making a breakfast for my bf!

[dunny]

alright so my bf is a type 1 (insulin dependant) diabetic. i am so new to this whole disease and slowly learning more and more about it (slightly behind his back because i don't want to bother him with it all the time).

i want to cook him a delicious breakfast for a day that we have planned and was curious as to a few things. what is the thought on using Splenda as a sugar substitute? i feel like it's directed more towards weight loss than diabetics. they have the granular type and the brown sugar type that i wanted to use in baking. can i do that or no?

i was going to look at a diabetic recipes site but i feel like a lot of the times, the recipes are just to get you through the diet and not taste very good (i'm a vegan, i've been through a lot of awful recipes). i'm basically looking for a DELICIOUS pancake recipe. i don't want to end up feeling foolish by serving him basically a plate of sugar... that would be awful!! but i also don't want to flat out ask him because i want to surprise him!!

thank youuuu!

[Cinnabon]

Hey there Dunny...
Yea anything w/ carbs turns into sugar. You can probably adjust the amount of mix you are using if your are using flour or anything like that. I happen to love Egg white omelets, or even regular omelettes. Add some broccoli, cheese, mushrooms, peppers. All this is really low carb. Just an idea... :burnout:

[duck]

Splenda does not bake well, you need to use the baking Splenda, and that has real sugar in it.

Honestly, you and he (well him moreso than you) need to learn to carb-count. It doesn't set him free to eat like a pig, but it will set him free to eat more like a human.

[koblenz]

My grandmother has used the baking splenda to make me some of her famous home made rolls (I love that woman). Tasted a little different than regular, but still GOOD!

Basically if you make something and can give him a pretty close estimate of ALL the carbs in the meal, then he can take the correct amount of insulin to cover the meal. So if you make pancakes, try and make them the size and number recommended on the package. And watch out for the SYRUP. Make sure you measure out the amount of syrup and add up the carbs... don't just let him pour as much as "looks good". I did that ONCE... wasn't pretty.

There are also lots of great lower carb options. My favorite is Eggs Benedict....mmmmmm. About 27 carbs for the english muffin, and a few carbs for the holendase sauce.

Once you get into it, you will find it becomes second nature to count carbs and give the correct amount of insulin. My wife is really good at it... maybe even better than me, and she is not diabetic. She still leaves all the packages out after cooking dinner for me to look at; even though she has already done the math when cooking.

Good luck and let us know what you decided on and how it went. What time should we be there for breakfast?

[dunny]

haha great - i just picked up a cookbook called "The Low Carb Vegetarian" so making dinner that works for the both of us will be nice!!

I will have to check through some low-carb sites for a good recipe. He definately counts his carbs, I'm positive of that. So basically if I give him the carb rundown of the meal - he'll be able to eat it and adjust his insulin to it? that's good to know...

is there a website for DELICIOUS baked goods that are for diabetics?

[SugaryOne]

Hey, I'm vegetarian and diabetic too. Glad to hear it. :)

As for baked goods.. I'd say it's safe to use Splenda instead of "real" sugar and try to watch the frosting. I don't know about your boyfriend but I don't think he would mind eating a baked good once in a while if it had substitute sugar. That's really where most of the carbs come from.

[Simon]

In theory Splenda looses it's sweetness above about 200 C (390 F). I'm told you can get away with it sometimes. You will need to measure volumes and not weight. Splenda is much lighter than sugar so if the recipe has weights, weigh out sugar then measure its volume so you know what volume of Splenda to use.

[dunny]

awesome thanks - i just purchased a book - the Low Carb Vegetarian cookbook... so i figured I can make stuff in that. i already mentioned it to him and he seemed happy about that, hehe. yay!!

[Valarie34]

I bake with Splenda Granular all the time and have had great results with it. I found a Splenda cookbook and have made Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Sour Cream Apple Pie, Fruit Cocktail Cake and Crustless Pumpkin Pie. They all taste good and have very little effect on dh's BG....all recipes are less than 20 carbs per serving.

[rea]

I have tried it all in baking, but baking splenda works fine. although I still cut it to half the required recipe amount, as I find I no longer like sweet things.

one chemical thing though. sugar 'binds' what you bake. for example, you can easily make make cookies without sugar, but they would be crumbly. cake and breads are easier to substitute sugar with.

one way I have found around this is yogurt. plain yogurt. you don't taste it, but it helps hold things together and keeps them moist, so you can use less fat.

so, if you make pancakes, try eliminating the sugar, and add some yogurt in to the mix. makes them taste good, light and fluffy, without all that sugar.

I also find adding extra extract flavours help spiffen recipes up a bit.

I eat my pancakes with peanut butter or in a treat, no sugar added jelly (homemade), because I can't handle (and don't like) syrup.

if he has syrup - just watch how much.