5-ounce bagel
400 calories
0 grams fat
0 grams fiber
2-ounce cream cheese
200 calories
20 grams fat
0 grams fiber
TOTAL
600 calories
20 grams fat
0 grams fiber
20 grams bad fat = 4 pats butter
vs.
6 grams good fat = 1 teaspoon oil
2 whole-grain pancakes
150 calories
3 grams fat
5 grams fiber
2 tablespoons sugar-free syrup
10 calories
0 grams fat
0 grams fiber
3 veggie sausage links
90 calories
3 grams fat
3 grams fiber
1 cup melon
60 calories
0 grams fat
3 grams fiber
TOTAL
310 calories
6 grams fat
11 grams fiber
VARIATIONS ON A CLASSIC
The sandwich is perhaps the classic lunch—its variations limited only by the imagination. It’s also a perfect opportunity for the imagination to choose variations that can help you lose weight and prevent, fight or manage diabetes. Take a look.
Get a load of the off-the-charts calorie count on this ham and cheese on a croissant and the simple egg salad on a bagel on the next page. Moreover, these calories come mostly in the form of refined carbohydrates, saturated fat and cholesterol—bad choices if you’re health-conscious, and especially if you want to manage your weight and fight diabetes.
With roast beef on a roll and turkey on rye, you can manage to lower the calorie count because these sandwiches are somewhat lower in saturated fat and carbohydrates. But not that much—certainly not enough for weight management and fighting diabetes.
We’ve slashed the calorie count with these two sandwiches—tuna salad (made with light mayo) on whole-wheat bread and veggie deli on light bread, both with lettuce and tomato, both delicious. But that’s not all. Both of these sandwiches are also made with ingredients found on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid and offer virtually no saturated fat and lots of fiber. The tuna salad gives you omega-3 fatty acids with your protein, while the veggie deli sandwich provides the extra added attraction of soy protein, which is just about the most powerful weapon you can find for heart health and against diabetes.
For your weight and your health, these two Pyramid sandwiches are as good as it gets. They deserve the name “classics.”
6 sandwiches—worst to best
Ham and cheese on a croissant
3½-ounce croissant
390 calories
3 ounces ham
195 calories
3 ounces American cheese
300 calories
TOTAL
885 calories
Egg salad on a bagel
4-ounce bagel
320 calories
1 cup egg salad
440 calories
TOTAL
760 calories
Roast beef on a roll
2½-ounce kaiser roll
200 calories
6 ounces roast beef
390 calories
1 tablespoon catsup
15 calories
TOTAL
605 calories
Turkey on rye
2 slices rye bread
160 calories
6 ounces white-meat turkey
300 calories
1 tablespoon mayo
100 calories
TOTAL
560 calories
Light tuna salad on whole wheat
with lettuce and tomato
2 slices whole-wheat bread
140 calories
6 ounces tuna salad made with light mayo
250 calories
5 calories
TOTAL
395 calories
Veggie deli on light bread
with lettuce and tomato
2 slices light wheat bread
80 calories
6 ounces veggie deli
180 calories
Lettuce and tomato
5 calories
1 tablespoon mustard
10 calories
TOTAL
275 calories
BARGAIN SHOPPING
With their endless possibilities for adding yet one more ingredient or condiment, soups are a real bargain—a great way to fill up deliciously on lots of healthy foods that are good sources of fiber and phytonutrients. But here, too, the choices you make are significant. Check out the four soups on the next page. All fill you with calories—mostly from refined carbohydrates and/or saturated fat—and all provide less than a single gram of fiber per serving. The soups on the bottom, however, are all Pyramid soups; they contain legumes and vegetables straight from the Beat Diabetes Pyramid, are low in refined carbohydrates and saturated fat, are virtually cholesterol-free and provide anywhere from 6 to 9 grams of fiber per serving.
Bottom line: if you’re going for a bargain, shop carefully.
