We came across this recipe from a cookbook full of recipes that are gluten free. There are a lot of recipes in the book that are grain free also which is perfect for those of us who need to watch our carb intake! These bars are so good and full of protein, fiber, and good fats. Leo, Shannyn and I would actually have them for breakfast, snack time and dessert. Enjoy!
Chocolate Almond Protein Bars
Bars
2 cups almond meal
1 cup ground flax seed meal
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
3 scoops of chocolate whey protein powder (make sure it's not sweetened with sugar)
1/2 cup xylitol or stevia (no chemical sweeteners for us!)
1/2 cup coconut oil (don't worry, it's an excellent fat to have in your diet!)
1/4 cup butter (the real stuff, not margarine)
3 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 tsp pure vanilla
Chocolate Topping
4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
2 Tbs coconut oil
1 Tbs butter
1/4 tsp liquid stevia (well worth the price tag! find it at a natural grocery store)
1. Place almond meal, flax meal, coconut, whey protein, and xylitol or stevia in a food processor and pulse until mixture is ground into a meal consistency
2. In a double boiler, melt coconut oil, butter and 3 squares of chocolate. Once melted, add vanilla and stir to combine.
3. Mix liquid chocolate with dry ingredients in a bowl until it turns into a paste
4. Press mixture into a 8x8 glass baking dish and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour or until mixture hardens
5. In a double boiler, melt butter and coconut oil. Stir in liquid stevia. Add chocolate squares and stir until melted.
6. Pour melted chocolate over bars and tilt pan to spread evenly. Return to refrigerator until chocolate hardens.
7. Cut into squares and enjoy! If the chocolate cracks when cutting, let the bars sit for a few minutes at room temperature.
Keep these refrigerated so they don't soften up. They also freeze well. For the whole 8x8 pan I figured there was a total of about 110 g of carbohydrates and 100 of those grams were fiber. Your totals may be different depending on the type of whey protein used but usually whey protein powder is about 1.5-2 grams of carbs per scoop. Just make sure you read the label and find some that isn't sweetened with sugar! There are a few brands that sweeten their protein powder with stevia. We have been drinking a lot of "milkshakes" for breakfast using the whey protein. The kids get a big kick out of it!
The liquid stevia is pricey but also very worth it. You don't use a whole lot at any given time and it's so much better for you than artificial sweeteners. I found mine at Natural Grocers and they had a whole line of flavored liquid stevia that you could mix with sparkling water to make fun sodas too! I'm going to go get some root beer flavor and try it out!
These bars are really easy to make and really good for you. I don't have any guilt grabbing one of these for a snack, breakfast or dessert. Leo absolutely loves them and it's a sweet snack that won't spike his blood sugar. Hope you enjoy them!
*Check out www.maximizedliving.com for more great gluten and grain free recipes!*
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
What's In A Name
I bet you all are wondering why I named this blog the way I did. Okay so maybe I'm a little conceited thinking that you are staying up at night trying to figure this out. Well, I'm going to tell you anyway why I named this blog "Islets in the Stream." And you just might learn something more about diabetes in the process.
I love play-on words and phrases so firstly, the title is a play on the classic country song "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. You all know the one....don't make me sing it! Secondly, "islets" refers to the Islets of Langerhans; the hormone producing regions of the pancreas.
The pancreas produces several different hormones. The two that diabetics are concerned most about are insulin, produced by beta cells, and glucagon, produced by alpha cells. The beta cells are the cells that are attacked by the immune system in type-1 diabetes.
Insulin is the hormone that allows sugar to pass from the bloodstream into cells, giving them energy. Lack of insulin raises blood sugar levels. Glucagon is a hormone that signals the liver to release stored sugar, or glucose, into the bloodstream when blood sugar levels fall too low. (Bet you didn't know the liver was involved in diabetes too!)
Leo has an emergency glucagon pen that we carry with him wherever he goes. It is kind of like an epi-pen for diabetics. Though this is not so much a pen and a giant needle with sugar solution in it. If Leo has a severe low (severe meaning unconsciousness or seizures) I have to inject this giant needle into his leg to give his body access to immediate sugar. I've been lucky in that I haven't had to experience this. Honestly, I hope I never do.
Life is a journey. There have been many poets, songwriters, and authors that have referred to life as a journey down a river or stream. We all have our calm days of floating blissfully in the sunshine and we all have days where we have to battle the rapids just to stay afloat. So there you have it. Islets in the Stream.
