Eat & Beat Diabetes with Picture Perfect Weight Loss

by Howard Shapiro

  Try this ginger fruit yogurt for breakfast—and get not only protein but the added benefits of phytonutrients and fiber:

  GINGER FRUIT YOGURT

  1 6-ounce container plain soy yogurt

  ½ cup diced fruit (apples, bananas, peaches, strawberries, etc.) 2-3 packets Splenda

  ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  ½ teaspoon ground ginger

  Stir ingredients together in a mixing bowl till well blended. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

  Yield: one 180-calorie serving.

  NO BALONEY

  Want deli for lunch? Here are a few choices:

  3 ounces beef-and-pork bologna

  270

  calories

  25

  grams fat

  14

  milligrams cholesterol

  3 ounces turkey bologna

  180

  calories

  15

  grams fat

  120

  milligrams cholesterol

  The traditional beef-and-pork bologna costs you 270 calories and burdens your body with substantial saturated fat and cholesterol. The turkey bologna slices off some numbers but still leaves you with substantial amounts of calories, fat and cholesterol.

  3 ounces “veggie” bologna

  105

  calories

  0

  grams fat

  0

  milligrams cholesterol

  Behold now the veggie or soy-based bologna: a mere 105 calories—and no fat or cholesterol whatsoever.

  Same portion sizes, same tastes, wildly different health impacts—and that’s no baloney. This crescendo of possibilities for taking in soy makes it downright easy to get the extraordinary benefits this food offers for weight loss and fighting diabetes, as well as for so many other health issues. As a protein source, it not only lacks the negatives of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, but it can actually counteract those negatives and add positive advantages.

  For example, there’s no more deadly complication of diabetes than cardiovascular disease; it is, as we know, the number one killer disease of our time. Yet there are components in meat, poultry, eggs and dairy foods that can actually increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Eat a hamburger, and its content of saturated fat and cholesterol raises your risk of cardiovascular problems and ups the chances that the problems will be severe.

  A soy-based veggie burger, by contrast, not only counteracts those effects, but it also proactively strengthens your cardiovascular system. Here’s what the tiny soybean does for your heart health: it strengthens your blood vessels, improves the composition of your blood by lowering the amount of total and LDL cholesterol, prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, lowers your triglyceride count, regulates your blood sugar and helps you lose weight. That’s a lot of bang for the buck, and with soy innovations, you can enjoy those benefits easily and in varied ways.

  A BETTER BURGER

  For further evidence that soy-based foods are the preferable protein alternative to meat or poultry, here it is by the numbers.

  5-ounce beef burger

  308 calories, 26 grams fat,

  130 milligrams cholesterol, 0 grams fiber

  26 grams bad fat = 6 pats butter

  5-ounce turkey burger

  230 calories, 14 grams fat,

  116 milligrams cholesterol, 0 grams fiber

  14 grams bad fat = 3 ½ pats butter

  5-ounce veggie burgers

  180 calories, 4 grams fat,

  0 milligrams cholesterol, 8 grams fiber

  4 grams good fat = 1 teaspoon oil

  Again, we’re not asking you to exclude or limit other protein sources. But it’s important for you to know why meat, poultry, eggs and dairy are not on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid, and it’s equally important for you to be aware of the rich and tasty protein possibilities the Pyramid offers.

  HOW MUCH?

  So how much legumes, fish and soy should you take in to get the protein your body absolutely requires and fight diabetes at the same time?

  As we have throughout this book, we offer no specific measure of “correctness” our mantra, as always, is to eat when hungry and stop eating when satisfied.

  But for the three food groups on the protein rung of the Beat Diabetes Pyramid, we’re happy to suggest that “satisfied” should be interpreted as generously as possible. In other words, if you think you’d like one more veggie meatball or yet another handful of roasted soy nuts, don’t hesitate. Where these sources of protein are concerned, there’s no problem making sure your appetite and taste buds are as satisfied as possible.

  CHAPTER 6

  Starches

  Remember high-school biology? In the segment on photosynthesis, we all learned how plants use the energy they get from sunlight to produce glucose, which is stored in the form of starch. That makes starchy foods great energy sources for humans. In fact, starch is more or less the most basic carbohydrate in the human diet—a source of quick, sustained energy. Rice, wheat, corn, barley, quinoa, oats, millet and potatoes are eaten around the world, ingredients of the most basic foods of every culture, from Mediterranean flatbread and Mexican tortillas to a coarse rye bread or a slender French baguette, Moroccan couscous to Asian rice.

  For our purposes—losing weight and preventing or managing diabetes—the starchy foods on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid offer the gift of fiber, an important benefit, and one of the Four Phenoms for beating the killer disease. You remember the reasons. First of all, fiber is filling—a big plus for weight loss. But as you recall from Chapter 1, fiber offers even more diabetes-fighting power. It helps maintain insulin levels by slowing the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. It lowers blood pressure and reduces total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride counts, thus in turn reducing the risk of heart disease, a key complication of the disease.

