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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
Satisfy your dessert cravings without spiking your blood glucose
Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies busts a common myth about diabetes—that desserts aren't allowed! As long as you plan ahead and use whole ingredients, delicious options like cakes, cookies, and brownies are still on the menu. This book features 125 flavor-forward, healthy treats that are mouthwatering enough for a menu but simple enough to make at home. The secret to making diabetes-friendly desserts is in balancing your macronutrients and portion sizes. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, cook for someone who has, or are just looking for healthier desserts, his Dummies guide will introduce you to delicious, wholesome recipes that will satisfy. These aren't “watered down” versions of the classics you crave. These recipes are the real deal, and they'll be a hit with kids, too.
- Get over 100 recipes for tasty desserts that are diabetes-friendly
- Make cakes, cookies, puddings, and other treats from around the world
- Adjust recipes to meet your preferences with gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan options
- Enjoy dessert time again with balanced choices that fit with your diet and lifestyle
This book is for anyone looking for dessert ideas for a diabetes-friendly diet. You don't have to give up on dessert. Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies has the healthful recipes you need to continue enjoying the sweet things in life.
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Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Discovering Delicious and Nutritious Desserts
Chapter 1: Defining Diabetes-Friendly Desserts
Exploring Blood Glucose Levels
Creating a Lifestyle That Supports Diabetes Desserts
Preparing and Eating Delicious Dessert Recipes
Chapter 2: Understanding Sugar’s Role in the Body
Noting How the Body and Brain Use Sugar
Examining the Causes of Sugar Cravings
Adding “Sweet” Lifestyle Strategies to Your Day
Selecting Healthy Ingredients Directly Impacts Your Diabetes
Making Desserts Healthful with These Ingredients
Identifying Ideal Desserts for People with Diabetes
Desserts Redux — Making Desserts Diabetes-Friendly
Chapter 3: Keeping Blood Glucose Balanced While Eating Desserts
Regulating Blood Glucose Levels
Perusing the Best Diabetes Care
Focusing on Problematic Foods
Keeping Track of Your Goals
Part 2: Incorporating Desserts into Your Diet
Chapter 4: Making Macronutrients Work Together
Understanding How Protein, Carbs, and Fat Affect What You Eat
Identifying the Best Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Fats
Chapter 5: Enjoying Diabetes-Friendly Desserts: The How and When
Focusing on Timing
Strategizing Your Meals When You Have Diabetes
Calming Your Feelings of Shame and Guilt
Comparing Desserts: Eating Out and Store-Bought versus Homemade
Chapter 6: Building a Pantry and Choosing Healthful Sweeteners
Decoding Nutrition Labels
Stocking Your Kitchen with Diabetes-Friendly Dessert Ingredients
Sweetening the Pot — Sweeteners
Swapping Out Healthful Sweeteners in Recipes
Chapter 7: Fitting Homemade Desserts into Your Schedule
Analyzing Your Schedule to Include Baking
Making Desserts in Advance
Whipping Together Last-Minute Desserts
Reinventing Baking Day: Recognizing the Benefits to Baking with Others
Part 3: Preparing Diabetes-Friendly Desserts: The Recipes
Chapter 8: Introducing Base Recipes to Your Kitchen
Baking Crusts
Whipping Up Custard
Making Ganache
Chapter 9: Focusing on Fruit-Based Desserts
Transforming Fruit into Dessert
Preparing Creamy Fruit and Dairy Desserts
Chapter 10: Making Brownies and Bars
Indulging in Chocolate Brownies and Bars
Savoring Fruit-Studded Brownies and Bars
Whipping Up Whole-Grain Goodness Bars and Squares
Chapter 11: Enjoying Cookies
Making Cookies: The Basic How-To Techniques
Baking Cookies with Chocolate
Enjoying Nutty Cookies
Traveling the World: Classic Cookies from around the Globe
Adding Oatmeal Cookies to Your Repertoire
Chapter 12: Preparing Spoon Desserts and Puddings
Making Panna Cotta and Puddings
Creating Comfort Desserts: Crisps and Cobblers
Adding Fruit to Traditional Dessert Recipes
Chapter 13: Creating Truffles and Fruit-Based Sweet Treats
Satisfying Your Sweet Tooth with Bite-Sized Treats
Pleasing Your Palate with Fudge, Clusters, and Bark
Dipping Fruit in Chocolate
Chapter 14: Whipping Up Frozen Desserts
Having Fun with Frozen Yogurt
Transforming Ice Cream into a Healthful Finale
Trying Granita and Sorbet Recipes
Freezing Delightful Frozen Classics
Chapter 15: Mastering Pies and Tarts
Creating Crostata and Strudel
Making Tarts and Pies
Serving Jars and Pots
Chapter 16: Sipping on Sweet Drinks
Crafting Some Sweet Fruit Sips
Cooling Down with Drinks
Warming Up with Hot Drinks
Chapter 17: Baking Cakes
Experimenting with Classic Cake Recipes
Baking Fruit Cakes
Relishing Chocolate Cakes
Part 4: The Part of Tens
Chapter 18: Ten Ways to Enjoy Desserts When You Have Diabetes
Relishing Desserts
Consuming All Three Macronutrients during Each Meal
Monitoring Your Blood Glucose Levels
Eating More Fruit-Based Desserts
Paying Attention to Portion Sizes
Substituting Butter with EVOO Whenever Possible
Making It a Team Effort
Exploring New Tastes and Dessert Styles
Planning Ahead
Exercising on a Regular Basis
Chapter 19: Ten Myths Debunked about Diabetes and Desserts
Knowing Your Current Blood Glucose Levels Doesn’t Matter
Exercising to Control Your Glucose Doesn’t Help
Increasing Medications Enables You to Eat Anything
Using Alternative or Artificial Sweeteners Is Okay
Preparing Desserts in Advance or Thinking about Them Is Taboo
Making “Healthful Desserts” Taste Good Is Impossible
Planning for the Unexpected Isn’t Necessary
