Many people feel that they will be unable to use favourite recipes or cookbooks once they have been diagnosed with diabetes. However, following a healthy eating plan does not mean mastering a whole new collection of recipes. Instead you can modify your own recipes by reducing the amount of fat, salt and sugar they contain and increasing the amount of fibre. The good news is that high sugar and high fat foods do not need to be excluded from your diet altogether if you have diabetes.

The myth that people with diabetes should not eat any sugar still persists, but the truth is that people with diabetes can eat sugar.  Although sugar should be limited as part of a healthy diet, good blood glucose control can still be achieved when sugar and sugar containing foods are eaten.  Sugar needs to be limited as eating too many sugary foods like confectionery, sweet drinks, cakes, biscuits and desserts can have implications for tooth decay, weight control and the overall balance of the diet.  Dietary management of diabetes depends more on eating regularly and basing meals on starchy carbohydrate foods like pasta and including more fruit, vegetables and pulses in your everyday diet.  The main thing to consider is the overall balance of your diet – with the emphasis on long term health and weight control.

We have included a few sample recipes to give you some ideas and with a little practice you will soon find it easy to adapt those family favourites to be higher in fibre and lower in fat, salt and sugar without compromising on taste.

For further recipe suggestions refer to the Diabetes UK catalogue, which lists a range of recipe books for all occasions.

General Cooking Tips

Adapting recipes to be higher in fibre and lower in fat, sugar and salt does involve a bit of trial and error.  However, the following tips will be helpful:

·        Grill, bake, poach, steam, microwave or boil foods rather than frying them or cooking with added fat.

·        Use low fat dairy products where possible such as skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, reduced fat cheeses and low fat yogurts.

·        Light crème fraiche is very similar to traditional soured cream.  It is heat stable and is therefore ideal for use in savoury sauces.  It is also delicious served on hot or cold puddings in place of double cream.

·        Fromage frais is fresh skimmed cows milk cheese, but is more like a natural yogurt.  It is not heat stable and is therefore best used in desserts and dips in place of cream or Greek yogurt.

·        When you feel nothing but cream will do, spoon extra thick single cream onto fruit or puddings instead of double cream.  Whip up whipping cream rather than double cream for filling cream buns or cakes.

·        Use fats and oils which are high in monounsaturates.

·        Try using stronger cheese for cooking.  You’ll find that you won’t have to use so much to give it a cheesy flavour.  Grated cheese tends to go further too.

·        Try to use brown rice or pasta in place of white as it contains more fibre (but bear in mind it will require more water and a longer cooking time).  If you do choose a lower fibre variety of rice or pasta, serve it with some higher fibre food like pulses or extra vegetables.  For example, add peas or kidney beans to white rice.

·        Try and reduce the amount of salt used in cooking and at the table as we eat more salt than we need.  Flavour your food with lemon juice, herbs, spices or mustard instead for healthier, tastier food.

·        Use pulses such as peas, beans or lentils to replace some of the meat in traditional recipes for shepherd’s pie, casseroles, lasagne.  They can also be used in soups and salads.  They are low in fat and high in fibre.  Tinned beans are more convenient to use but are more expensive than dried ones.

·        Experiment by reducing the added sugar in your baking recipes.  Most cakes, for example sponge cake, will work even if the sugar in the recipe is cut by a half.  Remember that they will not keep as long as a traditional recipe.  Intense sweeteners are not recommended for baking as they do not provide the bulk required.  Recipes such as fruit cakes, fruit scones or teabreads can be made without added sugar.  They do not require sugar for bulk and the dried fruit will provide sweetness.

·        Jams and marmalades.  Instead of using the traditional ratio of 1lb fruit to 1lb sugar you can reduce this to 1lb fruit to ¾ lb sugar.

·        Cold desserts such as fruit fool and foods which require no further cooking eg custard can be sweetened to taste with a liquid or granulated intense sweetener if necessary.

·        Hot puddings, such as fruit pies, crumbles or bread pudding, can be sweetened with sugar if necessary but some fruit based puddings or puddings with added dried fruit will not require any sweetening at all.  Intense sweetener is not recommended for use in cooking when the recipe requires heating to a high temperature over a period of time, as it can turn bitter on heating.

·        Recipes using a reduced amount of sugar will not keep as long as a traditional recipe as sugar is a natural preservative.   To avoid any wastage, freeze in portions that can be defrosted as needed – but check that the recipe is suitable for freezing first.

·        Remember, the fat content of dessert and baking recipes is important too.  Try to reduce the fat by swapping high fat ingredients for lower fat alternatives.

·        You don’t need to adapt your recipes when baking if you only eat cakes at special occasions such as birthdays.

The recipes attached have been adapted to be higher in fibre and lower in fat, sugar and salt and will illustrate how you can modify your usual recipes.