*There is a great article on Wikipedia that explains the Islets of Langerhans and the other hormones they produce. Just click the link below and you'll find more info!*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islets_of_Langerhans
I love play-on words and phrases so firstly, the title is a play on the classic country song "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. You all know the one....don't make me sing it! Secondly, "islets" refers to the Islets of Langerhans; the hormone producing regions of the pancreas.
The pancreas produces several different hormones. The two that diabetics are concerned most about are insulin, produced by beta cells, and glucagon, produced by alpha cells. The beta cells are the cells that are attacked by the immune system in type-1 diabetes.
Insulin is the hormone that allows sugar to pass from the bloodstream into cells, giving them energy. Lack of insulin raises blood sugar levels. Glucagon is a hormone that signals the liver to release stored sugar, or glucose, into the bloodstream when blood sugar levels fall too low. (Bet you didn't know the liver was involved in diabetes too!)
Leo has an emergency glucagon pen that we carry with him wherever he goes. It is kind of like an epi-pen for diabetics. Though this is not so much a pen and a giant needle with sugar solution in it. If Leo has a severe low (severe meaning unconsciousness or seizures) I have to inject this giant needle into his leg to give his body access to immediate sugar. I've been lucky in that I haven't had to experience this. Honestly, I hope I never do.
Life is a journey. There have been many poets, songwriters, and authors that have referred to life as a journey down a river or stream. We all have our calm days of floating blissfully in the sunshine and we all have days where we have to battle the rapids just to stay afloat. So there you have it. Islets in the Stream.
*There is a great article on Wikipedia that explains the Islets of Langerhans and the other hormones they produce. Just click the link below and you'll find more info!*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islets_of_Langerhans
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Type Casting
People always seem shocked when they learn that my 5 year old son is diabetic. I get comments that range from "but he's so young" to "he's not overweight though!" I think most people automatically think of Type-2 diabetes when they first find out about Leo. There are 3 main types of diabetes. Type-1, Type-2 and Gestational.
I suppose I should share a bit about what diabetes is before I jump into the different types. Diabetes refers to the inability to use our body's insulin to move glucose into our cells. When we eat or drink, our body breaks down our food into 3 basic things; fat, protein, and carbohydrates. The carbs are broken down further into glucose, the body's main source of energy. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows the sugar from our food to be transported from the bloodstream into the body's cells to fuel them. Without insulin, the glucose stays in the blood, starving the cells of energy, and is eventually passed through the urine. Check out the video from the American Diabetes Association too!
Okay so there you go. A VERY basic overview of how this stuff works. Now on to the differences between the three types.
Type-2 diabetes is rampant in America. It is common among older folks as well as obese individuals. Type-2's still make insulin but their body doesn't utilize it as well as it should. It has also been called "insulin resistant" diabetes. Most of the time, type-2 can be controlled by changing the diet and making healthy lifestyle changes that include that dreaded thing, exercise.
Gestational diabetes is when a woman develops diabetes while pregnant, usually after the 24th week. The hormones produced by the placenta can sometimes prevent the mother's body from using her own insulin efficiently. Gestational diabetes can affect the baby and can raise the mother's risk of developing diabetes after her baby is born. Usually, though, the diabetes goes away after delivery.
Type-1 is what Leo, Shannyn and I struggle with daily. It used to be called Juvenile Diabetes but the name was changed because young adults and even those in their 30s and 40s are being diagnosed. Newer research is pushing the classification of type-1 diabetes into an auto-immune disorder. Leo's body has attacked his pancreas and destroyed the cells that produce insulin. He needs injections of synthetic insulin to convert his food into energy. These injections can also do him harm though. In a non-diabetic, when the pancreas releases too much insulin, the body can absorb the excess. However, with synthetic, the insulin has a "shelf life" within the body and will continue to work for up to 24 hours depending on the type of insulin. (Yes there's more than 1 type of insulin too, but I'll get into that later.) Sometimes too much insulin is floating around and Leo has hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and sometimes there isn't enough insulin which causes hyperglycemia (high blood sugar.) These both have their own set of nasty symptoms and results. Another post about hypo and hyperglycemia is in order I think!
I encourage anyone who wants more information on the types of diabetes, the risk factors, symptoms and stats to visit either the American Diabetes Association website at www.diabetes.org or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at www.jdrf.org. I got most of my info for this post from these 2 sites.
I suppose I should share a bit about what diabetes is before I jump into the different types. Diabetes refers to the inability to use our body's insulin to move glucose into our cells. When we eat or drink, our body breaks down our food into 3 basic things; fat, protein, and carbohydrates. The carbs are broken down further into glucose, the body's main source of energy. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows the sugar from our food to be transported from the bloodstream into the body's cells to fuel them. Without insulin, the glucose stays in the blood, starving the cells of energy, and is eventually passed through the urine. Check out the video from the American Diabetes Association too!
