Diabetic exchange plan consists of six components/categories. They are starches, meat and meat substitutes, vegetables, fruits, milk, and fats. Dietitians use this structure when making and offering various types of diabetic diets for their patients.

People who suffer from diabetes and have to follow diabetic diets at least from time to time to keep their blood sugar level under control and/or make it lower find this food division into categories very useful.

Diabetic exchange plan has two main rules: all food exchanges are made within one and the same category, and the number of calories has to be constant for both substitutes. Concerning the first one everything seams pretty simple and clear: don’t exchange meat for cheese and apples for bread. But the second one is not that simple if you count calories on your own. It can take a lot of time and efforts.

To make it simpler make a brief research in the web or just ask a professional and don’t waste your time. Remember that incorrect calorie counting could be too dangerous for your health. As we all know the number and quality of daily food has direct influence on blood sugar level. And this figure is of primary importance for all diabetics.

It’s Easter time again, the time of year where we all like to over-indulge to the max, consuming more than our bodyweight in chocolate and feeling the worse for it come Monday morning. A better idea than munching our way through galaxies and Mars bars, which if taste is anything to go by isn’t even real chocolate anyway, would be to set off a Wish Lantern These beauties would be a wonderful marker of this religious festival. In fact releasing a lantern is almost a re-enactment of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sort of. Well, perhaps not. If you were to set off a sky lantern instead of punishing your body needlessly, then you would probably have an infinitely more rewarding and enjoyable Easter time. Perhaps you could even marry the two activities in some way. Why not attach a small bar of chocolate to a lantern and watch it rise and drift majestically out of your grasp. Or perhaps you might even- with a little imagination and dexterity- be able to fashion your own chocolate lantern. Simply buy a tulip shaped mould, pour in some melted chocolate, leave to set, and hey presto, you have your very own chocolate wish lantern, an alternative to an Easter egg perhaps. The only problem is, it may melt, and it certainly wouldn’t float!

Organic groceries can be found in most grocery stores throughout the United States. Naturally the most common place to find organic groceries would be at a farmers market. A farmers market can usually be found from spring until fall in the northern Untied States. You can find nearly everything from apples to pumpkins and other squash and vegetables such as broccoli, beets, spinach, cauliflower, carrots, greenbeans to fruits such as apples, peaches, strawberries, blueberries and even organically grown flowers such as sunflowers, glads, and lovely wildflowers. You can also find organic soy products at a farmers market.

Organic groceries can also be found at your local supermarkets. Don’t just think of the organically grown fruits and vegetables as the only organic groceries that the store offers its consumers. In the spice isle you will find organic sea salt, garlics, and other spices and herbs. In the dairy case you should be able to find yogurts, soymilk, all natural cheeses and cottage cheeses. All natural organic groceries can be found in popcorn, chips and certain snack foods.

Organic groceries can also be found in biodegradable products such as dish soap, laundry soap, toothpaste, shampoos, cat littler, pet foods, herb growing kits for your kitchen and even medications to sooth the sore throat such as cough drops, suckers and herbal teas. Herbal remedies as organic groceries have found a new market in the consumer who no longer wants to give their children over the counter medications after the recent problems with reactions with small children to cough syrups. Herbal teas and soothing herbal suckers have found a new market as an organic grocery. Horehound an herb, is now a popular cough drop that used to be marketed as a hard candy.

Another area you can find organic groceries would be your local town coops, feed stores, area farm stores that carry items for farmers, ranchers and even small plant nurseries. Organic groceries can be laundry detergents, dish soaps, personal care items, fruits and vegetables, nuts, flowers, soy products, dairy products, herbs and spices, pet foods, cat litters and even the things you treat a sick family member with such as cough drops. Organic grocery shopping is all ready here and probably all ready in your own shopping areas with an eye for expanding in all of our futures.

Nobody knows better than Celebrations that the most important part of any kid’s birthday are the birthday cakes that it features. From the cream in between each layer of cake to the fun you have with frosting decorations, creating the perfect cake is almost like a gift for your child.

Baking can be hard, but with the right recipe, you can create any style of cake you want. It can be themed or just full of frosting. Birthdays are a great way to show your love for your child, and we have the tips you need for creating delicious desserts your kids will love.

Birthday Sand Pail Cake

A sand pail cake a delicious addition to any beach or summer-themed party.

Sand Pail Cake

1. Purchase a small pail with shovels for each guest.
2. Bake or purchase a white or yellow cake.
3. Cut the cake into squares and fill the pail with these squares.
4. Cover the cake with white frosting.
5. Sprinkle plenty of graham cracker dust on top of the frosting for the sand effect.

