CHAPTER
16

Other Healthy Eating Tips

In This Chapter

• Selecting and preparing lean meats
• Why drinking water is important
• Increasing fiber and whole grains

As you learned previously, protein—specifically lean protein—is an essential component of your diet. Drinking enough water and eating enough fiber and whole grains are also key to getting on track with your eating. But why should you, and how can you, include more?

In this chapter, we delve into a bit more detail on protein, including how to find alternatives to high-fat meats and how to prepare lean meats. We also discuss how drinking more water may help with weight loss and blood glucose control. We then get into the benefits of fiber and whole grains, as well as the many high-fiber and whole-grain foods available to you.

DID YOU KNOW?

The AHA has a voluntary certification program to indicate certain foods are heart healthy and fit into an overall healthy eating pattern. Qualifying foods display the Heart-Check mark. There are eight extra-lean types of beef cuts that meet the AHA’s requirements: extra-lean ground beef (96 percent lean, 4 percent fat); bottom round steak (USDA Select grade); sirloin tip steak (USDA Select grade); top sirloin petite roast, boneless (USDA Select grade); top sirloin strips (USDA Select grade); top sirloin filet (USDA Select grade); top sirloin kabob (USDA Select grade); and top sirloin steak, boneless, center cut (USDA Select grade).

“Sometimes” Meats

Sizzling sausage patties, crisp strips of bacon, a nice juicy rib-eye steak—are these on your list of favorite foods? If you’re a meat lover and don’t want to cut out meat completely, you may be wondering what to do. First off, not all red meat is the same as far as its effect on your heart health. Some beef is quite lean and can be included in your meal plan more frequently. However, higher-fat meats, such as pork products, should be eaten less often. We’ll refer to these higher-fat meats as “sometimes” meats—meaning you should only eat them some of the time and not regularly include them in your day-to-day eating.

The following table lists “sometimes” meats with suggested leaner substitutions. Keep in mind that many of these substitutions are not automatically lower in sodium. However, there are lower-fat, lower-sodium options available that still provide great flavor. Read labels to find out which are the best.

Lean-Meat Alternatives to “Sometimes” Meats

DIABETES DECODED

Just because some foods, such as low-fat hot dogs, are better than the regular ones doesn’t mean they’re health food. While making the lower-fat choice is a great place to start on your stepwise changes, including meats less often in general and not making them the focus of your meal would be the next step. We also recommend choosing fish as a protein source more frequently. As an alternative, selecting plant-based protein in place of animal protein is good for your heart and your diabetes control. See the vegetarian meal-planning section in Chapter 17 for more information.

Preparing Lean Meats

If you’ve ever chewed on a flavorless, dry chicken breast or a tough cut of beef, you know how important it is to cook meat properly! With lean meats—particularly lean beef and white-meat chicken or turkey without the skin—preparing them in the right way can make them taste great, even without adding fat.

Parboiling: This is a way of partially cooking chicken to shorten the dry-heat (baking or grilling) cooking time. It ensures the chicken gets cooked through while keeping it moist. This can also be a good timesaver if you like to keep individual chicken breast portions in the freezer.

The following are the steps for parboiling:

1. Place the chicken breasts in a saucepan that can easily hold the pieces you’re cooking.
2. Add water until it covers the chicken.
3. Bring the water to a boil over medium heat, and continue to boil for about seven minutes.
4. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about three minutes; the chicken shouldn’t be cooked through. Remove the chicken from the water.
5. Brush the chicken with barbeque sauce, teriyaki sauce, or marinade, or use a dry rub to season. Finish the chicken on the grill or in the oven until cooked to a minimum of 165°F.

Boiling: This is similar to parboiling, except in this case you’re fully cooking the chicken by allowing the water to boil longer. This works well for chicken you’re cooking to use in recipes or to freeze to use later. If you’d like more flavor added to the chicken, you can cook it in a reduced-sodium broth instead of water, add seasoning (like garlic, herbs, lemon or lime juice), or include vegetables (such as onion, celery, and carrots).

Fully cooked boiled chicken pieces can be used in stir-fry or fajitas, tacos, and more, and diced chicken can be added to a homemade soup. For a tasty salad, you can cut up the chicken and add it to salad greens with some sliced apples or pears, a few dried cranberries, some walnuts, and a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

The following are the time frames you should follow when boiling chicken:

• For skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, boil 15 to 20 minutes.
• For a whole skinless, boneless chicken breast, boil about 10 minutes.

Marinating: To keep lean beef, pork, game meats, or lamb tender, you can marinate them prior to cooking. Marinades are seasoned liquid mixtures that add flavor to meat, fish, or poultry. A small amount of olive oil or canola oil can be added to a marinade so seasonings (such as ginger, chili powder, or anything that sounds good to you) adhere to the meat and the meat browns during cooking. (Add oil sparingly if you need to keep your calories in control.)

