Chapter 1

Defining Diabetes-Friendly Desserts

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding the effects of desserts on blood glucose

Deciphering the differences between diabetes desserts

The term "diabetes-friendly desserts" may seem like an oxymoron to many people. After all, aren't individuals with diabetes supposed to avoid desserts altogether? In order to answer that question, you need to first understand how sugar affects your health and realize that not all desserts are created equal. By discovering how to prepare nutritious and delicious desserts, you can keep your blood sugar in check and satisfy your sweet cravings in a healthful way which prevents overindulgence in desserts that aren't good for you.

This chapter serves as your entry point into the world of diabetes desserts. I preview what you can discover in this book, including sugar's effect on glucose and how to harness the power of healthful ingredients in desserts.

Exploring Blood Glucose Levels

Consuming sugars and simple carbohydrates plays a direct role on a person's blood glucose levels. Simple sugars consist of glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Carbohydrates are found in simple, readily available small molecular forms called sugars or are linked together in more complex carbohydrates. When the body handles glucose improperly, symptoms of diabetes occur.

A hormone referred to as insulin controls the level of glucose in your blood. This hormone is a chemical substance made in one part of the body that travels to another part of the body to open cells so that glucose can enter. If it can't enter the cell, it can't provide energy to the body.

Insulin plays a major role in regulating blood sugar, is essential for growth, and enables fat and muscle to develop. When you don't have a sufficient amount of insulin, or when insulin isn't working effectively, glucose starts to rise. If it rises above a certain level (specifically 180mg/dl (10>0 mmol/L)), glucose begins to spill into the urine and make it sweet. The loss of glucose leads to short-term complications of diabetes.

Your blood glucose level is the level of sugar in your blood, a key measure in diabetes. Glucose can change in just 30 minutes time, especially before and after meals. That's why monitoring your blood glucose continuously is so important in order to make sure that your glucose levels are not too high or too low. Dehydration, fatigue, kidney problems, and others are direct results of having imbalanced blood glucose.

The following sections touch on the role that sugar plays in your mental and physical health and how to regulate your blood sugar while enjoying desserts.

Looking at how sugar affects the mind and body

As I discuss in Chapter 2, consuming too much sugar, not balancing simple carbs in meals, or eating sweet foods or drinks by themselves will quickly affect your mind and body. Blood glucose levels that are too high will affect your ability to function normally because your brain needs correct levels of glucose to function properly. Glucose that's too high or too low can affect your ability to think clearly. Glucose that's too low can even cause loss of consciousness.

There's no magic number for the amount of sugar that you should eat in a day. However, many health professionals believe that you should eat as little as possible and balance it with good quality proteins and fats to lower the glycemic load of the foods that you do eat and prevent blood sugar spikes.

Regulating your blood sugar while enjoying desserts

You can regulate your blood sugar in many ways besides medicine and insulin. As Chapter 3 examines, a healthy attitude, approach to life, and lifestyle in general make a big difference. Even your thoughts and emotions help prevent blood sugar spikes. Taking charge of your mental health as well as your physical health is important in order to regulate your blood sugar.

Keep the following in mind when selecting desserts to eat when you have diabetes to regulate your blood sugar:

• Ensure that the desserts you're eating are as healthful as possible. The recipes in Part 3 are a great place to start.

• Make your own desserts. When you make your own, you can ensure you're using nourishing ingredients and natural sweeteners that don't spike blood sugar.

  Although certain foods such as simple sugars and carbohydrates can cause blood spikes when eaten in large amounts and not balanced with other macronutrients - protein, carbohydrate (in this case complex carbs), and fat - everyone's body responds differently to various foods.

• Regularly monitor your blood glucose to make sure that your levels stay balanced. If you notice any patterns of sudden rises or sudden dips when eating or drinking certain things, or even thinking certain thoughts or after having not gotten enough sleep, take the necessary action to ensure that it doesn't continue.

Creating a Lifestyle That Supports Diabetes Desserts

A diabetes diagnosis doesn't have to be a bad thing. Think of it as your body's alert signal letting you know that something is off. You deserve to enjoy the sweetness of life and good health. A diagnosis is your permission slip to take good care of yourself.

Luckily, many of the lifestyle changes that support being able to eat diabetes-friendly desserts include activities that help your mental and physical health in general, and are free and readily available. Engaging in pleasurable activities such as hobbies and other things you enjoy doing, spending time outdoors, exercising, getting plentiful sleep including daily naps, and spending time in communal and even volunteer activities are all easy lifestyle additions that help the body to metabolize sugar better in the first place.

Thinking positively, practicing gratitude, and doing breath work and yoga are all easy additions that pay off in the long and short term. Cooking diabetes-friendly meals, including desserts, is also much easier than it seems. Dr. Simon Poole and I outline our best tips in our other books - the most recent editions of Diabetes For Dummies, Diabetes Meal Planning & Nutrition, and Diabetes Cookbook For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

If you've recently been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes, you may feel overwhelmed - in particular about eating desserts and making better food choices.

These sections examine the essential information that you need to know about creating a lifestyle so you can enjoy eating the desserts in Part 3.

Eating right - Focusing on macronutrients

Balancing macronutrients - carbs, fats, and proteins - is important to everyone, but for people with diabetes, it's essential, especially if you want to enjoy desserts. Every time you eat, you should ensure that you choose the best quality complex carbs (whole grains and sweet potatoes are two examples) healthful fats (extra-virgin olive oil, avocado, and nuts are examples), and quality, low-fat protein (fish, seafood, chicken, edamame, beans, and legumes are examples). Chapter 4 provides more details.

Fitting diabetes-friendly desserts into your diet

If you want to have your cake and eat it too, literally, then you have to balance the rest of your meals during that same day in order to avoid blood sugar spikes. Say you know that you're going out to dinner and you'll splurge on a small portion of dessert, then eat well-balanced meals for breakfast and lunch that incorporate a single serving of complex carbs with lean protein and quality fats.

Be sure to get physical activity during the day. At dinner, prior to the dessert, eat a meal that consists of healthful fats, lean protein, and lots of green leafy vegetables. That way the extra simple sugars and carbs in the dessert won't affect you as much as if you ate a dinner heavy with simple carbs and unhealthful fats.

Refer to Chapter 5 for more information about ways to include diabetes-friendly desserts into your diet.

Having the right ingredients on hand

Starting out with the right ingredients in your kitchen makes preparing diabetes-friendly desserts a cinch. Chapter 6 describes building a pantry and how to choose healthful ingredients. For dessert making, a good selection of flours, nuts, EVOO, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and natural sugars such as organic coconut and date sugar as well as raw honey are good options.

Choosing healthful desserts when not home

When eating out, selecting the best desserts is so important. This decision can be tricky because many menu descriptions make things sound better than they are. For instance, although a restaurant dessert may be made with dark chocolate, it may also include unhealthy fats and lots of sugar. However, no one expects that you completely give up restaurant and purchased desserts. That said, try to avoid them as much as possible and opt for the recipes in Part 3.

If you're going out to eat, plan in advance by ordering a meal that's high in lean protein, healthful fat like EVOO, and carbohydrates like leafy greens, and nonstarchy vegetables. Including these macronutrients in your meal help you to prevent blood sugar spikes when...