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Angela Shelf Medearis is affectionately called The Kitchen Diva (a moniker she coined, and it stuck).

And while she’s known for being sassy and fun in the kitchen, she’s serious about cooking healthy comfort food for those she loves, and shares her recipes with the world in her books.

Her most recent is: The Kitchen Diva’s Diabetic Cookbook, 150 Healthy, delicious Recipes for Diabetics and Those Who Dine with Them. Below she offers tips for cooking healthy, as well as symptoms of diabetes.

Healthy cooking tips:

1. Using agave or stevia in the place of honey, sugar, and syrups is a tasty way to decrease the amount of sugar in a recipe without losing any flavor.
2. Whipped or low fat butter is half the calories but is just as delicious as full fat butter in healthy recipes.
3. “Meatless Mondays” or any day where you forgo eating meat and eat only vegetarian products and fresh, local produce, lowers your calorie intake, is beneficial to your health and the health of the planet, increases your food budget and provides income for local farmers.
4. Use lemon juice and mustard when possible in place of salt to decrease sodium and to add a burst of acid to “perk up” your meats and side dishes.Using no or low-sugar ketchup instead of regular cuts an amazing amount of “sneaky” calories and sugar.
5. Use spicy tomato products like Rotel in place of salsa in your recipes to reduce the amount of sodium and to add flavor.

DIABETES SYMPTOMS:

Diabetes symptoms vary depending on how high your blood sugar is elevated. Some people, especially those with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, may not experience symptoms initially. In type 1 diabetes, however, symptoms tend to come on quickly and be more severe. Some of the signs and symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes include:

• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Extreme hunger
• Unexplained weight loss
• Presence of ketones in the urine (ketones are a byproduct of the breakdown of muscle and fat that happens when there’s not enough insulin)
• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Slow-healing sores
• Mild high blood pressure
• Frequent infections, such as gum or skin infections and vaginal or bladder infections

Although type 1 diabetes can develop at any age, it typically appears during childhood or adolescence. Type 2 diabetes, the most common type, can develop at any age and is often preventable.

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