Fifty-Plus News - Pastiche with Virginia Hill

Australians are still a nation of drivers with significant numbers of us driving to and from work. Couple this with the fact that over 80 per cent of people don’t know at lunchtime what they are going to eat for dinner, the drive home has now become the way an evening meal is obtained, especially if a quick and easy car park for people collecting takeaways is available.
Although price, taste, freshness and service are important to shoppers, for an increasing number car parking determines the selection of dinner tonight. Historically, convenience stores have not concentrated on taste or nutrition but given the change in shopping habits there is now a clear improvement in the foods offered as far as freshness, food handling and safety go.
Reflecting this change, smaller food manufacturers have already started providing better food solutions and larger manufacturers will follow as convenience food is deemed to be one of the top three categories for growth by participating retailers.
Thus the aim of food service in convenience stores is to make this the logical and convenient place to buy bread and milk as well as pick up a quick, tasty and nutritious meal to ‘zap’ in the microwave oven whilst sipping a glass of wine.
So is it any wonder that most of us now know someone with diabetes. There are nearly a million people with the disease in the nation who have had to make essential life affirming changes to their dietary habits to enable them to control the complaint and live a regular life.
This is not so easy if you’ve survived on takeaways or pre-assembled food, and high sugar soft drinks, without thinking about nutritional balance in your daily intake for years.
Fortunately for people living with diabetes, contemporary food guidelines stress the importance of high carbohydrate diets for diabetes management, in conjunction with the glycaemic index (or GI factor) which shows that different carbohydrate foods have dramatically different effects on blood sugar levels. This has made a great difference to a varied diet and lifestyle of people with diabetes as many more foods are now allowed to make up a healthy meal plan. As well, diets concentrating on low GI food help control blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, for without proper controls diabetes can cause damage to the blood vessels in the heart, legs , brain , eyes and kidneys.
To give you an idea as to how this index works, processed breakfast cereal would be replaced with oats; potato with sweet potato; tropical fruits like bananas with temperate fruits such as apples, which assist slow digestion and the gradual rise and fall in blood sugar, and so help control the blood sugar levels in people with diabetes.
Thus an ideal diet for people with diabetes would include plenty of wholegrain cereals and breads, vegetables and fruit, small amounts of fat especially saturated fat (which immediately limits takeaway foods) moderate amounts of sugar or sugar containing foods (in normal serves they have no greater effect on blood sugar levels than many starches), moderate quantities of alcohol and salt or salty foods.
This overall adjustment in eating behaviour, together with exercise, should assist those who are overweight as most Type 2, non-insulin-dependent diabetes is associated with an excess of abdominal fat. Being overweight and eating fatty foods prevents insulin from doing its job and causes blood sugar levels to rise.
The key to making sure eating habits change is to take charge of your own food preparation, and cooking, which means of course some serious weekly shopping to enable you to rev up meals such as stir fry chicken, fast fish baked with tomato and onion, or spaghetti Bolognese with a green salad and a crusty wholegrain roll at meal times. For desserts, some fruit and low fat vanilla yoghurt or low fat ice cream with fruit sauce.
A visit to a diabetes educator will help you design a meal plan that suits you and your household , and don’t forget that Diabetes Awareness Week is 11-17 July. For help and further information contact Diabetes Australia on 1300 136 588, or visit the website: www.dva.org.au
If you’re feeling depressed by all this adjustment to your lifestyle try this low fat chocolate cake with ricotta cream which is Diabetes Australia approved.

SINLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH RICOTTA CREAM
12 small serves
1 cup self raising flour
half a cup wholemeal self raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
half a cup caster sugar
3 tbs cocoa powder
1 cup water
5 tbs oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
finely ground hazelnuts for decorating
Sift the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla and stir well to form a smooth batter.
Pour the cake mixture into the base of a microwave cake ring.
Cover with paper towel and cook, elevated in the centre of the microwave oven on
High (100%) 4-5 minutes.
Stand until cold, invert onto a serving plate and dust generously with ground nuts.
(Conventional oven pre heat and cook at 180&Mac251;c in a 16cm square cake tin, for 25 minutes)
Energy 360kj/86 kCal; Fat 1g; Carbohydrate 17g; Fibre 1g.

RICOTTA CREAM
200g smooth ricotta
1 tsp sugar
half a teaspoon vanilla or rosewater essence
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Refrigerate until required, serve cold.
Energy320kj/ 75kCal; Fat 6g; Fibre –
From ‘The Ultimate Diabetes Cookbook’ by Virginia Hill & Lorna Garden, Diabetes Australia endorsed $27.95 available from Virginia hill etc address web email etc

• Contact Virginia Hill at her Cooking Centre, 10c Cromwell Road, South Yarra, 3141, telephone 9804 7235, email: virginiahill@i.net.au Use the same contact details for copies of 'Zap to the Max' $19.95 plus $5 delivery charge. Virginia also presents a radio show on 3RPH every Tuesday morning, beginning on 6 April, 2004.