Since I just posted a recipe for broiled grapefruit I thought I’d let you know how many carbs are in this great citrus fruit. The amounts shown below are for the plain fruit. If you broil and top them with sugarfree maple syrup or any type of sugar or sugar replacement such as Splenda you will have to add the carbs fromthose items to the amount from the grapefruit. Every product is different which is why I didn’t include a total with the recipe. Please check the products you are using for the amount of carbs they contain.

WHOLE GRAPEFRUIT

- 1 large grapefruit (about 4 1/2″ diameter) has about 27 carbs

- 1 medium grapefruit (about 3 3/4″ diameter) has about 20 carbs

- 1 small grapefruit (about 3 1/2″ diameter) has about 16 carbs

GRAPEFRUIT HALVES

- 1/2 large grapefruit has about 14 grams of carbs

- 1/2 medium grapefruit has about 10 grams of carbs

- 1/2 small grapefruit has about 8 grams of carbs

GRAPEFRUIT SEGMENTS (the ones from a jar)

1 cup of segments with the juice has about 19 grams of carbs

I’m more of a veggie lover than a fruit lover. One fruit that I do like once in a while is grapefruit. I discovered some time ago that if you broiled the grapefruit halves they loss some of the bitterness that is usually associated with them. Give this a try sometime and see if you like it too.

Broiled Grapefruit

1 Grapefruit…..I used a red grapefruit

1 tablespoon sugarfree maple syrup

1 packet sweetener or sweetener to taste if desired

ground cinnamon

Start by washing the grapefruit then cut it in half. Place the halves on a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, run it down the side of each grapefruit segment. You want to separate the fruit from the skin. It makes it much easier to scoop the fruit out if you do this. Once your done setting each segment free run the knife around the edge but don’t cut through the bottom of the grapefruit. If you do all the delicious juice will leak out.

Place the grapefruit halves on a broiler pan or, if you have a counter toaster, set them on the plan that came with it. If you prefer to sweeten the halves a bit sprinkle one packet of your favorite sweetener over the tops. I usually skip this because the little bit of tang they have is fine with me. Drizzle the sugarfree maple syrup over the tops. Split the tablespoon of syrup between the two halves. You don’t want them swimming in syrup. Sprinkle the ground cinnamon over the grapefruit. Yes, grapefruit and cinnamon taste great together. If your not sure about how it will taste start with a little and add more to taste.

Broil the grapefruit for 5 to 7 minutes. At least that’s how long I broil them in my toaster. If your using the oven broiler watch them carefully. You want them warmed up and the edges of the rind might become a bit golden but you don’t want them dried out and burnt.

Remove from broiler, allow to cool slightly and dig in with a teaspoon. It’s the perfect size and shape to get the segments out.

Now you don't....

Here’s a few of the new items that have been added to the Resources, Tips and Tool page.

A new page was added to the Resources, tips and tools page. It’s for informational blog posts that have previously been posted. I find that the older posts tend to get buried. Instead of searching through the whole blog for an informational post such as  Sugar and the other names of sugar or How many carbs in Splenda I thought it would be good to post links on a page of their own.

Several new links were added to my Favorite blogs and website page:

Wheat Belly author William Davis has his own website/blog where he posts new information and recipes.

My favorite entertaining nutritional movies Fat Head, Big Fat Fiasco and Science for Smart People can be found at Tom Naughton’s site. Spend some time reading through his posts. He’s seriously funny.

I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire right now. Mid semester and spring break are coming soon. This means every class has some kind of project, essay, lab, test, etc that are due before break. Lots of work now but at least the break can actually be used to relax. Since my kitchen time has been reduced I’ve busted out the crockpot to make supper a bit easier. This recipe is fast and easy plus the leftovers taste great.

Balsamic Pot Roast with Onions and Carrots

3 to 4 pound beef roast….I used a chuck roast

1 lb of baby carrots

1-2 medium or 1 large onion, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons olive or coconut oil

1 cup of beef broth

1/2 cup of tomato sauce

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper

Penzey’s Sandwich Sprinkle (optional)

Place the baby carrots in the bottom of your crockpot. Place the slices of onion on top of the carrots.

Drizzle the olive oil inside a large stockpot or pan. Turn the heat to medium and while the pan heats up sprinkle the roast with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. If you have the Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle you can add that as well. Place the roast in the pan and brown it on both sides. It will take a few minutes to do each side.

Remove the roast and place on top of the onions. Keep the heat on the pan used to brown the roast. Add 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of water and deglaze the pan. Use a spoon or spatula to get all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan up. In a bowl mix the beef broth, tomato sauce,balsamic vinegar and the water used to deglaze the cooking pan. Mix well and pour over the roast. Set the crockpot to low and cook for 6 to 8 hours or until the meat is tender. 

Remove the roast from the crockpot. The onion slices and carrots will have turned a bit brown from the balsamic vinegar and they will taste delicious. Remove them and then skim some of the fat off the top off the liquid that remains in the crockpot. Once removed pour the liquid out and use as a sauce to top your roast and veggies. It tastes great over cauliflower mashed faux-tatoes.