  In fact, as we also said back in Chapter 1, fiber is the one nutrient in the fight against diabetes to which we can actually assign a recommended daily amount to consume: at least 25 to 30 grams—easy to get if you follow the Pyramid guidelines and get your fiber from a range of sources, enjoying a range of tastes and textures in a varied eating plan.

  The reason starches occupy a smaller rung than vegetables or the fiber-filled legumes of the protein rung is because they are not the most calorically economical way to get fiber. For the same amount of fiber as you would get in green beans, for example, a starch can cost you substantially more in calorie count. Or take a look at the demonstration featuring cauliflower on the next page.

  CALORIE ECONOMICS

  The whole-grain brown rice on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid offers more fiber for the same number of calories as the white rice, which, as a refined grain product, does not make it onto our Beat Diabetes Pyramid at all. But look at the vegetable, cauliflower; it achieves the same high fiber content at a much lower calorie count than even the whole-grain starch. That’s why starches are afforded a smaller rung on the Pyramid than vegetables.

  Nevertheless, in a varied diet—and especially in their role as sideshow to the main courses of vegetable and protein—starches serve as excellent delivery mechanisms for getting part of your recommended daily hit of fiber and all its benefits.

  And the best way to get the fiber benefit from starchy foods is through whole-grain products, light and high-fiber breads and such starchy vegetables as corn and sweet potatoes.

  WHAT’S WHOLE ABOUT WHOLE GRAIN?

  Why whole-grain products? The answer is simple: they’re the ones with the nutrients. In order to make the foods that derive from grains, the grains are put through a refining process that strips off the germ of the grain and its outer bran layer, leaving only the starchy part. Yet it is precisely in the germ and bran that the nutrients are found: B-complex vitamins, vitamin E and the fiber so important to weight loss and fighting diabetes. There is so little nutrition left in refined grain products that farmers report that even bugs die when trying to sustain themselves on
it in silos.

  The whole-grain products, therefore—brown rice rather than white, whole-grain pasta and polenta, whole-grain cereals and breads—are thus better for your health in general, and if you’re trying to lose weight and prevent or manage diabetes, their fiber content provides an extra benefit. So as you shop for grain products in the market—cereals, pastas, rice, bread—make sure you look for the whole-grain version (see the sidebar to know how to be sure). And in your favorite restaurant, make a point of stressing that whole-grain products are what you prefer to order.

  * * *

  THE HOLE IN WHOLE GRAIN

  Whole grains! Harvest wheat! Organic! Natural! Healthy!

  So proclaim the marketing banners sprawled across bread packages. But look closely. Whatever the size of the print, does the package really say “whole grain,” or does it just “contain” whole grains or come “with” whole grain?

  There was a time when “whole grain” meant just that. But now, consumers need to beware the circumlocutions of marketing. Here’s the reality: unless the package clearly states “100 percent whole grain,” or unless a whole grain is the very first item listed in the ingredients list, it isn’t whole grain.

  * * *

  OTHER BREADS

  Still, don’t feel that whole grain is the only bread you can eat when you’re trying to lose weight or fight diabetes. There are other options. You’ll find them in supermarkets under a range of labels: light breads, high-fiber breads and low-carb breads. Check out the photograph below to see something of the variety of these breads available.

  Light breads have fewer calories than both whole-grain and refined bread—some 40 or 45 calories per slice versus 80 or 100—but they contain the same amount of fiber as whole grain and sometimes even more. The reason? To get the calories down, the manufacturers of these breads use fiber ingredients such as wheat bran, thus raising the fiber content while lowering the caloric impact.

  CEREALS

  Cereal presents another dilemma altogether—namely, the sheer number of choices. Walk down the cereal aisle of any supermarket today, and you will grow dizzy from the number and variety of breakfast possibilities. It can be downright confusing.

  As with bread packages, beware the marketing slogans, and read the fine print. The package of a particular cereal may scream that it contains soy protein, omega-3s or fiber, promising that you can get the health-giving benefits of these components early and easily with just a quick bowl of the cereal. Turn the package around, however, to check the ingredients list, and you may find that in addition to protein, omega-3s and fiber, the cereal also contains a virtual truckload of sugar.

  Here are three different types of cereal—refined, whole grain, and high fiber, including some of the very best-known brands. Each type has approximately the same number of calories in a cup—around 100 to 140. But note the stunning difference in fiber content.

  The refined cereals—the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies that have fed generations of Americans—provide not quite a single gram of fiber in a cup.

  Whole-grain cereals such as Wheaties and Cheerios do considerably better—3 to 4 grams. But their fiber content pales by comparison to the knockout fiber content of the high-fiber cereals such as Fiber One and All-Bran Extra Fiber. The latter provide a full day’s recommended fiber allotment in a single cup of breakfast cereal. That makes these cereals a real fiber bargain.

  So how can you get past the slogans and taglines, not to mention the confusion, and choose a good cereal—one that will offer the fiber benefits you’re looking for without the infusion of sugar that afflicts so many commercial cereals? Here’s a simple guideline: look for a cereal that contains at least 3 grams of fiber per serving and no more than 6 grams of sugar per serving. Whatever else it may contain, if the cereal follows those two guidelines, it’s a good cereal for helping you lose weight and fight diabetes.

