Recipe of the Week: Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Eating for diabetes reversal is all about learning how to make the most of healthy ingredients. I love ethnic recipes, like this one below, because of the exciting flavors and the opportunity to gain familiarity with foreign ingredients.

Find this recipe and hundreds of healthy recipes here.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Photo Credit: Michelle Howard

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless chicken breast, or 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar, cider vinegar, or freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup very thinly sliced onion
2 cups finely shredded green, savoy, or Napa cabbage
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, cilantro, or basil leaves
1/2 cup rau ram leaves (available at Asian markets; optional)
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped roasted and salted peanuts (optional)

Preparation:

1. Put chicken in a medium saucepan and add 2 to 3 cups of water, enough to cover chicken by about 1/2 inch. Bring to rolling boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to maintain a lively simmer. Cook until done, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar and mix everything well. Add sliced onion and toss to coat. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes, until you are ready to complete the dish.
3. Transfer the meat to a plate to cool, reserving the broth for another use, such as making soup or cooking rice. When the chicken is cool, tear it into long, thin shreds. Coarsely chop the mint and/or herbs. Add the shredded chicken, cabbage, carrots, mint, and herbs to the bowl of onions and seasonings, and toss to coat everything well. Mound the salad on a serving plate, and top with chopped peanuts, if using. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: (if 4 servings): 206 calories, 29 g protein, 14 g carbohydrate, 3.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 78 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 760 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 15%

Enjoy!

- Michael Dansinger, MD

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Research Study of the Week

Doctors and scientists know that obesity and type 2 diabetes are strongly related, and we know that losing excess body fat dramatically improves diabetes, but we don't have a confident understanding about how, exactly, obesity causes or promotes type 2 diabetes. Here's some new research evidence that helps me understand a bit more about how excess body fat promotes type 2 diabetes. The bottom line always comes back to "eat right and exercise", but many will find that understanding why that's true can help them stick to it!

- Michael Dansinger, MD

Critical Link Between Obesity And Diabetes Discovered

ScienceDaily (July 9, 2009) - A Monash University study has proven a critical link between obesity and the onset of Type 2 diabetes, a discovery which could lead to the design of a drug to prevent the disease.

The findings were published July 8 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

The team, led by Associate Professor Matthew Watt, discovered that fat cells release a novel protein called PEDF (pigment epithelium-derived factor), which triggers a chain of events and interactions that lead to development of Type 2 diabetes.

"When PEDF is released into the bloodstream, it causes the muscle and liver to become desensitised to insulin. The pancreas then produces more insulin to counteract these negative effects, " Associate Professor Watt said.

This insulin release causes the pancreas to become overworked, eventually slowing or stopping insulin release from the pancreas, leading to Type 2 diabetes."

"It appears that the more fat tissue a person has the less sensitive they become to insulin. Therefore a greater amount of insulin is required to maintain the body's regulation of blood-glucose," Associate Professor Watt said.

"Our research was able to show that increasing PEDF not only causes Type 2 diabetes like complications but that blocking PEDF reverses these effects. The body again returned to being insulin-sensitive and therefore did not need excess insulin to remain regulated."

Associate Professor Watt said identifying the link is a significant breakthrough in explaining the reasons why obesity triggers the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.

"Until now scientists knew there was a very clear pattern and had strong suspicions that a link existed between the two conditions, but our understanding of the chain of events that are caused by the release of PEDF shows a causal link," Associate Professor Watt said.

"Type 2 diabetes patients will benefit knowing the two conditions are linked. We already know that weight-loss generally improves the management of blood glucose levels in diabetes patients. Researchers can now move forward knowing this link exists and we can begin to design new drugs to improve the treatment of Type 2 diabetes," Associate Professor Watt said.

________________________________________

Adapted from materials provided by Monash University.

Monash University (2009, July 9). "Critical Link Between Obesity And Diabetes Discovered." ScienceDaily.

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Mindset of the Week: Things Work Out

Diabetes reversal is all about living life to the fullest by doing the best we can with what we've got, which is true about all life's challenges and imperfections. Please let me know what you think the poem below has to do with conquering diabetes.

Things Work Out
By Edgar A. Guest

Because it rains when we wish it wouldn't,
Because men do what they often shouldn't,
Because crops fail, and plans go wrong
Some of us grumble all day long.
But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt,
It seems at last that things work out.
Because we lose where we hoped to gain,
Because we suffer a little pain,
Because we must work when we'd like to play
Some of us whimper along life's way.
But somehow, as day always follows the night,
Most of our troubles work out all right.
Because we cannot forever smile,
Because we must trudge in the dust awhile,
Because we think that the way is long
Some of us whimper that life's all wrong.
But somehow we live and our sky grows bright,
And everything seems to work out all right.
So bend to your trouble and meet your care,
For the clouds must break, and the sky grow fair.
Let the rain come down, as it must and will,
But keep on working and hoping still.
For in spite of the grumblers who stand about,
Somehow, it seems, all things work out.

What do you think this has to do with conquering diabetes?

-Michael Dansinger, MD

This poem and others can be found at Motivational-Well-Being.com.

