My Son has just been told he has Coeliac disease. He is also type one diabetic. He is only 10. The Gluten free stuff is really high in sugar and it affects his blood sugar readings. Can you give some hints on recipes that would take both into account.
Coeliac disease and diabetes
Hi Sarah, thanks for joining the group. It's interesting that just today I was having this discussion with a lady in Abingdon. Her daughter also has Coeliac Disease and Diabetes and she wanted to know what recipes would work for her daughter. I confess not to know enough about diabetes to give you some clear and helpful answers. The good news is, she will probably be looking on the website very soon, as will her daughter and perhaps they can give us some good tips on how to adapt some of the recipes in the book. Please look out for her name (Anna) and her daughter (Lexy). I think their knowledge and love of cooking will be a great asset and certainly I am looking forward to making delicious food which caters for both coeliac's and diabetics.
In the meantime, why don't you try some of the savoury recipes in the book or indeed on the recipe page of this site. Cheesey Snakes on page 104 are really popular with adults and children and they are very quick to prepare. You could also try the granola recipe on page 80 and substitute the honey for a different sort of sugar more suitable for diabetics. You can make a batch of granola and he could keep a little bag of it to munch on as a sweet snack. It is much healthier than the stuff you buy at a supermarket and easy to prepare. I am also wondering if the chocolate chip scones on page 100 might be okay, if you use a dark chocolate. Prairie Mix on page 197 is also a savoury snack and might be something he will enjoy. Oh and the polenta chips on page 64 are delicious, so please try these. Please keep checking the website as now I am on a mission to make sure your son gets some nice food and I will go through my recipe files to see what else I can come up with. I'll post these on the recipe page.
Adjusting recipes for Diabetics
As promised a while ago, I have had a response from a lady who's son has Type one Diabetes. She has very kindly made some adjustments to the recipes in my book and has had a very positive result. I know this will be useful to many of you who share a similar challenge. With her kind permission I've copied her email directly so that you can see what she's been able to achieve and also share with you some great ideas for cutting back on the sugar without impacting on the taste.
I've also had a quick look on the UK Diabetes website, which is very informative and has lots of well presented information on the condition. I was surprised to see that they do not recommend "diabetic" products as such as they can see no justification or need for something labelled as Diabetic. Ultimately it comes down to having a very healthy, balanced diet, low in fat and sugar and making sure you make adjustments for insulin levels based on either what you are about to eat or what you've eaten.
Anyway please have a look at Suzi's email and let me know if you've got any other amendments, suggestions or ideas you've tried.
Dear Adriana,
I've listed the cake recipes I've tried from your fantastic book. With diabetes, a very broad rule of thumb is that over 10g per 100g is quite high in sugar, while below 10g is more manageable for the system. This is hard for baking, and may work with something basic like short bread. So for cakes I broadly go for 15g - 20g per 100g. But in all cases with my adjustments below, they barely have an effect on Sam's sugar level, which means I can happily use them for morning or afternoon tea, and for packed lunches.
1) Shrimpy's Chocolate Cake 170g sugar
(for icing, I'd either simply dust with icing sugar, or melt chocolate and add a touch of icing sugar and butter to make a choc icing). We find chocolate, because it has a fat content, is far less likely to cause a sugar high. It is broken down more slowly, and therefore good for icing.
2)Banana Bread (What a great recipe! And brilliant for lunch tins) 70g caster sugar 60g light brown sugar
3) Carrot Cake (My fav in the book so far) 220g sugar
(I make it in a large tin with a hole in the centre, and then only ice the top part to cut down on the sugar)
4) Marble Cake 120g caster sugar
5) Lovely Little Cupcakes 120g
(For icing, I'd either melt a bit of chocolate and add a touch of cream, or beat a bit of cream and top with a strawberry. Or just plain, with lemon and poppy seed added to the mix.)
There are of course, plenty of your non-sugar recipes we have tried and really enjoyed. I wondered if you had tried TEFF flour yet. It makes fantastic pancakes, and bread.
Thanks again for your great book - you can see it has been well-used in our house!
Best, Suzi