It seems that everyone has some sort of allergy or food intolerance nowadays. Many of us with diabetes try to avoid sugars (or carbohydrates in general). Those of us with hypertension must restrict sodium intake; those with high cholesterol, saturated fats. The incidence of anaphylactic peanut allergy seems to be increasing so rapidly that restaurants are putting peanut warnings on the doors to their premises. And then there's the most prevalent food allergy of all, wheat.

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To everything there is a level of precision, a degree of reliability, or a standard beyond which improvement is either unachievable, or requires huge investments of time and money well beyond the benefit of that improvement. Companies may refer to this point as "zero return on investment". Most of us just call it "good enough for jazz", "good enough for government work", or simply, "good enough".

It has been said that our ideal blood glucose levels "should" never vary outside the range of 80-126, ever -- but most of us don't have CGMs, none of us have glucose measurement technology with accuracy of greater than 5% (expanding that range out to 76-132) and even if we had them, we'd need infinitesimally-small amounts of ultra-fast acting insulin to keep it there every time it budged a point or two. For most of us, a two-hour postprandial reading of 140 is "good enough". (READ MORE)

"The 'Diabetes Police' are everywhere, telling us what we may or may not eat or do, on pain of losing a leg, going blind, or -- G-d forbid -- dying like their father's great-aunt by marriage did thirty years ago."

• --"They" tell us we may not eat breads and cakes
• --"They" tell us we may not eat fruits or sweets
• --"They" tell us we may not eat that nice, juicy bacon cheeseburger -- especially if it's accompanied by a plate of crispy French fries and a frosty tankard of microbrew ale
• --"They" tell us we may not drink anything other than tap water, or black coffee sweetened with Splenda
• --"They" tell us we must eat tons of cinnamon, bitter melon extract, and a myriad of other "cures du jour" that cure diabetes only in Halle Berry's pipe dreams

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As I stated in my last post, an "intersection" diet (or if you prefer, an "and" diet) is one in which there is more than one overriding specification: low-fat and gluten-free; low-carb and vegetarian; low-carb and low-fat and low-sodium; Halal and peanut-free, and so on.

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From deep in the throes of pre-Passover cleaning and shopping, old questions are renewed and new ones added to the litany.

As part of the seder (ritual Passover dinner), a child makes four observations, called Ma Nishtanah, starting with the question, "Why is this night different from any other night of the year?" He goes on to ask about the foods and rituals of the seder, leading the group into the maggid, or story, of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt.

My questions may be more secular in nature, and may change from year to year, but they are no less perplexing to someone who was not brought up in a Kosher home, and whose sympathies lie with those of us whose lifestyles are dictated -- at least to a certain degree -- by our personal health.

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My parents are coming over for dinner tonight. I have a reputation, among my father anyway, of being a good cook. So whenever Dad comes over, I feel obligated to make something nice for him. The one requirement: It must be gluten-free.

In my summer quest to try new foods, I've discovered quinoa (pronounce keen-wa). It's a whole grain and complete protein. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, so I did a google search, checked out some recipes and came up with my own toasted quinoa salad.
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