Pharm Cooking: We're trying to eat healthier
By LOU GREENHAW
Contributing writer
I have been sitting in on some of Jeanne Rziha's diabetes and prediabetes classes. She is so enthusiastic that she got me enthused to eat healthier. I decided to try the supreme test of whether the average person could eat healthy. That challenge is obviously answered by my pharmacy employees!
We are grazers. There is always some kind of snack on the counter, and we nibble all day long. Part of my staff is very good and disciplined about eating and exercising, and some just plain don't seem to want to be healthier but most are like me — wishy washy. One minute I'm disciplined, the next I succumb to handfuls of temptation.
I devised this plan to try for one week. I would provide a healthy snack for everyone at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. That was a lot harder than I expected. I tried several new recipes, and the only one that was a total flop was a vegetable dip.
As I age and as more studies reveal the importance of good nutrition and exercise, I have tried to improve my life style. I'm not there yet, but I am trying. I am making my own bread out of multiple whole grains, and we are using that for sandwiches.
We have always liked various forms of fish, but now I try to have it at least once a week. We are decreasing quantities of potatoes, rice and plain pasta. We are striving for a minimum of five fruits and vegetables a day. I'm trying to include tomatoes or tomato products often for Steve to get the lycopene which helps with prostate health. We are trying to have beta-carotene in a vegetable every day.
With all this science, it boils down to what I learned in the fifth grade and how I ate as a child — well, at least almost. My mom said you needed a green and a yellow vegetable at every meal. You only had one starch at a meal. Canned peaches were a favorite dessert, and we drank milk three times a day in the winter and once a day in the summer but we had more ice cream and cheese in the summer. About the only thing she did wrong, according to current scientific recommendations, is she fried lots of things and seasoned with bacon grease.
My pharmacy staff endured my week of healthy eating. It didn't make an impact because you have to make the decision to be healthier yourself. You can't make it for others much to the dismay of those of us who pay insurance premiums for others!
It is more fun to do things as a group, and a couple of people wanted some of the recipes I had tried. Maybe they were just trying to placate me!
One of my favorites from the week is from Nancy Pihl at the extension office. She's great with these ideas. I've made these muffins several times, and my family loves them. They have powdered milk for calcium, pumpkin and carrots for beta carotene, raisins for iron and they taste great just plain. The only fat is from the eggs, but the eggs contribute protein. Two muffins for breakfast with a piece of fruit or 1 muffin for a snack fits well into a diet plan.
After all, I'm shopping for that mother of the groom dress so I have to get that weight where it needs to be. Why are the last five pounds always the hardest?
LOW CALORIE PUMPKIN MUFFINS
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon soda
sugar substitute equal to 12 teaspoons (Sweet-N-Low packets or Splenda both work)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup raisins
Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until mixed but do not over do it. Spray muffin papers with non-stick spray. Fill each one 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. It will make nine regular-sized muffins or six very large muffins. The regular sized ones have 77 calories, 4 grams of protein, 1.3 grams of fat and 12.7 grams of carbohydrates each.