Here are a few tips for successful marinades:

• Use approximately ¼ to ½ cup of marinade for each 1 to 2 pounds of meat.
• To keep the meat at a safe temperature, marinate it in the refrigerator. Any leftover marinade should be thrown out.
• When it comes to marinating times, seafood should be marinated about 30 minutes to 1 hour, boneless chicken breast approximately 2 hours, pork about 4 hours, lamb from 4 to 8 hours, and beef up to 24 hours.
• A glass dish, plastic container, or heavy-duty plastic bag works best for holding the marinating liquid. It’s not a good idea to use a metal pan because it can give a metallic taste to the meat.
• To help tenderize less tender meat cuts, the marinade needs to contain an acidic ingredient. You can use a citrus juice like fresh-squeezed lemon or lime juice, tomato juice, low-sodium vegetable juice, salsa, vinegar, buttermilk, or yogurt, to name a few.
• You can toss seasoning in the marinade to taste—for instance, pepper, garlic, onion, and herbs.

Lean meats don’t have to be dry and tasteless. Get creative and try new flavors in marinades. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Some of the best recipes are created that way!

DID YOU KNOW?

One way to tenderize larger pieces of meat such as boneless, skinless cuts of turkey or chicken, pork, beef, or game meats (as well as shorten the cooking time) is to pound it out. Place the meat between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound with the smooth side of a meat mallet until uniformly thin. If you don’t have a mallet, you can use the bottom of a heavy pan or rolling pin.

Drinking Enough Water

A high percentage of your body weight is water. Your age, gender, and body composition all affect your body water percentage. It ranges from around 50 to 80 percent, but on average it’s 60 percent. Babies have the highest percent of body weight from water—close to 80 percent. If you have a larger muscle mass, you also have higher body water content. Meanwhile, an older adult or overweight person may have closer to 50 percent body weight from water. No matter your content percentage, the water in your body is located in three main areas: inside your cells, in the space between your cells, and in your blood. Almost two thirds of your total body water is inside the cells.

Water is important to your health because all the cells, tissue, and organs in your body contain water. That’s why it is so critical to get enough water every day.

Water has several functions in your body, including the following:

• Regulates your body temperature
• Lubricates and cushions your joints
• Helps protect your spinal cord and brain
• Dissolves substances so cells can process nutrients
• Helps deliver oxygen throughout your body
• Gets rid of waste, mainly through urine

When you’re healthy, it’s easier to get the right amount of fluid by drinking water and other beverages and even eating different foods. If you’re sick or your blood glucose is high, however, it may be difficult to get enough water, and staying hydrated becomes even more important.

Hydration and Blood Sugar

How many glasses of water do you drink each day? You’ve probably heard that you should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Have you ever wondered if that’s really true? While it’s a good rule of thumb and easy to remember, the amount of fluid you actually need varies depending on the circumstances.

DIABETES DECODED

Many foods provide water. In fact, about 20 percent of your water needs are met through foods you eat. Foods like cucumbers, celery, melons, tomatoes, carrots, berries, and oranges all have high water content. Sounds like yet another reason to eat your fruits and veggies!

You need to take in water (other no-calorie beverages count, too) to replace the amount your body loses during daily functions. Water is lost when you go to the bathroom and when you sweat. Even when you breathe, you exhale out small amounts of water. Situations that require additional water above your daily requirements are when it’s hot outside, during exercise, and when you have a fever, diarrhea, or vomiting.

Another time you need to increase your water intake is when you’re blood glucose is elevated. High blood glucose causes you to lose more water through excessive urination, so you need to replace that loss to prevent getting dehydrated. Dehydration can make hyperglycemia worse because not enough fluid is available for the kidneys to produce more urine to clear out glucose. While just drinking a glass of water doesn’t lower your blood glucose, if you stay hydrated when you’re sick and other times you have high blood glucose, you can prevent more serious problems from happening. (See Chapter 6 for more information on lowering your blood glucose.)

How Water Can Help You Lose Weight

When you’re healthy, thirst usually cues you to drink fluids to maintain adequate hydration. If you’re good about drinking fluids throughout the day and your urine is light yellow or colorless, you’re probably adequately hydrated (though older adults need to make a conscious effort to drink more water because sense of thirst diminishes with age).

If you’re not drinking enough fluid on a regular basis, you tend to feel tired. You might also feel hungry, especially if your blood glucose is high, because your body thinks you need more food for energy. It may sound odd, but it is actually easy for your body to get mixed signals about feeling hungry and feeling thirsty. You may tend to eat as a response to this cue, particularly if you think the food will make you feel less tired, when all you really need is something to drink. Replacing the fluid your body needs to function can help you feel less tired and potentially curb your hunger cravings.

