Chasing The Perfect Bread For A Diabetic Diet
Since the day I learned that carbohydrates were the culprit for raising blood sugar, I have been trying to find a way to keep eating them. The reason? I love carbohydrates. There are diets that have little or no bread, fruits, or vegetables, and some people with diabetes use them. It would be simple to eliminate most carbs from your life and live on protein and fats. But I will not do it. Keeping carbohydrates in my eating plan is a challenge, but it is worth it to me. The thought of living without them makes the future seem gray and empty. Carbs add color to my life. Since I made this decision, I have been looking for the best carbs. There is plenty of advice for people with diabetes, as well as people who just want to lose weight, about which carbohydrates to eat. So why have I found this so difficult? One problem is that the glycemic index, which ranks foods according to their impact on blood sugar, is not absolute. What fuels the changes in advice? For one thing, research has uncovered the vital importance of fiber, its impact on carbohydrate digestion, and the amazing way it helps control blood sugar. The big news today is that vegetable fiber encourages the growth of good bacteria. Where do we find all of this wonderful fiber? It comes from carbohydrates. Hurrah! Another problem with deciding what to eat is conflicting information. The American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association often agree on what is best, targeting calories as an important area of focus. Needless to say, they both advise that we limit high-calorie carbohydrates like desserts. But they encourage including wheat in your diet. Whole wheat is best, they say. But trying to find a good whole wheat bread turns out to be tricky, since bread labels can be confusing. A dismaying number of Continue reading >>
Flour Power: The Perfect Recipe For Diabetes-friendly Flour (atta)
Home Magazine Diabetes Flour Power: The Perfect Recipe For Diabetes-Friendly Flour (Atta) Flour Power: The Perfect Recipe For Diabetes-Friendly Flour (Atta) Expert-reviewed by Ashwini S.Kanade, Registered Dietician and Certified Diabetes Educator with 17 years of experience. Fact-checked by Aditya Nar, B.Pharm, MSc. Public Health and Health Economics. In diabetes, you indeed are what you eat. This is all the more critical when it comes to choosing to right kind of atta (or flour). As with everything else they eat, diabetics must choose a flour that can be digested slowly, is high in fibre, low in carbs and calories to maintain blood sugar levels. Considering all this topped with the wide variety of diabetes-friendly attas (flours) available in the market today one might think it is easier never to eat anything made with flour again! But wait, help is at hand! Because today, we have the full scoop for you on which varieties and types of flours are best suited for people with diabetes. The perfect recipe for diabetes-friendly flour According to Jyoti Sawant, Dietitian at Delhi-based Obino, The best flour for people with diabetes would be to eat standalone or a good mix of multigrain flour. Mix whole grains, such as finger millets (ragi or nachni), millets (bajra), barley (jau), soya beans, sorghum (jowar), amaranth grains (ramdana/rajgira), and chickpea flour (Bengal gram or kabuli chana) and your perfect diabetes-friendly flour is ready. All of these ingredients have a rich nutritional profile and are high in dietary fibre with complex carbohydrate content. Making multigrain flour an excellent choice for controlling blood sugar spikes and managing weight. How to make diabetes-friendly flour at home Indian bread, chapati, phulkaor rotiis a dish which is made in almost in Continue reading >>
Flour Power: 5 Options That Are Good For Baking And Diabetes
From whole wheat, to spelt, to almond flour, coconut flour, and even flour made from chickpeas, it's hard to know where to start and easy to become confused about which variety is best for your individual needs. With diabetes, you want to select flour that is slow digested, high in fiber, lower in carbohydrate all without a high level of calories to help maintain blood sugar levels as well as promote a healthy body weight. With all that considered, it may seem easy to just throw your hands up in the air, give up, and resign yourself to never baking again. But don’t worry; I am here to help you sort it out and remove the stress from your next grocery store outing. #1. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour If most of your recipes call for all-purpose flour, refined flour that may elevate blood sugar levels more rapidly than whole grains, you may reach for 100% whole wheat flour as an alternative. Although this switch will certainly boost the fiber and whole grain content of your recipe, the taste and texture may not always remain exactly the same. Whole wheat flour (100%) can have a denser, more course texture than all-purpose flour. As a substitute in breads, it can often work out well, but in baked goods such as cookies and muffins, the final product may not taste as close to the original as you had hoped. Enter whole-wheat pastry flour. This flour, which gives graham crackers their sweet taste, is milled from low-protein soft wheat allowing it to provide a flavorful taste to pastries without the density or coarseness of a standard whole-wheat flour. It is best to use for cookies, piecrusts, and baked goods. A 1/3 cup serving size provides 100 calories, 22 grams of carbohydrate, and 4 grams of fiber. #2. Spelt Flour Another alternative to 100% whole-wheat flour is spelt flour. Spe Continue reading >>
Problem Foods: Can Diabetics Eat All-purpose Flour?
