Eat Healthy: Fight Diabetes with Bittermelon

As we were growing up, we would always be encouraged to eat bittermelon. How many times have we heard our grandma admonishing us to finish our bittermelon? Of course, as kids, we could not understand why. There are a lot more appetizing vegetables out there. Why would our grandma insist that we eat this bitter veggie?

You see, diabetes runs in our family. Both my grandmothers, on the paternal side and on the maternal side, has diabetes. Although both my grandfathers do not. So, we, grandchildren, always pray that we got our genes from our grandfathers instead :)

The reason my Chinese grandma always insist we eat bittermelon is because the Chinese traditional medicine believes that the bittermelon is a very effective preventive vegetable against diabetes. Counting sugar intake alone is not effective in countering diabetes. Because even if people have diabetes, they still need sugar for energy to function well. What they need is something to help their bodies process the sugar they take in. This is where the bittermelon comes in. The Chinese believe that bittermelon helps our bodies process the sugar we take it, such that our bodies can utilize the energy it provides.

My grandmother, by the way, was uneducated (in our definition of the term education). That was the way before. Their generation's parents feel that sending girls to school are useless. So, they were kept at home, to learn household management and house chores and traditional medicine as well as other things a lady of the house needed to keep the home running smoothly. So, she was not totally uneducated! In fact, she can run a household more efficiently than most post-graduate friends I know.

And many, many times, my grandma was proven correct by science. This is one of them. Latest science research has uncovered the therapeutic properties of the bittermelon that makes it a powerful treatment against diabetes. Please read the detailed study here.

When I got married, I found out that diabetes runs in my Hubby's family, too. Both his parents have diabetes. Because of this, I have always regulated the amount of sweets my children can consume. And I am very happy that they have grown up not looking for sweets deliberately. I do not add sugar to their milk and to our coffee. And I have been conscious of cooking healthy food for my family.

Like my grandmother, I am also encouraging my kids to eat bittermelon more often. So far, my Daughter has learned to eat this veggie already. I still have to work on my Son :) I am also constantly looking for ways to make the bittermelon less bitter and more appetizing for my kids. Like this quest, which was successful. Please read on that to know how to make the bittermelon less bitter. Then, you can cook the bittermelon in the following ways or in the way you prefer.

Bittermelon Salad

This is a delicious side dish to any entree. This is perfect paired with any grilled or roasted or fried meat dish! It is very tasty and easy to prepare too! Best of all, since it is uncooked, you get all the full nutrients the bittermelon can offer.

Stir-fried Bittermelon with Crabmeat

This is a very healthy vegetable dish any time of the day. It is almost a complete meal in one dish. It has protein (the egg and crabmeat), it has the super healthy veggie (the bittermelon) and it has fruit (well, technically, the tomato is a fruit!)

I am submitting these two dishes with bittermelon to Sangeeth's Eat Healthy: Fight Diabetes event. This event runs until the end of November so we've got a lot of time to learn more about anti-diabetic food. We've got to raise awareness regarding diabetes. Arm ourselves with more information. Live and eat healthily as this disease can be prevented and cured. This blog is for eating healthy. Life is too short to eat bad food.

Easy Broccoli with Garlic & Oyster Sauce

Broccoli is one of the family's favorite vegetables. I try to serve it often, not just because the family loves it but because it is one of the most nutritious vegetable available. For us, the broccoli is a super-vegetable. It is full of vitamins, calcium, selenium and other minerals our bodies need. Science has shown that it contains anti-cancer nutrients, it reduces coronary heart diseases. New research even shows that it can heal peptic ulcers!

However, all these nutrients would be lost if the broccoli is cooked for more than ten minutes. It would be the best if we can eat the broccoli raw so that we can enjoy the full benefits of the nutrients. But for those who are not comfortable with eating raw food (due to sanitation and hygienic reasons), blanching the broccoli pieces briefly would be the answer.

This is how I usually cook and serve broccoli to my family. It is very simple, easy to do, uses only a few ingredients, and yet flavorful and tender-crunchy even the kids love to eat them.