Dump Truck Brownies

If you have Bob the Builder on your mind, dump trucks are the perfect way to go. Be sure to set out plenty of space for the kids to play with these brownies!

Dump Truck Brownies

1. Bake or buy a sheet or two of brownies.
2. Once the brownies have cooled down, cut them into small squares.
3. Next, load all the brownies onto the back of a large toy dump truck.
4. Frost the brownies to act as a glue
5. Cover with crumbled Oreos cookies for a dirt effect.

Courtesy of Celebrations expert Yelena Jenkins.

For this recipe, I use either muscovy duck, a brazilian breed which is known for its incredible flavor and lean profile, or wild-hunted duck. Other breeds, such as moulard or pekin, will do fine, but be aware that the principal difference among these types of duck is the fat cap underneath the skin. With any breed of duck, to cook it properly, you want to render the fat from under the skin of the breast at a cooking temperature and time that will allow the skin to brown perfectly, once all the excess fat is rendered away. For all breeds, lightly score the duck breast, skin side, so that the skin is pierced (freeing the fat to render away), without going into the flesh of the breast. To do this, you will need a sharp knife. Score the breast at 45 deg. angles, so you end up with a diamond pattern on the skin side of the breast.

To prep the duck for cooking, score it and season it with salt and pepper on both sides. Allow the duck to rest for 30 minutes. When you are ready to serve, do not add butter or oil to your pan - just set the duck, skin side down, in the pan and cook over low to moderate heat. As the fat renders away, pour it off. You want to adjust your heat, and your time in cooking the skin side, so that most of the fat is rendered about the time your skin is browned nicely.

For 6

6 hen breasts, or 3 drake breasts (of moulard or muscovy), each portion being app. 8 ounces, uncooked.

Corn Crepes

Corn Crepes
4 cups corn kernels (about 4 ears)
salt
white pepper
1 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cups milk
3 tbsp melted butter
nutmeg (couple of pinches)
4 tbsp minced chives
Olive Oil

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add corn, salt and pepper and cover, cooking about 3-4 minutes and tossing through a couple of times. Process in food processor and cool. Once cool, add flour, eggs, milk, butter and nutmeg. Blend until smooth. Fold in minced chives. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Prepare crepes with olive oil in non-stick per s.o.p. Cool and set aside. At service, take 3 crepes and reheat gently. Fold into triangles.

Sage-Sour Cherry Sauce

2 cups pinot noir or good burgundy
1/3 c shallot, minced
1 cup sliced, dried tart cherries
2 cups duck demi-glace, 4 cups (thin) duck stock, or 2 cups demi-glace (more than gourmet will work o.k.)
1 tsp minced sage
pinch of minced thyme
1/3 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

Simmer wine with shallots, cherries and duck sauce until reduced back to 2 cups. At service, bring 2 ounces of sauce (with cherries) to simmer and toss in sage, thyme and balsamic vinegar together and heat through. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

At Service

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Fleur de Sel (top layer, harvested sea salt, if you have it)

Sear duck as above. Once skin is browned and fat is rendered, “kiss” flesh side approximately 1 minute and place in oven. Remove from oven when duck breast still has a good deal of easy “spring” to the touch - you do not want to go beyond medium (I prefer medium rare). Remove the duck from the cooking/roasting pan and cover loosely with foil, shiny side out. Meanwhile, reheat crepes in a pan with a touch of olive oil, fold in triangles, and place in overlapping mound at center of plate. You also want to saute some coarsely chopped rainbow chard, which adds some caramelized sugar, bitterness, and color to the plate (use organic if possible - it will contain more natural sugars). Thinly slice duck and arrange on either side of crepes; drizzle with warmed sauce (including cherries), and place a few crystals of fleur de sel over the meat (if you have it).

Paul Smith is a chef, martial arts instructor, and outdoorsman. He lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. If you liked this recipe and are looking for more things like it, visit Paul at a1-outdoors: fishing tackle, hunting gear, skiing, outdoor gear and outdoor clothing for information on duck hunting gear and other outdoor pursuits. Paul also moderates The Outblog, a weblog with over 60 outdoor categories.

Homemade granola is one of my very favorite health foods for many reasons you will read below. It is something the allergic person can closely regulate by making modifications to the recipe. This recipe is perfect because it is cheap, healthy, can be organic and pure, makes a lot, and stores well. It’s a great food to stock in the house for hungry teenagers.

Why do I use the ingredients I use? Well, let me tell you…

• I use grains in keeping with Eat 4 Your Type (eating for your blood type.)
• I use wheat germ because it is high in selenium and zinc. Lots of my clients test they need this for their reproductive health.
• Celtic Sea Salt is used because none of the wonderful minerals have been removed from this particular salt and it has not been processed with high heat. High heat makes salt inorganic and difficult to bind to bodily fluids and tissues. This salt actually has a moist texture and is grey in color.