Amy Reeder is a Certified Diabetes Educator with a master’s degree in nutrition from the University of Utah. She has worked in the diabetes field since 2005 and has been a Certified Diabetes Educator since 2007. All-purpose flour is a carbohydrate that needs to be accounted for in a diabetic diet. So while diabetics can eat all-pupose flour, reducing the intake of all-purpose flour and/or replacing with whole grains and other flours is a more healthy alternative. You could say that the all-purpose flour debate applies to people with diabetes as well as people without diabetes. Granted, all-purpose flour is a carbohydrate that needs to be counted and managed by someone with diabetes, especially if blood glucose is treated with insulin. But as far as overall health is concerned, white flour does not offer much nutritionally for people with or without diabetes. So should you replace all of the white flour foods in your diet with other types of grains? It wouldn't hurt. But healthy eating doesn't have to be "all or nothing." Flour alternatives All-purpose flour has been stripped of fiber and other nutrients in the process of manufacturing it. That's why white flour is light and fine and easy to use in recipes for baked goods such as cakes, cookies, pies, crackers, etc. It has its place in certain products. But there are many alternative grains and flours widely available today that can be used as a replacement for or in combination with all-purpose flour. These whole grains and flours can also be found in a wide variety of prepared foods such as crackers, breads, pastas, tortillas, cereals, etc. By replacing white flour with other whole grain flours you will increase your fiber and nutrient intake. As a result of the increased fiber intake, you may also notice that your b Continue reading >>
The 15 Best Superfoods For Diabetics
beats1/Shutterstock Chocolate is rich in flavonoids, and research shows that these nutrients reduce insulin resistance, improve insulin sensitivity, drop insulin levels and fasting blood glucose, and blunt cravings. But not all chocolate is created equal. In a 2008 study from the University of Copenhagen, people who ate dark chocolate reported that they felt less like eating sweet, salty, or fatty foods compared to volunteers given milk chocolate, with its lower levels of beneficial flavonoids (and, often, more sugar and fat, too). Dark chocolate also cut the amount of pizza that volunteers consumed later in the same day, by 15 percent. The flavonoids in chocolate have also been shown to lower stroke risk, calm blood pressure, and reduce your risk for a heart attack by 2 percent over five years. (Want more delicious, healthy, seasonal foods? Click here.) Jiri Vaclavek/Shutterstock Broccoli is an anti-diabetes superhero. As with other cruciferous veggies, like kale and cauliflower, it contains a compound called sulforaphane, which triggers several anti-inflammatory processes that improve blood sugar control and protect blood vessels from the cardiovascular damage that’s often a consequence of diabetes. (Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people with diabetes, so this protection could be a lifesaver.) Sulforaphane also helps flip on the body’s natural detox mechanisms, coaxing enzymes to turn dangerous cancer-causing chemicals into more innocent forms that the body can easily release. Blueberries funnyangel/Shutterstock Blueberries really stand out: They contain both insoluble fiber (which “flushes” fat out of your system) and soluble fiber (which slows down the emptying of your stomach, and improves blood sugar control). In a study by the USDA, peopl Continue reading >>
What Is The Best Flour To Use In Baking For A Type 2 Diabetic?
Check your local diabetes association or clinics etc for useful dietary guidelines. Generally, whole wheat, which can give good moist results if you practice a few times and get the ratios right (it absorbs more liquid than does white flour). So start with recipes written for whole wheat until you get the hang of it. Sometimes mix with rye, if you guys like the flavor. Can use some whole oat flakes, ground to a powder, as a variant. But remember you'll need the wheat for gluten, so no whole rye or whole oats. And smallish portions. Hi Donna, This is something I have researched but don’t have a recipe to follow, presently. Checking out the first 2 links about Sprouted Flour and then the Peter Reinhart “Bread Revolution” book (3rd link); this book is on my list to buy. I totally trust Reinhart’s bread baking knowledge. Good luck in your search! :) Continue reading >>
What Is The Best Flour For Diabetes?
