Easy to Make Recipes for Pre-diabetes Dinner Ideas.
Menopause provides an opportunity to reconnect with our bodies.
We have been so busy over the previous 40+ years, growing up, learning, loving, and creating homes, humans or businesses that it is easy to understand how we might have lost the connection to our body, mind and soul.
In this post, I will share how I encourage my clients to reconnect to their bodies and the world around them to improve their menopause health naturally, without restrictive dieting and without HRT.
I will also share some easy-to-make recipes for pre-diabetes dinner ideas.
It’s Written in the Stars
Astronomy and astrology have been combined with medicine for thousands of years.
Thankfully we live in times where we know a great deal more about treating what ails the body however I believe we have lost a connection to the natural world around us that can help us understand our unique bodies better and form a more complete picture when it comes to designing a plan for our optimal health and well-being.
If I asked you your star sign, I bet you could tell me, even if you aren’t into that kind of thing. This is the sign the sun was in on the date and time you arrived in this world.
I wonder if you could tell me your moon sign?
Your moon sign is connected to the internal rhythms of your body, your circadian clock, hormones and digestion.
Reconnecting to your true self through something like body astrology can be a fun way to rediscover your likes and dislikes, work out how your body likes to be nourished and provide a different health focus every moon cycle so that over 365 days you have provided your whole body with the attention to health it deserves.
In my monthly membership, the menopause health focus for this cycle (Taurus) is blood sugar.
Blood sugar which is out of balance shows on the body via the insulin meter – a growing midsection.
Menopause belly fat is distressing (I am talking from first-hand experience).
It affects your self-esteem and self-confidence. Not only are you growing older in a society that values youth but now your clothes don’t fit, your body composition changes make you feel like a stranger in your body and to top all of this you know it isn’t healthy.
Increased waist circumference is caused by visceral fat, the fat that snuggles around your organs.
This fat is a sign of insulin resistance which is a precursor of pre-diabetes.
This fat accumulates not due to calories but due to hormones. The hormone responsible for fat storage is insulin.
The best part about this fat is that it responds well to a healthy diet, but what is a healthy diet?
What is a Healthy Diet?
Growing up in the 70s and 80s a healthy diet was low-fat.
It was the start of the ultra-processed food pandemic that surrounds us now.
We now know that a low-fat diet = a high-sugar diet. Any nutrient that isn’t protein or fat is sugar/carbohydrate.
However we mustn’t demonise carbohydrates, dietary restrictions can lead to disordered eating.
Real food carbohydrates such as whole grains and whole fruits and vegetables provide fibre-rich food and essential vitamins and minerals.
To maintain balanced blood sugar levels carbohydrates must be paired with enough protein for your body (download your cheat sheet here) along with fat.
Fat provides essential fatty acids, vitamins and satiety.
All real food is good food.
Calories don’t rule the body, hormones do. 100 calories of anything, cake, carrots or peanuts, is still 100 calories but it is how your hormones use these calories in your body that will determine if they are stored as fat or not.
Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and dementia. These diseases are the top killers of women post-menopause.
If your nutrition goal is to reverse pre-diabetes you are in the right place. You can read my previous posts, Simple Reverse Diabetes Meal Plan and Best & Worst Pre-Diabetes Food List for Menopause.
Easy to Make Recipes for Pre-diabetes Dinner Ideas
There are many different types of diets, choose any that you enjoy.
A low-carb diet can be beneficial when trying to reduce sugar in your diet, make sure you include nonstarchy veggies for your fibre, a Mediterranean diet includes healthy fats, and a low glycemic index diet focuses on a low-sugar content but as long as you are eating whole fruits and vegetables the GI count is generally low.
Choose foods that please your taste buds, the goal is to create well-balanced meals to control blood glucose levels.
Creating a meal plan allows you to ensure a good nutritional balance across a day, week and month.
When supporting women with their nutrition through menopause together we focus on nutrition across your whole cycle (even if you no longer have a period, you still have a cycle) and it is important to nourish each phase.
A slow cooker is a perfect tool to have a well-balanced home-cooked meal on the dinner table after a long day.
