Diabetic Cooking
As the wife of a man with Type 1 diabetes, cooking has taken on a whole new meaning. The food he consumes has a much greater impact on his health than it would on me.
But that is not to say my diabetic husband has a restricted and bland diet. Like a vegetarian, a person with diabetes can still enjoy much of what everyone else enjoys, but with a few substitutions.
I am not speaking as a medical professional, but I have learned to adjust my cooking to have a lesser impact on my husband’s blood sugar levels. Every diabetic is affected differently by foods, but most of the advice here is just good health practices rather than “medical advice.”
Carbohydrates are of primary concern to the diabetic diet – the lower carb, the better, usually. But some high carb foods are unavoidable. If I find a recipe for a pasta dish, I always use whole wheat pasta. I use brown rice instead of white rice. Other items I substitute when possible include:
- Whole wheat flour for white flour
- Splenda for sugar
- Yukon Gold potatoes for regular potatoes
- Whole wheat bread, buns, etc for white bread
- Pumpernickel bread for Italian, French bread, etc.
- Sourdough bread for Italian, French bread, etc.
- Low fat, reduced fat, fat free dairy products for full fat versions
- Whole grain products for refined products
Most of the recipes listed on this site will include the more diabetic friendly ingredients. I also hope to (in the near future) begin including nutritional values for each recipe so that diabetics and those watching their weight can better track what they are consuming.
And although diabetic baking products present their own sets of challenges, I will soon begin experimenting with these ingredients to create more healthy desserts – well, as healthy as a dessert can be, I guess!
As I find helpful and interesting articles on diabetes, I will post them below…
Could Switching to a Vegetarian Diet Cure My Diabetes? By Maria Collazo-Clavell, M.D.
Changing to a vegetarian diet probably won’t cure your diabetes. But it may offer some benefits over a nonvegetarian diet — such as helping to better control your weight, reducing your risk of some diabetes-associated complications and possibly even making your body more responsive to insulin. There’s no single vegetarian… Read More
Baking Low Carb By Marlene Koch
Who doesn’t love the mouthwatering smell of a freshly baked cake, the perfect pie, or cookies right from the oven? The good news is that having diabetes doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy your favorite treats. The problem with most desserts is that they are very dense in carbs (not to mention calories), which can make them tough to fit into a healthy diabetes diet. The secret to “having your cake and eating… Read More
A Spoonful of Vinegar Makes the Blood Sugar Go Down? By Jack Challem
Strange as it might seem, including some vinegar in your diet may improve your blood sugar. Although vinegar has a bit of a checkered past — it has too often been hyped in weight-loss diets and miracle cures — solid research has clearly shown that it can improve glycemic control. “Scientific studies over the past 10 years show benefits from vinegar consumption,” says Carol Johnston, Ph.D., head of the nutrition department… Read More