Simply put, all flours are worse than their whole food equivalents. Wholemeal flour or brown rice flour will raise blood sugar, and, if type 2, insulin, just as much as white flour if ground to the same fineness. In fact, whole white rice will raise blood sugar and insulin (or insulin requirement) a lot less than brown rice flour (but still too much). Therefore the best flour is something like almond flour, which being much lower in carbohydrate will dump much less glucose in your blood, while giving you enough energy from fats and protein to assuage hunger. It’s very useful in recipes and is used in most low-carb cookbooks. It’s also a better source of vitamins, minerals, fibre, and whole protein than wholemeal flours. Coconut flour can also be an option. Coconut Flour vs Almond Flour - what you need to understand For some commercial reason it is legal to sell wholemeal products as “wholegrain”, but as we can see this is deceptive. Red Mill has several non-wheat flours available at reasonable prices. If any stores near you carry it, I can attest for their quality. As a baker, I have tried to make an effort to learn and create recipes for several types of people with medical issues. Celiac disease and diabetes have many common recipes, even though the medical problem is vastly different. There's actually quite a lot of diabetic recipe books and online sites with reference materials. Continue reading >>
What's The Best Bread For People With Diabetes?
By Brandon May Bread is perhaps one of the most widely used types of food on the planet. It can also be a food that poses a health risk for people with diabetes. Despite the risk, bread can be one of the hardest foods to give up. Fortunately, there are breads on the market that don't raise blood sugar to extreme levels. Whole-grain breads with high-fiber ingredients, like oats and bran, may be the best option for people with diabetes. Making bread at home with specific, diabetes-friendly ingredients may also help reduce the impact bread has on blood sugar levels. The role of nutrition in controlling diabetes Diabetes has two main types: type 1 and type 2. People with type 1 diabetes have difficulty producing insulin, which is a hormone that "captures" blood sugar (or glucose) and transfers it into cells. Glucose is the preferred energy source for cells. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. This type of diabetes is also the easier form to prevent and manage with lifestyle changes and medication. According to the World Health Organization, over 422 million people have type 2 diabetes worldwide. In the earlier phase of type 2 diabetes, the pancreas can produce insulin, but cells have become insensitive to its effects. This is sometimes due to poor diet, genetics, and lifestyle habits. Because of this, cells can't access blood sugar following a meal. Nutrition plays a crucial role in diabetes control. It's only through putting proper dietary planning into practice that good blood sugar management can be accomplished. A good diet must also be combined with lifestyle changes and medication. A carbohydrate is one of the three major nutrients essential to human health. However, carbohydrates also raise blood sugar and can reduce effective diabetes control. This Continue reading >>
Almond Flour | Diabetes Forum The Global Diabetes Community
Diabetes Forum The Global Diabetes Community Find support, ask questions and share your experiences. Join the community I was diagnosed with type 2 in Jan my Dr and nurse say I am unusual as I had no symptoms but my question is can we use almond flour and if so dies anyone recommend any recipes. You can use almond flour of course. In fact, it's actually recommended as an alternative to grain flour due to its lower overall carbohydrate content. Less carbs generally means better BG control - and this is especially true for a T2D. I cannot offer you any recipes I'm afraid as I have never baked with almond flour; flaked almonds on top of my bakewell tarts are about as close as it gets There are a fair amount of recipes containing almonds as replacement for normal flour, that pop up on the forum from time to time. Here's an example of various combinations from @Robbity which received a good few likes from the other forum members. Hi Sammie 1. I too was like you had no symptoms of diabetes, but have now been diagnosed only a month ago, (Drs believe. I have been for. 2-3 years, undetected) first I knew was when