February 18, 2016

Non-RD Recommends Highly Processed Foods

This is one blog that really fell flat. Written by a non-diabetic person and only an English major for a type 2 diabetes website, it should be a warning to all people what can happen when non-professionals are allowed to write for a diabetes website that do not understand the importance of avoiding highly processed foods. You may read her bio here or click on her name under the title of the article. It is down the page several bios.

When I started reading her blog, I knew something was not right. She loves microwaving food and not cooking any other way. She at least admits she does not cook. Personally, I do use a microwave for warming leftovers from previous meals that my wife or I have cooked and even then, we sometimes reheat the food on the stove.

This writer has not learned how to cook and thinks it is necessary to stand over the stove for hours to have a good home cooked meal. For her it is easier to microwave a frozen meal than spend a few minutes to enjoy healthy food. I definitely do not appreciate her claim of shoving the food in your piehole (meaning your mouth) in five minutes or less. This is a great example of what people with diabetes should not do and as a person with diabetes, I like enjoying my food and eating slowly to avoid creating blood glucose spikes.

What I found funny was her request to “stop judging me.” This is how she tries to justify that packaged foods are usually not healthy, but full of starches, sodium, and preservatives.

Then the following is stated by her, “It’s already hard enough when a person is trying to eat healthier and exercise – so I don’t think that we should have to change our ENTIRE lifestyle and try to fit cooking in as well. So! Here are some tips and tricks for eating healthy AND keeping it easy-peasy-microweezy…
  • Low sodium: To keep it simple, I just use the daily-value percentage thing on the package and try not to buy anything that’s too high a percentage per serving. I also drink a lot of water, just to be on the safe side.
  • Microwave versions of things you used to have to cook/bake, i.e., sweet potatoes, oatmeal, frozen veggies… the list is endless. If you Google your fave foods + “microwave recipes”, you’ll probably find even more.
  • Frozen veggies count! On days that I already ate a microwavable meal and like two hours later I’m hungry, I’ll heat up a BUNCH of frozen veggies and to make them interesting, either sprinkle some parmesan cheese or dressing on them, or make it into soup.
  • Leftovers! Don’t forget – if you take home half your meal from a restaurant (go you if you can do this – the struggle is real) that’s an awesome little microwavable meal for the next day!
  • Find your happy (microwaveable meal) place: Mine is Trader Joe’s. I love them because they sell a lot of really delicious, inexpensive, microwavable meals that encompass most if not all of these tips.
  • More “real” ingredients, less chemicals: if I’m not at Trader Joe’s, I look for meals that have more of the “real food” ingredients that I recognize, like vegetables and proteins, and less things that I can’t pronounce.

I really hope these are helpful. Please let me know YOUR tips in the comments below! And now, the next time someone attacks you for only cooking with a microwave, you can turn your nose up right back at them and give them a little micro-wave goodbye!”

No, I do not agree with her lifestyle and lazy way of eating. Writing this on a website for people with type 2 diabetes is not a way to appeal to people that read her writing. Bad habits are still bad habits and not what a person with type 2 diabetes should be reading.

No comments: