Baking for diabetics

starnac

Hi all. I was wondering if any of the bakers among you can tell me how to make my home baking suitable for diabetics??
Can I just substitute the sugar in my HM bread and cakes for a natural sweetner bought from a health food shop? Or is there more to it than that?
I would be grateful if someone could advise me.
Thanks
Starnac

Money_saving_Diva_2

I have recently been diagnosed as diabetic and am struggling a bit myself with baking. I bought a sugar substitute but have only been brave enough to substitute about half sweetener for sugar. Only tried it once and it was Ok but I know I have to do better than that so if anyone out there CAN help, I would be very grateful too.

Knowing MSE there is probably a thread out there already but I know Pink or Penpen or someone wonderful will post us in the right direction!:rotfl:

Thank you

Diva.x

DianneB

Hi I have type 2 diabetes and I would say that avoiding cakes altogether is the best option! I suppose it depends on what you can tolerate but as well as containing sugar the flour is carbohydrate which your body turns into sugar. Someone else will come along who can be more technical about it!! I struggle all the time! Liking my food got me into this state in the first place!!

sexymouse

Found this site and this forum. Hope they help.

anguk

There's some nice recipes on the splenda website.
http://www.splenda.co.uk/ccp/crsforms/html/splenda/recipes-zones.jsp

DianneB is right though it's not just the sugar in home-baking that's the problem it's also the flour and the fat to some extent.

My OH is diabetic and what I do is just make most things as normal but reduce the amount of sugar (you really can't tell much difference) and my OH has a small portion. Some things like custard or stewed fruit etc I'll replace the sugar with sweetener. Always remember when using sweetener it's lighter than sugar so substitute by volume not weight!

Thankfully things have changed since my OH first developed diabetes, back then you were expected to weigh everything out and buy special diabetic products. Now the advice is much better and diabetics really only need to eat a healthy balanced diet and just watch their carbs. Pretty much what non-diabetics should be doing really!

There's an older thread about diabetic baking which has some recipes & tips:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=729904#post729904

sandraroffey

join the british diabetic association. anyway thats what it used to be called. they have excellent books for not a lot of money, for all types of cooking etc with the diabetc person inmind. even jams!!

i got them all when i was diagnosed. they are really very good.

and remember. diabetic isnt NO sugar, its LOW sugar, providing you are eating a good healthy diet.

Raspberry_Swirl

I made the Victoria Sandwich recipe from the Splenda website last week as it was a friend's 50th. He enjoyed it, but as a keen cake baker I wasn't very pleased with the resulting cake. It had a different sponge texture than normal (i knew to expect this) and although I used the correct amount of Splenda (volume not weight in the conversion!) the cake tasted like it had no sweetness at all. We decided it tasted like bread!!!

boredofbeingathome

DD2 is a type 1 diabetic and basically we cut back on sugar and adapt recipes. Luckily she doesn't have too sweet a tooth, but still craves chocolate. We find healthy diet is the way and lots of natural sugars in fruit and balancing that with excercise. She also has a bowel condition so we try not to use substitute sugar as it upsets her stomach.

*Maya*

Money_saving_Diva wrote: »

I have recently been diagnosed as diabetic and am struggling a bit myself with baking. I bought a sugar substitute but have only been brave enough to substitute about half sweetener for sugar. Only tried it once and it was Ok but I know I have to do better than that so if anyone out there CAN help, I would be very grateful too.

Knowing MSE there is probably a thread out there already but I know Pink or Penpen or someone wonderful will post us in the right direction!:rotfl:

Thank you

Diva.x

Are you type 2 or type 1? As type one is controlled by insulin, you should really just eat as the rest of the poplulation and enjoy everything in moderation. Type 2 is usually linked to obesity and as such means that you should probably be avoiding cakes altogether.

Money_saving_Diva_2

sandraroffey wrote: »

and remember. diabetic isnt NO sugar, its LOW sugar, providing you are eating a good healthy diet.

Thank you sandra - I have cut out all chocolate and sweet desserts, but would still like to be able to bake for the family and to enjoy something occasionally.

*Maya* wrote: »

Type 2 is usually linked to obesity and as such means that you should probably be avoiding cakes altogether.

Yes I am type 2 and let's face it, if I could avoid cakes, I probably wouldn't be obese (although actually I am more of a savoury person than a sweet) but I still find your reply patronising, even if you did try and make it 'kinder' with the smiley.

I made my first 'sugar free' fruit crumble and it worked fine.. Didn't sweeten the plums or apples at all, just added cinnamon and mixed spice and some raisons and used splenda in the crumble and added oats as usual. The crumble was a bit denser than normal and almost flapjack-y but it tasted great after 2 months of nothing sweet at all!

Diva.x

squeaky

starnac wrote: »

Hi all. I was wondering if any of the bakers among you can tell me how to make my home baking suitable for diabetics??
Can I just substitute the sugar in my HM bread and cakes for a natural sweetner bought from a health food shop? Or is there more to it than that?
I would be grateful if someone could advise me.
Thanks
Starnac

Hiya,
There are a few threads with titles about diabetics here:-

diabetic threads here on Old Style