Alternatives to Carbohydrates
Many people, including people with diabetes and people who are trying to lose weight, need to avoid eating simple carbohydrates such as sugar, pasta, bread, and potatoes. While a person facing a low carbohydrate life-style may cringe at the thought of giving up these comfort foods, there are some alternatives that make the transition a lot less painful (dare we say, even pleasant?).
Sugar
It used to be there were few alternatives to sugar. And the ones there were, such as saccharin or aspartame, did not work in certain instances. You cannot cook with either of those sweeteners. Now with sucralose (Splenda), you can actually cook things you enjoyed but decrease their carbohydrates.
Pasta
If you like lasagna, you can cut egg plant into thin slices and roast it in the oven. Use the roasted egg plant instead of the pasta as you assemble your lasagna. It does taste somewhat different, but the difference is good.
Bread
If you create “open-faced” sandwiches with only one piece of bread, you have cut your bread intake in half. Try some of the many whole grain breads until you find one you like. Oatmeal bread has a similar texture and flavor to white but is healthier because it has more fiber.
Potatoes
Believe it or not, you can treat cauliflower the same way you treat potatoes. You can mash it with butter and milk or you can use it as a basis for “potato” salad. It is not perfectly the same, but it is more than pretty good.
Burrito
Put all those good insides on a bed of lettuce, top it with salsa (and low fat sour cream). You’ll have a great-tasting salad without all the burrito carbohydrates.
Chocolate and candy
With the low carb diet craze a few years ago and also in recognition of the many people who have diabetes, companies that produce chocolate are now creating sugar free forms of chocolate and candy. Sometimes you find these in the “diet” area of the grocery store but often they are displayed along with all the other candy.
Ice cream
You can get low carbohydrate ice cream. Be aware that this will not be a low calorie product-something that was both sugar free and low fat is likely not to have much flavor appeal. But you can have your ice cream on occasion.
Living a low carbohydrate lifestyle is not a tragedy. If the doctor says you need to cut back on carbs and you follow those directions, you will probably find that you feel a lot better. On top of feeling better, you can enjoy many of the foods that you liked before, in these low carbohydrate versions.
Martin Lithgow said,
June 1, 2010 @ 9:41 am
This article is misleading as people with Diabetes do not have to avoid simple carbohydrates aspecially if they are controlling their Diabetes with a regime that incorporates a non restrictive diet. Also ‘diabetic’ foods should be avoided according the British Diabetic Association as it is a misleading concept. There are no Diabetic foodstuffs. It should also be noted that chocolate has a high glycaemic index so the fat is more of an issue than the sugars.