i was admitted to hospital and ended up having emergency surgery on an infected foot( I stood on a drawing pin, but didn't realise through neuropathy in my feet) Anyway, getting back to your question, on the diabetes's uk website, you can download several cookbooks for free, many of the recipes use almond flour or hazelnut flour. My problem is no one seems to know what it is or where I can get it from. The guy in my local health food shop just stared blankly and shrugged his shoulders. Hi Sammie 1. I too was like you had no symptoms of diabetes, but have now been diagnosed only a month ago, (Drs believe. I have been for. 2-3 years, undetected) first I knew was when i w Continue reading >>
Best Flour For Diabetics
Diabetics need to be particularly careful on the kind of meals they eat. When it comes to flour, things are no different and that’s why this article has gathered all the necessary information you need to know what kind of flour you should include in your kitchen. Are grains and flour really good for fiber? Every nutritionist will tell you that the greatest source of fiber is the whole grains. We can’t argue on how essential fiber is to the body and in particular the digestive system. But, are whole grains the only source of fiber? Well, the answer is no, you can also get fiber in vegetables too. In fact, in most cases, vegetables have more fiber than the whole grains. For instance, a slice of the whole wheat bread has only 1.9 grams of fiber whereas a carrot has 2.3 grams. As if that isn’t enough, vegetables are also very rich in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants compared to the whole grains. Meaning you necessarily don’t have to eat grains. What changes when a grain is converted into flour and does it affect the blood sugar differently? Basically, on converting a grain into flour, two things change, the fiber and carb content. As a diabetic on eating meals made from certain flour, this will result in a drastic fatal rise in your blood sugar levels and this is the simple explanation as to why in most cases no grain far is included in most diabetic people meal plans. Taking buckwheat, for instance, it has a low glycemic index of 49 meaning that it won’t cause a drastic rise in your blood sugar levels. On turning the grain into flour and baking a bread the glycemic index raises to 67, this being a clear indication that the composition changed and on consuming the bread it will have severe consequences on your ability to manage your blood sugar levels. Another Continue reading >>
Can Diabetics Eat Whole Wheat Bread? August 23, 2011 Return To Blog
Diabetes is a metabolic disease, meaning there is a glitch in the way the body converts food energy into usable energy. A healthy reaction to eating carbohydrate is a rise in blood sugar (glucose) followed by insulin being released as a response. The insulin acts as a key to open up cells within the brain and organs to let glucose in to be used as an immediate source of energy. Any unused energy is then stored in the liver, muscle, and fat tissues. Someone with diabetes has a rise in blood glucose but insulin is either not released or cells are resistant to the insulin. This is why diabetics have difficulty returning their high blood sugar levels back down to normal and thus need to control how much carbohydrate (glucose source) they put into their body throughout the day. Control carbohydrates. With a little effort and control diabetes can easily be managed. Diabetics should not condemn, but rather control carbohydrates. They should focus on allowing their body only the amount of carbohydrates it can handle at one time (this can be determined by a doctor or registered dietitian). Despite being diabetic, the body still needs and uses carbohydrates as its preferred source of energy. In fact, it is the only source of fuel for the brain! So it should never be eliminated, just merely controlled so your body can handle the glucose load. Stick to an eating plan. There is no single ideal eating plan for those with diabetes; the recommended plan is specific to a person’s weight, medication, blood sugars, cholesterol, and other medical conditions or concerns. Despite the varying eating plans, all diabetics should be consistent with their eating habits. Also, they need to eat about every 4-5 hours to prevent blood sugars from getting too low. Additionally, breakfast is an impor Continue reading >>
Best Flour To Use If You’re Diabetic?
