This stuff is working

[mamadeb]

My blood sugar this morning? 94. Double digits! Yes!

I've been making sure I have some protein before going to sleep - usually a teaspoon of peanut butter, either from a spoon or on a slice of bread as my evening carb snack.

It seems to make a difference.

I can't eat pb during Pesach - will a handful of almonds work? (I also can't find klp almond or cashew butter.)

Comments

[leela-cat.livejournal.com]

Yes, a handful of almonds or cashews will work. If you go by the south beach carb plan, a carb snack is 1-2 tbsp of peanut butter or 15 cashews or 15 almonds (that's the max per day of nuts as a snack).

Whatever else SB does or doesn't do for people, I find it very useful for figuring out carb equivalents.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I have a program for that.

Problem is, my diet counts pb as a fat.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

I think you could make your own klp almond or cashew butter, couldn't you?

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I"ve been thinking about it.

I'd use my little food chopper - the one I otherwise only use for charoset.

[ginamariewade.livejournal.com]

Start chopping up nuts and you're halfway to charoset right there!

I like nuttier charoset rather than fruitier.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but walnut butter?

I found cashew butter today.

[magid.livejournal.com]

KLP?

(Which is to say, the rest of the year I can get almond, cashew, soy, peanut, or something-and-macadamia butter at Trader Joe's, but finding any nut butters for Pesach has been impossible for me so far. I don't understand why they don't seem to make it.)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yep. KLP. Cashew *and* Almond butters.

I can't find *cider vinegar* for love or money, but fancy nut butters? Not a problem.

[cellio]

Almonds should be a good source of protein. Since with peanut butter you're getting fat (so I assume that's not a problem), a hard-boiled egg or piece of cheese should also work. Those are my "snack protein" staples during Pesach.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Fat *is* a problem. Which is why it's no more than a teaspoon of pb. That makes it one of my allowed fats.

Alton Brown

[adamek.livejournal.com]

Good Eats had an episode on making Cashew Butter (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_26277,00.html).

Re: Alton Brown

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Nod. Thank you.

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Whole Foods or Trader Joe's for almond or cashew butter? I don't recall either, but then I wasn't look for them.

If you go, Whole Foods is right on Union Square and Trader Joe's is closer to Third Ave. then the Square.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I don't shop for groceries in Manhattan. :)

Also - what are the chances they'll be certified kosher for passover?

Anyway, we found klp cashew butter today.

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

Fair to midlin actually. At least Trader Joe's I do believe. I'll double check for you for the future.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

magid says they're not. Ah, well.

[sorchar.livejournal.com]

Almonds are excellent for diabetes. My father-in-law keeps them around to snack on at all times.

Out of curiosity, why is peanut butter off limits during Pesach?

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I'm Ashkenazi (my ancestors are from Eastern Europe.) Ashkenazi don't eat "kitniyot" during Pesach - rice, corn, certain other seeds and legumes. No beans or peas, and that includes peanuts. Tree nuts are fine.

Oddly enough, so is peanut oil. But peanut butter isn't.

It's a folk custom, not a law, so it doesn't have to make sense.

[sorchar.livejournal.com]

*G* Gotcha. Since peanuts aren't really nuts, they're off the menu. Interesting custom - do you know how it got started?

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Folk custom.

People used to make bread (Or a bread-like substance) out of beans and seeds. There was the possiblity that someone might see a another Jewish person eat such bread and conclude that all bread was permitted during Passover.

This was extended to rice and later corn because they are grains. Other items forbidden by this custom are cumin and mustard.

Sphardim, Jews from the Mediterreanian, do eat this foods because they don't have this fear. They laugh at us, and a Passover lunch at Sphardi friends is filled with, "You can eat that. YOu can't eat that. That's the Ashkenaz version. There's beans here."

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

And that whole "folk custom not a law" is why certain vegetarians simply pretend that they are Sephardic during Pesach. My main lean sources of protein would be taken away, and I just can't deal with that.

Good find on the other nut butters. And I second whoever said that Almonds are a good snack for blood sugar issues.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, that doesn't work for Orthodox vegetarians, who have to get a heter, special permission, to do that. And most rabbis will only grant that permission if the person is unable to eat meat for health reasons. And it has to be granted every year.

I have vegetarian friends who have become very good at working around that. On the other hand, they aren't vegans.

[sandyurbahns.livejournal.com]

Congrats on your morning sugar level! I'm not Jewish so I don't know if this idea is stupid or not. Can you eat cheese during this period? I find that a small slice of cheese works about as well as the pb. Been diabetic for over 20 years and been on tablets all this time.

I've been reading your post and you seem to be handling things really well.

Also if you can't have pb can you have straight peanuts, a couple of tablespoons of those should work as well.

Keep up the good work.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Cheese is fine, but I do have to wait a certain time between eating meat and eating dairy. Nut butter, being neutral, is easier.

Peanuts are the forbidden item. Even natural peanut butter with no other oils added.