Okay so there you go. A VERY basic overview of how this stuff works. Now on to the differences between the three types.
Type-2 diabetes is rampant in America. It is common among older folks as well as obese individuals. Type-2's still make insulin but their body doesn't utilize it as well as it should. It has also been called "insulin resistant" diabetes. Most of the time, type-2 can be controlled by changing the diet and making healthy lifestyle changes that include that dreaded thing, exercise.
Gestational diabetes is when a woman develops diabetes while pregnant, usually after the 24th week. The hormones produced by the placenta can sometimes prevent the mother's body from using her own insulin efficiently. Gestational diabetes can affect the baby and can raise the mother's risk of developing diabetes after her baby is born. Usually, though, the diabetes goes away after delivery.
Type-1 is what Leo, Shannyn and I struggle with daily. It used to be called Juvenile Diabetes but the name was changed because young adults and even those in their 30s and 40s are being diagnosed. Newer research is pushing the classification of type-1 diabetes into an auto-immune disorder. Leo's body has attacked his pancreas and destroyed the cells that produce insulin. He needs injections of synthetic insulin to convert his food into energy. These injections can also do him harm though. In a non-diabetic, when the pancreas releases too much insulin, the body can absorb the excess. However, with synthetic, the insulin has a "shelf life" within the body and will continue to work for up to 24 hours depending on the type of insulin. (Yes there's more than 1 type of insulin too, but I'll get into that later.) Sometimes too much insulin is floating around and Leo has hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and sometimes there isn't enough insulin which causes hyperglycemia (high blood sugar.) These both have their own set of nasty symptoms and results. Another post about hypo and hyperglycemia is in order I think!
I encourage anyone who wants more information on the types of diabetes, the risk factors, symptoms and stats to visit either the American Diabetes Association website at www.diabetes.org or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at www.jdrf.org. I got most of my info for this post from these 2 sites.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
And Away We Go
So a little about me and the family.
Our family started in 1999 when I married my best friend, Bryan. In March of 2003, we had our daughter Shannyn. She has always been a "girly" girl who loves princesses, Barbies and pretty much anything pink. Leo joined our clan in March of 2006. I know...two March babies! They weren't even planned that way and their birthday's are only 4 days apart. In November of 2006, I was unexpectedly and very rudely introduced into the world of single parenting when Bryan was killed in a motorcycle accident on his way home from work. Since then, I have been what I call an "only" parent. We have had ups and downs, as most families do, but I have to be the nurturer and disciplinarian all at the same time. It's rough, yes, but I know that there are others out there with far more difficult struggles.
Things were going as best as can be expected until January of 2010. Actually, things started going awry in September of 2009, but we didn't know what was going on until the following January. My little Leo, who was 3 at the time, started getting sick. It started with excess urination. This kid peed all the time! I didn't think much of it because I figured he was just a boy enjoying the whole "standing up to go" thing. Then the thirst started. It got to the point that when I would limit his drinks, he would cry and cry. Finally one day in January, he was throwing up just about everything he ate. All of a sudden, he looked 10 pounds thinner and had these dark circles under his eyes. That night I was terrified of going to bed not knowing if I would find him alive or not in the morning. We raced to the ER and got the diagnosis I was avoiding for the last 4 months.
When Leo was diagnosed with Type 1, he was extremely dehydrated, his blood sugar was nearing 900 and he was in diabetic ketoacidosis, a very dangerous condition in which the body breaks down fat and uses it for fuel instead of sugar. The fat breakdown causes acids to build up in the blood which can be fatal. But I'll get more into all this diabetic talk in later posts. We spent 3 days in the hospital and then were sent to the Barbara Davis Center in Denver for training and specialized care.
Every 3 months, we still travel the hour or so to Denver and the wonderful medical professionals at the Barbara Davis Center. Leo has testing done, is checked over by the doctors there, and I usually am given new dosages for insulin injections. Which again, I will get into that later. No sense in overwhelming you at the very beginning, right?
So there's a bit of back story. Every day we do 4-8 finger pokes to test Leo's blood sugar and he gets 4-5 insulin injections. And we argue about what to eat and what not to eat. And we argue about drinking water. And we fight over when, where, and how to do injections. And then there's school and all the other normal "kid stuff" to deal with.
I hope that eventually other parents of diabetic kids and/or Type 1's will find their way to this blog and realize that they are not alone. We all have our struggles and strengths and I hope that one of my struggles will be lessened by what I feel is one of my strengths; writing and sharing my experiences.
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