HOUSTON – Learn some easy ways you can cut back on the sugar in some of your favorite desserts.
Registered dietitian and nutritionist Mary Ellen Phipps is living with Type 1 diabetes, but that hasn’t stopped her from enjoying her favorite foods and desserts.
“One of my favorite things to do as a registered dietitian living with diabetes myself, is teach people impacted by diabetes or another health condition that warrants paying attention to blood sugar levels how to make deliciously blood sugar friendly desserts,” she explained.
She recently shared her tips for making low-sugar desserts on “Houston Life,” ahead of the release of her new cookbook – The Easy Diabetes Desserts Cookbook.
Here are 5 ways to make desserts more blood sugar friendly.
1. Cut the sugar
Phipps says: You can actually take a typical dessert recipe and cut the amount of sugar it calls for by up to half and still make a delicious dessert that tastes amazing.
2. Play around with the flours
Phipps says: This is actually the strategy you’ll notice I utilize most in the book and on my website. We can use a combination of nut flours and oats to build a more blood sugar friendly flower, compared to all-purpose flour. We lower the amount of carbohydrate and increase the amount of fat, fiber, and protein - which again helps promote stable blood sugars.
3. Add beans or lentils
Phipps says: I know it sounds weird, but when you mash up cooked beans and combine them with the flours, they have a similar texture to cookie dough. By adding these to a recipe, we’re increasing fiber and protein - which both help promote stable blood sugars. And we can mask the flavors with all our other ingredients.
4. Swap the fat
Phipps says: Swapping out butter for avocado, avocado oil, nut butters, or even pumpkin purée can reduce the amount of saturated fat in a recipe. We know from years of research that people with diabetes should be mindful about how much saturated fat they consume.
5. Grab the yogurt
Phipps says: Both plain yogurt and plain Greek yogurt helps to enhance the flavor of a recipe, but also increase the protein content without adding unnecessary sugar in a recipe. You can sub yogurt for a fat source or use it as a wet ingredient to achieve a consistency you’re looking for in a dough or batter.
These are just some of the ideas you can find in Phipps new cookbook.
To learn more, click here.
RELATED LINK: Insiders! Enter for your chance to win ‘The Easy Diabetes Desserts Cookbook!’