1 head broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
2 T canola oil
2 T oyster sauce (use a good quality brand)
5 T minced garlic

1. Blanch the broccoli pieces in boiling water briefly. Drain and arrange on a serving plate.

2. In a small skillet, heat up some oil. Lower heat and add the garlic. Saute until fragrant but not burnt. Add the oyster sauce. Turn off the fire immediately after.

3. Drizzle this warm garlic and oyster sauce on the broccoli pieces. Mix up a bit before serving.



I am submitting this high calcium dish to the Eat Healthy Food event, this edition features Calcium rich foods. Sangeeth of the Art of Cooking Indian Food launched this event to encourage everyone to cook healthy food at home, with dishes that are easy to prepare. This event runs until September 24, so you still have time to prepare dishes that are rich in calcium.

Women should particularly focus on having enough calcium in our diets. Specially since our bones grow weaker in time. We will have increased risk of bone fractures when we reach menopause. Of course calcium supplements are available as well, but nothing beats the natural form of calcium in our food because dietary calcium does not cause kidney stones.

Let us eat more healthy food, life is too short to eat bad food.

Seafood EggDrop Soup

My family loves soup. Don't you? We love all kinds of soup. It can be clear soup or thick soup. It can be cream soup or Sinigang (Sour soup) or Chinese soup or Japanese soup or Filipino soup... Of course a soup can be comforting on a rainy wet day. Do you find it wierd that we also love to have hot soups in the middle of summer? But we do love soup regardless of the weather! I'm sure almost every Filipino and Chinese have one kind of soup or another with all their meals, rain or shine. We do not consider the soup as a mere starter. For us, the soup itself is already a viand (ulam). We spoon the soup over our rice and eat the contents - usually meat and veggies (laman) with our rice.

Here is another easy to do, nutritious thick soup. Need I mention it is flavorful and yummy?

200 gms fresh shrimp meat, chopped
300 gms fresh fish fillet, cut into small cubes
5 pcs kani sticks, cut
a bunch of chinese spinach (polunchay), washed, chopped
2 eggs, well beaten
4 slices ginger
4 T garlic, minced
4 C water
salt and pepper to taste
3 T cornstarch dissolved in 3 T water

1. In a lightly oiled wok or pan, saute ginger until light brown. Sute garlic until fragrant but not burnt.

2. Add in the seafood. Stir fry for a while. Then add the water. Cover and let boil. Simmer until the seafoods are cooked.

3. Add in the spinach. Stir the dissolved cornstarch into boiling liquid until thickened.

4. When the soup boils again. Add the beaten egg while slowly swirling the laddle in the soup to spread the egg around. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.






This easy to do and delicious warm soup with its high protein seafood and eggs is another entry to this month's Eat Healthy:Protein Rich event launched by Sangeeth of The Art of Indian Cooking. Please check out her round-up of healthy recipes by the end of the month.

Grilled Chicken With Aromatic Herbs

The kids love chicken. Everybody in my family loves chicken. Which is something good, because chicken contains good protein - it has all the essential amino acids in the correct proportions required by the body for optimum growth of lean, calorie burning tissue. Chicken is a very healthy food only if you remove the chicken skin, of course. If you check out the pictures and recipes of the chicken dishes in this blog, you will see all the chicken skins removed. Why? Because the chicken skin contains all the saturated fat and cholesterol. So, when you cook chicken dishes, make sure to remove all the skin.

Grilling is a healthy and easy way to cook a dish. This way, the fats contained in the meat will drip down (discard the oil), and the remaining meat will be healthier. The secret to making good grilled chicken is in the marinade. This is where your creativity comes in. You can use a lot of different spices, condiments, seasonings and herbs.

For this dish, I mainly used some of the herbs from my garden to include in the marinade. This is such an easy recipe to do, if you have food processor, that is. If not, you simply have to pound the herbs to make the paste/marinade.

