We’re looking back on almost 20 years of Divabetic outreach.
One of my favorite memories is shooting our ‘man-in-the-street’ YouTube videos with my friend, Arthur Espino. We shot these videos with a camera (we weren’t using iPhones back then) without a microphone. I’d stop people as they walked by, and after we shot 3-4 interviews, I’d run home and edit the video.
In this video, I play the nutrition game Serve, Taste, or Trash! with the vendors and patrons at Central Farm Markets in Bethesda, MD.
This game was born out of my long-standing aversion to peas. Voicing your dislike for a particular vegetable aloud might inspire others to share different ways to enjoy it, which could ultimately change your mind about the taste. Personally, it led me to enjoy eating wasabi peas!
Fans of our popular Divabetic Mysteries podcasts know that my dislike of peas also inspired me to write and produce the mystery podcast Gypsies, Tramps & Peas.
Perhaps this video can inspire you to try another fruit or vegetable you dislike!
In the game, you’re given three choices of fruits and vegetables. You must decide which one you’d serve, which one you’d taste, and which one you’d trash.
Before you decide to “trash” a veggie for good, why not try to eat it raw?
Raw veggies can be more appetizing than their cooked counterparts to people who aren’t crazy about vegetables. The flavors of raw veggies can be milder than those of cooked ones. And the texture is crispy rather than mushy.
Special guest Kathy Gold RN, MSN, CDCES (who participated in countless Divabetic – Makeover Your Diabetesoutreach events) from Washington, DC, helps raise awareness for diabetes in a fun and glamorous new way.
Since 2009, Central Farm Markets has provided residents with a place to buy the freshest produce, meats, dairy, seafood, and bakery goods from over 50 top-quality farmers and artisan food producers. It’s a great farm market! They were always very welcoming to our unique brand of diabetes outreach and us.
Figuring out what to eat with diabetes can be daunting – so our friend and colleague, Hope Warshaw, RD, CDCES has written a series on healthy eating tips featuring leading dietitians, who work with people with diabetes, to share proven strategies to help improve your diabetes wellness.
“A tried-and-true strategy for healthy, appropriately portioned meals is batch cooking,” says Janice MacLeod, MA, RDN, CDCES, FADCES, the head of Clinical Advocacy in Global Professional Affairs & Clinical Education for Medtronic’s Diabetes Group. “This creates meals to have on hand when you don’t have time to cook. When it comes to a ratio for portions of each food group, think of the plate as a pie chart to achieve the “ideal plate ratio;” half of it should be vegetables, cooked or raw, one-quarter should be protein (about three to four ounces of protein). The other quarter can be healthy grains or more vegetables.”
Read more of Hope Warshaw’s interviews with Susan Weiner MS, RDN, CDN, CDCES, FADCES, and Janice MacLeod MA, RDN, CDCES, FADCES for advice on increasing your fiber intake, food prep, and how best to use the services of certified diabetes care and education specialist in her article, Healthy Eating Tips for People with Diabetes: Part 2 for diatribe.
Join us for Divabetic’s upcoming free Baking Party with The Diabetic Pastry Chef on Thursday, April 28, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM, EST on Zoom and you’ll be automatically entered into our random drawing for Divabetic’s prize giveaway.
Elizabeth is one of our past prize winners. Sh
Over 150 people registered for our last Divabetic Baking Party on Zoom, so don’t miss out! Register now for Divabetic’s Baking Party on Thursday, April 28, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM, EST on Zoom.
The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic raises awareness for living a full, fabulous diabetes life at the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City, NY. Special guests Carla Cravens, Catherine Schuller, Amy Goldin, and Jean & Valerie from Life Dressing: The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas. The New York City Easter Parade has been an annual tradition since Civil War days and features marchers in elaborate Easter finery, including some of the fanciest Easter bonnets imaginable.
Register now for Divabetic’s free Salad Making Party with special guest, Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDCES, CHWWC, FAND on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, 7 – 8 PM, EST on Zoom.
Eating a salad sounds healthy, doesn’t it? But a leafy green salad can go bad when you pile on the high calorie and high carb toppings, dressings, and other deep-fried offerings.