This post has been linked back to the following blogs:

Real Food Wednesdays, Fight Back Fridays

I’ve seen tons of different What I Really Do memes floating around out there. You may have seen them posted to Facebook or on other blogs. I figured that the low carb diet deserved its own. I filled it with all the various comments that have been made when I say I follow a low carb diet. Click on the picture to see it full size. Hope you enjoy it!

Ever tell anyone you eat low carb or paleo and they think you eat something strange? Let me know and I’ll make another one using your suggestions.

     Here’s an interesting video about how eating a low carb diet reducing glucose levels in mice and has reversed kidney disease. They do point out something that is often not said in other studies that do not involve humans – results noted in mice many not be applicable to humans. Always something good to remember. However, I think there are enough humans out there who have reduced their carb intake (which in turn reduced their glucose levels) and have seen incredible results in reducing/control their health related issues such as kidney disease and diabetes.

     As you watch the video you will hear one of the scientists say that they don’t exactly want to put people on a low carb/higher fat diet. They just want to figure out how exactly it works so they can produce a drug that duplicates the same effect. Why? They don’t give a reason but my guess is the main one is changing your diet is free. The drugs that would be produced will cost money and those who produce the drug will be earning a huge profit. Don’t wait for drugs to do what small changes in the way you eat can do for you NOW and for FREE!

   Complaints aside, check out this video and then, if your diabetic, think about how reducing the carbs in your diet could help keep your kidneys healthy.

Video: Science BytesEpisode: A Life-Saving Diet?

Why do our bodies wear out as we grow old? Meet Charles Mobbs, a scientist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. By trying to answer this mysterious question, he and his team have found what could be a way to do something long thought impossible: reverse kidney damage caused by diabetes.

     My mother called with a simple request. “Tell your father he’s eating too many baked beans. I told him they’re loaded with sugar but he won’t listen.”

     Dad unhappily gets on the phone and I ask him about the type of beans he’s eating. “They’re baked beans. I already looked at the label and it doesn’t say sugar so they’re ok.” I told him to read the label to me. “Small pea beans, water, molasses, salt, maple syrup, corn starch modified, spices, blah, blah, blah. See….no sugar.”

     The only problem is there was plenty of added sugar. Sure it didn’t say sugar but molasses and maple syrup are both sugars. Combined they added 12 grams of sugar (carbs) to each 1/2 cup serving. My father was doing what we all have done at one time or another. When we think of sugar we think of the white stuff and forget there are many other types of sugars that show up on ingredients labels. Often in products we would never think have added sugar such as salad dressings or soup.

So I thought I would post a list of the various names that might be appearing in the products you eat that are actually sugar:

Agave nectar
Barbados Sugar
Barley malt
Beet sugar
Blackstrap molasses 
Brown sugar
Buttered syrup
Cane crystals
Cane juice crystals
Cane sugar
Caramel
Carob syrup
Castor sugar
Confectioner’s sugar
Corn syrup
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup solids
Crystalline fructose
Date sugar
Demerara Sugar
Dextrin
Dextran
Dextrose
Diastatic malt
Diatase
D-mannose
Evaporated cane juice
Ethyl maltol
Florida Chrystals
Free Flowing
Fructose
Fruit juice
Fruit juice concentrate
Galactose
Glucose 
Glucose solids
Golden sugar
Golden syrup
Granulated sugar
Grape sugar
Grape juice concentrate
HFCS
High-fructose corn Syrup
Honey
Icing sugar
Invert sugar
Lactose
Malt syrup
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Mannitol
Maple syrup
Molasses
Muscovado sugar
Organic raw sugar
Palm sugar 
Powdered sugar
Raw sugar
Refiner’s syrup
Rice Syrup
Sorbitol
Sorghum syrup
Sucrose
Sugar
Syrup
Table sugar
Treacle
Turbinado sugar
Yellow sugar 

     I’m sure there are some names I’ve missed. If looking through the ingredients still leaves you wondering then just check the nutrition label to see how many total carbohydrates and how many grams of sugar the product contains. Total carbohydrates includes not only sugar but also starch (which convert over to sugar) as well as fiber (which does not convert to sugar). The listing for how many grams of sugar is just for the various types of sugar that have been added such as the maple syrup and molasses in the baked beans.

     If the food contains a certain number of grams of total carbohydrates but shows as 0 grams of sugar then the carbs all come from starch and fiber. There would be no added sugar. This does not mean however that the product won’t raise your blood sugar levels. Remember that carbs will be converted to sugar and that is what brings your blood sugar levels up.

     Am I missing any other names for sugar from the list above? If so then leave a comment and let me know what I’ve missed.

     My mother usually plays cards several times a week with a group of women from her church. She called to ask me about a dessert that one of the women had brought that night. She was told that the sugar in the recipe had been replaced with agave syrup and that it was safe for diabetics because it was “natural”. Only problem is that her blood sugar spiked up pretty high. How could this have happened? Aren’t natural sweeteners good for diabetics?

