Carbohydrates are an essential part of our diets. They are the preferred fuel for your body's cells and the only fuel accepted by brain tissue. Plus, the foods that carbohydrates occur in provide essential vitamins, minerals and other substances that can be difficult to find in other sources. It's no wonder that you feel so woeful on a low carbohydrate diet. The term carbohydrate incorporates sugars and starches as they are all broken down to simple sugars (glucose, fructose, galactose) by the intestine before they are absorbed into your bloodstream to become 'blood sugar'. For people with Diabetes, who need to be careful that their blood sugar levels do not become too high or too low, dietitians and endocrinologists encourage the use of serves of foods that contain a known, consistent amount of carbohydrate; called carbohydrate exchanges. Each carbohydrate exchange contains about 15g of carbohydrate - this is about a tablespoon of sugar if you need a visual image. Most people with Diabetes can consume 2-3 carbohydrate exchanges at meal times and 0-2 at midmeals (morning and afternoon tea, and supper), depending on whether they are on medication and what their blood sugar patterns are like.
Here are a couple of treats from the carbohydrates workshop:
Low carbohydrate pancakes (so you can have a little icecream too :-D)
Ingredients | Method |
2 eggs 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1 Tbsp oil 1/2 cup porridge oats 1/8 tsp salt 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 tablespoon brown sugar | Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until well mixed, less than 10 seconds. Grease and preheat a frypan. Drop batter by 1/8 cupfuls onto hot surface. Turn pancakes when bubbles appear on surface and cook an additional minute, until lightly golden. |
From (www.naturalhealthdoc.net/health-questions-health-information-low_glycemic_recipes.htm#pancakes)
This whole recipe contains 55 grams of carbohydrates and makes about 10 little pancakes - that's 5.5 grams of carbohydrate each, or about 3 pancakes for one carbohydrate exchange. Normal piklets have about 9 grams of carbohydrate each. Now for the savouries..... Beef and Vegetable Pie (this is super delicious!)
Beef and Vegetable Pie
Ingredients | Method |
250g very lean mince cooking spray ½ cup each onion diced, carrot grated, zucchini grated ½ cup frozen peas ½ cup frozen corn kernels 1 teaspoons salt-reduced vegetable stock powder (Massel®) 1 cups hot water ½ tablespoon tomato sauce ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 ½ tablespoons (Gravox®) Lite Supreme 60 mL water pepper to taste 5 sheets filo pastry | Preheat oven 200 C fan forced. To make filling: Brown mince in non-stick fry pan that has been coated with cooking spray. Drain and set aside. In the same saucepan spray again then sauté onion for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add carrots, zucchini, peas and corn to pot, cook a further 2 minutes, stirring well. Blend stock powder in hot water, add to pot, bring to boil, simmer covered for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato and Worcestershire sauce. Mix gravy powder with ¼ cup water, stir quickly in top to avoid lumps. Add mince, stir well. Pepper to taste. Leave to cool. To assemble pie: Coat a rectangular casserole dish with cooking spray. Fold out filo pastry sheets, cut each sheet in three strips (8 for base, 7 for top). Layer the casserole dish with 8 cut sheets of pastry, spraying with cooking spray between each sheet. Spoon mince mixture on top of layered pastry. With remaining sheets, repeat layering process, crinkle edges together, spray with cooking spray. Cut a small slit in top of pastry. Cook 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately as pastry will soften when left. To crisp again either place back in oven or under grill. |
From : (http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/Living-with-Diabetes/Eating-Well/Recipes/Beef-and-vegetable-pie1/)
If you want to work out the nutrition information for one of your own recipes, visit the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand website and use the Nutrition Panel Calculator. Here's the link: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/npc/
Nutrition information about commercial foods can be found on their nutrition information panel, or by searching a commercial food database (make sure it's Australian since the composition of commercial foods can differ by country) like Calorie King: http://www.calorieking.com.au/foods/
Have a fantastic week!
Fiona xx
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