New England clam chowder
Cream of mushroom soup
Seafood bisque
Ramen noodle soup
French onion soup
Chicken rice soup
Calories from refined carbs and/or saturated fat Less than 1 gram of fiber per serving
Lentil soup
Split pea soup
Split pea soup
Carrot-ginger soup
Black bean soup
Manhattan clam chowder
Low in refined carbs and saturated fat 6–9 grams fiber per serving
TUNA TODAY
It’s the great lunch standby: a tuna salad sandwich. But if you choose wisely, you can turn the standby into the gold standard of diabetes-fighting lunches. Tuna salad on a baguette? High in calories, 1 gram of fiber, not that filling a lunch. Light-mayo tuna salad on whole wheat with sliced tomato? Just about half the calories, plus 10 grams of fiber, plus phytonutrients—a triple punch against weight gain and diabetes. Add a bowl of chunky vegetable soup for more fiber, and you still won’t come close to the calorie hit of the tuna on a baguette.
Tuna on a baguette
¾ cup tuna salad
330 calories
5-ounce baguette
400 calories
TOTAL
730 calories
vs.
Tuna salad on whole wheat
¾ cup tuna salad (with light mayo)
225 calories
2 slices whole-wheat bread
140 calories
2 slices tomato
5 calories
Bowl of chunky vegetable soup
100 calories
TOTAL
470 calories
HOT DOG!
Grab a quick hot dog and what do you get? Calories and fat—and you’re still hungry. Here’s an alternative.
A veggie frank on a light bun has the same taste and same condiments—at a third of the calories, no fat, with 3 grams of fiber. Still hungry? How about a baked potato with bean chili? Your total calorie count now equals the one quick hot dog, but you’re losing the fat and gaining plenty of fiber.
Frankfurter
180 calories
17 grams fat
0 grams fiber
Bun
120 calories
0 grams fat
0 grams fiber
Mustard and relish
10 calories
0 grams fat
0 grams fiber
TOTAL
310 calories
2 grams fat
0 grams fiber
=
Veggie frank
40 calories
0 grams fat
1 gram fiber
Light bun
80 calories
0 grams fat
2 grams fiber
Mustard and relish
10 calories
0 grams fat
0 grams fiber
Baked potato
120 calories
0 grams fat
2 ½ grams fiber
¼ cup bean chili
60 calories
1 gram fat
3 grams fiber
TOTAL
310 calories
1 gram fat
8½ grams fiber
SALAD FOR LUNCH
Eleven and a half pats of butter: that’s what you’ll be burdening your waistline and your heart with when this small portion of chicken salad and Muenster cheese is your lunch. The 58 grams of fat in this calorie-heavy meal are mainly saturated fat, the kind that can raise your total and LDL cholesterol levels and burden your insulin receptors, thus raising the risk of diabetes.
Here’s another salad—bigger than the high-fat one, more colorful, much more healthful and wonderfully tasty. Rich in protein from the seafood and in phytonutrients from the vegetables, it brings you the diabetes-fighting benefits of fiber at a low, low calorie count. And compare its single teaspoon of unsaturated fat with those eleven and a half pats of butter!
¾ cup chicken salad
360 calories
24 grams fat
½ gram fiber
2 ounces Muenster cheese
210 calories
17 grams fat
0 grams fiber
Lettuce
5 calories
0 grams fat
½ gram fiber
2 tablespoons ranch dressing
160 calories
17 grams fat
0 grams fiber
TOTAL
735 calories
58 grams fat
1 gram fiber
vs.
¾ cup bean salad
170 calories
3 grams fat
10 grams fiber
2 ounces seafood
60 calories
1 gram fat
0 grams fiber
1/3 cup sliced beets
10 calories
0 grams fat
1½ grams fiber
Lettuce
5 calories
0 grams fat
½ gram fiber
2 tablespoons light creamy dressing
20 calories
2 grams fat
0 grams fiber
TOTAL
265 calories
6 grams fat
12 grams fiber
BEATING CAESAR
Edamame, the fresh green soybean, is among the hottest of the trendy new “designer foods,” yet it has been cultivated across Asia as both food and medicine for some five thousand years. The current vogue for edamame seems to have been launched in Japan, where it gained popularity as a bar snack, typically served boiled and salted. Today, it’s available in American supermarkets and gourmet shops in both fresh and frozen versions, and its pungent taste and crisp texture have made edamame a welcome ingredient in a range of dishes. This colorful recipe features edamame but blends a variety of tastes and textures, and it’s a nutritionist’s dream as well. The soy is an excellent source of protein, fiber and disease-fighting phytochemicals; the other vegetables—bell pepper, cucumber, scallion—add more nutrients; and the dressing, featuring both canola and sesame oil, offers just 7 grams of the best kind of fat. Caesar salad made with 3 ounces of chicken seems old hat by comparison, while its calorie count and fat content show it is not as benign as it looks.
