Cooking for diabetics

If you've been diagnosed with the 'silent killer', your diet will need an overhaul - AND, NO, that does not mean a sentence to awful food. Read on

To be diagnosed as a "diabetic" by a doctor seems like a big, ominous and scary verdict for anyone - but all is not lost. The month of November is earmarked for the cause "Beat Diabetes", a campaign that I have supported in order to foster awareness about the illness and rally community support.
In many ways, Type 2 Diabetes, which is the more prevalent of the two forms of the disease, is a lifestyle disease. One could even say it is a modern lifestyle disease, as the world has changed and people from all over the world are abandoning healthy, traditional, unprocessed whole food diets in ?favour of more convenient meals in our mad rush through the rat race called life.
The way we go about our lives - what we eat and how much physical activity we perform - can make the difference in whether or not we develop diabetes, regardless of genetics. All is not lost for those who are already diabetic either. Many Type 2 diabetics will be able to manage their diabetes solely through diet and exercise - if they are vigilant and consistent. Since we are foodies here, let's focus on the diet bit (but don't forget to exercise vigorously for at least 30 minutes everyday!)
Don't be a hater
If you have family or friends fighting diabetes, help them to beat it by supporting their efforts to improve their health and providing them with healthy foods. Do not leave ?unhealthy trigger foods lying about. In fact, if someone in your family has been diagnosed, it is a good time for everyone to adapt to a healthy diet together.
Taste still matters
A diabetic diagnosis is not a sentence to awful food! In fact, some of the best-tasting foods are already diabetic friendly. This does not mean you should feed diabetics steamed broccoli and dry chicken breast for the rest of their lives. Put yourself in their shoes. Such a boring diet would not make anyone excited about getting out of bed. What matters is how you cook food, because three major factors affect the taste of food - the quality of the ingredients (fresh, ?unprocessed, whole foods), selection of natural flavour ?enhancers, and the cooking techniques.
Take a cooking class
If you are struggling to find ways to make healthy meals for diabetics, take a healthy or diabetic cooking class. You will learn how to prepare tasty dishes and get ideas of how to come up with countless new ones on your own.
Cut starches and sugars
Essentially diabetes occurs when the body cannot ?respond well to high blood sugar levels, so the most vicious offenders - namely sugars and starches - have to be cut from the diet. This means all forms of sugars in general, as well as foods that quickly convert to sugars in the body, such as breads, grains, and starchy vegetables (think corn, potatoes, carrots) as well as most fruits, (especially mangoes and ?bananas). Berries, green apples and watermelon are OK in small portions and should always be eaten with some protein to slow down the absorption of sugars.
Stick to protein and non-?starchy veggies
This is what makes all the difference and makes cooking for diabetics so much easier. Forget biryani. Seriously. Hold a funeral and bury the biryani pot, as those rich rice dishes cannot be made for diabetics. The trick is to keep the food simple. Stir-fries, vegetable sautés, and steamed or roasted vegetables are the only sides you need to accompany your meat, seafood, poultry or plant-based protein. If you think about it, that even adds up to less cooking.
Add virgin coconut oil
Coconut oil is one ingredient you should definitely be using to cook for diabetics. While it does not go well with certain foods, you may add it to smoothies or have the person take one tablespoon daily, whipped into their morning coffee or tea.
Healthy fats
Stay as far away from vegetable, aka soybean, aka hydrogenated oils aka margarine aka shortening, as physically possible. Read the labels on everything that comes in a package because it is in practically everything these days. You want to use healthy fats like olive oil, coconut oil and avocado oil, and real grass-fed butter. You can choose to use less, but have the real thing.
Buy whole, unprocessed foods
You want the vast majority of your foods to be stuff you can get from a farmer's market, fish market or butcher. Keep meals simple and use mostly fresh ingredients, because, as mentioned before, sugars and wheat and soy are in almost every commercially packaged food. You must also learn to question labels, as some brands from certain countries in the region do not operate under strict labelling laws and often leave certain ingredients off their labels. You have to either turn into the food police or just buy foods in their simple unprocessed forms.
Experiment with diabetic-friendly recipes
You can explore low carb, gluten-free baking yourself to provide healthy sweets for the diabetics you have to feed. There is a lot of information available online and recipes for both sweet and savoury delights, so be sure to check around. I have loads on my own blog (chefandsteward.com) and, oftentimes, recipes labelled low carb or gluten-free can be used for diabetics. If you don't feel like baking, there is actually a one-of-a-kind store called The Protein Bake Shop in Dubai that offers high protein, gluten-free treats; just check that what you order is also low carb. The owner is a nutritionist as well, so she could offer some advice on how to incorporate these foods into your diet.
 
 

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