Low-Glycemic Diet is the Best
So, a new study from Boston Children’s Hospital shows that a low-glycemic diet seems to be the best out there. I have always felt this way since I get really intense blood sugar swings. My boyfriend knows to stay away from me when I am hungry and this type of diet seems to be the only way to keep that under control. It’s also great because you can eat meat, fish, grains, veggies, fruits and oils. That’s basically all I need to hear to be happy (chocolate added on to that list would help, though).
Also, I am so glad the low-fat diet craze is over! The days of eating snackwells low fat cookies and low fat mayo are over, thank goodness. Have you ever read the ingredients in fat free mayo? It’s scary. Sometimes I make my own mayo, it has 3 ingredients: eggs, olive oil and lemon juice, the end. You need a fat to make mayo or else it would not have the right consistency. That is why manufacturers have to put tons of processed ingredients in it to give it that fluffiness. I’d rather eat the fat from real mayo than eat high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch and cellulose gel in the fat free version.
The only problem I find with adhering to the low-glycemic diet is the cost. Sadly in most parts of this country, fruit costs more than oreos. Its no wonder why people choose oreos instead (besides the fact that they are made with sugar which is an addicting drug in itself). Eating a low fat diet got popular in the 90′s as well because the diet is actually lower in cost since you can find so many processed foods that are “low fat”.
The real question is how do you adhere to a diet of natural foods that are unprocessed while saving money? It’s sad that this is the kind of situation we face today. Sugar, white flour, corn, soy are all cheap. But they are also making us really sick.
Some Tips:
- Only buy what you need. Just buy the essentials all the time and know that if you want a treat later, you can buy it later on on a whim.
- Make use of everything. If you have left over apples that you probably wont eat, make applesauce before they go bad. If you have left over veggies, make a soup and freeze it for another day.
- Shop the reduced rack at the grocery store in the produce section. I buy a lot of my onions and corn for 99 cents since the grocery store is trying to get rid of them.
- Stretch your food. If you only have 1 piece of steak and you want to feed 4 people, cut the steak up small and make a stir fry with lots of veggies and rice.
- Know how to cook. I always stress this but its true. Sometimes if I have no butter, I whip up heavy cream and make butter. Sometimes I want to make something Mexican but I have no tortillas. I always have some Masa in the pantry that I just add water to and I make home made tortillas. If I want hummus to dip my carrots in but ran out, I will take a can of chickpeas from the pantry and whip them up with some tahini and make my own. Be creative and inventive.
Click here to see a shopping list of the recommended foods to buy for the low-glycemic diet.
The thing I like about this diet and shopping list is that it is easy to follow. It doesn’t say you cant have any sugar, it doesn’t say you cant eat meat, it doesn’t say you cant eat grains. All of those other diets get boring quick, which is why they are so hard to stick to.
Here is an example of the mediterranean diet that a non-profit in Boston called Oldways came up with. I worked for them for a bit and their mediterranean diet goes right along with this low-glycemic diet. I find it easier to read than the new American MyPlate pyramid.
Moving to San Diego– Finding an apartment
I am so excited that we are moving to San Diego!
I am relocating with my job to San Diego and my boyfriend is coming along. I have been spoiled by living with my father for the year and not having to pay rent, but I have saved a lot of money and now its time for us to rent our first place together. Since we still want to be saving money, we are looking at a studio for very cheap, around $700-$900 a month. That way even when Hernan doesn’t have a job, we don’t need to worry too much. Maybe once we are more settled, we will look for a bigger apartment but for now, we don’t need a lot. My requirements in an apartment: 1 full bath, small kitchen, room for a bed and maybe a couch.
We are looking in Hillcrest and Bankers Hill since I would like to be close enough to work that I can walk. That way, we can just have one car and we don’t need to spend money on another. I will keep everyone updated on our move, it will happen at the end of July!
Websites I’ll be using to find an apartment: craigslist
Websites Hernan will use to find a job: Linkedin, simplyhired, glassdoor (these are the 3 best out there in my opinion)
Blush as Eyeshadow
Getting my makeup done can be seriously disastrous. Usually the makeup session is great but I always feel extremely compelled to buy tons of new makeup that I don’t really need! Last time I had a makeup session with a professional makeup artist, I told her that I was on a budget and really only wanted the bare essentials. I needed blush anyway so she suggested that I try using my blush as an eyeshadow. I thought it looked great and I was excited about the new trick. I am not sure if it will look good on all skin tones, but I think since I have some red undertones in my skin anyway, the blush color picks that up pretty well. Reddish tones look good against blue eyes anyway since they are opposite colors on the spectrum.
