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Saturday 21 September 2013

Let Them Eat Cake!

The thing I hate most about having diabetes - and especially being treated by oral medication is that I have to spend so much more time thinking about food. Food has never been very important to me. I always tried to eat well - that is to eat quality produce and to ensure my family ate well too - but apart from that I almost resented the time spent on shopping and cooking etc. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed cooking for guests and other social aspects but often had to be reminded to eat and if I happened to be alone would never think about eating. When I first came across the GI diet it seemed to make sense and so that is how we ate for some years.

Events -food scandals, recession, mad cow disease - and some moral scruples encouraged me to try vegetarianism. Possibly this would have worked for me had I been catering only for myself but that wasn't the case. Just as well really, as my food intolerances and allergy are all vegetable based. When trying to cater for us all on a veggie diet I became anxious about the possible effects and nutritional value of some of the protein alternatives so there was no room for complacency in eating that way either.

Low carb is no problem for me. I think I was a natural lowcarber before I even heard the term. I would never have believed, though, that my tiny intake of starchy carbs could have been a problem. When I finally discovered how my meter should be used, I found it difficult to believe how carb sensitive I was, especially to bread. Adapting to this knowledge wasn't too difficult, - I didn't have to give up much!

Most people when adopting a particular diet will compromise in some way - adapt it to suit themselves. Of course we are all conditioned to eat the food we have eaten from childhood. Food has many associations for us often connected with comfort and pleasure. Because of this I have often wondered if trying to adapt a diet to appear as similar as possible to our previous diet is a good or bad idea.

In the non-meat areas of the supermarket any number of what I call 'spoof foods' are available. Meat free steaks, chicken burgers, bacon etc. Some of this may have its uses as it not only has some visual resemblance but sometimes even tastes like the real thing. This may help some with the weaning or transitional period. Its veggie fast food of course, and the aim should be to eat properly balanced vegetarian meals with fresh ingredients. A veggie diet can cause weight gain - the old image of the skinny vegetarian is a stereotype and we know all about those don't we?

But what of low carb? The emphasis is on fresh natural ingredients - so how could there be a problem? I hate to say this - but-could it be the CAKE?

I like cake as much as anyone - well no, perhaps not quite as much as anyone. I am very grateful for lowcarb recipes, particularly for desserts which can be adapted in different ways and on different occasions. As most of us will have learned non lowcarbers can seldom tell the difference and may even prefer the low carb versions. Sometimes, however, in the rush to persuade us that we don't have to forgo anything, we find recipes requiring vast amounts of time and expensive ingredients - all for very little reward. Its great that we have access to these things and there may well be occasions when we are prepared to spend hours of our time and a good proportion of our income on a tiny amount of unnecessary treats - but what is this really saying? That we are brave soldiers struggling to overcome our problems, or that we can't face up to facts and accept that there are more important things in life than being able to eat whatever we want, whenever we want? Does food assume a disproportionate importance after a diabetes diagnosis in many different ways?

I am sure we are all grateful to those who invent, find and publish the recipes for lowcarb versions of every variety of cake or biscuit but could this, taken to extremes, be counterproductive - or is that already the case?

Kath

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell that to the LC fraternity who think chemical laden Atkins Bars are LC so must be alright.

Lowcarb team member said...

Anon

Atkins bars are not part of my diet and I suspect most of our team would not eat them. We eat real food. Have you been listening to those carboholics again ?

Eddie

Lowcarb team member said...

Kath

No lowcarb almond flour cakes that only take five minutes to make ! Have you lost the plot ? Get a grip woman ! Just you wait 'til Doug sees your post, he will be mortified. Stand by for fireworks.

Eddie

Lowcarb team member said...

Hi anon, I wasn't telling anyone anything! Just inviting them to think about it! Atkin's bars are not even on my radar.

Now you already know I have lost the plot Eddie. Anon has been saying so all week. That explains why I am here. Can' eat the stuff I bake with almond flour myself but the family love them. I did think about Doug, Maybe my insanity will save me from his awful wrath?

Kath

Anonymous said...

Neighbours were concerned to see the usually quiet Doug light a bonfire and proceed to let off a mixture of fireworks "some quite noisy" said his next door neighbour.

Community Police were quick on the scene and could hear Doug saying "we will continue to eat cake - but low carb of course".

His wife told Police not to worry, she had everything in hand. That morning she had purchased some plums and was going to try a new low cake plum recipe. She believes a slice or two of plums in the cake recipe will not raise her husbands blood sugar levels. But asks should anyone know different please advise.

Well I didn't think I'd done this story too badly?

Doug ( laughing out loud )

Lowcarb team member said...

Atkins bars have never been part of my diet,they don't need to be and they're not cheap either and I prefer to spend my limited money on proper grub.

I haven't found low carb living hard either,most traditional recipes can be adapted to suit which enables all the family to eat together.

There seems to be some real misconceptions out there about what the anti low carbers think we eat as opposed to what we REALLY eat.

Paul

Anonymous said...

Unbeliever,
Why don't you copy and paste your article onto DCUK. You will get a lot of responses there.

Irene.

Lowcarb team member said...

Plum cake AND fireworks Doug?
Pushing the boat out there eh?
Don't offer any cake to the Community police -they will be round every night!

I am sure you are right Irene about posting on DCUK but its very much a blog article.

My intentions would probably be misunderstood there.

Kath

Lowcarb team member said...

Anonymous said...
"Tell that to the LC fraternity who think chemical laden Atkins Bars are LC so must be alright."

So there you have it this LC fraternity don't do Atkins Bars.

The biggest consumers of frankenfoods are the low fat fraternity which of course the anti's belong to.

Graham

Lowcarb team member said...

I hope the plum low carb cake turned out nicely. I did look up the carb content of plums, and, according to 'the Collins gem Calorie Counter' book plums are 8.8 per 100gram. Of course tinned plums in syrup are far more. But I'm sure it is fresh fruit that would be used and a slice or two would surely be fine?

All the best Jan

Lowcarb team member said...

I am sure it would Jan. It was one of the few nice surprises for me when I found out that plums were fairly low carb. So if Doug is going to have a real fireworks party on November 5th we could take some low carb plum cake.

I've never even seen an Atkins Bar.

Just to clarify I am not against any kind of cake - just question the wisdom of trying to make lowcarb copies of everything, as if lowcarbing were just a second class imitation of a "real" diet rather than a way of eating in itself. Some low carb versions are better than the originals so
why not let them "stand alone" and not emphasise the similarity to the original items.

Kath

Lowcarb team member said...

"Some low carb versions are better than the originals so why not let them "stand alone" and not emphasise the similarity to the original items."

Hi Kath

I believe there's a lot of truth in that and for example,if a good low carb carrot cake recipe was simply posted as carrot cake then some people may try it who may have otherwise been put off by the term 'low carb alternative' and then eat something that's FAR more diabetic friendly.

Paul