Aug 19 2008
Knowing is Half the Battle
I never liked reading labels on food. At the store, I would just grab something that looked tasty or at least non-offensive and go with it. Due to diabetes, reading labels is now something I have to do to remain healthy.
For most foods it’s easy: I pick up the item, check the carbs and fiber, check the fats, make sure it has no high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils and go. The problem comes when I get food that isn’t labeled so well, like say apples or sweet potatoes. And then what about food I prepare at home?
Fortunately, the web knows everything.
I checked out a site suggested by my doctor:NutritionData.com. It’s has the nutrition info for a large number of foods and displays it in a format similar to the nutrition labels on food packaging. It includes common dishes, individual food items like apples and chicken as well as the items at a lot of restaurants. It also displays their gylcemic index numbers, their relative fat to carbs to proteins ratio and a lot of other information that is beyond my needs but is still worth having.
When you log on, if you set up an account, you can add foods to your “pantry”. You can then go back and make recipes from your pantry and get the nutrition data from that. The only thing that irks me is that you can’t just cut and paste a whole recipe.
There are also some foods that are missing from the list. I went looking for curry paste and could only find curry powder, for instance. In comparison to what the site offers, this is a forgivable gap.
One thing that’s good about being diabetic in the 21st century is that we have access to a lot of information. By making use of the tools available to me, I have felt a lot more informed and in control of my diabetes. And more in control is better than less.
Check out the site whether you have diabetes or not. It’s worth the look.