So there ya go, a really easy trick that can save you money by spending less on makeup!
Flautas
These are chicken flautas (sometimes called taquitos) that my boyfriend and I made the other night. He helped teach me the flauta-making ways since the flauta was actually born in his hometown. The word means flute in Spanish and as you can see, these do look like little flutes. They are extremely cheap to make and they are quick and easy, as long as your have some sort of filling ready. We made these with chicken but then in the morning, we made the same recipe but filled them just with boiled potatoes.
Ingredients:
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 cups shredded chicken
- 1/4 c. oil (canola or olive)
- Lettuce, cheese or try the Cumin Lime sauce that I made up for garnish.
Pineapple and Ginger Dessert
I had read a while ago that adding ginger to pineapple is a great mix. The ginger really gives an amazing flavor to the pineapple and I even added some of this to cottage cheese for a snack. Just cut the pineaplle into cubes and add in the minced ginger. Refrigerate it for a couple of hours to let the flavors come together. Super easy, quick and healthy. It’s probably a different taste than anything you may have tried in the past.
Jojoba Oil as a Cheap and Great Moisturizer
You can find jojoba oil just about everywhere nowadays and it is a really great night time moisturizer for most skin types. It is completely natural and the only ingredient is pure jojoba oil. I wouldn’t use this if your skin is already really oily but if it is combination or dry, this can really help. It is also pretty cheap, this bottle is about $5 and it will last you a very long time since you use so little. I just put 3 little drops and that pretty much covers my whole face. It closley matches the natural oils produced by your skin so its great to use especially in the winter when your skin gets more dry. One thing to note though is that you should only use this before bed though as it can make your face look oily for daytime use. It’s also great if you have dried out your skin with benzoyl peroxide or anything like that to retain your skin’s natural moisture. Overdrying your skin is really horrible and this can really save the day, especially if you don’t want to buy expensive heavy creams which clog up your pores.
I learned about jojoba oil here and have been using it for a while. It makes your skin feel really soft when you wake up and I think it helps create a more even skin tone. I have even found this stuff at my local supermarket before so I really do think you can find it anywhere. Try it out!
Tacos Two Ways: Chicken and Rajas
Tacos are cheap, easy and really versatile, which is why I make them all the time. I love the chicken tacos, but i think I like the rajas even better. Rajas literally means little strips and thats exactly what they are here, little strips of poblano pepper in a creamy sauce. I learned how to make this from my boyfriend’s family and have adapted the recipe to use ingredients I can find here in the North East. It would be a little tricky to find suero (cow’s whey in liquid form) around here, but that is what his family used. I’ve adapted the recipe to use milk, sour cream and cheese and it tastes almost as good. Here’s me thinking I am Mexican by making tamales in Mexico with Hernan’s family.
.
Even though I am not at all Mexican, I have finally started to make some great tacos. I don’t usually take cooking shortcuts, but I found these sauce marinade packets made by Rick Bayless of Frontera grill in Chicago. He is awesome and the packets were on sale. They also have no artificial ingredients or preservatives so I figured I’d try them out. I used half the sauce as a marinade and the other half I mixed into the chicken after it was cooked. I found these chicken tenders on sale for $2.50 and the poblanos were $4 for 6. Both of these tacos are pretty spicy, the poblano peppers give the rajas the spiciness. The rajas are a great option for vegetarians, and you might get addicted to them.
For the chicken tacos, you’ll need
- 1 packet frontera grill sauce, or any red Mexican marinade
- 1 package chicken stir fry tenders
- corn tortillas
- 6 poblano peppers
- 1 onion
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 c. sour cream
- 1/4 c. milk
- 2 slices cheese, any kind
- corn tortillas
Chicken grilled, poblanos grilled until charred
For the Rajas, cook 6 poblanos on the grill until charred on all sides, about 20 minutes. Take them off and place in zipped plastic bag. Let steam for 10 minutes and then peel the outer skin off. Meanwhile, saute a diced onion for 5 minutes in 1 tbsp. olive oil. Remove seeds from poblanos and cut into tiny strips. Add in with onions, cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add in the sour cream, then then milk, then the cheese. Don’t worry too much if it curdles a bit, its still fine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put either the chicken mixture r the rajas mixture into a corn tortilla and top with cut up lettuce, sour cream, cilantro, whatever you want. These are amazing, seriously. Can’t find poblano peppers? You can use bell peppers as you can see in my other food blog here.
