Making recipes diabetes friendly

Player

By: By Jane Player | SCNow
Published: May 17, 2008

Many people assume that because a recipe is in a “Diabetes Cookbook”, that it is okay to eat. Unfortunately that is not true.
Diabetes is more than just looking at the carbohydrates; it is also looking at the fat content, the salt content and the amount of fiber in the receipt.
The following is an example of that:
Cheese Cookie Recipe
2 cups of all-purpose flour
8 ounces of Sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoonful of salt
1 teaspoonful of ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoonful Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce
2 sticks of butter (1 cup) melted
2 cups of Rice Krispies
Per Serving:
Calories 150
Carbohydrate- 10 gm
Protein- 4 gm
Fat- 11 gm
Saturated fat-7 gm
Cholesterol- 30 mg
Fiber-o gm
Sodium- 230 mg

One of the main problems with this recipe is the fact that 2/3 of the calories in the cookies comes from fat.
This recipe also has a lot of sodium and no fiber.
One of the first things that has to be done is to replace some of this fat with a heart healthier fat.
This can be done by replacing this with half the amount of a trans-fat and saturated –fat free margarine.
Also instead of using the Cheddar cheese, use a reduced fat Cheddar cheese.
Since you are replacing the fat in the Cheddar cheese with a reduced fat- you may have to add 1 egg to help the cookie stick together.
Since the Rice Krispies have no fiber- find a cereal like the Rice Krispies that has 5 Gms or more of fiber or add flax seeds which are heart healthy.
You can also reduce the amount of salt in the recipe without changing much of the flavor.
By making these few changes you will have less total saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and calories.
However you still have to be careful with this because unless you add 5gm of fiber you have not affected how these carbohydrates will work on your blood sugar.
Getting educated on what all these ingredients will do to your overall health will help you make wiser choices when it comes to your diabetes.

Jane D. Player, RPh can be reached at 394-3121. She is owner of Pee Dee Diabetes Consultants and is a Certified Diabetes Educator.