Tag: nutrition

A Scale We Can Actually Like?

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My CDE noticed my new appreciation for making things from scratch. (Or more often than not, having my husband make things from scratch for me because I hate cooking.) She also noticed that my blood sugars are being poorly affected from miscalculating carb counts in fresh foods.

The quinoa bake was a really good example of the mistakes one can make during insulin dosing. (Seriously… why do pasta and grain packages only give you nutrition information for dry portions?) Since I was getting frustrated not knowing exactly what I was eating when making things from scratch, she suggested I get a scale. But not just any scale – one that measures carbs and other nutrition facts for a multitude of other foods.

I bought one this weekend. Here is my Perfect Portions Nutrition Scale.

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Don’t get me wrong. This is a small investment. My little $5 scale pales in comparison. (This was $50 at Target.) It comes with AAA batteries, instruction manual and a code book. The code book features basic food items to program into the scale. The weight of the item determines the nutritional values.

Skeptical? I was.

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Here is the nutrition information for a standard piece of wheat bread sitting in my fridge. I coded the scale and compared.

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Hmm… not bad. The carb count is accurate so I’d feel comfortable bolusing for this amount.

I tried a piece of fruit, which seems to be the bane of my existence when it comes to carb counting. My favorite smoothie addition is a banana. Here are the results:

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26 grams of carbs! Intense. This is a pretty small banana in comparison to the others. (Those measured 46 grams!) I also tried a couple of fugi apples. A small one is about 15 grams of carbs. The larger ones are nearly 30 grams.

Is it perfect? No – the codes are fairly generic and don’t really account for gluten free, Splenda inclusive, or other “special diet foods” I try to make from scratch. Will it help for vegetables, fruits, pastas, and other hard to count carbs? Most definitely. It also includes things like cakes, popular pies, bagels and meats as well.

I can’t wait to see if I’ll have more accuracy with my insulin doses.

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Cookies for Breakfast

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Yes, you read that right. I made cookies on Sunday that are supposed to be my breakfast for the remainder of the week. However, the carb count is still to be determined, so it’s throwing my breakfast sugars under the bus.

Mmm... nutrition

Mmm… nutrition

Here is the recipe.

As you can see, no refined sugar nor flour. It’s basically an oatmeal cookie made with fruit and peanut butter. The protein count is supposedly off the chart. So I made them thinking this would be a great alternative to my missing English muffins.

The problem is the whole “homemade” aspect of it. Sure, I like knowing that what I’m putting into my system is healthy, organic, fresh, and not processed. With the exception of the extract and the protein powder, I feel pretty confident eating this. And the original blogger even gave us the nutrition facts. How nice! That’s something you don’t ever really find for insulin pumping purposes.

Except they aren’t quite accurate or don’t factor in the tiny bit of chocolate chips that I added in. Guess I should have read closer.

The original nutrition facts say 11.8 carbs for a cookie. This assumes that there are 16 in a batch and you didn’t add chocolate chips.

I made 9. Yikes. That’s quite a difference in size to batch ratio. And full of melted chocolate. Yum! (Well that explains my crappy glucose control.)

Some other edits besides making these ginormous cookies.

  • I used crushed almonds as my “nuts.” I didn’t have anything else. I probably should have used almond butter instead of peanut butter. Lesson learned.
  • I used regular oats rather than quick. They are a little bigger than those pictured in the original blog.
  • I didn’t have butter extract. I have no idea what that is or where to find it. She said it was optional, so…

Taste wise… I’ll be honest. I don’t know if I’d like them without chocolate chips. They are pretty bland otherwise. But reheated in the morning with my cup of coffee and a hard boiled egg is nice and quick.