Count Carbs Not Calories

Tuesday is Farmers' Market day for me and is the highlight of my week. I go early so that if I have a Music Teachers' Association meeting or something that day, I can get my shopping done and still make the meeting at 10:00. I know I am very fortunate not only to have such a large Farmers' Market nearby, one of the best in L.A., but also for the fact that I live in California where buying local means getting some of the best produce in the country all year round.

The photo above shows some of last week's cache. I like to try new things like the Armenian cucumbers and the greens next to them. (Don't ask me what kind they are, I don't know. But they were delicious sautéed with butter and elephant garlic.) The yellow balls are cucumbers, too, lemon cucumbers. They have a slightly different taste, but the difference is very subtle. A whole basket of these cucumbers cost $1.50. The orange cauliflower I have had before and use it in the summertime to make a raw cauliflower cold soup like the one shown on the left made from a head of purple cauliflower. (That's pine nuts and purple basil on top drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.) The carrots are actually red and the whole bunch, plus a few more not in the photo, also cost $1.50. The pile of greens in the back is arugula which cost $1.00. The watermelon cost $3.00. On the lower right are some currants and black mission figs, my one splurge for the week. I paid $4.00 for the pint.

All of the fruit and vegetables in the photo are low-carb choices except for the carrots and figs, but the carrots aren't too bad and even the figs aren't too bad if you only eat one or two. Unfortunately, the fruits most people think of when they agree that they should eat more fruits and vegetables are apples, oranges, pears, and bananas. These are high-carb fruits and should only be eaten sparingly, if you really want to cut down your carbs. A little book that can be very useful for helping you to count your carbs is The Protein Power LifePlan Gram Counter by the Drs. Eades. I keep mine handy in the kitchen at all times.

Speaking of the good doctors, in the latest post by Dr. Michael Eades on his Protein Power blog, he uses the strongest language yet regarding the value of keeping your blood sugar in control to prevent not only diabetes but cardiovascular diseases as well. I strongly advise all my readers (all 20 of you) to check out this post including the excellent comments below it. If you need to lose weight, if Type II diabetes is a problem, if you have a family history of heart disease, or if you just want to be the healthiest you that you can be, READ this post and the related articles. Read the Eades's books. Eat low-carb, high-fat meals and forget about cholesterol.