Mary Ellen Phipps - The Easy Diabetes Desserts Book Blood Sugar-Friendly Versions of Your Favorite Treats

mary ellen phipps, rdn

author of The Easy Diabetes Cookbook and creator of Milk & Honey Nutrition

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dedication

To the Milk & Honey Nutrition community, this book would not have been possible without your support and encouragement. Each and every one of you has played a part in bringing this book to life. I hope you enjoy it.

To my daughters, you are my constant source of motivation and my continual reason for always dreaming big. What a blessing you both are!

And to H, my little diabetes buddy your joy and strength are contagious, and youre going to change the world one day!

Diabetes and dessert: two words that a lot of people think shouldnt or cant go together. But Im guessing if youre reading this book, you either hope thats not true or you already know its not true. As you read through the content and recipes in this book, youre going to learn why diabetes doesnt mean an end to dessert AND how to put that information into practice in the kitchen to make some deliciously blood sugarfriendly desserts.

The beginning of my obsession with desserts

I have been living with diabetes for over 30 years. Back when I was diagnosed as a young child, we didnt have all the different medications and treatment knowledge about diabetes that we do now. So, as a result, what I could and could not eat was very restricted. And as you can imagine, I was not a fan of this.

As I got older and began to notice how the different foods I ate affected my body, I realized I could tweak different recipes and foods to better suit me, my blood sugars, and my diabetes management.

I also had a grandmother who could bake like no other! Im not kidding. She made the most delicious cakes, cookies, pies, brownies, etc. I could keep going. She had some serious skill in the kitchen. But most of what she made wasnt crafted with blood sugar management in mind until I was diagnosed, that is.

Around the time I was 12, she took me under her wing and showed me the science and art of making desserts and helped me understand how to change a recipe to make it better suit what my body needed, while also still tasting amazing! (The is based off the recipe she taught me how to make.)

As I grew up, I realized how much I enjoyed making blood sugarfriendly foods taste delicious, and teaching other people how to do that too. So, once I got to college and realized I could make a career out of that, I decided to work towards becoming a registered dietitian.

After earning my bachelors degree in nutrition science, I completed a graduate school program in public health epidemiology to round out my education. I really learned how to help people understand food better, as well as reduce the amount of anxiety and stress they feel around food.

And quite honestly, thats my goal with this book: to teach you how to conquer the stress and anxiety that you might feel when it comes to diabetes and desserts. I will equip you with the skills to feel confident in the kitchen when baking and cooking, and provide you with some delicious blood sugarfriendly dessert options!

The science behind diabetes and dessert

When you look at a typical cake, cookie, or pie recipe, theres usually a lot of sugar and saturated fat, and not a whole lot of fiber and protein. In other words: a perfect formula for a blood sugar spike. Thats because fat, fiber, and protein slow down the digestion process. Without those, digestion happens quickly and blood sugars can rise really fast.

Fat, fiber, and protein all act like buffers when it comes to blood sugars. If you were to eat just carbohydrates, or just sugar, your blood sugar would rise really quickly. But, if you eat the same amount of sugar combined with some fat, fiber, and/or protein, they will rise more slowly and we can avoid rapid blood sugar spikes.

So, what if we knew how to reduce the sugar content, swap those saturated fats out for plant-based fats, and up the protein and fiber content of these dessert recipes, while keeping our desserts tasting delicious at the same time? That would be pretty amazing, right?!

Well, thats exactly what youll find in the 60 delicious blood sugarfriendly dessert recipes in this book. They are lower in sugar, and higher in:

Plant-based fats

Fiber

Protein

As I mention above, when foods are high in fat, fiber, and/or protein, it takes our bodies longer to digest the food. This is a good thing! The slower the digestion process, the slower (and more consistent) the nutrient absorption including the sugar thats also in the recipe.

By choosing ingredients that are higher in plant-based fats, fiber, and protein, were giving our bodies the additional nutrients they need to slowly digest the sugar thats in the dessert recipe and thus prevent potential rapid blood sugar spikes. And this is what makes these recipes perfectly suited for people with diabetes!

Now that weve covered what were aiming for when making blood sugarfriendly desserts

Less sugar

More plant-based fat

More fiber

More protein

Amazing taste!

lets take a look at my five go-to strategies for accomplishing these goals in a recipe. Youll see these used throughout the recipes in this book.

1. Cut the sugar: You can actually take a typical dessert recipe and cut the amount of sugar called for by up to half and still make a delicious dessert that tastes amazing!

2. Add beans or lentils: Ok, I know it sounds weird, but when you mash up cooked beans or lentils, they have a pretty similar texture to cookie dough! By adding these to a recipe, were increasing the fiber and protein content. Remember, fiber and protein both help to promote stable blood sugars after you eat. And dont worry, well be sure to mask the flavor of them with other delicious flavor enhancers like cinnamon and vanilla extract, so you wont even be able to taste that theyre in there.

3. Swap the fat: Swapping out butter for something like avocado, avocado oil, or even pumpkin puree will reduce the amount of saturated fat in a recipe. And we know from years of research that people with diabetes should limit how much saturated fat they consume.

4. Play around with flours: This is the strategy youll notice happening most often in this cookbook. Nut-based flours like almond flour, walnut flour, and coconut flour have fewer carbohydrates and more plant-based fat than traditional refined flours. Both lowering the carbohydrate count and increasing plant-based fat are great for promoting stable blood sugars. And dont forget to check out the substitution chart if you dont have one of the flours listed in a recipe.