| Saladmaster Recipes

Cooking with Oil Affects Blood Sugar

Vegetable oils are often thought of as healthier than animal fats, however, they are just as high in calories. Oil of any type is 100% fat and for every 1 gram of fat, there are 9 calories. This fat not only expands our waistlines, it interferes with cellular function and reduces insulin sensitivity.

Normally, insulin attaches to receptors on our cell's surface and signals the cell membrane to allow glucose to enter. However, as fat accumulates inside our cells, it interferes with this signaling process leaving glucose to circulate in our blood, raising blood sugar levels. Studies have shown that reducing fat intake to 10% of total calories can lower blood sugar and reverse type 2 diabetes. For example, a diet high in plants (vegetables, fruits, beans and grains) is typically 8% to 10% fat. It is fried foods, oily sauces and recipes with added oils that drive our fat intake well above what is needed.

How we prepare food can be as important as our food choices. Using Saladmaster^® allows us to cook all types of food without any added oil. By preserving nutrients without adding fat, Saladmaster^® ensures we receive the maximum benefit from our meals. With every low-fat meal we consume we regain insulin sensitivity and regulate blood glucose levels.

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Health & Nutrition

The Sweet Potato: Beautiful and Nutritious

By Melinda Myers

Add a bit of color and nutrition to your Saladmaster^® meals with sweet potatoes. Also known as kumara, this vegetable has long been an important food crop in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and is a terrific choice for fighting diabetes when used in light recipes.

Sweet potatoes are an outstanding source of beta-carotene and provide 35% to 90% of the recommended daily vitamin A. Plus the colorful sweet potato is loaded with vitamin C, potassium, and contains more fiber (when eaten with the skin on) than oatmeal. A good source of antioxidants, this anti-inflammatory vegetable is also a good food for those suffering from arthritis and asthma. And preparing them in Saladmaster^® cookware will help you lock in the flavor, color and health benefits of this nutritious vegetable.

Wait for the soil to warm to start planting this heat-loving vegetable. Plant slips, sprouts from the tuberous roots, 4 inches deep and 12 inches apart. Those gardening in cooler regions and areas with shorter growing seasons may want to use raised beds and black mulch to warm the soil and speed growth.

Harvest young leaves to use in soups and stews or steamed and served with fish, okra and chili peppers. The leaves are a good source of nutrients, iron, fiber and more.

The tuberous roots are ready to harvest in 90 to 110 days. Carefully dig the tuberous roots before the first frost or when the tuberous roots are full size.

Once dug, cure the tuberous roots in an 80°F/27°C location with high humidity. Once cured, you can store your sweet potatoes in a cool 65°F/18°C location for up to 5 months.

And don't discard those sweet potatoes that sprout in storage. Make it a fun gardening activity for the family. Plant the sprouting sweet potato in a container of well-drained potting mix. Grow in a sunny window and water as needed. They make a great indoor plant or take cuttings and start new plants for your garden.

Enjoy the harvest and get the greatest flavor and health benefits by preparing light recipes with your sweet potatoes in your Saladmaster^® cookware.

For more gardening tips, light recipes, and information, visit www.melindamyers.com

By Melinda Myers, horticulturalist, gardening expert, TV host and author

Reduce Your Diabetes Risk - Simply Stand Up

By Kathy Smith, fitness expert, author and TV personality

Along with eating properly, and cooking light recipes, exercise is basically the most important thing you can do if you have diabetes. If you don't work out regularly, you are at risk for all kinds of diseases. Working out will make you stronger, happier, smarter, and probably richer. But if you're a desk-job person, you've got something going against you; you're sitting down all day long.

A study in the January issue of the European Heart Journal finds that it's not just the length of time people spend sitting that makes waistebands tight, but how infrequently they get up from their chairs. People who left their desks to move around the most had, on average, a 4.1 cm smaller waist circumference than those who got up less often. Of course, Saladmaster^® also helps you curb your waistline by allowing you to cook without oil.

Those who break up their sedentary workday with a few simple standing breaks and short walks dramatically reduce their risk of diabetes. You can burn more calories per day just by punctuating your desk-time with a few minutes of walk-time, stand-time, or exercise-time. Standing two hours during your workday can help you burn an extra 280 calories each day, which translates into losing 20 pounds in a year! One of the many benefits of a few quick active moments on the job is increased productivity. Taking seven minutes to walk around the building is not going to mean a loss of seven minutes of work - it's going to mean a boost in productivity.

Pre-Work Walk
Getting your heart rate up before you even sit down is the best way to start. If you work on an upper floor, take the stairs. Park as far away as you can from your office. If you work at home, run around the house a few times before sitting down. Move frequently during your workday. To make it simple, just determine that you're going to get out of your chair and walk somewhere every single hour.

Get Moving During Lunch Break
If you have a lunch break use it to do a mild workout. You don't need to change into your jogging suit - just take a walk around the building, travel up and down the stairs a few times, or do some push-ups.

Stand Whenever Possible
Look for other opportunities to stand: when you're talking on the phone; when you're leafing through a report; when you're looking through your mail - stand up.

Combine cooking and eating the Saladmaster^® way with taking advantage of downtime throughout your day and start to make a real change in your fitness level as well as making a real impact towards lowering your risk of diabetes.

Check out a sample video desinged for any age and fitness level, and that helps restore balance, stability and health.

For more health, wellness, cooking light recipes, and exercise information, visit www.kathysmith.com

By Kathy Smith, fitness expert, author, TV personality

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Health & Nutrition