Thinking That Desserts Can’t Be Good for You
Prepping Tasty Diabetes-Friendly Desserts Is Hard
Avoiding What Is Problematic Is Difficult
Chapter 20: Ten Best Ingredients for Diabetes Desserts
Cinnamon
Dark Chocolate
Almonds and Almond Flour
Other Nuts
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Seeds
Citrus: Oranges and Lemons
Plain, Full-Fat Greek Yogurt
Fruit
Index
About the Author
Supplemental Images
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
TABLE 2-1 Listing GI Values
TABLE 2-2 Polyphenols in Foods and Possible Bioactivity
Chapter 3
TABLE 3-1 Fasting Blood Glucose Levels
TABLE 3-2 OGTT Blood Glucose Levels
TABLE 3-3 Planning Your Care after Your Diagnosis
TABLE 3-4 Swapping Out Problematic Baking Ingredients
Chapter 4
TABLE 4-1 Measuring a 15-Gram Carb Choice
Chapter 6
TABLE 6-1 Substituting Table Sugar with Healthful Sweeteners
List of Illustrations
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6-1: Nutrition label.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: Use a calendar to plan your meals and desserts for the week (and ev...
FIGURE 7-2: You can bond with your kids or grandkids by baking together.
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Preparing an avocado.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: Seeding a pomegranate.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Begin Reading
Index
About the Author
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Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Published simultaneously in Canada
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Introduction
Welcome to the world of desserts that lets you experience tasty and nourishing sweet treats at the same time. In addition to actual recipes, this cookbook contains information on nutrition, lifestyle hacks, and diabetes care to ensure that you’re setting yourself up for success and to enable you to enjoy desserts more often without suffering spikes in blood sugar.
When discussing the topic of desserts for people with diabetes, two philosophies are prevalent:
People with diabetes must completely cut out all sugar and simple carbs — even natural sweeteners like honey — from your diet.
People with diabetes can eat whatever type of dessert you want, even a triple chocolate fudge cake filled with artificial ingredients and unhealthful fats, if it uses a sugar substitute.
Although this first option is better than the second, I’m realistic about the fact that most people wouldn’t be able to sustain a sugar-free diet forever. I don’t believe in artificial sweeteners, or other artificial ingredients for that matter. I also know that before determining what types of desserts are safe for people to eat, you must first consider the other foods that they eat during that meal and day, their activity level, and other factors, which are difficult to consider when writing a book that thousands of people whom you know nothing about will read.
When writing Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies, I incorporate useful information about diabetes and blood sugar levels along with delicious and nutritious recipes that you can rely on to help regulate your glucose without giving up good flavor. I hope you can utilize these recipes and also use some of the healing tips to live both a pleasurable and healthy life.
About This Book
Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies busts a common myth about diabetes — that desserts aren’t allowed if you have diabetes or prediabetes! If you plan ahead and use whole ingredients, delicious options like cakes, cookies, and brownies are still on the menu. This book features approximately 125 flavor-forward, healthful treats that are mouthwatering enough for a menu but simple enough to make at home.
The secret to making diabetes-friendly desserts is in balancing your macronutrients and portion sizes along with adding ingredients that are most beneficial to people with diabetes. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes, cook for someone who has, or are just looking for healthier desserts, this handy guide introduces you to delicious, wholesome recipes that will satisfy. These recipes aren’t watered-down versions of the classics you crave. They’re the real deal, and they’ll be a hit with kids, too.
This book is for anyone looking for dessert ideas for a diabetes-friendly diet. You don’t have to give up on dessert. Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies has the healthful recipes and lifestyle tips that you need to continue enjoying the sweet things in life.
Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind about the recipes:
All eggs are large.
All flour is all-purpose unless otherwise specified.
All extra-virgin olive oil is the best quality possible.
All Greek yogurt is plain and full fat unless otherwise specified.
All cinnamon is pure (Ceylon) cinnamon.
All vanilla is pure vanilla extract unless otherwise stated.
All honey is raw.
All maple syrup is pure.
All date sugar and coconut sugar is organic.
All monk fruit sweetener is organic.
All salt is unrefined sea salt, which contains some raw minerals that help the body digest salt minus any unwanted additives. If you’re swapping out regular salt, use an even smaller quantity.
All dry ingredient measurements are level — use a dry ingredient measuring cup, fill it using a spoon instead of scooping to the top, and scrape it even with a straight object, such as the flat side of a knife.
At the end of many of the recipes I add helpful tips, notes, and ways you can vary the recipe.
If you need or want vegetarian recipes, scan the list of “Recipes in This Chapter” on the first page of each chapter in
Part 3
. A little tomato in front of the name of a recipe marks that recipe as vegetarian. (See the tomato to the left of this paragraph.)
