I have stumbled upon a yummy recipe — which bares some resembles to a dessert — that isn’t high in carb, yet high in protein. It feels like I am being decadent when I eat it.
Before I share with you the recipe, let me share a little about my search for satisfying type-1 diabetic treats that are free of carbohydrates.
Dr. Bernstein’s book Diabetes Solution offers a small selection of very low-carb breakfast and dessert recipes for type-1 diabetic. Most of them I can’t have, however, because they contain high amounts of potassium or phosphates (usually in the chocolate/cocoa powder). Potassium and phosphates aren’t kosher for dialysis patients.
Other recipes contain soy flour or bran crackers, which I’m avoiding because I believe they stimulate the autoimmune reaction which causes type-1 diabetes..
I also don’t think artificial sweeteners like xylitol or, especially, aspartame are safe; so type-1 diabetic recipes containing these are also contraband.
Microscopic Chocolate
Carb-wise (and ignoring the potassium and phosphate restrictions) I might be able to handle 20 grams of a dark chocolate (and still keep my daily carb count under 30 grams). But that’s like two little squares! Why bother? It will hardly fill me up. Better to go cold turkey with chocolate and explore other ways to get that serotonin rise.
So what to do so that I get some joy from my food?
Counting Nuts & Chewing Gum
Well, first I do allow a small amount of nuts — even though I am not supposed to have them. I use FitDay.com to calculate my potassium and phosphate intake each day. This way I can see how many high-potassium-phosphate nuts I can fit in. It usually works out to about one tablespoon of nut butter or 11 almonds or macadamias. This helps sometimes with the dessert cravings.
I also chew gum which is another story which I will address in another post (finding a gum without xylitol, aspartame, mannitol or such things is hard).
The Missing Piece to Diabetic Dessert Jigsaw Puzzle
Anyway, I finally found a piece that fits into my dietary jigsaw puzzle. It has made me feel a little better about so much deprivation in the name of feeling better.
Are you ready to find out what my type-1 diabetic delight is? Or should I tell you how I discovered it? Yeah, I think I will tell you the story. In the end you’ll laugh at how simple it is.
Water for Breakfast
At first I was fasting through breakfast for a number of reasons:
- Gastroparesis was causing nausea in the morning (or maybe it was the anemia).
- Spiritual reasons.
- I wanted to give my hubby a break from making two different meals at each meal time.
Even though fasting throughout the morning works for many — it didn’t seem to be giving me enough fuel.
Blueberries & Cream (Bird-Size Serving)
After fasting a few days, I switched to 40 grams of frozen blueberries and 40 grams of cream for breakfast (which amounts to 6 grams of carbs). This wasn’t a bad breakfast. Quite tasty. Just not very filling.
The Egg White Idea
That’s when my husband offered another suggestion. Add more egg whites: He said that protein and fat will slow down the release of glucose, stabilize my blood sugars and fill me up a little more.
Great suggestion but I already eat eight egg whites at dinner. How could I stomach more eggs? Eggs aren’t my favourite to begin with (but I am growing fond of them).
Egg yolks contain phosphates, so they get tossed and I eat the whites — all eight of them. My husband had found a study (Using Egg Whites to Keep Protein Up and Control Phosphorus) on hemodialysis patients which showed that eating eight egg whites for one meal, each day, cuts down on serum phosphorus levels. We decided to try one meal a day of egg whites, for 30 days, and see how my blood work is in May.
But now, we were looking at two meals of egg whites. I don’t like eggs that much…
So I tried to think of how to get four more egg whites down?
Angel Food Cake for Type-1 Diabetic Breakfast?
I started taking four egg whites and whipping and baking them into a fluffy meringue that isn’t sweet. I dipped it in the frozen berries and cream. It’s tasty. Like having a light angel food cake without the sugar.
I was very grateful for this yummy treat at breakfast. I added lemon zest today which gave it a nice taste. I’m going to experiment with cinnamon. I may also try baking the berries right into the meringue.
No sugar added but it tastes decadent to me and I like the plain taste. I am a happy camper now.
My No-Carb, Type-1 Diabetic Meringue Recipe
- Preheat oven to 300 F.
- Separate four eggs yolks. It’s very important to make sure you get no yolk in the egg white mixture. You can save the yolks for mayonnaise or sauces.
- Add cinnamon, ginger, allspice or other ingredients, as desired.
- Beat the whites until they form very stiff peaks.
- Place parchment paper on baking dish.
- Slip egg whites out of the bowl and onto the parchment paper.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until done.
Goes great with heavy cream.