  STARCHY VEGETABLES

  If this were a contest, corn and sweet potatoes would beat out even whole-grain starches in terms of weight control and fighting diabetes. Certainly, these starchy vegetables have fewer calories and far more fiber than refined products; plus, they add the bonus of phytonutrients.

  And while whole-grain and high-fiber breads are also great sources of fiber and phytonutrients, they’re less economical calorically than the vegetables.

  But of course, this is not a contest. Instead, all three kinds of foods—whole grains, light or high-fiber or low-carb breads and starchy vegetables—are good ways for those trying to lose weight and fight diabetes to get their fiber.

  CEREALS—ALL 1 CUP

  THE STARCHY VEGETABLE ADVANTAGE

  Here’s another look at the fiber advantage vegetables provide over refined starches. This portion of rice costs 440 calories and delivers less than 1 gram of fiber. Contrast it with this vegetable plate containing corn and baked sweet potato. The corn comes in at 90 calories with 3 grams of fiber, the potato at 100 calories with 4 grams of fiber. Total for the veggie plate: 190 calories, less than half of what the rice contains, and a full 7 grams of fiber.

  2 cups of white rice

  440 calories,

  >1 gram fiber

  Ear of corn

  90 calories

  3 grams fiber

  Baked sweet potato

  100 calories

  4 grams fiber

  TOTAL

  190 calories

  7 grams fiber

  BOTTOM LINE

  But here’s the last word on the starches in the Beat Diabetes Pyramid: don’t rely on them as your sole or even main source of fiber. Instead, make them side dishes or accompaniments in a varied diet.

  Above all, make sure your eating plan contains proportionally more of the two base rungs of the Pyramid—vegetables and protein—than of starches.

  CHAPTER 7

  Fats and Oils

  The difference is as clear as day and night, heaven and hell, Red Sox and Yankees.

  On one side are the “bad” fats: saturated fats and trans fats. Saturated fats—often solid at room temperature—are the fats found in animal foods: meat, poultry, dairy and eggs. To be fair, some vegetable products—palm oil, for example—also contain saturated fats. These fats raise total and LDL cholesterol levels, which is harmful to heart health, and burden insulin receptors, which raises the risk of diabetes.

  Trans fats, which start as liquids and are solidified through the process of hydrogenation, also raise LDL cholesterol levels. In addition, they lower the level of HDL cholesterol, decrease the body’s ability to burn fat and raise the levels of C-reactive protein—a marker for inflammation. Trans fats extend the shelf life of many commercial food products; they’re found in vegetable shortenings and margarines, crackers, cookies, processed pastries, snack foods and—famously—such fried foods as french fries. And as we’ve noted, 25 percent of the vegetables eaten in the United States are french fries!

  * * *

  THE HEALTH STUDY PENDULUM

  For a long time, we were told butter, a saturated fat, was bad for us, so we should all put margarine on our bread—a vegetable fat considered a healthy substitute.

  Enter trans fats! The popular thinking changed again. Since many margarines are high in trans fats, we would all be better off going back to butter.

  But the numbers tell a different story. In general, margarine contains 11 percent saturated fat and 1 percent trans fat, while butter contains 40 percent saturated fat and 5 percent trans fat. So even the worst of margarines is probably not as harmful as butter—especially if you’re trying to lose weight or fight diabetes.

  Recently, many margarine manufacturers, eager to be able to proclaim “no trans fat” on their packaging, have substituted palm oil for the hydrogenated oil in the margarine. True, palm oil has no trans fat, but it’s very high in saturated fat.

  Margarine guidelines? Look for products listing vegetable oil—preferably canola or olive—as their first ingredient. Also, a soft tub margarine rather th
an a solid stick is usually a better bet. Moreover, several light margarines on the market offer considerably fewer calories than regular margarine. In cooking, olive oil or canola oil is always preferable to any margarine.

  And assume that the pendulum won’t swing back.

  * * *

  While cholesterol is not a fat, it plays on the Bad Fats team. That is because it often occurs together with fat in all animal products, and although this dietary cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol as much as do saturated and trans fats, it raises it somewhat. Moreover, it works synergistically with saturated fat; that is, a food that has both saturated fat and cholesterol will raise blood cholesterol to a greater degree and with more impact than a food that does not. Shrimp, for example, has virtually no fat, but it does have cholesterol. Salmon, by contrast, has both cholesterol and fat, but not saturated fat. Neither will have nearly as much of an impact on blood cholesterol as a steak, a cheese omelet or a side order of bacon.

  On the other side of the line is Team Good Fats, comprising monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids. These good fats do exactly the opposite of what the bad fats do—and more. Healthful fats lower cholesterol and may decrease insulin resistance. In addition, the omega-3s lower triglycerides, raise HDL cholesterol, lower blood pressure and can help prevent blood clotting. They boost the level of leptin, the hormone that helps regulate appetite and metabolism, and they stimulate the body’s fat-burning mechanism. They can even help keep glucose intolerance from turning into full-blown type 2 diabetes.