Diabetes and 'Shrooms

​They’re kinda like Marmite and liver. Folks either love ‘em or hate ‘em.

​I love ‘em!

Now that I’m trying to revert from diabetes, they’re even more of a menu favorite and have become one of a few go-to foods I can fix quickly for a meal. I also eat them raw often because they provide fast relief to sugar-drop. 

I’m not much of a meat-lover so when the diabetes diagnosis landed on me, I was in a dilemma, culling out many of the plant-based foods I’d been eating that caused sugar-soar, which feels awful. I was reduced to either not eating them, or eating such a small portion that it was more annoying than it was worth to bother fixing them. 

My diabetes specialist gave me a good tip on carbs and portions. Per meal, I could have a total carb intake that amounted to the size of a medium apple. One biscuit was too much. One pancake was the limit. A frequent-favorite, a one-bowl meal of spicy, braised coconut-carrots wasn't allowed on my menu any longer.​ I coulda cried!

​I could have about two pieces of the fat end of a big carrot. Wasn't much point to bothering cooking them after diabetes because, I'm just not willing to cook two-chunks of a carrot. 

The Ouch-List didn't leave many options.

❌ Carrots
❌ Corn
❌ Peas
❌ Potatoes
❌ Pumpkin
❌ Squash
❌ Water Chestnuts (which surprised me!)
​
Oh, before I forget, let's go back for a sec, to the Marmite and liver. I not a fan of either and I'm undecided on which is worse.

​Marmite, as awful as it is, provides some fun memories of my life across the pond with Mark, Donna and their son Ethan John. Ethan and Donna loveeee Marmite. Mark wasn't a fan. My take on it was if I had to choose between dirt and Marmite, I'd rather eat dirt.

But, one thing I loved about Marmite was their commercials! Here's one for you in event you've never seen one.

Marmite: You either love it or you hate it!

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In my quest to cut back on some of my fav plant-based foods (Marmite is plant-based), I was sad to learn that even raw almonds, which I’d been keeping on hand, have 160 calories per only ¼ cup. That’s quite a lot since I’d been having about a cup of them for a snack when I was busy and didn’t want to stop to cook.

These are just a few items I often made into a meal, three to four times a day, that produced sugar-soar.

Thankfully, mushrooms came to my rescue. Turns out, they’re a super-food, especially for diabetics!​

​Packed with protein, they can be eaten raw or cooked. If you cook them for just a short time in a skillet or pot, they even produce their own sauce! This is excellent because it means I don’t have to thicken a soup or stew with a plant-based flour, keeping my sugars at healthy levels.

​​I love the flavor of mushrooms and even the texture, so for me, they easily pair up with nearly any other food. A favorite to stack them on is spicy bamboo shoots (also very low carb).

Image via Angelia Phillips

 Another alternative is zero-carb pasta, that’s made from mushrooms! It doesn’t taste like mushrooms, so if you don’t like them, please try the pasta anyway to see if it works for you.

Hope this has been a help in navigating the challenge of calorie crunching, whether or not diabetes is the reason. 

They’ve been a great help to me and so thought I’d pass it along.

Perspectives are important...

In a recent bible study at my church, ​TACE, Pastor Kerry Davis taught on fighting stress. He closed with a reminder to look at the good things God has provided rather than focusing on the problems we’re facing.

It’s like that with food and diabetes. I have fewer food choices but the Lord Jesus isn't lacking in creativity or grace. He surely did ensure I have some options that are also favorites.

God is good!

Shalom​