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I wrote much of the content of this post as a guest post for FYCNYC (Find Your Center) and thought it would be appropriate to share it here.

The often over-looked sweet potato is sometimes despised, it seems, in kitchens all across this country with the exception of the south, where the more popular vegetable, in the form of sweet potato pie, has earned it’s rightful place. Sweet potatoes are, however, available and affordable almost everywhere.
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Chocolate. Dark, melty and delicious chocolate. I even love the word…chocolate. I’ve been assuming that good chocolate was out of the picture for us since becoming Diabetics. You know what happens when you assume! Well, I was wrong, and I wasted a whole year+ of not having the heavenly pleasure of just buying a chocolate bar and eating it. I’ve made chocolaty treats using unsweetened bakers chocolate, melting it and mixing it with some heavy cream and sucralose sweetener, but it’s different to pick up a chocolate bar from the store to eat. I was missing out!

I have found in some online reading that it is ok for Diabetics to try really dark chocolate at 70% cacao or higher. I turned my nose up at the thought though, and just kept feeling sorry for myself. One day while shopping with my daughter, we came across a couple chocolate bars that were marked down in their price, so I took it as a sign from God that I MUST give this chocolate a try. Thanks to God I now know that 72% cacao and even 86% cacao bars are a wonderful treat! At first the flavor is a little shocking because our mouths expect the chocolate that we have always given it, but after a moment you begin to really taste it. Letting the chocolate melt on your tongue allows you to really enjoy the true flavor of the cacao. To me, there is a slight dark berry flavor at the end. There is no need for a whole chocolate bar at once. Just one square can usually satisfy my cravings. We have only tried a couple of brands so far, but our favorite is

Ghirardelli Intense Dark Premium Dark Chocolate Assortment 20.26 ounce bag

This package gives you a choice of 60% or 72% cacao. We also enjoy

Ghirardelli Chocolate Intense Dark 86% Cacao Midnight Reverie Gift Bag

Besides, chocolate is good for us, right?! If you have a favorite brand of chocolate bar that is 70% cacao or higher, let us know and we will give it a try and post a review!

If you have been reading my blog, you know that both my husband, Steve, and I have type 2 diabetes. We were both diagnosed at the same time in October of 2008. At that time I started educating myself on diabetes and healthier living. I am committed to getting us into the best health that we can be in. After having cancer 3 years ago (and lymphedema in my legs as a result of the surgery), fibromyalgia for a number of years and now the diabetes, I know that our time on this earth can be much shorter than we thought. We have to do what we can to try to extend our stay for those that love us and that we love back. It has been almost 2 years since I lit up a cigarette, and we made drastic changes in our diets. Constant chronic pain from the fibromyalgia really cause the exercising to be difficult, so I’m still working on that one.

While researching healthy diets, I came across some things written by a man named Gary Taubes. Be sure to check out his book,

Good Calories, Bad Calories:
Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health

for so much more information about this, but in a nutshell, dietary fat is NOT the enemy! Moderation is still our friend though!

We decided to give this concept a try. For the past year we have been eating 2-4 eggs each, daily, plus bacon, nuts, legumes, oatmeal, real butter, whole milk, heavy cream and a lot of cheese are all a regular part of our diet. Plenty of veggies and some fruit too, of course! It is harder to do this than one would think! We have been brainwashed for so long about eating low fat foods, and it really is tough to overcome that thinking! We love eating these things though, as they taste good and are more filling and satisfying as well. It helps us actually, to keep our portions smaller.

Last week we had some routine blood work done at the doctors office. We needed to have our HbA1C’s checked and they tested for a few other things at the same time. We had EXCELLENT results! Steve’s A1C was down to 6.0% and mine is down to 5.4%! We are very happy with these results, and it shows that our choices are right for the diabetes part of our health! We also found out that our cholesterol is down. DOWN! I’m not sure where Steve was on his before now, but his level is 161 and mine has gone from 225 down to 180. I’m not sure on the specifics for other tests yet, still waiting on the paper to come in the mail, but they called us with these results and we are so relieved that all this saturated fat hasn’t been bad for us!

