By Moira Haarhoff
High-sugar foods are all around us, not only in sweets and desserts. It's important to fully understand the labels found on containers and to have a jolly good idea of what goes into the foods and flavourings you have learned, over years, to love. This is where some knowledge of cooking and recipes can help.
Most zero-rated soft drinks still contain caramel and caramel is made from sugar. A carrot salad from your favourite deli is also likely to contain caramel. Marinades and bastes for meat and fish contain huge quantities of sugar or honey, as do all sauces (including ketchup) and pickles. Diet mayonnaise and salad dressings may be low in fat, but probably contain more sugar than regular ones.
Your best choices of flavouring are vinegar or lemon juice and olive oil mixed judiciously with herbs and spices. Boring? Not necessarily. Experiment with ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cardamom and various finely-chopped fresh herbs.
Sprinkle an assortment of seeds over soups and salads to add crunch, various flavours and satisfaction. Texture can often supplement taste and is the reason why different salads can be more filling than we expect.
Beware of fruit juice, which effectively carries virtually as much sugar as a cola. Long-life juices are often mixed with grape juice, a high GI fruit. One sparkling 'tiser carries the juice of several pieces of fruit and should therefore count for just about all your daily fruit and vegetable allowance!
And without the fruit's natural roughage, juices metabolise very quickly. If you cannot live without fruit juice, it is best diluted 50/50 with water and sipped slowly over several hours.
Keeping your vegetable intake higher than your fruit intake is also sensible. Sticking mainly to low GI fruit (deciduous and citrus) should also reduce your sugar levels somewhat. It is worth learning something about high- and low-GI foods to help you make good decisions.
Most adults who become diabetic find it difficult to avoid alcohol, believing that in moderation it has therapeutic value. Our society though, revolves around drinking before meals. Alcohol metabolises very quickly on an empty stomach and the best choice is not to imbibe before eating.
A few nuts or a slice of cheese half-an-hour before your sun-downer can help to keep sugar levels more stable, but your best choice is not to drink until you can enjoy a single glass of red wine with your meal.
Many diabetics find they crave sweet things (and particularly chocolate) more than ever before. If you absolutely cannot resist, choose milk- or egg-based desserts that help your body metabolise the sugar more slowly. Fruit salad and custard is a wiser choice than icings or jellied baked goods, for instance.
But the more sugar you eat, the more you crave, so avoiding it altogether generally makes life easier. High-sugar foods can ruin an otherwise perfectly good eating plan, so steer clear.
High-sugar foods are all around us, not only in sweets and desserts. It's important to fully understand the labels found on containers and to have a jolly good idea of what goes into the foods and flavourings you have learned, over years, to love. This is where some knowledge of cooking and recipes can help.
Most zero-rated soft drinks still contain caramel and caramel is made from sugar. A carrot salad from your favourite deli is also likely to contain caramel. Marinades and bastes for meat and fish contain huge quantities of sugar or honey, as do all sauces (including ketchup) and pickles. Diet mayonnaise and salad dressings may be low in fat, but probably contain more sugar than regular ones.
Your best choices of flavouring are vinegar or lemon juice and olive oil mixed judiciously with herbs and spices. Boring? Not necessarily. Experiment with ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cardamom and various finely-chopped fresh herbs.
Sprinkle an assortment of seeds over soups and salads to add crunch, various flavours and satisfaction. Texture can often supplement taste and is the reason why different salads can be more filling than we expect.
Beware of fruit juice, which effectively carries virtually as much sugar as a cola. Long-life juices are often mixed with grape juice, a high GI fruit. One sparkling 'tiser carries the juice of several pieces of fruit and should therefore count for just about all your daily fruit and vegetable allowance!
And without the fruit's natural roughage, juices metabolise very quickly. If you cannot live without fruit juice, it is best diluted 50/50 with water and sipped slowly over several hours.
Keeping your vegetable intake higher than your fruit intake is also sensible. Sticking mainly to low GI fruit (deciduous and citrus) should also reduce your sugar levels somewhat. It is worth learning something about high- and low-GI foods to help you make good decisions.
Most adults who become diabetic find it difficult to avoid alcohol, believing that in moderation it has therapeutic value. Our society though, revolves around drinking before meals. Alcohol metabolises very quickly on an empty stomach and the best choice is not to imbibe before eating.
A few nuts or a slice of cheese half-an-hour before your sun-downer can help to keep sugar levels more stable, but your best choice is not to drink until you can enjoy a single glass of red wine with your meal.
Many diabetics find they crave sweet things (and particularly chocolate) more than ever before. If you absolutely cannot resist, choose milk- or egg-based desserts that help your body metabolise the sugar more slowly. Fruit salad and custard is a wiser choice than icings or jellied baked goods, for instance.
But the more sugar you eat, the more you crave, so avoiding it altogether generally makes life easier. High-sugar foods can ruin an otherwise perfectly good eating plan, so steer clear.
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