Question about Chayote (It's a squash)
 

I have a friend who is a diabetic. She is a type 2 but very thin and yeas ago her sugar was up to 800 and she went into a coma.

so to say she's VERY careful about her diet and meds, well, this is putting it mildly.

We have been each other's confidant and we always give each other recipes and new discoveries. I told her about Quinoa, and Chromium Picolinate and vegetables, etc.

She's also my beautician.

Well, today she comes running out of the beauty parlor all excited because she has been eating Chayote. I had never heard of this. She said she bought it at the vegetable store. She wasn't sure what it was (I've since looked it up on the internet). Her sugar reading has SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED ever since she began to add the chayote to her blender concoction every morning. She is quite excited over this. Here's a link to Chayote.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/chayote...y%20and%20Lore

Now here is how she uses this Chayote. She does not have a juicer. She has a blender. So every morning she puts a stalk of celery, some cucumber, and 4 teaspoons of raw Chayote into the blender. Comes like a mousse or something. She eats it raw. Now I juice a half cup of fresh celery and some cucumber every morning. My sugar is just fine.

I got the idea about juicing cucumber and celery from watching a special on the BBC. It seems that the nutritionists for the morbidly obese make the patients drink BIG glasses of this celery and cucumber concoction every day. The guys lost weight BIG time. And the nutritionist said "This is the healthiest drink you can start your day with".

So I gave it a try. I only drink half a cup. Just one stalk of celery and maybe a bit of cucumber.
BUT I WANT TO KNOW IF I CAN ADD SOME OF THE CHAYOTE??

The reason I ask is that IT'S A SQUASH, and I always thought all Squashes were starches AND I DON'T EAT STARCHY ANYTHING.

I do eat zucchini but that is a green squash.

So if anybody is knowledgeable about whether or not a controlled diabetic can add some raw Chayote to their celery and cucumber concoction in the morning, well, I'd love to hear it. Anyone hear anything about Chayote and diabetes??

And if I can eat it cooked, well I'll give it a try too.

I eat broccoli, asparagus and other greens every single day. My pancreas LOVES this and so do I. Thank goodness I like my veggies.

So thanks to anyone who knows ANYTHING!!

lol Melody

Chayote is a squash like zuchinni, pattypan, and crookneck yellow squash.

it's pale green, pear-shaped, and very delicious.

it grows very well here, and the bugs leave it alone, so it's my ONLY successful veggie garden crop.

a couple of tips for prepping it...

it's got this oozy kind of SAP that makes your hands sticky, so some people prepare it in a bowlful of water... or are very careful not to touch the inner parts while slicing.

if the Chayote are young, you can sometimes eat the peel, but I prefer to scrape it off.

inside the Chayote is a large seed at the center (smaller than an avocado pit, and pale green), I like to remove that, it doesn't taste very good.

here's a photo of our Chayotes:

http://kayleon.ourbelize.net/pictures/DSCN1971.JPG
Trellising the Chayote squash

http://kayleon.ourbelize.net/pictures/DSCN2324.JPG
Our first Chayote, ready to pluck!

I love Chayote, and eat it several times a week, steamed, sauteed julienned strips, in stir-fry, and in casseroles... it's an excellent vegetable all around.

hope that helped!

:D:cool::D

I'm still confused. The inner parts, the outer parts, the sap. Which part is edible. The inner part, the outer part, or the whole thing.

Can I just peel it, cut it in half, take out he center seed thing (is it a pit? or a bunch of seeds). And which part do you slice and are able to eat.

AND I THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Melody

Hi. Just came back from around the corner. The girl had brough a Chayote into work so I could see what it looks like. She gave it to me.

I NOW HAVE MY FIRST CHAYOTE.

Took some photos.

Now I have to decide if I want to juice it, or cook it.

OH THE DECISIONS!!!! lol

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...t/chayote2.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...t/chayoti1.jpg

I take off the peel, and take out the seed in the center with a paring knife, and give those parts to the chickens.

some people do eat the peel, and some don't, kind of like apples, depends on the variety, and the age, the peel gets tougher as it gets older, like zuchinni.

I've never juiced them, just cooked 'em.

good luck with whatever you choose!

:hug:

Lightbulb finally went off.

I know this is a VERY old thread but was going through all the recipes again that have been posted in this forum and came across this one about Chayote again. I'd never looked at it closely until today and just figured out what we call it here.

It's a Choko here. Grow like anything. lol They're the vegetable everyone always tries to give away because they don't want them all. I like choko but they don't have much taste at all to me. Have the texture of pears. In fact years ago people used to say that a lot of the canned pears had choko in them here.

I wonder how the juicing went?! Not sure I could deal with that lol :o

http://www.themercury.com.au/article...food-wine.html
Choko is no joke

Wow, this thread was from 2008. I don't even remember posting this. I've never bought another one. I now sprout all my food. I do microgreens too. Go on youtube and look for videos by eliz7212. You'll see that I grow food in my living room on trays. Best thing I have ever done. So cool.

Melody

G'day there Melody!
Say your name and there you are! :D

Have missed seeing you around.

I've checked out a lot of your vids. Must look again. Thanks. I'm looking for yummy healthy ideas for my grown daughter. Sprouting etc. might be a good thing for her.

I was also just looking at the truelemon site you posted ages back. Some good recipes in there even if we might not have that product here.

http://www.truelemon.com/recipes/col...d-recipes.html

Could just adapt these by using limes, or oranges or lemons. Neat!

If you really want to laugh, yesterday I made a True Orange Pie. I went on their facebook page, saw a recipe for True Lime Key Lime Pie. I then said "I have True Orange packets in the house (the recipe calls for 8 packets). I have 100 in a box. I said 'Let me see if I can make a True Orange Pie"

Look at my husband's reaction. This was a sugar free pie. It was FABULOUS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RICK_j1TrG4

Melody