There are so many choices of recipes to suit your dietary needs and you can create a delicious dinner for the whole family.
Here are three recipe suggestions, you can select to download them.
Chicken & Black Bean Lettuce Wraps
8 ingredients · 40 minutes · 2 servings
- 227 grams Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless)
- 130 grams Salsa
- 9 milliliters Lime Juice
- Sea Salt & Black Pepper (to taste)
- 1 head Romaine Lettuce (leaves separated)
- 172 grams Black Beans
- 80 grams Red Onion (diced)
- 1 Red Bell Pepper (medium, chopped)
Add the chicken breasts, salsa, lime juice, salt, and pepper to a sealable container.
Cover, shake, and allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
Heat a pan over medium heat and add the chicken and marinade. Cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Flip the chicken a few times and spoon the marinade over as needed.
Transfer the chicken and marinade to a large bowl and shred it with two forks. Once shredded, mix with the marinade.
Fill the lettuce leaves with the chicken, black beans, red onion, and peppers. Serve and enjoy!
Sweet Potato Rosemary Gratin
7 ingredients · 1 hour · 4 servings
- 240 grams Whipping Cream
- 3 grams Garlic Powder
- 2 grams Rosemary (fresh, chopped)
- Sea Salt & Black Pepper (to taste)
- 71 grams Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
- 2 Sweet Potato (medium, thinly sliced)
- 7 grams Parmigiano Reggiano
Preheat the oven to 375oF (190oC) and lightly grease a casserole dish.
In a large bowl, stir together the cream, garlic powder, rosemary, salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese. Add the sweet potato slices and toss to coat well.
Arrange the potato slices into the casserole dish and pour the cream mixture over top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked through.
Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes before serving and enjoy!
Easy Chicken Fried Rice
9 ingredients · 45 minutes · 5 servings
- 185 grams Brown Rice (dry, rinsed)
- 44 milliliters Sesame Oil (divided)
- 2 Egg (whisked)
- 454 grams Chicken Breast (chopped)
- 1 Red Bell Pepper (medium, diced)
- 63 grams Snow Peas (chopped)
- 4 stalks Green Onion (chopped, plus more for garnish)
- 2 Garlic (clove, chopped)
- 44 milliliters Tamari
Cook the rice according to the package directions.
In a large wok or pan, heat 1/3 of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the eggs and scramble them until fully cooked. Remove eggs and set aside.
In the same pan, add the remaining oil. Cook the chicken for three minutes over medium-high heat.
Add the bell peppers, snow peas, green onions, and garlic to the pan. Stir-fry until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender-crisp, three to five minutes.
Stir the rice and eggs into the chicken and vegetable mixture. Add the tamari and mix to coat.
Garnish with green onions (optional) and enjoy!
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Top tips
A great way to increase fibre to your meal is to add a side salad.
So many salad dressings are full of ultra-processed ingredients, try making your own by using sour cream mixed with homemade mayonnaise, add some seasoning, garlic powder and dill and you have a simple ranch dressing.
Marinades made using olive oil and spices such as chilli powder, cumin, turmeric and paprika then rubbed into pork tenderloin, skinless chicken breast (or skin on as it is rich in collagen) or your chosen source of protein make a great meal base.
You may think real food doesn’t have much flavour if you are used to having ready meals or takeaways, these foods include ingredients such as monosodium glutamate, which was first given to prisoners of war in Japan to make their food more appetising, it is also addictive, just think of Pringles, once you pop you just can’t stop!.
If lack of flavour is an issue try experimenting with fresh herbs which not only add flavour but have many benefits for overall health.
The key is to create a healthy lifestyle that suits your lifestyle.
When trying to reverse pre-diabetes and achieve a healthy weight remember it is excess fat you want to lose.
You don’t want to lose muscle mass, bone density, blood volume or negatively impact organ health.
Focus on keeping blood sugar levels stable. You will notice a positive difference in your overall energy levels and can continue to work towards controlling your insulin response and achieving all your health and well-being goals.
If you would like to chat with me about your unique menopause transition, book a Wild Well-Being call and come away inspired and motivated to begin your journey to optimal health.