The salsa smells really good, but it’s really spicy. This probably isn’t something you’ll want to use for dipping chips unless you can really handle the heat. However, the flavor is very good, and it is a great addition to beef tacos. Just be careful with how much you use. (This is coming from someone who thinks Tabasco sauce is fairly mild.)

This is probably the hottest salsa you’ll find in most grocery stores, so if you crave the heat, you should definitely try this one! If habanero salsas aren’t hot enough for you, maybe this will be.

I’ve been busy with my wine blog, but I will start posting here more regularly. What would you like to see here?

Some possible topics I could cover:

• Canning. I made plum jam recently.
• Quick meal ideas, especially low carb meals.
• Recipes on occasion.
• Coffee and tea.
• Gardening, including indoor gardening during the winter

This isn’t a difficult diet to follow. Like most low-carb diets, fast food and frozen convenience foods aren’t really an option anymore (although Culver’s does have some good salads). The basic idea is to avoid starches, which includes most “white foods.” No bread, no rice, no pasta, and no potatoes. (This also means no cookies, cakes, pies, etc.) Also, no drinks that contain sugar, and that includes juices. The author does allow some options for dessert, including a small amount of dark chocolate.

Additionally, regular exercise is recommended. He suggests walking at least every other day for at least 30 minutes. This is to help reduce insulin resistance by “waking up” certain types of muscle tissue.

You can get the book, The Glycemic Load Diet by Rob Thompson M.D., on Amazon in paperback or as a Kindle edition.

Dr. Thompson recommends a low-carb diet in this book, but it is not as restrictive as some low-carb diets. His eating plan is based on the glycemic load, which is similar to the glycemic index, but takes serving sizes into account. The glycemic load (and the glycemic index) indicate the effect of a food on blood glucose levels. When foods that raise blood glocose levels quickly are eliminated, the pancreas does not have to produce as much insulin. This can help with weight loss as well as helping reduce the impact of type 2 diabetes.

He also recommends regular exercise in the form of walking. This is to counter insulin resistance by keeping certain types of muscle tissue active.

As a cardiologist, he also discusses the effect of diet on arterial and heart disease. Controlling your intake of saturated fats may be beneficial, as long as doing so does not result in an increased consumption of high glycemic load foods.

I am prediabetic, and my recent blood glucose levels suggest that I may be close to the criteria for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. I’m also trying to lose weight. I know that watching carbohydrate intake is essential to managing diabetes, so a low-carb approach makes sense to me. I’ve been following his recommendations yesterday and today, and I’ve also been testing by blood glucose frequently today. Today’s highest glucose reading was 119 this morning. My dinner this evening only raised by glucose from 86 to 90 in 2 hours. In the recent past, I have frequently had glucose readings in the 130-140 range, so this approach seems promising.

If you are looking to control your type 2 diabetes, delay or prevent the onset of diabetes, or are simply looking to lose weight, I’d recommend reading this book.

The book is available at Amazon here: The Glycemic-Load Diet (paperback)

It is also available for reading on the Kindle reader or the free Kindle reading apps here: The Glycemic-Load Diet (Kindle)

In My Glass is my new wine blog, where you’ll find wine reviews, news, and commentary. Please visit it and share with your wine-loving friends. Thanks!

I will get back to this website soon. Once I have this website setup like I want, I’ll then do my other blog, Trains for an Engineer.

Unfortunately, this will have broken any inbound links to the blog, and it also caused feed readers to pick up old posts as new due to the change in the feed.

There will be some other changes in the near future, including an “About Me” page and a privacy policy. For now, you should know that I use Google Analytics to collect data anonymously for statistical purposes.

My wife rescued it by turning it into a soup! I don’t remember exactly what she put in, but it was good. Maybe I should try making soup the next time I have an eggplant to cook.