New Family Cookbook for People With Diabetes

Introduction Food gives us energy and provides essential nutrients for good health, but eating food is also something we enjoy and look forward to. It's hard to imagine breaks at work, a trip to the movies, watching sports, and gathering together for holidays, birthdays, or picnics without our favorite foods! When you (or a family member) is diagnosed with diabetes, you may have concerns and questions about your eating habits and whether or not you can eat your favorite foods. Having diabetes does not mean giving them up entirely, but you may need to eat some foods less often or in smaller amounts and you may need to buy or make more healthful versions of some of the foods you enjoy. Remember: the food that is good for you is the same food that is good for people without diabetes. You won't need to spend more time in the kitchen chopping, mixing, and preparing special meals. Your family and friends can enjoy the same healthful foods that you are eating and enjoying. Take a look through this book -- you're sure to find some family favorites. The recipes in the cookbook are easy to prepare, and the ingredients are readily available in supermarkets or well-stocked grocery stores. Whether you love to cook or are just learning how, this book can help you manage your diabetes. About the Recipes The 400 recipes in this book are the best of the best from the Family Cookbook series, volumes I to IV, published by the American Diabetes Association and The American Dietetic Association. To create the most delicious and healthful dishes, the recipes chosen for this collection were revised, updated, and taste-tested to make sure they are consistent with the latest diabetes recommendations and make the best use of new food products available in the marketplace today. The updates and changes to the recipes include the following: Recipes use new lower-fat ingredients whenever possible. Most Americans eat too much fat, which can contribute to the development of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity. In this book, the ingredient chosen for a recipe is the lowest-fat product that could be used to create a dish with the best taste and texture. For example, each recipe that uses salad dressing, mayonnaise, or sour cream was tested with light, low-fat, and fat-free variations. If you want to eat foods with a minimal amount of fat, you can use fat-free products in recipes that call for the low-fat versions. The texture and taste of the dish may change but the recipe will still taste fine. Remember, however, that fat-free does not mean carbohydrate-free or calorie-free. Recipes use unsaturated fats whenever possible. Monounsaturated fats (olive or canola oil) and polyunsaturated fats (sunflower and other vegetable oils) are better for your heart than saturated fats (butter or meat fats) and trans fats (many processed foods). Eating too much saturated fat, trans fats, and cholesterol can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. To further lower the cholesterol in the recipes, use egg substitutes or egg whites instead of whole eggs. Most recipes use sugar instead of sugar substitutes. Nutrition guidelines for diabetes management allow sugar as part of a healthful eating plan. Sugar has the same effect on blood glucose levels as other carbohydrate, such as rice or potatoes. But keep in mind that sugar doesn't contain the nutrients (vitamins, minerals, and fiber) that are in other carbohydrate-rich foods like rice and potatoes. That's the main reason to eat only small amounts of sugar. Foods containing sugar count as part of the total amount of carbohydrate in your eating plan. For blood glucose control, the amount of carbohydrate you eat is more important than the source of carbohydrate. In recipes with more than 480 milligrams of sodium, the amounAmerican Dietetic Association Staff is the author of 'New Family Cookbook for People With Diabetes ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781416536079 and ISBN 1416536078.