Our beloved DDIL is on a low-carb diet that would probably kill off all of south Alabama and Mississippi. Enough cholesterol abounding to scare me to death. However, it is helping her - she's lost 27 pounds when nothing, nothing! else has ever worked. Tonight, she told me she was just desperately needing some good ideas for a happy sweet goodie. I'm at a total loss. I don't begin to speak the low-carb language. Are there any low-carb successes here and what do you cook when you simply must have an indulgent gooey? Polly
There are sugar free chocolates but be careful......... they also can result in the trots or terrible flatulence. BTDT check the net for diabetic recipes.
Well, Yikes, low-carb shouldn't be high cholesterol if it's done properly.
I have a book I love..._Low-carb meals in minutes_ by Linda Gassenheimer. It's been out a few years but I believe it's still in print. I keep giving my copy away and then having to get a new one.
The first treat should be fruit...
If she's needing something more she can layer the fruit with light yogurt in the flavor of choice. Sugar-free jello works. Here's a chocolate dessert from the book (I haven't tried it though)
Mocha Fudge Cake
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 T decaffeinated black coffee (leftover liquid, not the powdered coffee)
2 (.035 ounce) envelopes sugar substitute
4 egg whites
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stir in the coffee and sugar substitute.
Beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. Fold into the chocolate mixture.
Spoon into 2 souffle dishes ( 1 1/3 inches by 4 inches in diameter or a single pyrex bowl 3 inches by 6 inches in diameter) Bake 8 minutes and serve warm.
one serving: 169 calories, 11 g protein, 9 g carbohydrate, 15 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 11 mg sodium, 0g fiber.
Diabetics, especially type II, have to limit carbs. Carbs convert to sugar. I've controlled my diabetes without meds for nearly 5 years by limiting carb intake.
Whipped cream one makes oneself- just whipping the cream and not adding sugar- is simply scrumptious and low-carb. Intersperse with layers of sugar-free jello and it's a parfait of which I'm rather fond.
Whipped cream over fruit like blueberries or strawberries is even better.
Then there is marscapone cheese, which name I have probably horribly mangled. It's a higher carb content kind of cheese because it's a dessert cheese, but even then it doesn't have lots and lots of carbs. Add a sprinkle of cocoa powder and it's very very good. Cocoa powder itself isn't high-carb- it's the sugar that makes it bad for you. There are low-carb recipes for tiramisu that use this cheese.
If I want a pure indulgence, I go get a breve or make one. This is a latte made with cream instead of milk. Cream is 6 carbs per cup. The coffee itself is a carb. And they do make sugar-free flavoring syrups or you can add a dash of flavoring.
Polar makes a diet chocolate soda that is devine. Adding a spoon full of cream makes it taste like an ice cream float.
Our local health food store also has chocolate extract. That's yummy to add to LOTS of things.
-georg (lost 30+ pounds on low-carb, but grew it back when I let some sugar back into my life)
(Lost 80 pounds but have gained back 5 after starting to take Fosamax. Low carb for 3+ years.) I find that the Russell Stover low carb treats are more than enough to take care of cravings for sweets. Although the low carb section at the grocery store has gotten much smaller, you can still find low carb ice cream and yogurt. And there's always whipped cream!
BTW, speaking of cholesterol, my readings have gone from 217 to 127 since going low carb. So don't believe everthing you hear about the 'dangers' of low carb.
There are some good low carb discussion groups on the internet that are full of support and good recipe ideas.
joan p.s. Low carb isn't for everyone, but works for us.
I bought my diabetic BIL a Junior's Frozen Cheese Cake. Very low carb, all fat - still high calorie, but couldn't tell the difference from a high quality regular cheese cake. Found it in the Frozen section of a local supermarket.
L>There are sugar free chocolates but be careful......... they also can result
It works because carbs are burned for energy first, then fat. If you eat a lot of carbs then the body only gets around to burning a small amout of fat. If you limit yourself to a small amount of carbs then the body burns those then moves on to burn the fat (both dietary and body fat). So in a nutshell.......in the absence of excess carbs our bodies burn fat for energy. :o)
I should have added that for good nutrition no one should eat "no carb". While our bodies can manufacture any glucose it needs, the vitamins, minerals, and fiber from low carb veggies and fruits are very important!
Sugar free jello. There is a recipe floating around somewhere of a cheesecake you can make (single serving size) with cream cheese, splenda, eggs and vanilla, but I dont' remember hwere it is, google Splenda + cheesecake maybe?
my friend did the Atkins or somesuch and was very low carb. but she said she was allowed as much coolwhip as she wanted... So she dipped thinly sliced strawberries in tons of coolwhip when her sweet tooth hit. don't know if that would work or not. it was about the only indulgence she allowed herself
I hear that! The nutritionist at the hospital keeps giving me these horrible sample menus that include things like a tablespoon of butter on half a slice of toast at breakfast. I am reactive hypoglycemic, so I am supposed to eat a lot like a diabetic. Low carbs, no sugars. (The main difference is the insulin reaction is just the opposite of a diabetic's.)
Some grains are lower carb than others, avoid wheat and rice, and look at corn, rye, buckwheat, the "poor folk's breads" in general. You can't use them in recipes that need gluten though as most of them are very low gluten flours. They get on fine in pastry or biscuit based recipes, even cakes many days. Boston brown bread is a winner at my house for a treat. That is almost entirely made from the lower carb grains, and sweetened with molasses to boot. Molasses is lower sugar than plain sugar, unless you buy that stuff that has more sugar added to it. I've done it with Racoon Mountain syrup in a pinch, but that has more sugar than the molasses. I think the Racoon Mountain is what my gramma would have meant by table syrup.
Even useing white flour a pastry pie is pretty low carb if you use splenda instead of sugar. Useing corn starch or tapioca for thickening instead of flour and it is actually darn good on the carb count for a dessert. You can use ground or shredded nuts instead of regular crumb for crumb crust pies. You don't have to add the tablspoon or two of butter crumb crusts usually need because the nuts are oily enough on their own. I've done it with brazil nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, and walnuts.
Of course baking cocoa and unsweetened chocolate are just fine for that needed chocolate fix. Fling a little into a buttermilk pie and you have something that is close cousin to a chocolate cheesecake. Buttermilk pie has been a saving grace at my house, I have a cheesecake addicted, weight concious, DH. It's not my cheesecake, but better than the boxed things, and it fills the same culinary niche while being lower fat. If you don't use sugar, home made cheesecake isn't particularly high carb in the first place.
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