0 Buying the Right Glucose Blood Meter

It is crucial for diabetes patients to choose the best glucose blood meter so as to monitor their own blood glucose levels at home. This saves them from the hassles of rushing to laboratory every now and then. Checking at the privacy of home is the most convenient method of all. This saves one’s time, efforts, and money.

This is possible only if the patient focuses on choosing the right meter. The meters are usually recommended by doctors. You can also get into a serious research online before buying one. This will help you buy the best meter.

The decision of buying a Glucose Blood Meter should be based on the following:

Requirements for testing

Lifestyle

Physical abilities

Those with bad vision should go for a meter with a large display. Similarly, a diabetic with limited dexterity in hands should opt for a meter that loads the test strips automatically. Understand that what meter will work for you before buying one.

There are certain key things to look for when selecting a glucose meter. These include readable display, compatible test strips, cost, special functions, additional features, and many more. Since test strips are a consistent expense, it is important to research for the most affordable ones. These may be easily bought online. So when buying a glucose meter, it is important to know the price of compatible strips.

Some of the meters are available with special functions and features to help patients better manage the disease. Some of the most desirable special features include the ability to provide super fast results. In fact some of the meters can have the results in as little as 5 seconds!

Other important things to look forward include internal memory and a smaller size. It is wise to go for a handy device that can store up to the last 1000 results.

0 Ultimate Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies

As i told earlier for Baking Partners Challenge, we got three cookie recipes to bake as we can choose and bake any cookies out of them. One among those three cookies i baked two cookies,i have already posted Cornflakes Cookies and here comes one more irresistible cookies i baked two days back for this baking partners challenge. This ultimate chocolate cream cheese cookies was suggested by Tina of Pinay In Texas Cooking Corner from Food & Wine Best of the Best Cookbook Recipes Vol. 14. This fantastic cookies are fabulous and am damn sure you wont stop munching them if you make them at home. These cookies are truly awesome and definitely a real feast for chocoholic persons like me. Thanks to Tina and Swathi for suggesting this scrumptious cookies.Sending this yummy cookies to Srivallis Kids Delight-Anniversary Potluck Party.

2+1/4cups All purpose flour
1/4cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
2tsp Baking soda
1/2tsp Salt
225g Unsalted butter(softened slightly)
113g Cream Cheese(room temperature)
1cup Granulated sugar
1/2cup Dark brown sugar
2nos Eggs
2tbsp Heavy cream
1tsp Pure vanilla extract
85g Bittersweet chocolate(melted and cooled)
225g Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a bowl ,beat together the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the eggs, heavy cream and vanilla until blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients.

Add the melted chocolate and chocolate chips and beat just until incorporated.

Cover the bowl and rigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Scoop heaping tablespoons of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them two inches apart.

Bake for 12 minutes until the cookies are just set; shift the baking sheets for top to bottom and front to back half way through.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

0 Chatti Pathiri Kerala Sweet Lasagna Crepes Layered With Sweet Filling

 Chatti Pathiri is a layered pastry made in Malabar region of Kerala. You can make both sweet and savoury version, this dish is quite similar like Italian Lasagna. Instead of paste, pancakes made with flour or pastry sheets prepared with all purpose flour are used. You can make any filling but somehow till know i crossed only non vegetarian filling, as the savoury ones are made traditionally with meat filling as like our samosas or puffs. Thank god Srivalli suggested us this sweet chatti pathiri for our this months Indian Cooking Challenge,a monthly event where we cook dishes from various regions of India.

I skipped last months challenge, coz of the sprouts eventhough ill be making soon. But this time i dont want to miss as i seriously want to make these chatti pathiris since a long. For the todays sweet chatti pathiri, we went for a sweet filling with coconut,black sesame seeds,poppy seeds and nuts. Trust me this sweet chatti pathiri are just simply out of the world. The most important ingredient to enhance the authenticity of this dish is white poppy seeds, dont forget to add or skip them. These seeds are used extensively in Malabar cuisine. Chatti Pathiris are made during festivals, or either during a wedding event or else especially for Iftar. If you have a sweet tooth, these sweetened chatti pathiri will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.

Recipe Source: Anitha Menon
For Pathiris:
1cup All purpose flour
1/3 cup warm water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt to taste

For Filling:
1/2tin Sweetened condensed milk
4tbsp black sesame seeds
7tbsp  Grated coconut
3tbsp Raisins
3tbsp Cashew nuts(Chopped finely)
3tbsp Almonds (chopped finely)
4tbsp Poppy seeds
3tbsp Cardamom powder

For coating:
1+1/2 cups Coconut milk (store bought)
1tbsp Cardamom powder
4tbsp Powdered sugar
2tsp Ghee

For Pathiris:
Mix the flour with water, oil and salt and knead into a dough like that of chappati.

