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What grows in the blistering Fla heat?

Muckyai

Muckyai

Bitter squash! These bad boys love the heat and go untouched by insects. They are also super healthful with studies showing it to have blood sugar reducing properties. Definitely an acquired taste but become tasty if prepared correctly - usually stuffed and cooked in broth, or sliced thinly and sauteed with scrambled eggs.


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Powelly said:
We call it bitter melon here and I drink tea from it daily
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Diabetic here hoping for more information.  Mainly, what is the right type of bitter melon to grow?  Is it the Chinese variety that lowers blood sugar?  Also, how do you make it into tea?  How much of the melon do you use?  Is it like making cucumber water?

I can drink a gallon or two of tea a day if I am out in the sun.  Figure if it works to lower blood sugar, I might as well add it to my tea.
 
AJ Drew said:
 
Diabetic here hoping for more information.  Mainly, what is the right type of bitter melon to grow?  Is it the Chinese variety that lowers blood sugar?  Also, how do you make it into tea?  How much of the melon do you use?  Is it like making cucumber water?

I can drink a gallon or two of tea a day if I am out in the sun.  Figure if it works to lower blood sugar, I might as well add it to my tea.
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Hi AJ,
 
Here are the instructions on the packet
 
Ingredients: Dried bitter gourd
 
Usage:
Clean teapot by boiling water, put tea in pot and pour freshly boiled water. Cover it with a lid and leave it in for 1-2 minutes. Fill the teapot with the gourd and reuse 3-4 times
 
Looks a tad different from the bitter melon I'm used to.  Ours always looked like cucumbers with ridges.  Bitter melon is definitely an acquired taste, but it's kinda addictive once you develop that taste.  Never ate them stuffed, but an ex girlfriend used to put slices of them into all sorts of stuff and I loved them.
 
The Indian bitter melons look different. The one posted above is a Chinese variety.
 
Another plant that seems to LOVE the heat is the west Indian burr gherkin. They make awesome pickles. Taste is very similar to a cucumber.
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AJ Drew said:
 
Diabetic here hoping for more information.  Mainly, what is the right type of bitter melon to grow?  Is it the Chinese variety that lowers blood sugar?  Also, how do you make it into tea?  How much of the melon do you use?  Is it like making cucumber water?

I can drink a gallon or two of tea a day if I am out in the sun.  Figure if it works to lower blood sugar, I might as well add it to my tea.
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AJ I know you've mentioned that you are vegetarian but you might find this book interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/1451624425
 
High fat diets have proven to be extremely effective at combating diabetes, and the affects on heart health are quite surprising (in a good way) as well.
 
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austin87 said:
 
AJ I know you've mentioned that you are vegetarian but you might find this book interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/1451624425
 
High fat diets have proven to be extremely effective at combating diabetes, and the affects on heart health are quite surprising (in a good way) as well.
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Not so much. Look at www.nutritionfacts.org. Tons of info supported by medical studies. High fat produces insulin resistance and exacerbates diabetes. Also, ketones from high protein diets do double damage on already impacted kidneys. High fat and diabetes is a horrible idea.


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Crusher said:
Not so much. Look at www.nutritionfacts.org. Tons of info supported by medical studies. High fat produces insulin resistance and exacerbates diabetes. Also, ketones from high protein diets do double damage on already impacted kidneys. High fat and diabetes is a horrible idea.


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It's the opinion of one guy (Dr. Greger). The people who ran the 7 country study in the 1950s had terrible advice based on shoddy science. They petitioned congress to advocate for the diet that became the basis for the food pyramid, and they railroaded anyone who disagreed, ruining people's careers. It is still incredibly difficult to get funding for research on other diets.

The low fat diet is where things like snackwells cakes that were labeled "heart healthy" because they were low fat came from. Do you have any idea how much refined sugar is in a snackwells cake? Diabetes is considered a disease of western civilization which is extremely high in processes sugar. Diabetes does not exist in third world countries.

I'm not saying it's a cure all for folks with diabetes but it might be worth looking into. I would recommend seeing a doctor before switching your diet, too. But there is anecdotal and scientifically based evidence for a high fat, low carb, low sugar diet as being very beneficial for folks with diabetes.
 
I´m gonna try to grow those things next year.  You had me sold when you said ¨untouched by insects.¨  If it´s healthy and potentially tasty, even better.
 
austin87 said:
 
AJ I know you've mentioned that you are vegetarian but you might find this book interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Fat-Surprise-Butter-Healthy/dp/1451624425
 
High fat diets have proven to be extremely effective at combating diabetes, and the affects on heart health are quite surprising (in a good way) as well.
Click to expand...
 
Registered dietitian here
The key is low polyunsaturated fats
 
The other key is accepting that high cholesterol has never been linked to anything. High HDL and low triglycerides is what truly matters. Low HDL and high LDL is a heart attack
I wouldn't say that you need to eat animal products to achieve this but you can if you want. High fat or low carbohydrate diets have also not shown to improve things
 
Key to good health and body composition is plenty of exercise, choose monounsaturates over polyunsaturates (letting saturated fat fall where it lies), plenty of protein (beans, nuts, fish etc) and carbohydrate will also take care of itself as long as you're not eating dumb shit like twinkies. 
 
I've read that book among others and going by what I remember from it- I wouldn't recommend slapping butter on everything! Caloric balance is the MAJOR player and if you're eating too much your triglycerides are going to explode- bottom line. 
 
Oh yeah and I use coconut oil and olice oil as my go to oils. Canola is the debbil as far as metabolic disease goes
 
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Also for the record I've put myself on low carb, high far diets before resulting in me spending 6 months in ketosis - Being in ketosis is FINE, won't damage anything
But my lipid panel was terrible because I ate a lot of chicken wings which are grain fed and ultra high in polyunsaturated fats. I think my HDL was 0.5 and my LDL was 12 - at age 23 and competing in weightlifting! Abs and all so not a fatty!
 
Muckyai said:
I've never seen that before, is that something you planted? Do you eat them?
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I did some more research on them they are a variety of the bitter melon family, but smaller fruit. My Indian neighbor down the street always picks them for some type of stir fry/curry. They grow wild down here and can be a bit invasive. Apparently you can only eat them while still green once they ripen the seeds can be poisonous and the flesh becomes too bitter and astringent. I have not eaten one as of yet, the smell is a bit off putting for me. Might try some as a tea sometime.
 
Crispee-FL said:
I did some more research on them they are a variety of the bitter melon family, but smaller fruit. My Indian neighbor down the street always picks them for some type of stir fry/curry. They grow wild down here and can be a bit invasive. Apparently you can only eat them while still green once they ripen the seeds can be poisonous and the flesh becomes too bitter and astringent. I have not eaten one as of yet, the smell is a bit off putting for me. Might try some as a tea sometime.
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I have heard the Indian version is even more bitter than the Chinese version. Never noticed a bad smell with regards to the ones I've cooked.. but again it definitely is an acquired taste.. like eggplant... but more hard core. Yes, only eat them green, once they are yellow it's just good for seed. They really are tasty though once you get the taste for them!
 
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