Cauliflower with Yellow Lentils and Peas

The continuing challenge for people with diabetes – or people who just want to eat a healthy, low calorie, low carbohydrate diet – is the constant search for food that is satisfying, tasty and interesting while fitting our dietary requirements. Even the most committed among us will occasionally feel burned out, or possibly just rebellious in our food choices. Amy Tenderich over at DiabetesMine expressed it perfectly in her post this morning titled Losing Control: 

"I noticed that gradually, over this year’s Holiday Season in particular, I’ve started throwing caution to the wind more and more often and indulging in carb-heavy foods I’ve rarely touched in the years since my diagnosis: crackers, granola, muffins, rice chips, tortilla chips, potato chips and various forms of rice. These items taste GOOD, and I missed them terribly!"

This will happen to all of us, and we'll all deal with it in different ways. For me, the answer is in keeping variety and taste in my diet as much as possible. Cauliflower is a wonder food, and the same is true for lentils, but steamed cauliflower and puddles of boiled lentils can get boring fast. This preparation, fairly quick and with a zingy flavor that's anything but boring, is only 64 calories a serving and 13 grams of carbohydrate (of which 6 are fiber). This kind of food helps me stay on track!

I'm not saying it's as good as a bowl of tortilla chips or a nice plate of risotto...but it's this kind of variation and variety that I turn to when I'm feeling my resolve to eat good food crumbling...