Keep it covered for half an hour.

Divide the dough into 7-8 equal portions.

Using a roller pin, roll it out into paper-thin chappaties on a dusted flour board.

Heat a griddle and cook the chappatis/round flat bread lightly on a tawa.

Keep them aside.You should be able to get 7-8 chappathis with this amount.

For filling:
Heat a Large frying pan.Add ghee and saute raisins, cashew nuts, poppy seeds, almonds, sesame seeds till seem a little golden brown .

Then saute grated coconut along with cardamom powder until they start to change the colour slightly.

Mix the above with half a tin of condensed milk and keep aside, check the level of sweetness.

Add more condensed milk if required.

For coating and assembling:
Add to the coconut milk, cardamom powder and powdered sugar and keep aside.

Take a non-stick round baking pan,spread couple of tsps oil or ghee / clarified butter all around the pan

Keep one pathiri/flat bread as the first layer.

Using a spoon sprinkle the nut mix filling on top of the pathiri/flat bread.

Dip the second chappathi/flat bread in the coconut milk mixture, coat well and place it on top of the filling.

Sprinkle the condensed milk -nut mixture again and repeat this until all the pathiris, the coconut milk mix and the nut mixture is used up and pathiri being the top layer.

Pour the remaining coconut milk mixture generouly on top of pathiri , so that it drains on all the gaps on sides and form a thin layer on top.

This is important to keep the Chatti Pathiri moist. If you run out of the coconut milk mixture after coating, make more and mix with sufficient sugar and cardamom and pour on top.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Bake in oven for about 15 minutes or until the top of pathiri turns golden.

After it cooled down a little, drizzled it with some more condensed milk and decorated it with dessicated coconut.

Notes:
Alternately u can cook it on a stove top in a non stick deep skillet or deep pan.

You have to place it at a very low flame and flip it caully to cook on the other side. The flipping becomes a bit easy when the lowest layer of flat bread/pathiri is a little hard.

When both the sides have cooked well, it is easy to slide it out of the pan into the serving plate.

You can add cherries or fruits to decorate the top of the chatti pathiri,but i skipped it and used just dessicated coconut.

0 For Those About to Gestate We Salute You

“Aw, look. You’re having a Hellboy.” – our friend Chad

There comes a time in a young-ish married lady’s life when she looks at her husband and has to make a choice, to a) beat him in Scrabble, b) mold his beard into funny shapes, or c) do it. And sometimes, choosing “c” results in being 12 days late with her ladytime, taking four negative pregnancy tests followed by a fifth positive one, and then gaining 400 pounds, roughly half of which is fetus and its accompanying goo. (Note: The other half is burgers and lemonade.)

Which is to say, I’m knocked up. (Due on Cinco de Mayo! Break out the virgin margaritas.)

Yay! Husband and I and ESPECIALLY OUR PARENTS are thrilled with this development, as it means our familial line will continue for at least another generation, or in nerd terms, through iPhone57G. We look forward to all the cuteness and wonder and giggles and poop, which weve been assured there will be lots of. In fact, we’re even looking forward to the inevitable moment when the baby pukes into our open mouths, which, if friends and family on Facebook are to be believed, happens alarmingly often.

And while were over the moon, I gotta tell you guys – pregnancy is kind of funky.

Don’t get me wrong - the prospect of introducing a new human to the wonders of Pixar and brownies is dumbfounding in its awesomeness. But my first trimester was a little rough. Meaning: I did not take the Barftrain all the way to Vomitville, but I did make a month-long stop in Queasytown. (Motto: “Where you always feel like s**t.”)

There was a span of about two weeks during which I slept negligibly, ate weirdly, and cooked nothing – not a slice of toast, not a bowl of cereal, not liver with fava beans with a nice Chanti. We subsided mainly on Chipotle and the kindness of passing Chinese takeout delivery boys, who, as it turns out, per to be paid for their troubles. My diet was neither cheap, nor healthy, nor particularly good, unless you count the burgers. And there were many.

It’s Month #4 now, and the nausea has finally begun to subside. I’m cooking again, and my appetite has returned with all its friends and relatives. According to the medical books (a.k.a. Manuals of Horror) Ive read, the rest of my pregnancy should proceed thusly:

Month 1: Sore bosom
Month 2: Fatigue
Month 3: Nausea
Month 4: Raging indigestion
Month 5: Pregnancy … thing … bus … uh, brain
Month 6: Carpal Tunnel Body
Month 7: Hormone conflagration
Month 8: Beatlemania
Month 9: Gigantism
Month 10: Pass a human through my nethers

Im looking forward to it - the pregnancy, the birth, and especially the whole "raising a child" part. Because Ive tried to teach the cat how to read, and hes just not getting it.