This isn’t a complete book about diagnosing and treating diabetes and its complications. Check out the most recent editions of Diabetes For Dummies, if you need diagnosis and treatment information, or Diabetes Meal Planning & Nutrition For Dummies (both by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) if you want a deeper dive into meal planning and nutrition.
Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.
Foolish Assumptions
When writing this book, I made the following assumptions about you, my dear reader:
You believe that blood glucose levels are impacted by the foods you eat.
You need a refresher course on diabetes basics or in meal planning.
You’re new to diabetes or prediabetes and want to get valuable information that can help you live your best life in addition to recipes.
You’re committed to your health and looking for as many ways as possible to improve it.
You’re already an expert on diabetes-related nutrition and have consistently even glucose levels, but you’re wanting some new desserts in your meal plan or just need a refresher.
No matter, you can find out with a little planning, you don’t need to sacrifice on desserts, even if you’re living with diabetes.
Icons Used in This Book
The icons alert you to information you must know, information you should know, and information you may find interesting but can live without.
This icons points out essential information.
This icon marks information that can save you time and energy.
This icon provides medical advice — from my culinary medicine partner and technical editor of this book, Dr. Simon Poole — about the choices you have to optimize your treatment.
This icon gives you technical, scientific, or medical information or terminology that may be helpful, but not necessary, to your understanding of the topic.
This icon warns against potential problems (for example, things to avoid when balancing blood sugar).
Beyond This Book
In addition to the content of this book, you can access some related material online. It contains important information that you may want to refer to on a regular basis. To find the Cheat Sheet, visit www.dummies.com and search for “Diabetes Desserts Cookbook For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”
Where to Go from Here
Where you go from here depends on your level of interest and passion. Personally speaking, I never tire of looking for new ways to feel and eat better. Like all For Dummies books, this book is modular, meaning you don’t need to read it from front to back cover to grasp what I’m talking about.
If you want information about topics like glucose and macronutrients, go to Chapters 2, 3, and 4. If your blood sugar is stable and/or you already know how to manage your diabetes and you’re ready to try the recipes, head to Part 3. Or you can scan the Table of Contents or the Index to find a topic that piques your interest, flip to that chapter, and start reading.
Part 1
Discovering Delicious and Nutritious Desserts
IN THIS PART …
Know what role blood sugar plays in your body.
Understand how blood sugar affects your physical and mental health.
Discover the best ways to keep your blood glucose balanced while eating desserts.
Chapter 1
Defining Diabetes-Friendly Desserts
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the effects of desserts on blood glucose
Deciphering the differences between diabetes desserts
The term “diabetes-friendly desserts” may seem like an oxymoron to many people. After all, aren’t individuals with diabetes supposed to avoid desserts altogether? In order to answer that question, you need to first understand how sugar affects your health and realize that not all desserts are created equal. By discovering how to prepare nutritious and delicious desserts, you can keep your blood sugar in check and satisfy your sweet cravings in a healthful way which prevents overindulgence in desserts that aren’t good for you.
This chapter serves as your entry point into the world of diabetes desserts. I preview what you can discover in this book, including sugar’s effect on glucose and how to harness the power of healthful ingredients in desserts.
Exploring Blood Glucose Levels
Consuming sugars and simple carbohydrates plays a direct role on a person’s blood glucose levels. Simple sugars consist of glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Carbohydrates are found in simple, readily available small molecular forms called sugars or are linked together in more complex carbohydrates. When the body handles glucose improperly, symptoms of diabetes occur.
A hormone referred to as insulin controls the level of glucose in your blood. This hormone is a chemical substance made in one part of the body that travels to another part of the body to open cells so that glucose can enter. If it can’t enter the cell, it can’t provide energy to the body.
Insulin plays a major role in regulating blood sugar, is essential for growth, and enables fat and muscle to develop. When you don’t have a sufficient amount of insulin, or when insulin isn’t working effectively, glucose starts to rise. If it rises above a certain level (specifically 180mg/dl (10>0 mmol/L)), glucose begins to spill into the urine and make it sweet. The loss of glucose leads to short-term complications of diabetes.
Your blood glucose level is the level of sugar in your blood, a key measure in diabetes. Glucose can change in just 30 minutes time, especially before and after meals. That’s why monitoring your blood glucose continuously is so important in order to make sure that your glucose levels are not too high or too low. Dehydration, fatigue, kidney problems, and others are direct results of having imbalanced blood glucose.
The following sections touch on the role that sugar plays in your mental and physical health and how to regulate your blood sugar while enjoying desserts.
Looking at how sugar affects the mind and body
As I discuss in Chapter 2, consuming too much sugar, not balancing simple carbs in meals, or eating sweet foods or drinks by themselves will quickly affect your mind and body. Blood glucose levels that are too high will affect your ability to function normally because your brain needs correct levels of glucose to function properly. Glucose that’s too high or too low can affect your ability to think clearly. Glucose that’s too low can even cause loss of consciousness.
There’s no magic number for the amount of sugar that you should eat in a day. However, many health professionals believe that you should eat as little as possible and balance it with good quality proteins and fats to lower the glycemic load of the foods that you do eat and prevent blood sugar spikes.
Regulating your blood sugar while enjoying desserts
You can regulate your blood sugar in many ways besides medicine and insulin. As Chapter 3 examines, a healthy attitude, approach to life, and lifestyle in general make a big difference. Even your thoughts and emotions help prevent blood sugar spikes. Taking charge of your mental health as well as your physical health is important in order to regulate your blood sugar.