When it comes to flours, making the right choice is very important to blood sugar control. So we've gathered some great info here for you to use in your kitchen and menu preparations. Are Grains & Flour Really Good For Fiber? We've often been told that eating whole grains is a great source of fiber. And while ‘whole grains' do provide some fiber they are not the only thing that provide us with our daily fiber needs, vegetables do too. For example: 1 slice of wholewheat bread has 1.9 g of fiber, while a carrot has 2.3 g. All grains and vegetables do range in fiber content, but vegetables are a great source of daily fiber and are also higher in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than grains. So we don't have to eat grains in order to get adequate fiber. Changing A Grain Into A Flour Changes The Way It Affects Blood Sugar Often when we take a grain and make it into flour, it changes the carb and fiber content. So what tends to happen for you as a diabetic is that most types of flours will make your blood sugar spike like wild fire. At least that's what most people experience, which is why our meal plans contain virtually no grain flours at all. An example of this is buckwheat. Eaten whole it has a glycemic index (GI) of around 49, which is a low GI. But take it and turn it into bread and it changes to a GI of 67, meaning it affects your blood sugar more rapidly and more intensely than eating the whole grain itself. Here is another example using wheat. Whole wheat kernals are a very low GI of 30, but we don't tend to eat whole wheat kernals, we eat whole wheat flour and it has an average GI of around 74. Whole Grain Flours Are A Better Option It's true that whole grains are better as far as nutrition goes. As the Minnesota Department of Health explains, the whole grain Continue reading >>
Top 10 Worst Foods For Diabetes
These foods can can cause blood sugar spikes or increase your risk of diabetes complications. White Bread Refined starches — white bread, white rice, white pasta, and anything made with white flour — act a lot like sugar once the body starts to digest them. Therefore, just like sugar, refined starches interfere with glucose control and should be avoided by those with diabetes. Whole grains are a better choice because they’re richer in fiber and generally cause a slower, steadier rise in blood sugar. Instead of white bread or a bagel for breakfast, opt for a toasted whole grain English Muffin (topped with a slice of reduced-fat cheese or scrambled egg for protein). At lunch and dinner, replace white carbs with healthier whole grain options such as brown or wild rice, barley, quinoa, and whole-wheat bread to minimize the impact on your blood sugar. Even high-quality, whole grain starches elevate blood glucose to some degree, so it’s still important to limit portions — stick with ½ to ¾ cup cooked grains or just 1 slice of bread at meals. Continue reading >>
Best Bread For People With Diabetes
The smell of a freshly baked bread, or the sight of bread, is enough to send your senses reeling. Though people with diabetes should eat bread in moderation, sometimes it can be easy to get carried away. After all, bread is one of the most popular foods all over the globe. Just because you have diabetes, it doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on all the great bread that life has to offer. In order to be able to eat bread if you have diabetes, there are a few things that you will need to know. Sonya’s Story Sonya sat across from me. She looked defeated. She hung her head low. “I don’t know how I’ll ever give up bread,” she said. “It’s my favorite food. Now that I have Type 2 Diabetes, I know I can’t eat bread, rice, or pasta.” “You can have bread, rice, and pasta in small amounts. I can teach you which kind of breads are best for you, so that you can get some of your favorite food,” I said. “That would be great,” said Sonya. “Wow, I feel a lot better! When can I come to class and learn about this?” “You can come tomorrow,” I said. “I’ll find you some bread recipes that you can make at home with diabetes-friendly ingredients, so that the bread you do eat is healthier. It will also be lower in carbohydrates than some other breads, and the carbohydrates will be good carbohydrates.” Sonya came to class where she learnt valuable information about making diabetes-friendly breads. Now she makes them for herself, and a few other friends with diabetes that she happened to have met in her diabetes classes. Breads with high fibers Breads that are whole grain, and high in fiber, such as oats or bran, are the best type of bread for people with diabetes to eat. While you can have a serving or two of bread, you still need to stay within the Continue reading >>
Get To Know 6 Great Grains
By Tracey Neithercott; Recipes by Robyn Webb, MS, LN If you're still spreading peanut butter and jelly on colorless Wonder bread or heaping your stir-fry on top of a pile of Uncle Ben's, it's time to wean yourself off the refined stuff and explore whole grains. Kudos to you if you've already made this trade-in; whole grains are higher in nutrients and will raise your blood glucose less than their refined counterparts do. Plus, unlike refined grains, they may protect your heart and help you maintain weight loss. The reason for the nutritional disparity between refined carbohydrates and whole grains lies in the processing. Whole grains contain an outer bran layer, a middle endosperm, and inner germ, but refined grains are stripped of everythingincluding protein and many key nutrientssave for the endosperm. Because they're less processed, whole grains have a lower glycemic index value than refined grains. Another point in the whole-grains column is their relatively high fiber content, which can help lower cholesterol levels, control blood glucose, and keep you feeling full long after eating. "It's really important to eat foods that are going to fill you up and not leave you hungry an hour later," so you don't binge post-meal, says Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietitian-nutritionist and author of the book Nutrition at Your Fingertips. Zied suggests gradually replacing your current processed foods, such as regular pretzels, with whole grains like air-popped popcorn (sans butter, of course, and not the microwave stuff). "You just really have to be aware," she says. "You need to think, 'Where am I willing to compromise?' " Many of these grains can be cooked just as you prepare rice. To do this, boil water or stocklook to your grain's packaging for grain-to-liquid rat Continue reading >>