Of course, the drinks you choose make a difference. On average, adults (and kids) take in an extra 400 calories a day in beverages, which can add up quickly. But by choosing water and other calorie-free drinks instead of high-calorie, sugary drinks, you can be on your way to losing weight.

The following are a few suggestions to increase your water intake:

• Carry a water bottle with you when you leave your house, and keep a water bottle in your car when running errands or at your desk at work. This gives you easy access to water and is a good visual reminder.
• Choose water instead of other drinks when you eat out. Not only can you reduce your calorie intake, you’ll save money, too.
• If you don’t like the taste of plain water, add a bit of flavor with lemon, lime, orange, or cucumber slices. As an alternative, you can purchase a no-calorie flavoring to add to your water. They are available in a variety of different flavors and come in liquid or powder.

DIABETES DECODED

You may have heard that caffeinated beverages don’t count toward your daily fluid total because caffeine is a diuretic. Actually, caffeine has little to no effect on increasing fluid loss. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to swap out all of your water with coffee; there are still negative health consequences to consuming too much caffeine. But you can certainly count your morning cup of coffee or tea as part of your fluid intake for the day.

While drinking water throughout the day is helpful, drinking water right before meals may also help you eat less. In one study, drinking two glasses of water before meals helped participants ages 55 to 75 years old lose more weight than those who didn’t drink the water before meals. They felt full more quickly and ate fewer calories at the meal. It’s important to point out that all participants, drinking extra water or not, followed a low-calorie meal plan. Is drinking water before meals the miracle solution to weight loss? No, but it’s certainly something that’s easy to try, and it won’t cost you anything!

Getting More Fiber in Your Diet

Fiber is only found in plant foods. It’s the part of the plant that gives it structure. While your body doesn’t digest or absorb fiber, it plays an important role in digestion. In fact, you’ve probably been told a time or two that you need to eat more fiber to “keep you regular.” So how can fiber help you, and how much should you eat?

Types of Fiber and Benefits

There are two kinds of dietary fiber in foods and both are beneficial to your health: insoluble and soluble fiber.

Insoluble fiber is the type more people are familiar with. Sometimes referred to as roughage, it’s called insoluble because it doesn’t dissolve in water. Insoluble fiber is most helpful with digestion. This type of fiber adds bulk to your stool, increasing the movement of food waste through your intestines. Adding bulk to your stool makes it easier to pass, preventing constipation and keeping you regular. Good sources of insoluble fiber include bran, whole grains, nuts, potatoes, broccoli, popcorn, and other plant foods.

Soluble fiber dissolves in water to form a gel-like substance, which slows down digestion and helps you feel full longer. Plus, by delaying digestion, it slows the absorption of carbohydrates and helps prevent a quick rise in blood glucose after a meal. Soluble fiber is also especially helpful in lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol and may reduce blood pressure. You can find soluble fiber in oats, apples, beans, barley, oranges, carrots, and other healthful foods.

Adequate intake of both these types of fiber helps decrease the risk of developing heart disease, diseases of the colon, and obesity.

How to Increase Your Fiber Intake

It’s estimated that more than 90 percent of children and adults in the United States don’t eat enough fiber. So how much fiber should you be eating? The recommended amount is 14 g of fiber per 1,000 calories per day. That means most adults should be eating somewhere between 25 and 30 g of fiber per day. You can find out how much fiber is in one serving of a food by checking out the dietary fiber information listed directly under total carbohydrate on the Nutrition Facts panel.

Fiber is included in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. These are all great foods for a diabetes meal plan. However, just like with other sources of carbohydrates, they can raise your blood glucose and contribute to excess calories if you just add them in to what you’re eating now. So to give yourself the best health benefits, replace less healthful carbs with more fiber-rich foods.

Here are some tips for adding more fiber (and whole grains, which we’ll discuss next) to your meal plan:

• Look for breakfast cereals with at least 5 g of dietary fiber.
• Choose plain air-popped or light microwave popcorn for a healthy whole-grain and high-fiber treat.
• Choose fruit for a snack, such as berries, pears, or apples.
• Sprinkle wheat bran in soups, yogurt, hot cereal, muffins, and casseroles.
• Have a small handful of nuts and seeds for a snack.
• Cook with beans and legumes more often; you can use them in soups, main dishes, or in side dishes added to brown rice or whole-wheat pasta.
• Add veggies to your sandwich. Don’t stop with just lettuce and tomato; add on some cucumber slices, red peppers, spinach, or shredded carrots.
• Cook more stir-fry dishes, adding any vegetable combination you like, and serve with brown rice or another whole grain.
• Include salads with your meals more often.
• Choose crackers with a whole grain—wheat, rye, or rice—listed as the first ingredient.