     Well, I guess that all depends upon what we are talking about when we say “natural”, “good” and “safe”. People often argue over exact definitions of such words. Natural could mean that the sweetener is produced by nature such as honey. For other people natural means that it is found in nature but needs some method of extraction or processing before it is used. Granulated sugar, palm sugar, beet sugar,corn syrup, sorhgum syrup, maple syrup and agave are found in nature but require some processing before we find them sold in our local grocery store.

     Is one type of sweetener good or better than another? Some will argue that the various types of processing are what determines whether or not that particular sweetener is good. Personally, I’ll stay out of that argument for now. The question that I focus on is whether or not a sweetener is “safe” for someone who is diabetic or prediabetic. If someone asks this question what they usually mean is will this spike my blood sugar levels?

     Let’s start by looking at regular granulated sugar. Here’s a nutritional label for 1 teaspoon of sugar:

One teaspoon of sugar contains 15 calories. If you look down the list you’ll see one teaspoon of sugar contains 4 grams of carbohydrates. It’s the carbohydrates that affect blood sugar levels. A tablespoon of sugar (3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon) would contain 12 grams of carbohydrates.

Now let’s look at some “natural” sugars. Here’s the nutritional info for honey. That’s about as natural as you can get since it doesn’t require any type of processing. You even find honey still sold inside the honeycomb where the bees put it for storage.

One tablespoon of honey contains 64 calories. Total carbohydrates for a tablespoon is 17 grams. So, even though honey is natural, the fact that it contains carbohydrates means that it will affect blood sugar levels. How about maple syrup? That’s pretty natural too.

Here’s the nutritional information for maple syrup:

One tablespoon of maple syrup contains 52 calories. It contains 13 grams of total carbohydrates. Again, that’s what affects blood sugar. How about agave syrup?

Here’s the nutritional label for agave syrup:

     Hmmm…..one tablespoon of agave syrup contains 60 calories. Total carbohydrates – 16 grams. So, when you think about it, agave actually contains more carbs/sugars that will affect your blood sugar level than a tablespoon of white sugar. No wonder my mother’s blood sugar levels spiked up after eating the dessert sweetened with this “natural” sweetener.

     To answer the question is agave “safe” for diabetics – it is no safer than regular white sugar. Since it contains more carbs when compared to an equal amount of white sugar it could even be considered worse for you. Sugar is a sugar is a sugar. They will all be processed by the body and raise your blood sugar levels. Keep this in mind when buying and using products labeled as “natural” or “diabetic friendly”. Always check the label to see what they consider a serving size and how many carbs it contains.

In the beginning there was fat….and it was good for you!

Meat, butter and lard were regularly consumed. Obesity, diabetes and heart disease rates were low. As sugar and flour consumption increased so did the problems. Hydrogenated vegetable shortening was introduced and replaced butter. Disease rates began to rise. Yearly sugar consumption rose from about 15 lbs a year (around 1830′s) to 150+ lbs currently. Not surprising but the life time risk of diabetes went from 1 in 30 in the early 1900′s to currently 1 in 3.

Check out this blog that has a great timeline that shows the illustrated history of heart disease and see what you think. While it is the history of heart disease it could also be the history of type 2 diabetes as well. The two seem to go hand in hand. Here are some interesting maps that show rates of heart disease and diabetes across the country. First the heart disease map:

Now the diabetes map for the year 2008:

Notice any similarities? The darker colors on both maps indicate higher rates. They are fairly similar in the distribution of increasing rates. Here’s a a link to a great interactive map that shows the spread of diabetes county by country across the country. It only contains information from 2004 to 2008. Watching the increased numbers spread in such a short time really drives home the point that what we are currently doing and what we are being told to eat just isn’t working.

Whether you want to believe it or not – reducing the amount of carbs and passing on all the fake fats works! Please do what I did and actually read the studies yourself. And not just the abstract or the little info blurb put out in the media. Actually read the whole study.  Many times they don’t actually show what the media claims that they do.

This homemade herb vinaigrette is easy to make and the taste will blow away any store bought dressing. Not only does it taste great on salad but it’s incredible on chicken and hard boiled eggs. Eggs? Yes, eggs! Give it a try and see what you think.

Herb Vinaigrette

2 garlic cloves

1 small shallot

1/2 cup of fresh parsley

1 teaspoon dried tarragon or 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon

6 fresh basil leaves

2 teaspoons dried rosemary

6 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Splenda or other sugar substitute

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3/4 cup olive oil

Place the garlic and shallot into a food processor and mince them. Add the fresh parsley, tarragon, basil and rosemary. Process until they are well chopped. Add the wine vinegar, Splenda, salt, pepper and Dijon mustard. Pulse several times to incorporate them. Start the food processor and slowly begin to drizzle in the olive oil until well blended.

Serves 8 or more depending upon how much you use. Nutritional info is for 8 servings.

Calories: 187.6

Fat: 20.3 grams

Total carbs: 1.4 grams

Fiber: 0.1 gram

Protein: 0.2 grams

We used this dressing over a salad made of romaine lettuce, baby spinach, thinly sliced red onion, red peppers, tomato, cucumbers, diced chicken and feta cheese. The usual food complainers in the house only complained about the vegetables but never said a word about the “green” dressing.  Here’s a close up of the herbal goodness:

What’s your favorite low carb homemade dressing?