1 pound edamame (frozen blanched shelled soybeans)
3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 scallions, sliced diagonally
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded and chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
Lettuce leaves
EDAMAME SALAD
1. In a large pot over high heat, bring 6 cups salted water to a boil. Add the edamame and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, soy sauce, canola oil, sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Add the drained soybeans, scallions, cucumber and bell pepper. Toss to coat. Serve on a bed of lettuce.
Yield: 6 servings
1 serving chicken
Caesar salad
450 calories
24 grams fat
vs.
1 serving
Edamame Salad
106 calories
7 grams fat
SLOPPY BUT SLENDER
You can’t see a difference between these two sloppy joes. Can’t taste a difference, either. But if you’re weight-conscious and health-conscious, you can measure the difference. The one on the left, made with veggie crumbles and on a light bun, has about half the calories of the one on the right and one-fifth of the fat. It also provides nine times the fiber content of the one on the right. Both joes may be sloppy, but the one on the left is managing his weight and fighting diabetes at the same time.
Bun
110 calories
0 grams fat
0 grams fiber
Sloppy joe mix
with 6 ounces ground beef
480 calories
36 grams fat
0 grams fiber
½ cup sauce
70 calories
0 grams fat
1 gram fiber
TOTAL
660 calories
36 grams fat
1 gram fiber
36 grams bad fat = 7 pats butter
vs.
Light bun
80 calories
0 grams fat
2 grams fiber
Sloppy joe mix
with 6 ounces veggie crumbles
240 calories
7 grams fat
6 grams fiber
½ cup sauce
70 calories
0 grams fat
1 gram fiber
TOTAL
390 calories
7 grams fat
9 grams fiber
7 grams good fat = 1 ½ teaspoons oil
MINDLESS SNACKS
They’re the kinds of foods we tend to eat mindlessly. We just grab a handful of whatever snack is there—virtually without thinking. But with a little thought we can help maintain a healthy weight and fight diabetes at the same time. Take a look: one mindless snack, the tiny piece of cheese, is loaded with the kind of saturated fat that raises your risk of diabetes. But if you grab a handful of pistachios instead, you’ll be taking in monounsaturated fat, which can actually help you prevent diabetes. So it doesn’t take a lot of thought to get and stay healthy and diabetes-free.
3 ounces brie
342 calories, 27 grams fat
27 grams bad fat = 5 ½ pats butter
2 ounces pistachios in shell
324 calories, 27 grams fat
27 grams good fat = 5 ½ teaspoons oil
WHICH WEDGE?
Even with two crackers, this slender wedge of white cheddar doesn’t offer as much to eat as a single wedge of the pizza. And since it brings with it a huge calorie count, a high content of saturated fats and the dubious health effects of a dairy food, consider the pizza instead. You could have four wedges for the same cost in calories—and enjoy a range of tastes into the bargain.
CARAMELIZED ONION AND ROASTED RED PEPPER PIZZA
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
½ teaspoon salt
1 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
5 whole-wheat pitas or flatbreads (8 inches each)
1/3 cup (1 ½ ounces) freshly shaved Parmesan cheese or dairy-free alternative
¼ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, cut into strips
P
reheat the oven to 400°F.
1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until very tender and golden brown. Stir in the peppers and vinegar.
2. Place the pitas or flatbreads on a baking sheet. Evenly divide the onion mixture among the pitas and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the pitas are crisp. Remove the pizzas from the oven and sprinkle with the basil. To serve, cut each pizza into quarters.
Yield: 20 wedges
Per wedge: 80 calories, 2 grams fat
1 wedge (3 ounces)
white cheddar cheese
320 calories 28 grams fat
=
4 servings
Caramelized Onion and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza
320 calories 8 grams fat
PEPPERONI PROMISE
Like pepperoni? Even a modest portion of small slices can be a high-calorie, high-fat snack. Or you can enjoy the taste you crave the low-calorie, no-fat way with veggie pepperoni that also offers you the diabetes-fighting benefits of soy protein. Add in some protein-filled shrimp, and you’re still nowhere near the calorie cost of the meat pepperoni on its own.