I must have been used to using quite a bit of salt because this is the hardest most yucky bland diet to be on.  However I'm learning a lot.
You can ask Google the amount of sodium in anything and it will tell you!!
Canned anything has a huge amount of sodium it it and the salt free canned vegetables are just awful.
Canned soup has a huge amount of sodium.
There goes those easy crockpot recipes!
I did learn that if you take a regular can of vegetables and rinse them well, it gets rid of about 40% of the sodium.
Bread has a lot of sodium  : ((  I love bread!
But
Ice cream and chocolate syrup are low  : ))
This diet alone will force me to eat better.  I plan on getting fresh organic vegetables and fruits.

I even tried grits yesterday!  I had never had them before and they have 0mg of sodium.
So it was worth the sodium in a Tbsp of butter and some brown sugar to make a tasty filling breakfast!

We'll see how this goes, I think I can do it!

(Yes, I can have my eggs!)

Shirley

No More Store Bought Bread!

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Too Much Sodium in our Diets!

Last week a friend of mine and I were having a discussion on low sodium diets.

I'm watching now that I had a blood pressure scare.

She told me that bread had a huge amount of sodium in it which surprises most people.  It did me!

After all, bread doesn't taste salty!  But sodium is also hidden in the preservatives.

I found this online.

Bread is the biggest offender of sodium in our diets!

Top 10 salt culprits:

Where are Americans getting the sodium in their diets? New government data shows about 40% of sodium consumption comes from these 10 food categories:

1. Breads and rolls (7%).
2. Cold cuts/cured meats (5%).
3. Pizza (5%).
4. Fresh and processed poultry (4.5%).
5. Soups (4%).
6. Sandwiches like cheeseburgers (4%).
7. Cheese (4%)
8. Pasta dishes such as spaghetti with meat sauce (3%)
9. Meat mixed dishes such as meat loaf with tomato sauce (3%)
10. Savory snacks including chips and pretzels (3%).

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Sooooo, now that I'm supposed to keep an eye on my sodium intake, 

I am definitely going to be baking my own bread.  

I used to do it about 15 years ago.  

I went a whole year without ever buying store bought bread.

After all, I do have a bread maker!!

I started today.

I looked on the two loaves of bread I had here.  The one had 220 mg of sodium in one slice and the whole wheat one had 170 mg in one slice!

Yes, my bread will have sodium too but . . . see end note.

Here's my loaf.  My house smelled wonderful all afternoon while this was baking.

I let it cool . . .( well it was a little warm) . . . and sliced it.

The center is nice and soft and the crust is crunchy.  Just right!

Then I put some home-made jam on it and enjoyed!!

No store bought bread has that wonderful yeasty taste.

As an added note:

Yes, this homemade, bread machine bread does have sodium.  

The salt you add is necessary to have a good raised loaf.  

I'm going to try and cut the salt in half next time to see what happens.  

*The one added good feature in making your own bread though is that you don't put all those 

chemical preservatives in there!!!

Shirley

Linking up with Foodie Friday:

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/