Defeating diabetes - wonders of oats! by Pat Franklin

Alan writes: Below is a story that Pat has written about how we jointly beat Type Two diabetes. The message is, it can be done by anyone but you need some information - see below- and determination.

I now have both, plus a supportive and very helpful wife. I just read of some research, reported in the Daily Mail, about how diet changes can beat back diabetes. Precisely. So see below how we did it and how you too can do just the same.

I am an ordinary UK male, a six foot senior who was getting a bit chubby but assumed that this happened when you got older!

Yes, but only if you eat too much of the wrong things!  I discovered that Cornish Pasties and chocolate digestives are not health foods... Pat's account of our battle to beat diabetes follows..

Alan is now totally free of diabetes according to several blood tests.  It was very scary at first, and I don't remember praying about it, but I am sure that the Lord Jesus helped us find ways to stay healthy.     

When it all started several years ago the doctor said he was then pre diabetic.  We did some research on the web and saw that a few people had cured themselves by fasting, so Alan started with a fast of almost a week. (Now don't try this without asking your doctor first!)  Then we found out about oats, the wonder food! 

We cut out carbohydrates including potatoes, rice, bread, cake, pastry, cookies, anything made with wheat. 

These had to go because they are high in starch, and starch turns to sugar in the blood.  Out went the wheat, in came the oats:  porridge oats for breakfast, oatcakes for snacks, oat based fruit and cereal dessert. 

The oats were like a godsend, because I didn’t know what to cook at first, until a Christian friend gave us Dr Wynnie Chan’s book listing the foods which were safe. 

The book, just a little pocket edition costing a few pounds, is called the GI and GL Counter and is published by Hamlyn. G.I. stands for Glycaemic Index and G.L. the Glycaemic Load. 

It lists thousands of foods as being low, medium or high on the carbohydrate index, so it is quick and easy to use.

Meat and fish were fine, and instead of potatoes or rice, I cooked cous cous, which is low on the GL scale.  Sometimes I make noodles or pasta, but only a small amount, like about half the size of the palm of your hand for each serving, and as soon as they are cooked, I put them in a sieve and hold them under the tap to wash the starch down the drain.

Also, I steam or stir fry loads of veg for every main meal.  Today for example I used my  stainless steel frying pan, sprayed with olive oil, and chopped and stir fried the vegetables I happened to have in the fridge:  carrots, cabbage, broccoli, tomato, celery. 

I added some garlic flakes and a little celery salt.  I stir fried them for about a minute, then added about 1/2 inch of boiling water, covered with a lid and let the water steam through it until the veg were all soft.  It was delicious!  

You have to watch that it doesn’t burn if the water gets used up.  If any water is left at the end, it is a delicious drink. 

Lately we cut out the cous cous because it is so boring, and now we just have meat or fish with the vegetables. 

Then there is dessert!  Surely not?  Yes, we found a way to have dessert.  Basically it is fresh fruit ( apples, berries, peaches etc, but not bananas or pineapple) chopped up with a dollop of yoghurt, 1 – 3 tablespoons of oatbran, some Linwoods flaxseed and almond cereal sprinkled in and some Jordans super nutty granola. 

Moisten with a little milk and it is very tasty and will certainly fill you up so you do not miss the potatoes and rice at all!  

So really the dessert is just fruit, cereal and yoghurt, all healthy stuff.   Not just any cereal though!  Most are loaded with sugar.  You have to read the labels.  Look for the ones with oats and nuts, no raisins and as little sugar as possible. 

The fruits to avoid are currants, dates, raisins and watermelon, all high on the GI and GL listing.

Other desserts that rate a 'low' in Dr Chan's book (so are safe to eat) are: custard, blancmange, milk pudding, jelly and several kinds of ice cream, which surprised us.

For snacks I make oatcakes (recipe below).  They are like traditional flapjacks, but I think lots better and perfect for us because they have no sugar and no wheat.

 You can turn them into savoury snacks by cutting out the nuts and apricots and adding 1-2 cups of grated cheddar cheese. 

Once we had an oat based diet, it was simple to keep going and now Alan is totally clear of diabetes.  Plus, he doesn’t feel he is missing out on anything, and doesn’t feel hungry, although he has lost a lot of weight! 

Here is the Oatcake recipe:

Oatcakes  ( to help fight diabetes  - no wheat, no sugar)

2 cups oats (1 cup = 8 ounces)

2 cups oatbran

Handful of chopped walnuts, another of chopped apricots, another  of mixed seeds

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Splenda for sweetening instead of sugar (I use about 2-3 tablespoons); sweeten to taste.

3 eggs, 4 if the eggs are small

9 tablespoons (desert spoons) olive oil

2 cups water

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, add eggs, oil and water.  Mix together.

Pour out on to a greased baking sheet and smooth it flat.

Preheat oven, bake 30 minutes at 180 fan.  Remove and check that it is done in the middle.  If not, give it another five minutes.

Cut into squares while hot, and then leave it still on the tray to cool.  When cool,  you can freeze some of the squares and store others in the fridge, where they will last for about a week.

 

Cheesy oatcakes

Same as above, but cut out the walnuts and apricots .  Instead, use 1-2 cups of grated cheddar cheese.

So with this one basic recipe you can have both sweet and savoury snacks.

I make both at once, using two baking trays, one sweet and one savoury.  That way I can load the freezer and don’t have to think about baking again for weeks!

So I hope this might help someone out there in the  battle for better health!  But you know, in the end, let's face it - we all die unless the Lord comes and takes us up (the event revealed in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 16-18).  The really important thing is not what happens now, but what happens next!

The Bible teaches that there is one simple criteria determining our eternal destiny - whether or not we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and put our trust in Him to forgive our sins and make us His people. 

We did not believe this at all, to say the least, until a time came, when we were both in our 30s, and through a whole series of things, we came to know that Jesus is God and the Bible is true.

Do you have a Bible, dear friend?  If not, I hope you will get one, and start reading one of the gospels to find out who Jesus really is, what He really said and did.  There is nothing more important in your life. 

It is great to get rid of the threat of diabetes, but it is much greater to have your sins forgiven, to know that the penalty of your sin has been borne by the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, as He hung on the cross at Calvary. 

I know that Jesus took my sins as He hung there that terrible day, though I could never deserve it. 

I never understood the gospel until it became real in my own life - that the whole reason Jesus was born as a baby was so that He could become a man, a perfect, sinless man, and die on the cross as the Lamb of God, the holy sacrifice to pay for the sins of every person who would come to Him and put their faith in Him.

The Bible says that God does not wish that anyone will perish and have to be sent to Hell.  It is not His will.  But He has no choice if we reject His Son.  That is just the way it is, like it or not.

Jesus said:  'If you believe in Me you have eternal life (heaven).'  John 6:47   That word 'believe' implies if you accept Him, believe that He died for you, was buried, rose from the dead again - and if that belief becomes the center of your life, you will have full assurance of heaven.

Dear friend, today your life can change forever.  Jesus also said '...whoever comes to Me I will never drive away.'  That could be you.   Today. 




09/01/2020

 
 
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Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. (Idol - anything or anyone who is prayed to or given the reverence due to God alone. Idolatry - giving excessive honor to a person or thing and ascribing them with godlike power.)
Acts of the Apostles 17:16

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