Keep the following in mind when selecting desserts to eat when you have diabetes to regulate your blood sugar:
Ensure that the desserts you’re eating are as healthful as possible.
The recipes in
Part 3
are a great place to start.
Make your own desserts. When you make your own, you can ensure you’re using nourishing ingredients and natural sweeteners that don’t spike blood sugar.
Although certain foods such as simple sugars and carbohydrates can cause blood spikes when eaten in large amounts and not balanced with other macronutrients — protein, carbohydrate (in this case complex carbs), and fat — everyone’s body responds differently to various foods.
Regularly monitor your blood glucose to make sure that your levels stay balanced.
If you notice any patterns of sudden rises or sudden dips when eating or drinking certain things, or even thinking certain thoughts or after having not gotten enough sleep, take the necessary action to ensure that it doesn’t continue.
Creating a Lifestyle That Supports Diabetes Desserts
A diabetes diagnosis doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Think of it as your body’s alert signal letting you know that something is off. You deserve to enjoy the sweetness of life and good health. A diagnosis is your permission slip to take good care of yourself.
Luckily, many of the lifestyle changes that support being able to eat diabetes-friendly desserts include activities that help your mental and physical health in general, and are free and readily available. Engaging in pleasurable activities such as hobbies and other things you enjoy doing, spending time outdoors, exercising, getting plentiful sleep including daily naps, and spending time in communal and even volunteer activities are all easy lifestyle additions that help the body to metabolize sugar better in the first place.
Thinking positively, practicing gratitude, and doing breath work and yoga are all easy additions that pay off in the long and short term. Cooking diabetes-friendly meals, including desserts, is also much easier than it seems. Dr. Simon Poole and I outline our best tips in our other books — the most recent editions of Diabetes For Dummies, Diabetes Meal Planning & Nutrition, and Diabetes Cookbook For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes, you may feel overwhelmed — in particular about eating desserts and making better food choices.
These sections examine the essential information that you need to know about creating a lifestyle so you can enjoy eating the desserts in Part 3.
Eating right — Focusing on macronutrients
Balancing macronutrients — carbs, fats, and proteins — is important to everyone, but for people with diabetes, it’s essential, especially if you want to enjoy desserts. Every time you eat, you should ensure that you choose the best quality complex carbs (whole grains and sweet potatoes are two examples) healthful fats (extra-virgin olive oil, avocado, and nuts are examples), and quality, low-fat protein (fish, seafood, chicken, edamame, beans, and legumes are examples). Chapter 4 provides more details.
Fitting diabetes-friendly desserts into your diet
If you want to have your cake and eat it too, literally, then you have to balance the rest of your meals during that same day in order to avoid blood sugar spikes. Say you know that you’re going out to dinner and you’ll splurge on a small portion of dessert, then eat well-balanced meals for breakfast and lunch that incorporate a single serving of complex carbs with lean protein and quality fats.
Be sure to get physical activity during the day. At dinner, prior to the dessert, eat a meal that consists of healthful fats, lean protein, and lots of green leafy vegetables. That way the extra simple sugars and carbs in the dessert won’t affect you as much as if you ate a dinner heavy with simple carbs and unhealthful fats.
Refer to Chapter 5 for more information about ways to include diabetes-friendly desserts into your diet.
Having the right ingredients on hand
Starting out with the right ingredients in your kitchen makes preparing diabetes-friendly desserts a cinch. Chapter 6 describes building a pantry and how to choose healthful ingredients. For dessert making, a good selection of flours, nuts, EVOO, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and natural sugars such as organic coconut and date sugar as well as raw honey are good options.
Choosing healthful desserts when not home
When eating out, selecting the best desserts is so important. This decision can be tricky because many menu descriptions make things sound better than they are. For instance, although a restaurant dessert may be made with dark chocolate, it may also include unhealthy fats and lots of sugar. However, no one expects that you completely give up restaurant and purchased desserts. That said, try to avoid them as much as possible and opt for the recipes in Part 3.
If you’re going out to eat, plan in advance by ordering a meal that’s high in lean protein, healthful fat like EVOO, and carbohydrates like leafy greens, and nonstarchy vegetables. Including these macronutrients in your meal help you to prevent blood sugar spikes when enjoying dessert. When you do decide to order dessert in a restaurant, try to share it with others or only eat a small portion of it. Restaurant portions are consistently much larger than actual portion sizes. Eating an entire dessert can cause spikes in your blood sugar.
Chapter 5 explains in greater detail what you need to know about store-bought and restaurant desserts.
MY STORY: MY PASSION FOR HELPING PEOPLE WITH DIABETES
I was 15 years old when my mom came home from the doctor with a diabetes diagnosis. Her doctor scribbled down some off-limits foods on a single sheet of a prescription pad and told her not to eat sugar. That was pretty much it. During those days, I used to cook dinner for my parents and me after school because my mom worked and got home late. I felt so limited by that list of things that we couldn’t eat that I forgot to think about what we could. A few days after the shock wore off, I started making a list of the foods we could eat and vowed to make my mom recipes using those ingredients.
