A follow up on the suggestion that Salsa might be a worthwhile addition to the diabetic menu
It was about a week or two ago, in a discussion of neuropathy, that I mentioned a doctor’s suggestion that the capsaicin in hot peppers can be, for some, an antidote to relieve the pain of neuropathy that often occurs when a person has had diabetes for some time. That includes me, being a type-2 diagnosed more than 20 years ago. For several years I have experienced a typical diabetic neuropathy, a lack of sensation in my feet, other than a feeling that they are very cold, especially when I am in bed and ready for sleep. The cold feeling is painful to the extent that sometimes I cannot get to sleep and have to get up and walk around, I assume somehow improving the circulation in my extremities. But before we get to the possible salsa remedy, I’ll just mention vitamin B-12 that has been of help to me — and still is I think.
After a few years, when it got really bad, I finally mentioned this problem to my doctor, I was immediately advised to take a B-12 vitamin pill each day, in the amount of 1000 mcg, and I do believe it has helped, I wish I had known about it sooner. But even so, recently it has become worse again, I assume because my neuropathy is getting worse.
Important re vitamin B-12
For the record, I should mention that vitamin B12 is available in most health food stores and also available in some drug stores if they have a vitamin section — and it is inexpensive. With 90 small pills in a bottle, at one per day, that’s a 3 month supply and the cost is less than $10 a bottle in my area of the northeast. I don’t know of any othe vitamin that costs less, and probably not even aspirins.
The vitamin also goes under the chemical name of cobalamin. But what is important is that I found that B-12 comes in 2 forms, cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin. My reseach into which of those two to use, informed me that the best is the methylcobalamin because it is easier for it to be absorbed and lasts actively longer in the body. Also it is to be taken sublingually, meaning that it has to be placed under the tongue and be dissolved there — which it does quickly.
Getting back to salsa as an ingredient for the diabetic menu
Well, I have been adding salsa to my diabetic diet slowly in a small amounts of a couple of tablespoons a day in a suitable generally diabetic friendly meals. It comes in middle and hot. And I think it may be working somewhat, at least my feet have been more comfortable without keeping me from sleep and I still, of course, continue to take my 1000 mcg B-12 pill.
I found the following salsa recipe and it’s obviously the jalapeno chilli peppers that make it hot.
Ingredients: 3 or 4 roasted jalapeno peppers, 2 cups of diced scallions, and 3 or 4 tomatoes.
To those add a teaspoonful of basil and some black pepper to taste, and any other herb that seems appropriate plus salt to taste if necessary.
That is not too specific, I know, but like many men, I’ve never understood much about the art of cooking and I’ve accepted the fact that many women just know what to do to make a dish better anyway, even with the undefined amounts used, for instance, when I asked my mother-in- law how long I should cook something, I was given the less than precise answer of “Until it’s ready!”
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