Food Experiment

Recently, my father has had trouble regulating his diet for his diabetes. To help him with his diet, my brother, his wife, my fiancé, and myself wanted to eat better. This would let him see that other people close to him are watching what they eat as well. With diabetes’s, carbs is something that makes your sugar go up, and you tend to stay away. With Crohn’s, carbs are usually low fiber, so I eat a lot of it. To help my father, I am going to be introducing new foods to my diet so we can make some recommendations for things that my mother can cook, that will be better than refined, processed, carbohydrates for my father, and that I will be able to digest.

New substitutions

Today I went to Whole Foods, a daring challenged on a Saturday afternoon. Battling through the crowds, my fiancé and I decided to try some new substitutions for plain carbs. Over the next month or so, we will cook these news grains and keep a food journal for myself. I am a bit anxious about how they will affect me, as many of the fiber content is a bit higher than I would like. But if I am going to help my father and his diet, than he has to see that the whole family is involved. I was hesitant at first as I have never heard of half the foods there. I am sure that many stomach doctors would tell me that I am crazy for purchasing some of these grains. But again, it is an experiment. I will stay close to home during experiment just in case.

We first got “ten minute barley.” Since barley helps with the regulation of blood sugar, we were happy to buy it. This particular barley has 10 grams of fiber per ½ cup. So I would probably have ¼ of a cup and see how I do. I can’t wait to mix barley in my next soup.

Next, we bought a blend of couscous, orzo, garbanzo beans, and red quinoa. I really do well with quinoa and couscous. Again, the main goal is to eat healthy for my father’s sake, but also for my sake. Hopefully, my j-pouch will not have much irritation and I will be able to continue this experiment. My ultimate hope is that I can fully introduce these foods into my daily diet.

"Healthy food doesn't really look good"

I never heard of farro before, and to be honest it did not sound good. It sounded disgusting. I decided to buy it anyway because the rule of thumb usually is that healthy food doesn’t really look too good. Farro is just another type of grain that many people put into soups and salads. They look like pine nuts. I am excited to try them.

I hope my father chooses to live healthier

Now that I am home, it is hard to pick what I want to try first. Because my fiancé went to culinary school in California, she will do all the cooking. We will bring dishes of food to my father tomorrow and eat with him. I want to show him that I am changing my eating habits so that I can live a healthier life. I hope that he chooses to do the same.