This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Weekly Tip and Healthy Recipe

Healthy recipe for diabetics, low salt. Marinated Vegetables with Tofu

Kevin:  I was nearly 50 and my spare tire was becoming larger and my love handles were starting to overflow. I never believed in diets – just putting in less and moving more. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be working as well as when I was younger.  

My wife suggested that I follow the Habits of Health program. I decided to do so and in two weeks, I lost those 15 unwanted pounds.  Now three years later, at 52, I’m down 7 more pounds and I feel great. I learned to control my portion sizes, how to put together a meal in balance, and to refuel throughout the day.  I also drink water…lots of water and no soda. I enjoy hiking and biking with my wife and have done some long 12-mile day hikes with her. Not bad for a guy my age.

I also enjoy hunting and it’s no problem to walk through the woods, climb my tree stand and drag my trophy back to the four wheeler. Most of the younger guys at my hunting camp have a hard time keeping up with me. I learned a lot through my experience and my plan is to continue to take my “medication,” which is healthy eating, consistent exercise, and following the Habits of Health for the rest of my life.

Find out what's happening in Duluthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

 

Find out what's happening in Duluthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

 

Approved Lean & Green Recipe: Marinated Vegetables with Tofu
(another protein may be substituted if you don't care for Tofu)

 

Cal 370 | Total Fat 17g | Sat Fat 1g | Chol 0mg | Sod 700mg | Total Carb 22g | Fiber 5g | Pro 35g

Prep Time: 15 minutes + 1 hour marinating time ~ Cook Time: 15 minutes ~ Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients:
30 oz. Mori-Nu Silken extra firm tofu*
6 cups (1 large bunch) raw spinach

2 cups (18 medium) mushrooms, sliced

1 cup (1 small) zucchini, cut into chunks

1/4 cup Newman's Own Lighten Up Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary

* Tofu can vary significantly in its nutritional content, depending on the type and brand. If you choose to use an alternative tofu, follow these guidelines for your Lean & Green Meals (totals include all Lean, Green and Healthy Fat servings):

250-350 total calories ~ 10-34g total fat (amount includes any Healthy Fat servings that are needed)

1,250mg sodium ~ 15g total carbohydrate ~ 25g protein

Directions:

Cut zucchini into small chunks. Place all ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag and marinate for at least an hour. Flip bag every 15 minutes to help evenly coat vegetables and tofu.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Remove tofu from bag; place in a bowl and set aside. Pour the remaining ingredients into skillet. Saute vegetables until tender (8-10 minutes), then add tofu to skillet. Cook tofu until heated through and lightly browned (2-3 minutes). Remove skillet from heat and serve.

Each serving counts as:

1 "Leaner" Protein Serving ~ 1 Healthy fat serving ~ 3 Vegetable Servings ~ 1 Optional Condiment Serving 

In order to keep your body in the Fat Burning State, instead of the Fat Storage State, it is critical that you fuel your body every 2 to 3 hours throughout the day for LIFE. This is also the best way to stabilize the blood sugar which keeps diseases at bay and slows the aging process!

6:30 Breakfast

Low Glycemic Breakfast with 8 oz water

9:00 Snack

PCMR with 8 oz water

Noon Lunch  

Low Glycemic Lunch with 8 oz water

3:00 Snack

PCMR with 8 oz water

6:00 Dinner

Lean & Green

9:00 Snack

PCMR with 8 oz water

 

Excerpt from Dr. A’s Habits of Health by Dr. Wayne S. Andersen

ON FIXERS AND HEALERS (Chapter 3, page 22)
By Mark Nelson, MD, FACC, MPH

How are we to understand the predicament we now find ourselves in as healthcare providers? A health care system that provides neither health nor care, and is certainly not a system but rather a patchwork quilt of “fix-it” medicine and technology -- a bureaucratic albatross sustained by enormous financial cost and surviving at the expense of untold human lives and suffering. How has it come to pass that we physicians have been taught, incentivized, and paid to fix but not to heal, to treat but not to prevent, to compartmentalize and fragment but not to create health?

I have taught my patient Frank to make his choices around the principles Dr. Andersen outlines in Dr. A’s Habits of Health. He feels renewed and invigorated, and he says he has more hope and energy than he’s experienced in many years. He’s been able to discontinue his diabetic and anti-hypertensive medications because his insulin resistance and hypertension have both been resolved. He’s succeeded in creating health for himself and has integrated healthy habits into his life—eating small, frequent, healthy low-fat meals; having breakfast every day; exercising regularly; and weighing himself weekly. He’s internalized my support as a coach and has incorporated that into his daily routine as well.

On a recent visit to his primary care physician, Frank’s doctor told him, “Well, Frank, I guess you don’t need me anymore.” I wondered at this doctor’s dilemma, of feeling helpless and perhaps even worthless in the face of his patient’s health. How strange that he could envision no role for himself in his patient’s quest for health, for a life without disease, labels, medications, and an endless litany of tests and procedures. And I wondered, couldn’t his physician imagine himself as both fixer and healer? As doing more than simply reacting to disease? Could he envision preventing illness and creating health? Have we physicians become so tired of the bureaucratic entanglements, so inured to medication upon medication and test upon test, that we’ve forgotten (or perhaps never realized) our untapped potential to teach our patients Habits of Health, to work with them to create health and conquer disease?

Perhaps the ultimate test of our relevance and compassion as physicians is to have the courage to let go of the familiar and learn to walk with our patients who yearn to learn and practice Habits of Health, so that they may be not just free of disease, but free to create lives of unsurpassed health.

 

 

Your approved Lean & Green shopping chart links are included below. Also available on Dr. Wayne Andersen's Habits of Health website.

  

Certified Health Coach- Grant Hughes 678-468-2523

Referrals are the best compliment I can ever receive from you. Thank you in advance!

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?