1 Kilo chicken pieces, skin removed, washed and chopped to serving sizes

2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
a handful of coriander leaves
3 - 4 pcs bird's eye chillies (use more or less according to your preference)
4 T garlic
1 stalk scallions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 T canola oil
1/2 T turmeric powder
some sugar (if you prefer it a little sweet, this is optional)


1. Pulse all the marinade ingredients (all the ingredients listed, except the chicken) in the food processor. Or pound them together to make a paste.

2. Marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours or more (covered, in the refrigerator).

3. Grill the chicken over hot coals, electric grilling machine, or like me, simply use the Turbo Broiler (15 minutes). Chicken is cooked when juices run clear if meat is pierced.


Easy to do, isn't it? If you're anticipating a busy day ahead, you can make a big batch and store in the freezer. Take it out when needed. Hubby and kids declared this dish yummy! It is fragrant, aromatic, and when cooked at the right time, the meat is soft and tender juicy. Nothing brings satisfaction to a home-chef but to see your dish finished with gusto.




This is my entry to this month's Eat Healthy event featuring protein-rich dishes. This event showcases dishes that are healthy and easy to prepare. Head over to Sangeeth's Art of Cooking Indian Food for the round-up at the end of the month.

Banana Heart (Bud) in Coconut Cream (Ginataang Puso ng Saging)

When I was younger than today, I refused to eat Banana Heart - Puso ng Saging. That is the name given to Banana blossom or bud in this part of the world. Primarily because I thought the farmer had to chop off the whole banana tree to get it's heart! And I love bananas - the fruit more than I love the heart! How will the tree bear more fruit if you chop off the heart!?

Of course, now I understand that this vegetable (by the way, why is the bud called a vegetable, and cooked like a vegetable when its produce is called a fruit???) is actually the reddish heart-shaped bud found at the end of the banana stem, and that harvesting the bud will not endanger the tree in any way. The reason why it is called Banana Heart in this parts is because it indeed looks like a heart! To see a picture of a banana heart and know more about it, please click here.

This is a very simple Filipino dish. Banana Hearts are aplenty here in this country. Sometimes it is made into salads. Most of the time, it is stewed in Coconut Cream.

Coconut cream is made through infusing a little amount of water with shredded mature coconut meat. It is then squeezed and strained through a cheesecloth. This first extract is called the coconut cream. You can add some more water and do the whole process again. The second extraction is called coconut milk, which has a lesser consistency than the coconut cream. However, canned coconut cream and coconut milk are easily available now in any groceries. This makes the cooking process so much easier. Also, you can ask your favorite vendor (suki) to chop up the banana heart for you.

1 pc Banana Bud/Heart (puso ng saging)
4 slices of ginger
3 T garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
4 T cooking oil
1 T vinegar
200 gms ground pork or shrimp meat
4 pcs jalapeno chillies (siling haba), chopped (or more, if preferred)
1 can coconut cream
salt and pepper to taste

1. Remove the outer reddish part of the banana heart and discard. Only work on the yellowish white part found inside.

2. Slice the bud lengthwise into 4 parts, then chop each part thinly across the grain. Soak the chopped buds in salted water to prevent discoloration.

3. When ready to cook, drain the salt water and squeeze out all the juices.

4. Saute the ginger in the oil. When they turn golden brown, add the onions and the garlic. Saute until softened.

5. Add in the ground pork or shrimp meat. Stir until cooked. Add in the chopped banana heart and the vinegar. Cover and do not stir for around 3 minutes.

6. When the 3 minutes are up, open and add in the chillies. Mix everything inside the pan so that he banana heart can absorb the flavor of the meat. Cook until the banana heart cut-ups are tender and soft.

7. Add the coconut cream. Simmer for a few minutes more until the sauce is thickened.

8. Serve warm with lots of rice.


Banana Bud is one of the richest source of Potassium and Fiber. That is why I am submitting this dish to a new foodie event - - Eat Healthy : Fiber Rich launched by Sangeeth of Let Us All Cook or the Art of Cooking Indian Food. We should indeed try to eat healthy foods. After all, life is too short to eat bad food. :)