• I use sesame seeds (lots of them) because they are high in Tyrosine which helps with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Sesame products such as tahini, halvah, and raw sesame seeds help with the balance of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. When taken at about 1 tablespoon/day, it prevents depression.

• Whole flax seed acts differently than ground flax seed. Whole flax seed is very mucogenic. It swells and gets slippery helping the bowels to empty without strain.

• Pumpkin seeds are a wonderful seed for the reproductive system of both males and females. Something in it binds the breakdown byproducts of testosterone which cause Benign Prostate Hyperplasia. Pumpkin seeds also act as the base ring for progesterone and estrogen, so I often recommend the seed for perimenopausal women and great reproductive health. It gives the body what it needs in the form of hormones.

• Udo’s Choice Oil is the best combination of oils on the market. It has a perfect blend of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. I use the oil and the Wholesome Fast Food Blend.

• Blackstrap molasses is extremely high in bioavailable minerals and has lots of iron in it. These days I am seeing lots of people with tan chins which is an early sign of iron anemia.

Recipe: Granola

From the Kitchen of Denice Moffat

11 cups rolled Spelt, Kashi, or Oats (not instant)
2 cups shredded coconut (the organic kind may not have sulfites in it)
2 cups Wheat Germ
cup Spelt, Rice, Oat or Buckwheat flour
1 Tablespoon Celtic Sea Salt (it should be pink or gray…it it’s white there are no extra minerals in it.)
2 cups raw almonds or cashews
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup raw sesame seeds
cup raw flax seed
1 cup raw hulled pumpkin seeds

Mix the above in a large bowl then pour the following on top and mix in after first blending together:

cup almond, apricot, or Udo’s Choice oil
cup brown sugar
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
1 cups honey
cup water
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract

Divide mixture and spread onto two large cookie sheets. Bake at 250 degrees stirring every 20-30 minutes for 90 minutes or until edges start to turn brown. Turn off oven and let the granola sit in the closed oven overnight to finish drying out.

Add dried fruit of your choice before packaging. I use
Cranberries, raisins, dried apricot, dried cherries, banana chips or apple chips.

Store in airtight containers. I use ZipLock baggies. Makes 2 gallons.

Dr. Denice Moffat is a practicing naturopath, medical intuitive, and veterinarian working on the family unit (which includes humans and animals) through her phone consultation practice established in 1993. She has a content-rich website at http://www.NaturalHealthTechniques.com and free monthly newsletter.

So, you find yourself having been invited to a dinner party and decided to bring the host a bottle of wine. But which type of wine should you buy? I am sure you have seen people seemingly bewildered in front of the wine shelves at the local grocery or liquor store. You have seen them, staring dumbly with no idea what wine to pick out. After you read this article, you can be assured you will never be one of those people.

Choosing a wine can be a tricky decision. You want your selection to please as many people as possible including your host. If you know ahead what is on the menu, the choice becomes easier. The general guidelines are as follows:

- Light-bodied wines complement light food.

- Full-bodied wines are needed when pairing with hearty food.

However, in the situation where you do not know the menu, it is ok as there are a few other key items to consider.

Host Preference

It is very important to consider the host. If you know the host well, you may want to select a bottle that suits his or her individual preferences. If you’re less familiar with your host’s favorites, select a popular wine variety such as Chardonnay or Merlot.

You can further customize the choice by selecting a wine that matches the recipient’s personality or intended usage. Are they more likely to open the bottle soon or age it in their cellar? Will they savor it during an everyday dinner or bring it out to impress friends? Do they have a fondness towards a particular wine or growing region?

Price Considerations

Of course all decisions must be balanced with respect to its price. In the situation of having a budget of $25 and above, your selections choices are wide open. A favorite of mine and a crowd pleaser is a Cabernet, a well rounded and highly excepted classic.

Ok, now let’s take a look at the $15 to $25 budget range. My suggestion here is that you just stick with a traditional Chardonnay or Merlot. They are both widely appreciated and just a bit less costly than Cabernets.

Even at $15 and under there are some really enjoyable choices. For $10 you can get Veramonte Cabnernet Sauvignon from the Casablanca Valley, located in Chile. Another great selection is the Australian Shiraz or the Sauvignon Blancs, both of which may pleasantly surprise the recipient.

Contributor: Stuart Glasure [A wine enthusiast and publishing member of the wine source: http://www.WineDefinitions.com.]

