If you or a family member has diabetes, you’re probably very used to counting every single gram of sugar that comes in every food item you purchase. Unfortunately, this often means that your diabetic family member is left out when it comes to sweet treats at celebrations or on holidays, and that’s just wrong! If you want to be sure your diabetic family member isn’t left out – or, almost as bad, gets stuck with the one small sugar-free treat while everyone else enjoys cake – there are some things you can do so your diabetic family member can enjoy a sweet treat along with everyone else.
Sugar Management
Many think that a diabetes diagnosis means they can never eat dessert again, and the only sweets they will be able to enjoy are those sugar-free hard candies. Fortunately, this isn’t the case! Eating sweets when you have diabetes just takes a bit of extra effort. The hardest part about fitting healthy desserts into your diet as a diabetic is the necessary planning that has to happen. In order to enjoy a healthy pastry now and then, you’ll need two things: a low sugar dessert recipe and a bit of extra planning for your meals that day. If you know you’ll be having dessert to celebrate something later on, you’ll need to cut back on not only the sugar in everything else you eat through the day, but also scale back on the carbohydrate count.
Counting Carbs
Most people, when planning diabetic friendly desserts and meals, tend to focus solely on the sugar content. Instead, the more important thing to focus on is the carbohydrate content, because our bodies convert carbs to sugars as the food is processed. In conjunction with this, you should also limit your intake of starchy foods if you know you’ll be enjoying a low sugar dessert later. Unfortunately, this means most desserts hold little nutritional value, so it’s probably best to limit those treats to occasional consumption, even if they are low sugar desserts.
Finding The Right Treats
Not only will you need to be very cognizant of your carb, starch, and sugar intake in order to enjoy a treat later, you will also need to find healthy dessert options. Fortunately, diabetes is a common enough health concern that there are plenty of low sugar desserts on offer at most grocery stores; however, just to be safe, be sure you check the nutrition listing on the package. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing low sugar desserts for yourself or your diabetic family member:
- Choose fruit – Yes, fruit does have a high sugar content, but it makes for an excellent choice for low sugar desserts because it means the ingredients will usually be more natural and the fruit also provides healthy vitamins and nutrients.
- Swap out ingredients – For at-home celebrations, pull out your baking know-how and DIY a low sugar dessert. You can swap out ingredients to reduce the straight sugar included in a recipe. This may mean using artificial sweeteners or exchanging applesauce for oil.
- Nuts are good – When it comes to desserts, nuts are a great way to add moisture and flavor without drastically increasing the sugar content of a treat. The mild taste of the nuts means that any spices or flavors will be enhanced without adding a ton of sugar, so you’ll be satisfied without a sugar overload. Nuts also serve as a good replacement for some of the carb content in many pastries, cakes, and cookies.
- Find alternative flour-made treats – Choosing gluten free treats may help, even if you don’t have a gluten sensitivity. This is because most gluten free desserts use alternative flours like almond flour or coconut flour, which are much lower in carbohydrates. However, be sure to check, because potato starch is also a common gluten free dessert addition.
- Stick to the natural – As much as possible, stick to low sugar desserts that incorporate only natural ingredients. The lack of preservatives and fillers means you’re less likely to come across unnecessary sugary components like corn syrup. Unfortunately, corn in some form or another is a common component in many pre-packaged foods because it’s an inexpensive filler, so sticking to natural and organic treats will help keep that starch and sugar count low.
All-Natural Low Sugar Desserts
If you’re looking for diabetic friendly low sugar desserts, Lord de Pastry has made the decisions easy for you because we do a lot of the above steps in our products! See the nutritional content for our pastries here, and find a store near you to shop all the Lord de Pastry low sugar desserts today!
