Food Exchanges Made Easy

Judging by the number of e-mails we get each week, one would think there's something terribly complicated about food exchanges. Not so, actually. Developed back in 1950 as a way to make meal planning easier for people with diabetes, the food exchange system now merely categorizes foods into three main groups:
  • Carbohydrates
  • Protein (Meat) and Protein (Eggs, Cheese, Soy, etc.) Substitutes
  • Fats
The Carbohydrate group is further broken down into bread/starch, fruit, milk, other carbohydrate (sugar and sweets), and vegetables. When a meal plan says 2 1/2 carbohydrate (1 bread/starch, 1 fruit, 1/2 milk), it means that many servings for those kinds of carbohydrate. You will need to refer to a food exchange list for the exact measurement of the food-they are posted in most every diabetic cookbook-or refer to the diabetic exchanges listed at the end of each recipe.

For example, for those 2 1/2 carbohydrate exchanges, you might choose 1 slice of bread, 1 medium fresh peach, and 1/2 cup of skim milk. You could have chosen to have 1/2 cup of cooked pasta, 1 cup of cubed melon, and 1/2 cup of nonfat yogurt. Generally speaking, 1 carbohydrate exchange (bread/starch, fruit, and milk) provides 12 to 15 grams of carbohydrate. Since a serving of vegetables only has 5 grams of carbohydrate, it takes 3 vegetables to equal 1 carbohydrate exchange.

The Protein group is broken down into very low-fat protein, low-fat protein, medium-fat protein, and high-fat protein. A protein exchanges provides 7 grams of protein and varying amounts of fat. Again look to a food exchange list or the exchanges listed at the end of each diabetic recipes for the amount of each serving.

The Fat group is divided into monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats. One fat exchange provides 5 grams of fat and 45 calories. You'll be surprised at how quickly your fat exchanges will be used-1 exchange only means 1 teaspoon oil, butter, stick margarine, or mayonnaise. For the same fat exchange, you could choose 1 tablespoon of reduced fat margarine or mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon salad dressing, 1 tablespoon cream cheese, 8 large black olives, or 1 slice of bacon.

Even if you are only counting carbs, it still makes sense to familiarize yourself with the serving size of different foods that make up 1 exchange so you'll know how much to eat to get 15 grams of carbohydrates. Once you've done it for a while, you'll find you no longer need your list-when you look at a baked potato or a serving of cooked rice, you'll know just how many exchanges that will use. You'll find an earlier article in 'cooking tips' on estimating portion sizes to be helpful. If you didn't read and print it, now would be a good time to do so.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Food Allergy and Symptom

Among the allergies rampant in American lives today, food allergy is one of the top three. However, some people misdiagnose food allergy as food intolerance.

An allergy to food is when you have an adverse physical reaction to a food item after eating it. The most common food allergy is a Peanut Allergy, which affects from 1% - 1.5% of the population. It is also possible to outgrow a food allergy over time, however with a peanut allergy, this is rather unlikely.

Before we go any further let's define exactly what a food allergy is. Food allergies can be broken down into 2 categories. The second category is food intolerance. This is actually caused by the food itself and is not a function of the immune system itself overreacting to the food or food additive. What actually happens with food allergies is that people with allergies produce IgE antibodies to specific epitopes in the food allergen. Allergic reactions to food can be fatal almost immediately following the ingestion of food.

Probably one of the most prevalent and dangerous of these food allergies are people who are allergic to peanuts. Less severe reactions to food allergies are oropharyngeal pruritus, angioedema, stridor, cough, dyspnea, wheezing, and dysphonia.

Symptoms Of Food Allergy

Food allergy is an allergic reaction to certain types of food. Aside for the similarities in symptoms, a food allergy is more severe than food intolerance.Someone with food intolerance can eat small portions of the food he is allergic to.

A food allergy can be treated as soon as the symptom occurs. Unfortunately the best way to avoid food allergies is to have a food allergy test done and then to avoid the foods that show positive on the test. As of now, a shot of epinephrine is the most effective treatment for food allergy and other types of allergies.

Although food allergies cannot be prevented, the best way to defeat it is by staying away from the food a person is allergic to. Making the right diagnosis on food allergy versus food intolerance can be tricky.Welcome to the world of food allergies and intolerances.

A Child Can Outgrow Food Allergy

Food allergies affect an increasing number of children, with peanut allergies being the most prevalent, (to date an estimated 1-2% of children suffering from the possibly life threatening allergic reaction).

So it offers some measure of hope, to parents of food allergic children, to know that around 1 in 5 children eventually go on to outgrow their food allergy. Children and adult allergies follow different patterns. A food allergy in your child is most likely to come from milk, eggs and peanuts. A food allergy in your child may be prevented by avoiding high-risk foods.

Helmy Wahyudi is the owner of 1st-in-allergy-symptom.com free resources on Allergy Treatment, Food Allergy, Allergy Asthma and Symptom.

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