Sara516

can you guys please recommend some recipes/meal ideas for someone on a diabetic diet? i have a general idea of what's good (veggies, protein) and what's not too good (simple carbs, sweets etc), but still a few meal ideas (desi and non desi) will help alot..thanks.

Masi Museebtay

I have a family full of diabetics but none of them stick to a particular meal. There are a few do's and don'ts which you already mentioned but mostly it is about the quantity. Like my family members take the normal cereals/bread breakfast, only it's whole meal. Same goes for lunch and dinner whole meal bread/brown rice and the normal curry everyone eats just in smaller quantities. Also too much protein is not good for diabetic people contrary to common notion as it can cause ketones, if I am not wrong.

so the basic rule is having food in "whole meal-smaller quantites- regular intervals"

Sara516

Any particular cereals?

I wonder how brown rice pulao/biryani would taste..would love to try experimenting.

Is it true some daals are prone to spike ur levels higher than others?

Niksik

Sara, with diabetes, the key is to control your intake of refined carbohydrates and fruit juices. Once you know how much sugars/carbs you can take every day, you can plan your meals accordingly. Don't forget that while daals and beans (kidney, chickpeas etc) are high in protein content, they also contain carbs.

mahismart

Diabetic diet charts:

Diabetes India - Regional Diets

Food that controls blood sugar:

Diabetic Food: Foods That Control Diabetes

Masi Museebtay

My mother likes Weetabix a lot while my brother likes to switch between bran/oat/barley cereals. I don't know any exact brand names as they live in another country. His doc advised him to check out the Glycemic Index(GI) while buying cereals. A basic GI guidline is

0-50 is low
50-70 medium
70-100 high

Lower is better.

Masi Museebtay

Well brown rice is not a MUST. If you prefer you can use it otherwise Basmati rice are also recommended.

Sara516

So how safe are "sugar free" cookies and ice cream and stuff?

CorruptAngel

^just read labels before buying sugar free snacks because some of them are worse than regular sugar snacks in terms of calories and carbs.

Sara516

aw man

PSquared

My dad is diabetic and we made several changes in our kitchen ever since then:

We only cook in olive oil...nothing else.

Salt is used very sparingly...we dont use a lot of it at all. And for table salt, we have salt substitute.

Only egg whites are used in my home.

White bread has not made it in my home for the past 15 years.

Red meat is cooked once a week if that much.

Main dishes are usually chicken, daal (light baghaar) and vegetables.

Snacks are usually sugar free cookies or crackers.

Lots of fruit always available...melons are very popular in my family.

Salt free fries when we go out.

Thats all I can think of right now...

Chicken Biryani

Bitter Guard is a good vegetable for the diabetics . My Mom makes it every other day ( piyaz karela ). and then with every meal she just takes a teaspoon or two of them along with them regular curry.

dildirani

Sugar can manifest itself in so many things which we would not think of, even things which we would think are healthy, may not be so.

My dad is diabetic but he can alhamdulilah manage his diabetes with diet alone.

My dad does not eat red meat. Fish has become a real big addition to his diet. Grilled/baked salmon/white fish/tuna steaks. Served with stirfried veg (in a little oil and a touch of soy sauce- finished off with lemon)/boiled potatoes/mashed potatoes/bakes mushrooms. Baked tandoori chicken again with an array of veg. Wholewheat pitta bread filled with a simple seasoned raita, lots of salad and keema/chicken.

When it comes to desi food roti is always wholeweat or pitta bread. Salaan is cooked in the smallest amount of oil as possible. Lots of daals, vegetables, fish and chicken maybe once a week.

Sweet wise, I tend to bake at home so I know exactly what is going into cakes and stuff. Sometimes I omit sugar altogether.'low sugar' products may be low in actual sugar but the sugar issubstituted for sweetener which defeats the objective I guess. Clever marketing ploy. There is a diabetic range of sweet stuff/confectionary available and in moderation these could be a good alternative. You do not have to deprive yourself.


Be careful of dried and even fresh fruit, the natural sugars in some fruit can be high.

I think one can find alternatives for most food stuffs. For example fried chicken can be substituted for baked chicken. You won't be limited in what you can eat. Portion control in itself could have huge benefits and the major concern is not the food you cook at home but food you eat out or buy.