How do you make a great-tasting salad without sacrificing your diabetes wellness?
Special Guest, Jill Weisenberger shares 2-3 of her favorite nutrient-dense salad and tasty dressing recipes that you can make at home and answers your nutrition questions.
Nationally recognized Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDCES, CHWC, FAND. Jill has authored four books. Diabetes Weight Loss Week by Weekis a bestseller and can help you manage your weight and blood sugar at the same time.
And Jill’s latest book Prediabetes: A Complete Guideleads you through dozens of concrete steps to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other chronic health problems.
Learn to finally Stick With Itand keep your motivation and willpower up for healthy lifestyle habits. Jill Weisenberger’s Stick With It is a self-paced video course that guides you step-by-step to the healthy habits you want. You’ll learn why your motivation and willpower move up and down like a roller coaster and what you can do to keep them up higher and longer.
Jill Weisenberger’s Grated Summer Squash Salad: A New Favorite
“I came up with this simple, pretty, and very tasty summer squash salad,” says Jill Weisenberger. “I’ve tried it with zucchini and with yellow squash, as well as a variety of types of summer squash. Use what you have or what you like best! Feel free to call it zucchini salad, or anything else.”
Q: What puts the ‘Quin-Wow! into Quinoa and makes it so special?
Jill Weisenberger (JW): I love it for its taste, versatility and nutrition profile. We classify quinoa as a whole grain and eat it like it’s a whole grain, but technically it’s a seed. Nutritionally, it has all the essential amino acids, lots of fiber, B vitamins, magnesium and other vitamins and minerals, as well as health-boosting phytonutrients.
Eat it hot or cold, in soups or stews, in place of rice or pasta and even as a cooked breakfast cereal. And it’s great sweet or savory.
Q: Why should someone with type 2 diabetes and/or prediabetes consider adding Quinoa to their meal plan?
JW: In general, eating whole grains is associated with less risk of type 2 diabetes. And whole grains are an important part of a balanced diet. Quinoa is a little higher in protein than most, but the goal is not to focus on one or two whole grains. Instead, we should eat a diet as varied as possible to get the best range of nutrients and other disease-fighters. I especially like quinoa because it’s an intact whole grain, as opposed to one highly refined. Of course, you can find it in crackers, breads and other processed foods – and that’s perfectly fine – but eating the intact seed is quite good for us.
Q: Can Quinoa help manage blood sugar levels?
JW: Not in any direct way, but a balanced diet in general helps manage blood sugar and other metabolic problems associated with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Q: What are some do’s and don’ts for cooking Quinoa?
JW: Rinse it first to rid the bitter saponins, which are natural pesticides. You can cook it like rice: 2 parts liquid: 1 part quinoa. I typically prepare it in my rice cooker with half water and half broth. This gives it a great flavor without too much sodium.
Experiment with quinoa as a base for a whole-grain salad, a nourish bowl, as the starchy side to soup up sauces, and as a str on it’s own flavored with your favorite herbs, spices and cooked vegetables.
Love New Recipes?
Join the happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic for this free Virtual Cooking Party with special guest, Author of The Beginner’s Guide To What To Eat With Type 2 Diabetes, Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND on Zoom on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, 7-8 PM, EST. Jill shares her favorite quinoa recipes with us!
People aren’t just eating eggs. They’re obsessing over them. Every menu item from burgers and pizza to oatmeal are topped with eggs as though they are a condiment or sauce!
We reached out to our friend, Registered Dietitian Jill Weisenberger MS, RDN, CDE, FAND to share some advice on the nutrition pro’s and con’s to putting an egg on it.
Q. Are there any health benefits to putting an egg on it?
Jill Weisenberger‘s Answer: Eggs are nutrient-dense, inexpensive and easy to prepare. They give us protein; lutein which is important for eye and brain health; choline, which is important for cognition, especially during fetal development; and a host of other vitamins and minerals. I like the idea of adding an egg to some lower-protein meals like oatmeal. We need a steady supply of protein – as in breakfast, lunch, and dinner – for optimal muscle synthesis. From a nutrition standpoint, I don’t see the benefit to adding an egg to hamburgers. There’s already adequate protein there. I’d rather see folks eat eggs at meals that have lower amounts of protein, such as this Savory Oats and Lentils recipe (https://jillweisenberger.com/healthy-savory-oats-and-lentils-recipe/), which I often have for dinner.