My first cookbook consisted of recipes that I figured would be safe for my mom to eat and delicious for the rest of us. Keep in mind that this was the early 1990s — long before internet recipes, online cookbooks, and apps were available. I relied on information that I could find in books. In those days many of the diabetes cookbooks were labelled “diabetic recipes” and were full of some of the sweetest desserts around, focusing on substituting sugar alternatives for sucrose.
I intuitively knew that artificial sweeteners weren’t the way to go, even though they were very popular at the time and even though some doctors were recommending them. I turned to some traditional Italian desserts that were naturally less sweet and incorporated some nutritious ingredients like fruit and spices as much as possible. Little did I know that this necessity to find good food that’s also good for you for my mom would lead to my current career.
About 15 years ago my quest deepened. I went from searching for ingredients that wouldn’t cause blood sugar to spike for people with diabetes to looking for superfoods (like EVOO, broccoli, plain Greek yogurt, and berries) that are particularly beneficial for people with diabetes and would positively impact their health. Each discovery was like finding a jewel that would help my mom and other family members live and eat better.
Then I went through my own health challenges. I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lyme disease that had wreaked havoc on my central nervous system. I had more than 40 medical symptoms and was legally disabled for three years. My prognosis wasn’t good. People in my therapy group had arrived at Stage 4 and died of heart attacks. My doctor told me that even if I got rid of my symptoms, I’d never get rid of the illness in my blood. My existence was constant pain and suffering.
I tried every conventional and complimentary therapy I could looking for relief. But getting better was taking longer than I could handle. My prayers turned from asking for healing to asking for the courage to take my own life because I no longer believed that healing was possible. At that time, my doctor recommended that I speak to a mind-body therapist, the late Kathleen Ammalee Rogers. She explained that the breadth of her work relied on the philosophy that we all have the capacity to heal ourselves and that each disease was simply the physical manifestation of an old belief that no longer served us and needed to be cleared out from our bodies.
For the next year I continued regular visits with Kathleen as well as taking my prescribed medicines, seeing a top-tier chiropractor, and attending neuro-biofeedback sessions. I prayed, meditated, used positive imagery and nutrition, and everything else I could to heal.
Within that time, I learned so much about how both the body and mind work together in order to achieve better health. Today, I incorporate this philosophy into new challenges that I’ve faced since as well. After I healed, I vowed that if I lived and healed, I’d dedicate my life to cooking, writing, and sharing the positive things that I’ve learned with people. I believe in incorporating as many things as possible to feel your best, and I bring that attitude to this book.
My career has focused on writing and educating people about the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle and often about diabetes-friendly foods. I must admit, I never thought I’d write a book on diabetes desserts. I’ve already written or cowritten 19 books, most of them based on the Mediterranean diet, the Mediterranean lifestyle, and diabetes-friendly cuisine. In those books, desserts weren’t the focus. Even in the Diabetes Cookbook For Dummies that I released last year with Dr. Simon Poole, I created desserts mostly out of fresh fruit, nuts, and cheese, which is what you should be consuming anyway.
Preparing and Eating Delicious Dessert Recipes
This cookbook includes dishes that are naturally healthful and can be enjoyed as a part of a nutritious meal more frequently. You aren’t limited to bland and tasteless desserts. Diabetes-friendly desserts come in all sizes and shapes. Here are the main types of dessert recipes that I include in this book:
Fruit-based desserts: Enjoying fresh fruit for dessert helps you to reach the fresh fruit and veggies requirements of a healthful diet while enabling you to enjoy natural sweetness and prevent you from indulging in more unhealthful desserts.
Make fresh fruit and veggies the base of your diet. Even though various diets and meal plans recommend different quantities of consuming fresh produce, the Mediterranean diet, ranked the best in the world for eight years in a row at the time of writing this book, recommends 9 to 12 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables per day. In the United States, the recommended dietary guidelines are 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 3 servings of vegetables, which is notably lower than Mediterranean standards. Putting fruit into dessert is another step toward getting your daily quotient. Refer to Chapter 9 for fruit-based dessert recipes.
Brownies and bars: They’re quintessential American desserts that have become popular around the globe. Normally these treats are laden with butter and table sugar, though.
Chapter 10 explains how to swap out healthier whole-grain and nut flours. Polyphenol-rich EVOO is also the protagonist, as it is throughout the recipes in this book, adding flavor and healthful fats. These recipes also freeze well and make great host gifts. Plus, they bake up in a short time. Last minute guests? No problem!
Cookies:
Cookies are a popular international pick-me-up.
Chapter 11
explores how to make classics and new varieties while incorporating nutrient-dense ingredients. Keep these recipes in mind for holidays. They make great edible gifts.
Spoon desserts and puddings:
These recipes are among the easiest desserts to prepare because they don’t require baking.
Chapter 12
uses dark chocolate, chia seeds, and other healthful ingredients to allow you to indulge in creamy sweet flavors without any consequence. These are great make-ahead desserts to enjoy anytime.
Bite-sized treats:
Truffles, chocolates, and chocolate-covered fruit are fantastic ways to indulge your sweet tooth and enjoy the nutritional benefits of antioxidants.
Frozen treats:
Whipping up gelato, ice cream, and sorbets on your own lends a gourmet finale to your meals. When relying on ingredients like plain, full-fat Greek yogurt, fruit, and dark chocolate, you can make these favorites more nutritious (refer to
Chapter 14
). Have one or more of these treats on hand to avoid less healthy versions in the warmer months.
Tarts and pies:
Both veteran and new bakers can discover how to master diabetes-friendly tarts and pies. Making some of the nutritious nut-based crusts in advance gives you an advantage so that you can make a fruit-based version when you need it. Check out
Chapter 15
and save these recipes for special occasions and for sharing because they’re showstoppers!
Sweet sips:
Sweet-tasting beverages are a great way to end a meal, especially when they’re full of antioxidant-rich fruit, dark chocolate, and spices.
Chapter 16
has some recipes that you can enjoy when you need a quick pick-me-up or when you’re entertaining.
Cakes:
If you’ve never made homemade cakes before, don’t worry, these are classic, foolproof recipes that have stood the test of time. Best of all, you can make the recipes in
Chapter 17
in advance, freeze them, and then serve them at a later date when you need them. Keep them in mind for potlucks, when you host guests, and when you need to bring a dish to a gathering. After all, if you bring a nutritious dessert, you can ensure that you enjoy one at a party without having to explain your meal plan.
MAKING SMARTER DIABETES-FRIENDLY DESSERT CHOICES
When evaluating and selecting diabetes-friendly desserts, factor in specific guidance from a nutrition professional as well as patterns in your glucose readings. If you consistently have high blood sugar after eating a certain type of food, avoid it. But if your readings are consistent, and you’re eating healthful foods, you can afford to enjoy a nutritious dessert every now and then.
The chapters in Part 4 can help you pick the best diabetes-friendly desserts. These chapters cover the following:
Ways to enjoy desserts:Chapter 18 explains in plain English easy ways to enjoy desserts with a diabetes diagnosis.Debunked myths about desserts:Chapter 19 dispels the myths that you might have heard about diabetes and desserts.Diabetes-friendly ingredients:Chapter 20 discusses the best diabetes-friendly ingredients to stock in your pantry, fridge, and freezer for dessert making.Chapter 2
Understanding Sugar’s Role in the Body
IN THIS CHAPTER
Discovering how to curb sugar cravings
Comprehending how sugar impacts your body and brain
Using lifestyle hacks to better regulate blood sugar
The best way to get a step ahead of diabetes? Be knowledgeable about it. Yes, knowledge is power. Understanding how your brain and body respond to sugar and how to avoid excess sugar in your diet can help you to live your best life.
This chapter explores how sugar metabolizes in your body and how you can curb sugar cravings, add sweetness to your life to impact your overall health, read packaging and nutritious labels, and give your favorite recipes a makeover.
Noting How the Body and Brain Use Sugar
Your brain is responsible for determining a normal level of blood glucose in your body. Your brain is extremely important to your existence, doesn’t require insulin to absorb glucose, and usually gets whatever it wants or needs. But your brain is more concerned about operating with low blood glucose levels than about higher levels. High blood glucose causes problems in other ways.
Plus, the brain, just like the gut, is a driving force in your overall health. Italian has the saying “mente sana, corpo sano,” which means “healthy mind, healthy body.” Although physical symptoms can and do affect the way you think, your thoughts can also help you be both healthy and sick, which is why it’s important to use them carefully. An excess of sugar in the diet and poorly controlled blood glucose can influence your mind and thought patterns as much as it can your body.
The following sections shine the spotlight on diabetes, including the different types of diabetes, what diabetes is, and how you can take better care of your psychological, emotional, and social self when you have diabetes.
Listing the types of diabetes
Deciding to take an active role in balancing sugar levels in your brain and body is the only way to prevent, treat, and hopefully reverse type 2 diabetes. To understand your role, you must first know about the different types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes results when you lose the capacity to produce insulin.
Type 2 diabetes happens when your natural insulin is unable to do its job effectively.
If you were a car and insulin was gasoline, type 1 diabetes is having an empty tank, and type 2 diabetes is more like lost efficiency from clogged fuel injectors. Managing type 1 diabetes requires constantly adding gasoline; type 2 diabetes requires that you get your fuel injectors to work better.
Understanding the basics of diabetes
In reality, your body needs to keep a certain concentration of glucose circulating in your blood — what’s considered a normal blood glucose level. Glucose is the favorite fuel of your trillions of cells and some really important cells like your brain cells that can’t get their energy from anything else. Glucose in your bloodstream is all about energy — it’s delivered right to every cell that needs it.
Glucose enters your blood after you eat carbohydrate foods including table sugar, which causes your blood glucose levels to rise. Your body has a way to return those levels back to normal by storing the excess for later. The stored glucose can be released back into the blood when glucose levels drop between meals, keeping a constant supply available for your brain. This kind of balance in a biological system is called homeostasis.
The hormone responsible for escorting glucose into storage and regulating blood sugar is insulin, and insulin is automatically released from special cells on your pancreas when blood glucose levels increase after eating. If insulin isn’t available or isn’t working properly, blood glucose can’t be stored and blood glucose levels remain high. High blood glucose levels not only upset glucose homeostasis, but also begin to damage cells and tissue.
Chronic high blood glucose levels is diabetes — literally. Chapter 3 includes a more in-depth explanation on diabetes. In the simplest terms, having diabetes means your blood glucose levels go up after eating and don’t come down to normal levels in a normal amount of time.
High glucose levels not only mean that excess glucose can’t get into cells to be stored, but glucose also can’t get into cells to properly fuel energy needs. It also results in damage to blood vessels that causes disruption to the supply of oxygen, glucose, and other nutrients and hormones to cells. That means your microscopic cells, like the muscle cells you need to move, don’t have access to their favored fuel and must turn to plan B or plan C for generating energy. Plans B and C are ordinarily temporary plans for times of shortage — generating energy without glucose is inefficient and even produces toxic waste products. In short, diabetes upsets your entire energy balance.
In addition to being diagnosed, the actions of taking responsibility for your health, making good choices, discovering how to balance meals, especially desserts, and incorporating physical exercise into your daily life are important. If you have additional questions about your nutritional needs or glucose levels, discuss them with your primary care physician, endocrinologist, diabetes care specialist, and nutrition professional.
Taking control of your behavioral health
Taking control of your psychological, emotional and social health is also essential for enjoying good physical health, despite the fact that it’s rarely mentioned in that way in western conventional medicine. In most modern countries mental health is seen as something separate from physical health and as something that’s only sought when people are going through a mental crisis. Things shouldn’t have to get that bad before patients are advised to take care of their own mental health.
For example, many schools have programs that teach young children breathwork, yoga, meditation, and the importance of their thoughts. The children in those programs are then studied and the findings are right in-line with common sense. The children who are taught to use coping mechanisms for their thoughts and mental health get better grades, perform better in school, and enjoy better health.
It’s never too early or too late to form healthful thought. Mastering your thoughts leads to mastering yourself. This doesn’t mean that you have to control your thoughts all the time or that you should aim to avoid negative thoughts altogether. Negative thoughts are a normal and natural part of the human brain’s functioning because they’re hardwired to protect you from harmful situations.
Choosing better thoughts and directing your attention toward them, however, positively impacts your health. The next time you find yourself feeling negative thoughts — worry, afraid, scared, sad — acknowledge those feelings and try to shift your focus to things that you’re grateful for and appreciate. Little by little this shift will become more and more of a habit and your thoughts will help you to feel better. See Chapter 5 for more details.
Examining the Causes of Sugar Cravings
Low blood sugar can sometimes lead to intense cravings for sweets, creating a vicious cycle where eating sweet foods and not properly balancing meals further spikes blood sugar levels. The more sugar you consume, more than likely you’ll experience cravings later. As I explain in the section “Noting How the Body and Brain Use Sugar” earlier in this chapter, the body has a need for quick energy and managing that need can be difficult without proper meal planning, dietary control, and blood sugar monitoring.
The following sections explore what’s behind sugar cravings, discusses how to identify your sugar cravings, and what ingredients you can use when you’re craving to your advantage to give yourself the nutrients and support that your body needs.
Understanding cravings often lead to impulsive eating
Sugar cravings often lead to impulsive eating (also known as binge eating — a disorder that causes eating large amounts of food, eating too quickly, and eating when no longer hungry). That means that in the contest between your impulse to eat and your thinking brain, impulse usually wins.
Impulsive eating has a negative connotation in the modern world, but it doesn’t have to. Hunger is your body’s way of encouraging you to nourish yourself.
With industrialization, advertising propaganda, and the invention of fast and junk food, however, many people are no longer in control of their cravings. A late night TV ad may stir desires for a double cheeseburger with bacon, and a billboard may make a candy bar look like something you can’t live without. When coupled with subliminal messages that these items provide “a break,” “a complete meal,” or “a sinful delight,” giving into temptation can be easy.
Many times people crave certain food styles when they’re truly craving an emotional state. Consider these examples:
Craving salty foods most (if their cortisol levels aren’t unbalanced) can be a result of a need for adventure.
Craving comforting pastas and carb-rich products can indicate a need for comfort.
Craving sugary snacks and sweet treats most often is because of a lack of perceived sweetness in life.
If you identify with any of these scenarios, explore whether you’re truly craving the emotion associated with that type of food.
Because your life changes, so do your cravings. You may have a particular craving for sweets more than normal while in a particular stressful period of life. When things get hard, you may find yourself craving more comforting foods.
Curbing sugar cravings: The how-to
You have sugar cravings? Welcome to the club! So does everyone else. Here’s my favorite technique that you can use to curb them and use them to your benefit.
Take a few minutes to pause each time you have strong cravings for certain foods and do these easy steps:
Sit with your feet flat on the floor and put one hand on your heart and the other on your belly and breathe in and out very slowly three times.
Ask yourself:
Why am I craving this food?
What is it that I’m truly craving?
If I had a magic wand and could be doing anything now, what would I rather be doing?
Take a deep breath and write down your answers.
Reminding yourself that your health is your first priority, ask yourself if you can achieve the desired emotion (comfort, love, sweetness) another way.
You can do other activities like call a friend, go for a walk, and listen to music that you love to get your mind off the cravings and break the negative habits. Chapter 3 discusses these activities in greater detail.
Recognizing what to eat when you’re craving sugar
Certain foods provide the nutrients that you need, help you feel full longer, and or lend a perception of sweet flavor to make you crave sugar less. Here are some foods that help to beat sugar cravings in general (consuming them can help to curb your sugar cravings):
Avocados
Beans
Berries
Chia seeds
Cinnamon
Coconut
Coconut oil
Dark chocolate
Dates
Eggs
Fresh fruit
Fresh vegetables
Lean meat and fish
Legumes
Lentils
Nuts
Oats
Plain, full-fat Greek yogurt
Sesame seeds
Smoothie
Sweet potatoes
Trail mix
Whole grains
Refer to the section “Making Desserts Healthful with These Ingredients” later in this chapter where I discuss many of these ingredients in greater detail.
Making easy substitutions
If you’re in the middle of an intense sugar craving, don’t have any of the desserts in Part 3 already prepared and want to satisfy your sweet tooth in the healthiest way possible, turn to these ingredients:
A cupful of fresh berries with either ½ cup plain, full-fat Greek yogurt and a teaspoon of raw honey or a handful of almonds
A few small pieces of dark chocolate (80 percent or higher)
A piece of fresh fruit balanced with a few nuts, nut butter, or cheese if in between a meal
Cinnamon tea — steep 1 teaspoon pure cinnamon in a glass of hot water or milk for 10 minutes, covered, strain into a mug, and enjoy
A few juicy dates with some nuts or seeds
A serving of trail mix — be sure it’s no-sugar-added variety or make it yourself
A homemade smoothie — refer to
Chapter 16
for some recipes that balance sugar, carbs, and fats with no added sugar
A small banana with a few teaspoons nut butter
If you’re new at switching your diet into a more healthful one and are used to consuming ultraprocessed foods, fast food, and junk food, you may suffer from chemical addictions to the ingredients in those foods as well as the foods themselves. Continuing to consume them will increase your blood glucose fluctuations, which will in turn cause you to continue to have more sugar cravings.
Although scientists are now able to identify the harmful effects of specific chemicals used in fast food and ultraprocessed junk food and understand the horrible effects that they have on the human mind and body when consumed frequently and over a long period of time, there’s little talk about how to transform the addiction that they cause. If you’ve made a habit of turning to these foods on a regular basis, chances are giving them up won’t be easy, just as it isn’t easy to give up smoking or alcohol.
Preparing yourself to give up your sugar cravings
If you want to overcome this sugar craving battle, you have to rely on a lot of willpower. Know in advance that you’ll go through withdrawal from not eating the foods you crave. Prepare yourself to give up these foods by doing the following:
Set yourself up for success. Go into your decision to avoid unhealthful food with conviction, knowing that it will save your health and happiness.
Know your weaknesses. For example, if you’re turning to ice cream and shakes, turn to
Chapters 14
and
16
to make your own.
Eat as many healthful foods as possible. The ingredients I discuss in the section “
Making Desserts Healthful with These Ingredients
” later in this chapter can help to keep you full and satiated.
Prepare healthy alternatives. The recipes in
Part 3
are a great place to start. Make sure you have ingredients and recipes on hand for when the craving strikes.
Consider that you may be addicted to ultraprocessed foods and junk food. These types of foods are fast, readily available, and offer a quick hit of fat, sugar, and additives. Identify other things you can do when the craving strikes that you enjoy, such as walk outdoors, drink some water, exercise, call a loved one, and so on.
Take time to identify healthful foods that you enjoy eating and eat those instead.
Identify fast casual restaurants and take-out options that use more healthful ingredients to enjoy on occasion.
Go easy on yourself. Cutting an addiction cold turkey doesn’t work for everyone. Remember that everything is relative. If you eat junk food and processed food every day and are able to cut down to once a week and then once every other week, and then once a month, your body and mind will thank you for it.
Adding “Sweet” Lifestyle Strategies to Your Day
The Italian “la dolce vita” — which literally means “the sweet life” but is transliterated as “the good life” — is often associated with luxury vacations and idyllic times by non-Italians. To Italians, however, who are often voted the healthiest people in Europe, la dolce vita is both a mindset and a lifestyle.
From a cultural perspective, Italians try to extract the most sweetness out of life. That means doing what you love, spending time with those you love, watching and listening to things you love, and enjoying the best food as often as possible. Of course, Italians have to work, raise families, and deal with problems like everyone else. But a unique feature to the culture is to accept them as what the Stoic philosophers called amor fati, destined things that you can’t change about your life.
Without railing against what they can’t change, Italians often focus their attention to the things that they can do to make themselves, and those around them, happy and healthy.
MUSIC ADDS SWEETNESS TO YOUR LIFE
I mention listening to music that you love as a means to add sweetness to your life often in this book. According to the National Institute of Health, the use of music intervention therapy has been found effective in treating a wide range of health issues, including diabetes. Music has the power to heal people at a cellular level. In fact, listening to music that you love can lower your blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Scientists have even found that exposing cancer cells to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony stopped their ability to spread quickly and even slowed their growth by 20 percent more than when no music was playing.
Many Italian winemakers play classical music on speakers in their orchards to help produce healthier vines and prevent disease. You can do the same things with your own body. Even when you sleep, you can listen to certain musical frequencies that have healing power. Whether you choose your favorite rock music, classical music, or healing frequencies, know that music can be a powerful ally in enjoying the sweet life — without added sugar!
Your goal is to find your good life. The following sections share widely available and easy ways to add enjoyment to your life without consuming additional sugar. Watching a beautiful sunset, beautifying your surroundings, going to an exhibit to see beautiful artwork, and setting a beautiful table are all ways that you can influence your own happiness.
Tapping into your happiness hormones
Happiness hormones make you feel happier and therefore inspire you to make healthier, sweeter choices in your lives without turning to consuming sugar. If you’re not already harnessing their power, here’s what you need to know about them:
Serotonin:
