The 14-Day No Sugar Diet(24)

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DAY 14





BREAKFAST


Eggs Florentine with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto (recipe page 116) 1/2 Red Grapefruit 74 calories, 18.5 g carbohydrates, 1.4 g protein, 2.7 g fiber





SNACK


Key Lime Pie Smoothie (recipe page 109)





LUNCH


Leftover Chicken Chili





SNACK


Hummus & Pepper Roll-Ups YOU’LL NEED:

2 Tbsp. hummus

1 8-inch low-carb, multi-grain tortilla

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

DO THIS:

Spread hummus on tortilla.

Top with slices of red bell pepper, roll up and cut into wheels

170 calories, 6.8 g fat (3 g saturated), 22 g carbohydrates, 2 g sugars, 324 mg sodium, 6.5 g protein, 5.8 g fiber





DINNER


Planked Salmon with Grilled Asparagus and Roasted Red Potatoes (recipe page 140) SNACK (optional)





BEVERAGES


Eight or more eight-ounce glasses of water per day.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ + water (Other beverages: unsweetened coffee, tea, or iced tea, fruit and herb infused waters) Day 14 Nutrition Total (approx.) 1,159 calories, 27.8 g fat (8 g saturated), 109 g carbohydrates, 114 g protein, 21.7 g fiber





CHAPTER


8


No Sugar Diet Smoothies

Quench your hunger with a quick and satisfying treat

HOW ’BOUT a smoothie? A thick, rich, delicious shake as a snack or meal replacement is another useful weapon in the war against diabetes. Before you grab a straw, however, there’s something you should know: Smoothies enjoy a misleading “health halo” that could backfire on you. Smoothie doesn’t always translate to healthy. Just because these frothy drinks may be made with virtuous stuff—whole fruit, juice, yogurt, milk and protein powder—they could blend together into a sugar-laden calorie bomb that spikes your blood glucose as high as if you had just gorged on jelly beans.

So, don’t lay down your guard at the blender in your kitchen and especially not at the fast-food counter. Adding peanut butter and chocolate syrup, for example, can double the sugar and calorie load, sending a surge of glucose into your bloodstream, definitely not good for someone with prediabetes or diabetes. Beware: Some large restaurant-made smoothies pack 700 or more calories and over 63 grams of sugar. That’s more sugar than you’d get by eating 20 Ginger Snap cookies! Here’s another image to plant in your mind’s eye: Imagine yourself pushing a lawnmower from one end of a football field to the other on a hot summer day. You’d have to do that about 100 times to burn off the calories in some large restaurant smoothies.



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Beat Diabetes Tip

Eating a whole fruit is almost always better than drinking a fruit smoothie. The fiber in whole fruit acts like a braking system to slow down the process of turning fructose from the food into blood sugar.



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Okay, now you can grab a straw. Because by drinking specific “no sugar diet smoothies” made right, as this chapter’s recipes demonstrate, you’ll enjoy one of the healthiest and tastiest ways to flatten your belly and lower your risk of diabetes. What’s the trick? Adding protein, healthy fats (avocado, seeds and nuts) and even more fiber into the blender to slow the uptake of sugars into the bloodstream during digestion.

The No Sugar Diet Smoothie Rules

1) Avoid juice as a liquid base. Even 100% fruit juice contains loads of sugar. Instead, use water, milk or a milk substitute such as almond milk. Cow’s milk is relatively high in sugar, but it’s a better choice than fruit juices.

2) Don’t add sugars in the form of honey, maple syrup, or agave syrup. Gradually adjust your taste buds to enjoy unsweetened beverages and foods. If you need to sweeten your smoothie, try stevia, a natural sweetener. But use very little; stevia is 40 times sweeter than table sugar.

3) Use low sugar fruits such as berries and others. (See low-sugar fruit list on page 103.) These fruits add sweetness to your drink with minimal fructose, plus they add fiber and vitamins. Remember to go easy on fruit. Even though it contains the fiber of whole fruit, once pulverized, it absorbs more quickly. And, as you know, you can down a smoothie in a fraction of the time it takes to eat a whole piece of fruit, meaning faster uptake of sugars. If you use a fruit from the high-sugar list (page 106), use a quarter to no more than half of the fruit serving and only that one fruit.

4) Add protein. Unsweetened Greek yogurt and plant-, egg-or whey-based protein powders are easy ways to boost the protein profile of your smoothie. Remember protein slows digestion and builds muscle. (See suggestions for good protein powders on pages 110 and 111, which include an explanation of the benefits of each.)

5) Add green fiber. Experiment with adding leafy greens to your smoothies. It’s a great way to get more vegetables in your diet, boost the fiber content of your shakes, and get more helpful nutrients. For example, adding spinach to your smoothie can stifle hunger and cravings, thanks to compounds in the leafy green’s cells that promote the release of satiety hormones. You can also add chia seeds or hemp seed nuts. The latter contains 6 grams of high-quality protein per tablespoon. That’s more than beef or fish.