In the meantime, Ill blog when I can, hopefully regarding food. And if yall have any suggestions? Im all ears. And abdomen.

0 Tips for healthy living

All they tell you that you lead a better life , but do not know how to do or know the reasons to do so. Find here some tips that will help you achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Well, if you need a boost to go this route, we tell you who recently discovered through a study done in the United States, at Mayo Clinic, the woman has one chance in three of developing cancer , although 65 % of these diseases can be prevented if we took a healthy lifestyle .

Story continues below

To achieve this lifestyle is necessary to consider health in a comprehensive way , as this will enjoy a fuller life. To this end , we present a pattern of behavior and health tips that provide a better quality to our existence. Follow them and you will see the changes.

1 - Leading an active life
A sedentary lifestyle only brings inconvenience to our body , so we are looking how to perform exercises at home or you play sports outside.

If not possible, go for a walk at least half an hour a day. Remember that your heart is a muscle that needs exercise to stay healthy , like the rest of the muscles in your body.

The exercises , especially aerobic , help you stay healthy, strong and reduce stress, lose weight , prevent disease and , of course, live longer.

2 - Monitor food
It is not becoming obsessive with the theme and made counting calories all day , but have the awareness to go into choosing the best food market in order to enjoy better health.

Find the way to lead a balanced diet that does not neglect any necessary food for your body , ie , including vegetables, fruits , poultry , vegetables, fiber and plenty of fluids.
 
3 - Reduce intake of saturated fats
At this point it must be clear that there is much less to remove , but not have them everyday consumer .

I mean , you can eat a pizza or junk food once a week or every ten days, but the rest of the time seeks to include healthier foods to your diet .

In addition , experts advise harness the cooking broth containing nutrients that flow of food to be cooked , and use a lid to bake them to recover condensate , steam rich in nutrients . It is best to cook steamed vegetables to boil .
 
4 - Eat more fruits and vegetables
This item no more science. We all know the benefits of fruits and vegetables and healthy they are. We deliver a host of vitamins and minerals, plus fiber rich , ideal for maintaining normal digestion .
 
5 - Per whole grains and good fats
Eat well in every way, always with more fruits, vegetables , grains, lean meats , keeping the limit calories and saturated fats and observing the size of the portions you serve .
 
6 - No smoking
The snuff is the most common form of drug abuse and the cause of death most preventable , according to studies done in the United States.

Smoking can cause heart attacks , stroke , emphysema , chronic bronchitis and cancers of the lung , larynx , mouth , esophagus , bladder , pancreas and cervix . Not for nothing is that each year more than 440,000 people die from diseases caused by the use of snuff .
 
7 - Maintain a healthy weight
They have conducted research that has shown that excess weight is a serious health problem for many people, and that increases your risk of developing serious diseases, including heart , stroke , diabetes , cancer and high blood pressure .

Low weight, on the other hand , is directly related to heart problems , low resistance to infections , chronic fatigue , anemia , depression and other diseases.

These diseases are preventable if a balanced diet and weight carried , ie , if a normal and balanced level remains controlled. To do this, it is best to change habits, including eating and physical activity. This makes it possible to maintain a healthy weight for life .

0 Multivitamins with minerals may protect older women with invasive breast cancer

Findings from a study involving thousands of postmenopausal women suggest that women who develop invasive breast cancer may benefit from taking supplements containing both multivitamins and minerals. The new research, published today in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, found that the risk of dying from invasive breast cancer was 30 percent lower among multivitamin/mineral users compared with nonusers.

"Our study offers tentative but intriguing evidence that multivitamin/mineral supplements may help older women who develop invasive breast cancer survive their disease," said Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, Ph.D., lead author of the study and distinguished university professor emerita of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

Multivitamin/mineral supplements are the most commonly consumed dietary supplements among U.S. adults. They usually contain 20-30 vitamins and minerals, often at levels of 100 percent of U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowances or less, and the usual label recommendation is to take them daily.

The research was conducted as part of the Womens Health Initiative Clinical Trials and the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study. Combined, the two studies include data from 161,608 postmenopausal women ages 50 to 79 when they first joined the study. These women were enrolled at 40 clinical centers throughout the United States during the years 1993-1998.

The current study focused on 7,728 participants who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during the WHI and were followed for an average of seven years after their diagnosis. Invasive breast cancer is defined as cancer that has spread outside the membrane of the milk glands or ducts and into the breast tissue. Two common types of invasive breast cancer are invasive ductal carcinoma and infiltrating lobular carcinoma.

After enrolling in the WHI and during repeated follow-up visits, all participants provided extensive information about their health including whether or not they had taken a multivitamin/mineral supplement at least once a week during the prior two weeks.

About 38percent of the 7,728 women who developed invasive breast cancer during the WHI were using the supplements. The vast majority were taking the supplements before their breast-cancer diagnosis. A comparison of mortality rates revealed that women with invasive breast cancer who took multivitamin/mineral supplements were 30 percent less likely to die from their cancers than women with invasive breast cancer who hadnt taken the supplements.

Could differences between the multivitamin/mineral users and nonusers account for this finding? The researchers looked at many possible confounding factors including additional supplements that the women took, their smoking status, education, race/ethnicity, weight, depression, alcohol use, physical activity, age at breast cancer diagnosis, and diabetes. The association between regular use of multivitamin/mineral supplements and reduced risk of death persisted even after these factors were taken into account.

"Controlling for these other factors strengthens our confidence that the association we observed – between taking multivitamin/mineral supplements and lowering breast-cancer mortality risk among postmenopausal women with invasive breast cancer – is a real one," said Dr. Wassertheil-Smoller, who also holds the Dorothy and William Manealoff Foundation and Molly Rosen Chair in Social Medicine Emerita. "But further studies are needed to confirm whether there truly is a cause-and-effect relationship here. And our findings certainly cannot be generalized to premenopausal women diagnosed with invasive cancer or to other populations of women."

0 I Hate Being Obese

Hi,

I was looking for something else when I opened up an old workbook today and started to read through the first few pages. The workbook was a free download called "Fat Brain Lies" from Carlene Jones of http://www.rawfoodbootcamp.com/ that I had printed out and put in a three-ring binder.

I had remembered that I had only done part of the workbook because it took me so long to finally get "before" pictures of me -- the instructions were strict to not go ahead in the workbook until you had your pictures. It is obviously a serious book and if you aint ready, you aint ready. But if you are ready, I think it could help a person get on the right track.

As I was reading, this statement from near the front of the book set me to thinking:

"Oh you may be saying, I dont deceive myself about this, I hate being obese. Well then, my question is, if you hate it so much and you know how horrible it is for you, why have you not done something about it? Hold that thought, I am sure you have many reasons, and we will talk about most of them in this workbook."

I pictured myself being the leader of a group talking about losing weight and how I might borrow the same thought but give it a different approach. I wanted to record what had occurred to me as a reminder and encouragement to myself so here is what I came up with:

You may be saying, "I dont deceive myself about hating being obese. I do hate it. My question for you is this: "If you hate it so much and you know how horrible it is for you, why have you not done something about it?" Stop. Dont answer that question. The reason I dont want you to answer that question is that what you will come up with will be the same old story youve been telling yourself forever. Your current answer to that question is simply a distraction.

Continue thinking about the question. It is called "holding the question." Again, Dont come up with all your excuses and reasons and hurt feelings. Just think about the question: If you hate being obese so much and you know it is a horrible situation for you, why have you not done something about it?

Now, lets change the question into a statement:

I hate being obese and Im doing something about it, right now. 

Now write down all the things you are currently doing to combat obesity in your own life. If there are things that you are currently doing, write them down as a way to remember that you are already working towards your goal and you are moving right along. This is what I am doing and why:

1. Journaling every day -- I make a record of my BP, my BG, and my weight every morning. I write down what I have eaten during the day at the end of the day. I often write down what Ive eaten at the time I ate it. I write down my feelings or experiences on some days as needed. I record my exercise activities (time and duration). I write down what my current weight loss goal is every morning as a reminder of where I am currently headed. Why: this keeps me focused and on track more than anything else I have ever tried. Without it, I wander around getting into trouble.

2. Exercise three times a week -- Even though last week I did not exercise due to illness, I am resuming my three-times a week aquatic routine. Why: because it helps me to strengthen my muscles and also reduces pain.

3. Fasting once a week -- Why: it helps me to have an actual calorie reduction for the week and also gives my body a rest and time to recuperate from always eating. It has also moved my weight loss into active gear. It helps me to continue to lose weight.

4. Eat sensibly the rest of the week: -- Why: I have to eat sensibly or I either start putting weight on (even though I am fasting) or, I injure my health in some way. Too many carbs not only causes weight gain, it fouls up my kidneys and my blood glucose levels.

