What to Look For in a Diabetic Cook Book

One of the first steps new diabetics take is to seek out a good diabetic cook book. The problem many find, however, is that there are hundreds out there. Each one states that it is the top and sells itself as the best thing since high-fiber, low carbohydrate, sliced bread. It is important for a new diabetic, or pre-diabetic, seeking a good resource for cooking to learn their body's reaction to certain foods and ingredients so adjustments can be made as needed.

Your First Diabetic Cook Book

One of the first lessons everyone learns early on in the disease is that they may not react to all foods the same as other diabetics. Some diabetics can eat high fiber, low sugar foods and have no rise in blood sugar levels. Some people have no response to sugar alcohols (such as maltitol, sorbitol, or xylitol.) Part of this response has to do with the current level of pancreatic function, while medications also affect the body's ability to handle some substances. No single diabetic cook book can take all of the variables into account but good ones allow for substitutions and adjustments for people with varying levels of carbohydrate tolerance.

When looking for a diabetic cook book, it is important to find one that explains the recipes in detail and also supplies alternative ingredients for those that may cause problems for people. Some recipes may call for the use of sugar and the recipe should offer alternatives (and proper conversion amounts) such as stevia, alternative sweeteners (sucralose, etc.), and sugar alcohol products. Some recipes even give combination alternatives such as adding cinnamon and stevia to replace sugar. A recipe that calls for flour should offer alternative suggestions for those people who react adversely to processed flour.

Good Diabetic Cook Books

Offering alternatives in the diabetic cook book is important, but it is also essential to offer conversion amounts. For example stevia (and some other sugar alternatives) are much sweeter than sugar itself. Knowing this, recipes that call for a certain amount of sugar may need less stevia, however the bulk needs to be made up for with other ingredients. Some flour alternatives can only be substituted for a portion of the whole flour amount. Heavy cream can be used in place of milk but must be mixed with water, and therefore amounts need to be adjusted. A good diabetic cook book must take these adjustments into consideration.

Lastly, a good diabetic cook book must have recipes for foods that an individual would enjoy making and eating. Any nutritional plan is doomed to failure from the start if the meals selected are forced or do not offer variety. A person who ate a lot of sweet carbohydrates before being diagnosed with diabetes may find it difficult to adjust to a bland diet. In this case, a diabetic cookbook with recipes for low carbohydrate, sweet snacks will be beneficial. Flip through the pages of a diabetic cook book that you are interested in and see if it holds recipes that you are interested in, and if those recipes offer alternative ingredients and adjustments it may be the right fit for you.