FOR YOUR SAFETY

When starting to increase your fiber intake, do it gradually over a few weeks’ time. If you increase your fiber suddenly, you may experience bloating, gas, and discomfort. And if you don’t increase your fluid when you increase your fiber intake, you may worsen constipation instead of making it better. Be particularly careful with high-fiber snack bars; if you eat more than one, it may be too much.

DIABETES DECODED

If you’d like to begin using whole-grain flours, start experimenting by substituting ¼ to ½ of the flour in your recipe with a whole-grain version.

On the other hand, whole-grain products that are made from whole-grain flour include the entire grain—the bran, endosperm, and germ. While some products are made from refined grains with a few whole grains added in, this doesn’t provide the same health benefits as true whole-grain food. To make sure the product you’re choosing is a good source of whole grains, look for a whole grain as the first ingredient on the list. Whole-wheat flour, rolled oats, whole oats, and whole rye are examples of whole grains you might find on an ingredient list.

Benefits of Whole Grain

It’s recommended to make half your grains whole, with at least three servings a day. The more whole grains are studied, the more the health benefits from whole grains are validated. The following are some benefits you can gain from eating more whole grains:

• Whole grains can help lower the risk of developing heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
• A recent study even found that eating whole grains decreases the risk of dying from a heart attack.
• The fiber in whole grains also helps you feel full, so you may eat less.
• Whole grains are good sources of the B vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, and niacin. B vitamins are important for nerve function, metabolism, digestive health, skin, and eye health.
• Minerals in whole grains include iron, magnesium, and selenium. Iron helps form hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in your blood. Magnesium helps with energy production and nerve transmission, while selenium is an antioxidant that helps your immune system function.

Whole Grains to Try

Grocery stores are increasingly stocking their shelves with a variety of different grains. The following are three whole grains that are good to get in your diet.

Quinoa: There are a surprising number of products made from the popular grain quinoa (pronounced keen-wha). You can find this grain in everything from crackers to beverages. Quinoa provides a complete protein, which is rare in plant foods. It’s also high in potassium and gluten free, which is a bonus if you need to follow a gluten-free diet. When ready to use, rinse quinoa before cooking to remove any bitterness. Quinoa cooks in just 15 minutes. When it’s done, the germ sticks out—it looks like a little white curl or tail. Quinoa can be added to soups and salads, mixed with vegetables or beans, or served just by itself with your favorite seasoning as a side dish.

Bulgur: This is precooked wheat that has been broken into pieces. The FDA requires that products labeled bulgur are whole bulgur (whole wheat). Bulgur has a mild, nutty taste and is easy to prepare. You can prepare bulgur in several different ways, such as microwaving, cooking, boiling, or soaking. To boil, add boiling water or broth to bulgur (about 1¾ to 2½ cups of liquid per 1 cup of bulgur) and cook it in a covered pot for about 20 to 25 minutes with the amount of liquid and cooking time depending on the type (fine, medium, or coarse). It can be used many ways, including in salads, side dishes, pilaf (with or without rice), or hot cereal.

Barley: A shining star when it comes to grains is barley. Beta-glucan fiber from barley, which has been the focus of a number of research studies, is a soluble fiber that has been shown to help lower the blood glucose response after a meal. It may be useful in diabetes prevention and management and has been shown to lower blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol.

So how do you find barley and what do you do to use it? The most common variety of barley you’ll find used in the United States is pearl barley. This is barley that has had its tough outer layer removed, and with it much of the outer bran. While whole-grain pearl barley, with its outer hull still on, is the most nutritious, it requires a long cooking time due to the tough hull. So if you’d like to use the whole-grain type of pearl barley, it’s a good choice to add to bean soup, because the beans and the whole-grain pearl barley both have similar cooking times. Look for hulless, dehulled, or hulled barley for shorter cooking times. Even hulled pearl barley, not in its whole-grain form, has a number of health benefits, more so than other refined grains. Barley flour may be used in recipes to increase the fiber content; ½ cup of barley flour has 7 g of fiber, or more than triple the amount of white flour. Barley can also be used in salads, side dishes, main dishes, muffins, pancakes, and more.

The Least You Need to Know

• Cooking lean meats with the right techniques can keep them tender and flavorful.
• Drinking enough water can help you control hunger symptoms and is beneficial for weight management.
• Increasing fiber from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your meal plan can have significant health benefits, including better digestion.
• Regularly choosing whole grains lowers your risk of developing heart disease and obesity. Whole grains may also decrease the risk of dying from a heart attack.