5. Visit my doctor -- Why: I visit my doctor because having to report to someone else who is going to actually put me on a scale and check my weight, take some blood and measure my blood sugar and kidneys plus what ever else needs to be checked is a very real incentive to me. My doctor is my accountability person. If I know I will be seeing my doctor in a few weeks it forces me to actively do what I should do in order to have good results there. I dont like to not have good results in front of my doctor.

Those five things are the things that I am currently doing. Your list may be entirely different. In fact if you are only just beginning to do something about your obesity, today, you might list things such as:

1. investigate programs until I find the one that works for me or that I am willing to try.

2. Ask self: What do I already know how to do that will help me lose weight in a sensible manner?

3. What can I do today to begin going in the right direction?

4. Do number 3 until you are finished with number 1.

Even these may not be right for you. You must address the statement (I hate being obese and Im doing something about it, now.) with what is real for you.

In the end what you must come up with is:

1. A way for you to reduce the number of calories you eat per week. 

I have the following statement in a small banner highlighted in yellow on my journaling page: TO LOSE WEIGHT, YOU HAVE TO EAT LESS. This is the simplest, most basic truth about losing weight that there is.

You must come up with a system of calorie reduction that you can live with. It can be done by eating smaller portions. It can be done by eliminating your "hot button" foods (foods that make you gorge, like junk food or candy and sweets). It probably should include eating more vegetables and protein and eliminating as much food as possible that is made of wheat and sugar or other starchy carbs. It might also include fasting one day a week. It might be easiest for you to join a weight loss company (like Jennie Craig or Weight Watchers) or group (like starting one in your living room). You decide what you are willing and able to do. Then do it.

 2. A way to get your body moving and make it a ritual or habit in your own life.

In the beginning you must start out small or slow and not overdo it. If you are not fit, then walking for one or two minutes inside the house may be all you are able to do. But if you do it every day, and embrace the goal of "improvement at your own pace," you will soon be able to go for five minutes at a time. Then you can think about moving on to longer durations -- up to about 30 minutes, or more as you are able. Begin where you are today but get going.

Exercise will not actually help you lose weight to the degree that eating less will. But you cannot leave out some form of exercise that you are able to do. Everyone always talks about walking as the simplest form of exercise because all you have to do is put on your walking shoes, open up the front door, go outside, and walk.

I agree with that statement but I hate walking in the Georgia heat so I exercise in the pool and if I have to miss the pool, and am able, I get on my Aerofit (or treadmill) at home and go.

3. A support system that actually helps you to maintain your sanity and reach your goal.

Eating less and moving more are the only ways a human can lose weight, but if you dont also set up some kind of self supporting sanity and motivational activities, too, then you will be much less likely to accomplish the first two. Notice that all three of these things are ACTIVITIES. Eating. Moving. Relating.

My best self supporting activities are my journaling and visiting my doctor. My journaling lets me record my own statistics and also share my own feelings and thoughts as the days go by. My blogging helps keep me sane and also attempt to encourage and support others who may be in a similar boat. They both keep me on track and sane. They help me make corrections where corrections are needed by letting me see when and where corrections are needed.

Seeing my doctor makes me accountable to another human being -- one with authority to make accurate judgements and statements about my health, and prescribe changes that need to be incorporated as needed. My doctor is my coach.

The support system my cousin Julianna has been successful with was to join Weight Watchers. She goes every week for her accountability weigh in. She learns tips, tricks, and strategies for eating fewer calories and losing weight. The most important thing is that she actually incorporates what she learns there into her daily life. She participates with her program on a daily basis -- she does what they tell her to do. She is now about 10 pounds from goal weight and I say, "here, here, way to go, Julianna!"

You need to support yourself and your sanity. If you are obese you will not become thin over night. Embrace the journey and simply do today what you can do, according to your own, ideas, beliefs and strategies. You are in charge of your life and body and reactions. Just like you have your own system to accomplish other chores in a timely manner, you also need to set up your own system for accomplishing the goal of conquering obesity.

Do what you are able to do, right now, and then repeat it day by day. Today is the only day you can participate in any activity. Today is the Only Day There Is. If youre not doing anything about it today, then youve succombed to your own distracting stories and emotional reasons. You can move beyond it by "holding the question" ("If you hate obesity so much and you know how horrible it is for you, why have you not done something about it?") and changing it to the statement: "I hate being obese and Im doing something about it, now."

Your body is capable of improving. You can make your body stronger and more fit by letting go of all those old ideas and start living in your own new statement, today.

I hate being obese and Im doing something about it, now. 

Go for it!

Be encouraged!!

Love you much,

Be back soon,

Marcia