Q. Are there any drawbacks to putting an egg on it?
Jill Weisenberger‘s Answer: It’s really important to have variety in the diet, so I can imagine that if someone is eating eggs or an egg at most meals, there’s either too little variety or too many calories. But in general, no, there are no major health consequences to adding eggs to any number of foods. A fraction of the population is sensitive to cholesterol in foods. Since eggs have a lot of cholesterol, some people will need to put some limits on intake. For most of us, however, the amount of saturated fat we eat affects our blood cholesterol levels more than the amount of cholesterol we eat.
Q. Let’s talk calories. How many calories are we talking about when we add an egg to it?
Jill Weisenberger‘s Answer: Depending on the size, eggs have roughly 60 to 80-ish calories. More importantly, let’s look at what we’re eating eggs with. A breakfast of eggs and biscuits with sausage gravy and side of bacon isn’t in the same ballpark as a couple eggs, with whole grain toast and a bowl of strawberries. Eggs have a lot going for them, so let’s enjoy them in good company – whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes.
Q. Can we eat the yolk?
Jill Weisenberger‘s Answer: The yolk is where the cholesterol is, so anyone needing to limit dietary cholesterol should eat more egg whites than yolks. But like I said, that’s not most of us. The yolk also contains a lot of nutrients, including lutein.
Q. Not all eggs are created equal. Is it worth buying organic eggs? What types of eggs do you recommend we buy at the store?
Jill Weisenberger‘s Answer: Usually, there’s not much difference nutritionally when you’re comparing eggs of the same size. Buy the ones you like. However, there are some eggs out there with a few differences. You can buy pasteurized eggs, which are good if you like to eat your eggs runny. And some brands feed their chickens an enhanced diet, so the eggs might contain more omega-3 fatty acids or lutein.
Jill Weisenberger’s comprehensive guide, ‘Prediabetes: A Complete Guide: Your Lifestyle Reset to Stop Prediabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses’ will lead you through dozens of concrete steps you can take to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle-related chronic diseases. Taking an individualized approach to your lifestyle “reset,” this book will allow you to choose your own path to wellness, help you gain a greater sense of wellbeing, boost your confidence in your abilities to maintain a healthful lifestyle, and potentially even help you reverse prediabetes and avoid type 2 diabetes and other chronic illnesses. You’ll be feeling better than you have in years! Inside, you will learn to:
Identify your risks for developing type 2 diabetes
Set personalized and meaningful behavioral goals
Identify and build on your motivation for a lifestyle reset
Create positive new habits
Change eating habits for weight loss and greater insulin sensitivity
Choose wholesome foods in the supermarket and when away from home
Tweak your favorite recipes
Reduce sedentary time
Start or improve upon an exercise plan
Reduce emotional eating
Organize and track your progress with tools included in the book
Much more
Jill Weisenberger, MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND is a great resource for all things nutrition, food and diabetes. Whether she’s speaking, writing, chatting on social media, appearing on TV or working with individuals, her candid and energetic approach appeals to busy people, and her sound nutrition and fitness advice gets results. In fact, her appreciation for science and ability to translate science into actionable information earned her a place in US News & World Report’s 10 Dietitian’s You Need to Follow on Social Media.
We’re talking about ‘HEART HEALTH & DIABETES’ with musical inspiration from the rock band “Heart”. Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to die from heart disease than adults without diabetes. People with insulin resistance or diabetes in combination with one or more of these risk factors are at even greater risk of heart disease or stroke. However, by managing their risk factors, people with diabetes may avoid or delay the development of heart and blood vessel disease.
Guests include Author of ‘Nutrition & You’ Dr. Joan Salge Blake, EdD, RDN, LDN, FAND, Jill Weisenberger, MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND, Glucose SOS founder Pamela Heyward and the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach. Throughout the podcast we will be playing music from Heart’s “The Essential Heart” album courtesy of SONY Music
