I'm learning to love veggies. They are great for you and are a dieters friend. They are the key to success in my book. Eat plenty of veggies at lunch and dinner and your day will go by easier. We all know about the raw carrots and celery, but I'm talking about adding new veggies to mt diet. So, I'm going to share with you all through he next coming days a few of my own recipes of some of the new ones that I have added. Some of these I have seen on TV, newspapers, books, and others I just made up. Yes, I already knew how to chop up the veggies which is a skill that came in handy. That's a skill I hope you will also know. the first recipe I learned from a chef on TV called Nathan Lyon. His show, " A Lyon in the Kitchen" is on the Discovery Health Channel an Fit TV. Swiss Chard come in Rainbow,Red, and White(which is the mildest of the three). It is much like spinach in it's looks but is stronger in flavor, more meatier and earthier. The younger the chard is smaller. If you like spinach, you may like swiss chard. One bunch will feed two people.Kids who don't like spinach will not like chard.
One bunch swiss chard
1 tbs olive oil
2-3 tsp of a good red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
1. wash leaves and get dirt off
2. cut leaves off of stems
3. separate leaves from stems
4. take stems and cut off ends and any part that doesn't look right. then chop into small bits, set aside
5. take leaves and chop up
5. heat up frying pan before adding oil
6. add oil, then stalks, cook until tender
7. add leaves and vinegar, toss while cooking.
8. takes only a few minutes from here. add salt and pepper.

Second method of cooking if you do not like the stems is to put the leaves in a pot with a little broth and cook for a few minutes. We use Pacific Beef broth which has no fat and is low in salt. ( low cal. too ) This will cook up like spinach.
This week I finally got to talk to my medtronics rep who worked with me on my basal numbers. She also showed me how to adjust my pump for exercise. I'm going to try it out in a little while to see how the new adjustments work. I'm suppose to lower my basal rate down 45% one hour before exercise and keep it that way through exercise. Then, afterwards, I am suppose to keep the rate at a 50 % basal rate for 2 hours afterward so my body has time to re-adjust. This I did not know. She said this should keep me from having to have to eat to keep my bg up. This should also give me high enough bg levels before I enter the pool so when I take off my pump my bg will be high enough I won't have to waste calories before exercise. This situation has often wrecked a perfect diet day. It defeats what exercise was meant to accomplish in the first place. That has been my frustration since my blood sugars are now around 100. May be normal for the average person, but it's way too low when someone is on insulin and tries to exercise. I have found that a piece of fruit is the best calorie choice for myself after exercise since I'm not too sure how many calories I use up. The fruit gets my blood sugar back where it needs to be and doesn't cost a lot of calories. Those granola bars are 150 cals on the avg and seem to be loaded with sugar. I tried one after work out one day and my body felt ill. Yogurt didn't feel that much better. What does everyone else use after work out? Got to go