Diabetes Recipes:
Salad
Vegetable Stock for Soup
Spring Asparagus Soup
Fresh Strawberries and a Ginger Cookie
Diabetes And The Five Tibetans
You might say this is impossible. Or you may be fascinated as I was, to the possibility.
When I traveled to Tibet last year I watched the pilgrims performing a walking prostration around the Potala Temple in Tibet’s capital city, Lhasa. They moved rhythmically in an almost liquid dance of prayer, around and in front of, the ancient Buddhist temple. They seemed oblivious to the crowds and clutter around them as they undulated their bodies in devotion. I was curious by their concentration and focus and wondered if I could be so disciplined and devout.
A few months after returning home from Tibet, my Tai Chi teacher gave me a book called Ancient Secrets of the Fountain of Youth, Book 2 by Peter Kelder. The book gives testimonies of travelers to Tibet in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, some of them women, disguised, of course, as men, who learned exercise postures and breathing methods, along with scholarly wisdom, that changed their lives and revitalized their spirits. Along this mystic way many claim to have met nomadic peasants and trance walkers who were living healthy lives at 200 and 400 years old. Perhaps this is true. It made me think of living with diabetes which somehow stimulates a need to explore and experiment with a wide brush stroke of possibilities aiming towards better health. The book sparked enough curiosity to make me read on.
The main content relates to a series of 5 exercises called the Five Tibetan Rites. They are simple enough to do with a little practice and patience, they don’t take much time (10-15 minutes), don’t require any special membership to an organization like a gym, don’t call for any special equipment and can be done on your own in your time. I am reporting about them to you because in the few months I have been practicing these exercises, they have had a positive effect on my well being as a diabetic. By well being I mean that my energy level is more robust, my skin has a healthier glow and I seem to have a more alert attention span and a certain calmness and tolerance in allowing for the ups and downs of diabetes.
The 5 exercises that compose the rites are: twirling, straight leg lifts, chest expansion, bridge or table top and up/down dog stretch. If you are interested in learning details and procedures, ask your local library to order the book or go to www.barnesandnoble.com. As with all exercise, proceed with care and thoughtfulness, especially when twirling. Start with 3 of each movement and very gradually, by adding 1 additional per week, work up to 21. Let me know, after doing these stretching movements for a few months, if your skin glows with ore radiance, your diabetes care is easier to handle and you have an easier time smiling each day.
The sequel to the book is a cookbook. To paraphrase the quote at the beginning of this book “we live in a complicated world but this does not mean we must play the game.” Food is an area that we should take care to control with a simple fresh foods diet. This does not mean we should follow the plant diet of Tibetan monks, but we can make some wholesome changes to foster a healthier more robust body. Here are a few tips.
Suggested Diet Guidelines To Accompany The Exercise
- Chew food thoroughly. If you can, chew to a liquid. This is a great aid to the digestive process.
- Don’t eat meat and starch at the same meal. The components in these foods make digestion arduous and sluggish.
- Eat fresh basic foods slowly in a pleasant environment, instead of eating on the run without care.
- Avoid processed and preserved foods and artificially treated foods like sweeteners.
- Eat only as much as you need and save the rest. Overindulging drains energy and messes with blood sugars.
Building a Simple Healthy Diet at the Cyber Kitchen Spring Lunch Counter
I like to think of recipes as flexible guidelines. Most home cooks follow simple methods of preparation and cooking and gravitate towards the same school of ingredients. It is following your appetite or what you like to eat. When the regular diet is wholesome and balanced and suddenly you crave pickled herring or something that you ordinarily don’t care about, it usually indicates a food the body needs. For today, let’s make a couple very simple and basic foods that have endless variations to satisfy your preferences.