Many people know that the quality of tea leaves is very important for brewing a good cup of tea. However, not many people realize that the water that they use to brew tea is as important, if not more important, for brewing a good cup of tea. Mr. Zhang Dafu of Ming dynasty wrote in his Mei Hua Cao Tang Bi Tan that “Tea leaves need water to be brewed into a good cup of tea. 100% quality water can brew 80% quality tea leaves into a 100% quality cup of tea. On the other hand, 80% quality water can only brew 100% quality tea leaves into an 80% quality cup of tea.”

Lu Yu had detail discussions about tea brewing water in his famous tea book Cha Jing (Tea Bible). Generally speaking, hard water is not good for brewing tea. Water with PH value of greater than 7 may darken color of tea liquor and lighten taste of tea.

After selecting the right type of water, boiling water is the next important step. Cai Xiang of Song dynasty said in his tea book Cha Lu that “To boil water is the most difficult task. Foams will show up if water is not ready. Leaves will fell to bottom if water is over boiled…” When boiling water for brewing tea, people should use high heat to bring the water to rapid boiling. Over boiled water is not suitable for brewing tea.

For more tea related discussions, please visit our site at www.teahub.com

About the Author

www.teahub.com, your trusted source for high quality green, black, oolong and Pu-erh teas.

Perishable food must be kept cold while commuting via bus, bicycle, on foot, in a car, or on the subway. After arriving at school or work, perishable food must be kept cold until lunchtime.

Why? Harmful bacteria multiply rapidly in the “danger zone” (the temperatures between 40 F and 140 F). So, perishable food transported without an ice source won’t stay safe long. Here are safe handling recommendations to prevent food-borne illness from “bag” lunches.

1. Perishable food, such as raw or cooked meat and poultry, must be kept cold or frozen at the store and at home. Eggs should be purchased cold at the store and kept cold at home.

2. Transport perishable food as fast as possible when no ice source is available. At the destination, keep it cold. Food should not be left out at room temperature more than 2 hours (1 hour if the temperature is above 90 F).

3. Prepackaged combos that contain luncheon meats along with crackers, cheese, and condiments must also be kept refrigerated. This includes luncheon meats and smoked ham which are cured or contain preservatives.

4. At lunchtime, discard all used food packaging and paper bags. Do not reuse packaging because it could contaminate other food and cause food-borne illness.

5. Pack just the amount of perishable food that can be eaten at lunch. That way, there won’t be a problem about the storage or safety of leftovers.

6. It’s fine to prepare the food the night before and store the packed lunch in the refrigerator. Freezing sandwiches helps them stay cold. However, for best quality don’t freeze sandwiches containing mayonnaise, lettuce, or tomatoes. Add these later.

7. Insulated, soft-sided lunch boxes or bags are best for keeping food cold, but metal or plastic lunch boxes and paper bags can also be used. If using paper lunch bags, create layers by double bagging to help insulate the food. An ice source should be packed with perishable food in any type of lunch bag or box.

8. Prepare cooked food, such as turkey, ham, chicken, and vegetable or pasta salads, ahead of time to allow for thorough chilling in the refrigerator. Divide large amounts of food into shallow containers for fast chilling and easier use. Keep cooked food refrigerated until time to leave home.

10. To keep lunches cold away from home, include a small frozen gel pack or frozen juice box. Of course, if there’s a refrigerator available, store perishable items there upon arrival.

Copyright (c) Terry Nicholls. All Rights Reserved.

Terry Nicholls is the author of the eBook “Food Safety: Protecting Your Family From Food Poisoning”. For more tips like these, and to learn more about his book, visit his website at http://tinyurl.com/3fr2t

yourguides@cogeco.ca

This recipe begins with refrigerated biscuits, so you are not making the dough from scratch. While there are many steps involved in making this bread, it’s actually a recipe that even young children can help with.

The bread is very sweet. You can substitute Splenda for some or even all of the sugar. The nuts are optional.

Ingredients:

2 cans (7.5 oz each) refrigerated biscuits
cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
cut butter or margarine
cup chopped walnuts
additional sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut each biscuit into quarters
3. In a large disposable bag, combine cup sugar and one teaspoon of the cinnamon.
4. Drop in biscuit pieces a few at a time, shake and coat.
5. Layer pieces without crowding in a greased 9×5x3 inch loaf pan.
6. In a small sauce pan combine butter or margarine and one teaspoon of the cinnamon.
7. Measure your dry ingredients and add enough sugar so that you have one cup total.
8. Add dry ingredients to sauce pan and boil, stirring constantly.
9. Remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes.
10. Stir in nuts and then spoon mixture over biscuits in pan.
11. Bake 45 minutes.
12. Let cool in pan 5 minutes.

13. Remove from pan.
14. Pull off portions as desired.