This Mushroom Barley Soup is an excellent healthy one-dish meal to make. It is also suitable for diabetics and pre-diabetics who need to watch their diet and daily food intake as this dish is low in calories, fat and GI.
Fighting Diabetes
I am highlighting the topic of ‘diabetes’ today because all of us in Singapore are aware that we are fighting a war against the disease. A substantial percentage of the population here is diabetic or pre-diabetic due to poor eating habits and lack of physical exercise. And the scary thing is, this number is increasing every day.
People around me are beginning to pay more attention and show more concern about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and wanting to adopt good eating habits. But I’ve also noticed that many still do not understand what low-GI foods are all about. And that diabetes only occurs when you consume too much sugars. Just like my folks who have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They neither eat sweets nor drink sodas as they think indulging in these will lead to diabetes. But they often eat late at night (past bedtime hours) – stuffs like biscuits, cakes, pastries and snacks that are made of refined carbs. These are as bad as consuming sugar on its own even though they may not exactly taste sweet just like plain soda crackers or white bread.
Eat Healthy & Exercise
It’s really more about eating whole grains, lean proteins, fruits, vegetables and nuts/beans that will not lead to spikes in blood sugar levels. If we all can consistently do this plus incorporate some simple exercises into our daily routines like after-dinner walks, rope-skipping, burpees, weight-training, etc, I’m sure we can do our best to keep diabetes at bay.
This Mushroom Barley Soup is a good recipe to begin with if you’re new to low-GI recipes and healthy cooking. In the time to come, I will also be coming up with different low-fat, low-calorie and low-GI recipes that will benefit our health in the long run. Enjoy this in the meantime and stay tuned for more.
- 1 yellow onion, peeled & diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 150g oyster mushrooms
- 250g fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 200g white button mushrooms, sliced
- 1200ml vegetable stock
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 120g barley (about 1/2 cup)
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
- 2 tsp olive oil