We will continue with the higher fat and lower carb diet, and hope to see more changes as we go. We definitely have noticed some positive changes in the way we feel, and I’m convinced now that we are moving in the right direction. Now we need to really focus on losing more weight as well!

I am very interested to hear from others with experience in losing a lot of weight, diabetes control, or overall general health improvements! Leave a comment here on my blog, or send me an email!

I can’t believe we are halfway through October already! I have always enjoyed the beginning of fall, the smells and crispness in the air. I have also enjoyed Halloween. It has been tradition at my house to make a nice big pot of chili each Halloween night, and stay at home to pass out candy to all the trick-or-treaters that find their way to our door. Of course one big love of this devilish holiday has been the candy! I LOVE candy, most types! My sweet tooth is out of control sometimes, and I just have to have something sweet! Obviously, with the dreaded big D, sugary candy is out of the question, so this year we plan to skip handing out candy. We haven’t had many trick-or-treaters in recent years anyway, and that just leaves us with a big bowl of candy leftovers.

I think I will make us a treat of our own instead. I am experimenting with cookie recipes for the Christmas holiday baking, so I am sure I can come up with a delicious goodie that is “legal” for us to have.

I recently decided that I needed a chocolate fix without all those nasty sugar alcohols that you find in sugar free candies. I had some unsweetened baking chocolate in the cabinet, so I melted a one ounce square and mixed in a bit of half & half cream and some Apriva sweetener, and served it up over pear halves. Oh my, was this good!!! I think we will be having this again, but not too often, as treats need to remain treats, and not become a “usual”. Send me off an email if you have other chocolaty good ideas and recipes that we can try! After all, chocolate is good for us now! )

Well, here it is, another long time since I last posted here. I have some plans for a change in my website. I no longer feel that I know nutrition as well as I thought I did, and I don’t want to share bad information. I’m going to give you a few links to check out.

http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Nutrition/Diet/7_reasons_to_eat_more_saturated_fat_220920090608.html

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2002/08/17/saturated-fat1.aspx

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/07/21/trans-fat-part-one.aspx

This is very interesting reading! I still plan to share with everyone, but I will stop focusing on food, and focus on life instead. I believe that in order to truly be happy and healthy, we need a balance, and lifestyle is part of our balance. I want to share more with you than just healthy cooking. I want to share LIFE with you, and happenings on my family.

I hope to still add some food recipes and pictures when I change my site though! I like to help people go from non-cooking people to someone that likes to cook!

We spent an hour and a half grocery shopping this afternoon. I wish we had a really good farmers market here. It is hard to get good and fresh fruits and veggies around here without paying an arm and a leg. Everything is picked before its time, and is cold and hard when you buy it. We loves pears here, and they usually need 2 days to rest and come to room temperature before being good at all. Before that they are crunchy like apples. I like them a little softer than this, and more juice.

As a non-cooking comment, I found some candles by Glade Candle, Fresh Mountain Morning, 4 oz (Pack of 6). They come in a small white cup and smell sooooo good! It is a nice, light, clean smell and not an overpowering perfume odor. I love this candle, and I encourage everyone to give it a try and see what you think! Let me know!

As for cooking lately, I have been making pretty simple meals, meat and steamed veggies. We love some of the blackened seasoning mix posted in an earlier post, on pork. We really pack it on! Sometimes I use butter or bacon fat to cook it in. More calories, but the flavor is out of this world! Pork is pretty cheap here lately too, so that helps. You can have a nice meat and steamed veggie dinner in as little as 10-15 minutes. If you don’t like pork, cook up some chicken breasts, or steaks. Most meats that are cut at a size for stove-top cooking will work. We use a bamboo steamer on the stove top using a pot of water under it. The meat and carrots are timed to finish at about the same time. It is a nice meal with very little work. The bonus, for people with pain issues like me, this meal doesn’t require much work or standing. Much healthier, tastier, and cheaper than “fast food”.