C'mon it's only three weeks to make a difference. Eating veggies in this diabetic reversal diet can make you cold, you’re not eating any fat, and there’s a load of fat draining out of your body at the same time, so be prepared to grab a fleece if you’re cold and put on some socks.
Put a scarf around you neck, your thermostatic control point.. Cold neck? Cold body… Hot neck? Hot body.
If you’re starting this diet in a cooler climate or at a colder time of the year, you’ll want to make yourself warm by eating hot food. Here’s some cooking concepts regarding hot veggies.
Soups. that don't make you squirm
Possibly the easiest and quickest hot food for the diet. Chop up cauliflower and broccoli florets really small, then throw them into a pan of boiling water – not a lot of water - as too much willl make the soup water – but enough to cover the florets. Bring to the boil, count 20 “elephants” – one elephant, two elephant, etc etc – and then take off the heat. Put the hot pan aside, wait for it to cool a little.
The concept of the quick and short cooking is to keep the vegetables looking green and keeping their nutrients as fresh as possible. School dinners are over, no more stewed brown limp vegetables. We won’t be doing limp on this diet. Ever.
Also less cooking will retain some of the structure of the vegtable to give the soup texture.
Once the soup has dropped its heat, blitz with a hand held chopping machine, or pour into a blender that can taek hot liquids. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper. If these soups are too bland for you, then dissolve a vegetable stock cube into the water before you add the vegetables. Also some chopped garlic can give it a zing. After the first three weeks, onions can be added. But no potatoes. Say bye bye to potatoes. It’s for your own good.
Celery soup, when you make it yourself has an amazing taste. Celery chopped or sliced small and boiled quickly in a small amount of water, perhaps a few tarragon leaves or try a pinch or two of cumin. Poke the celery until its soft, all the juices are in the water, and when cooler, blitz in a bender or using a hand held gadget. You may have to sieve the soup afterwards though, some celery can be a bit stringy.
Stir-fry veggies made to have a taste that bites back
Amazingly, some vegetables can taste better stri-fried than boiled or blanched. A mixture of mushrooms, dry-fried reveals a taste intensity. Add a cupful of blitzed cauliflower florets (looks like rice and very filling) and a handful or coriander leaves.
You can also blitz brocolli florets to make into a filler.
Shredded white cabbage stirfried with garlic – or garlic pwder – can be really crunchy and tasy. Infact stirfried broccoli and cauliflower florets with red and white shredded cabbage together, can be quite filling.
Don’t forget, you are not limited by amounts of what you eat. We’re just trying to get the body adjusted to different types of food and getting the internal tastebuds adjusted to not sugar.y tastes.
Soy beans, peas, courgettes, runner beans,mushrooms is another mix. Try some finely sliced fennel in the mix. Don’t forget the seasoning, and add garlic and a tiny amount of chilli perhaps
Discover new vegetables - it’s always a challenge.
Try the many types of Asian vegetables turning up on our shelves such as pak choi – but be careful how you cook it so it doesn’t turn into a soggy mess. Heat up a small saucepan of boiling water, say half full - then turn off the heat and place the pak choi in the water, but put it in carefully so it remains vertical and only the white fleshy part is below water, and the green leaves are above. The steam from the water should cook the leaves. Poke the fleshy part with a knife until it’s the al dente texture you like, whip it out and sprinkle with finely chopped ginger and a squeeze of lemon juice. Throw a handful of freshly ripped Thai basil leaves. THAT is a taste sensation.
Roasted vegetables
Part of this diet being succesful is reinventing your cookng. So would you think of roasting slices of cauliflower smudged with turmeric in the oven? Or perhaps pesto? http://www.vicshealthkitchen.com/cooking/2015/2/1/guilt-free-cauliflower-chips