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Personality of the Week: Christina Pirello MFN, CCN

If you don’t know about Christina Pirello, you might want to check her out. I caught her great article in the Huffington Post this week, titled It’s American Diabetes Month.

Here’s an excerpt:

As November approaches, we leave Halloween and breast cancer awareness behind for the next holiday in our yearly calendar of illnesses. Seems each month has its signature malady. Type 2 diabetes is such an American epidemic that we can skip giving kids bikes for Christmas and move right to the wheelchairs they'll be needing later in life. Forget the basketballs, baseball gloves and bats. Before you know it, all our video games, phones, Blackberries and other wireless devices will come with their own built-in glucose meters. They already come in designer colors; why not become a part of the rest of our overly connected lives?...

This lady is on fire! Here’s her bio:

Christina Pirello, MFN, CCN is one of America’s preeminent authorities on natural and whole foods with a radiant personality that only serves to make her message more powerful. At age 26, she was diagnosed with terminal leukemia. By the time her illness was identified, the cancer had already advanced to an acute stage. Her doctors gave her little reason to have hope for the effectiveness of conventional medical therapies and told her she had only months to live. Then a co-worker introduced her to Robert Pirello, a whole foods advocate who helped her adapt her lifestyle and diet based on whole, unprocessed food. With love, dedication and death-defying discipline, Christina overcame the odds, and in the process developed an expertise in cooking with whole foods. After just two months of eating beans, grains and vegetables, her doctors noticed a significant improvement in her condition. In fourteen months, her cancer was gone.

From that time, she was utterly convinced of the close relationship between diet and health. She knew her life’s calling was to help others discover the importance of this relationship in their own lives. To that end, she studied and became an expert in traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda, acupuncture and earned a Masters Degree in Nutrition. Today, almost 26 years later, Christina is a glowing example and inspiration on the power that our food choices have on our overall health and well-being and has been teaching whole foods cooking classes, conducting lifestyle seminars and lecturing all over the United States.

Christina is the Emmy Award-winning host of the television series Christina Cooks!, which airs weekly on over 200 national public television stations nationwide. She has written five cookbooks, the bestselling Cooking the Whole Foods Way; Your Way to the Life You Want; Glow, A Prescription for Radiant Health and Beauty; and Christina Cooks: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Whole Foods, But Were Afraid to Ask. Her latest book, This Crazy Vegan Life was published in January, 2009 and she is currently at work on her sixth book.

In 2008, Christina founded The Christina Pirello Health Education Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to changing America’s relationship with food, with community outreach, media programs and several in-school programs designed to teach our kids to make healthier choices before it’s too late. She works closely with the city of Philadelphia on various school and farm market programs under the umbrella of The Initiative.

Christina holds a faculty position at Drexel University, where she lectures as a professor of culinary arts. She also serves on the board of The Farm Market Trust, The Green Council of Philadelphia, The Green City Youth Council of Philadelphia, The Chefs for Humanity Chef’s Council and is a member of IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. Christina earned both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Fine Arts from the University of Miami, and was awarded a Masters Degree in Nutrition from Philadelphia’s Drexel University in 2003.

Christina, we need more leaders like you. Keep up the great work!

~ Michael Dansinger, MD

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Modern Food

Our world today - our civilization,
Progressively shaped by socialization,
Is a cultured modern derivative,
Of hunting tribes more primitive.
We lived in caves or somewhere outdoors,
We ate what we hunted and fished from the shores.

We foraged for berries and other fruits,
Leaves and mushrooms, stems and roots.
We evolved to seek meat, and fruit as a treat,
Thus our cravings for fat and for sweet.
The key to survival and fighting disease,
Had always been eating more calories.

For nearly all of human existence,
We lived this way with no assistance,
From complex tools or modern machines,
Survival depended on simple routines.
There were no farms, no tractors, no crops,
No mills or flour, or bakery shops.

Our natural diet did not contain,
Cereal, bread, pasta, or grain.
No hot dogs, pizza, or pepperoni,
Sausage, salami, cheese or bologna.
No cookies, pies, donuts or cake,
Or any kind of food that is fake.

Modern society has seriously faltered,
We've become addicted to the food we've altered.
The modern foods we love today -
We're just not designed to eat that way.
Once we see it the truth is so clear,
Our bodies can't handle the treats we hold dear.

The reason this problem remains unsolved,
Is due to the fact that we have not evolved,
A new set of genes to eat "modern" food,
Without getting sick, so we must conclude,
The natural way, the way that is best,
Is to eat the food we're designed to digest.

Fish and fowl, or very lean meat,
Are possible foods that we might eat.
Butternut squash, peppers and beans,
Corn, peas and beets, and all kinds of greens.
Carrots, zucchini, melons and berries,
Peaches and oranges, mangoes and cherries.

No human tribe or society,
Has ever had such a variety,
Of healthy food so easy to get,
We take it for granted we tend to forget,
Our good fortune for this cornucopia,
Some might call it a utopia.

The foods that can save us are found right beside,
The foods that will kill us and rot our inside.
We all face this challenge, we all face this choice,
We all have free will, we all have a voice.
Our future is bright, our potential is vast,
Once we learn this lesson from our distant past.

~ Michael Dansinger, MD

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• Type 2 Diabetes Message Board with Michael Dansinger, MD
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