With the cold weather it’s nice to treat yourself with some warm treats. If you have diabetes, it might not be that easy, but I have some tips for you to keep your blood sugar levels in range.
As a dietitian these are my tips for healthier pumpkin treats:
⦁ Use spices! Add a lot of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc. to your pumpkin treats. This way even if you use less sugar, the pumpkin cake will taste delicious.
⦁ Bake it! Baking the pumpkin before caramelizes the naturally found sugar in the pumpkin, making it even sweeter and more rich. Needing less added sugar.
⦁ Enjoy it warm! When you cool down something it will taste less sweet. If you have a sweet tooth, eat sweets warm as they will taste sweeter, than once it’s cooled. So you can cut back on the sugar used in the recipe.
⦁ Add high protein ingredients! If you bake pumpkin pie try substituting milk or heavy cream with high protein yoghurt! It will make your pie more filling, so a smaller slice will be just as satisfying.
⦁ Fiber, fiber, fiber! Wherever you can add high fiber carbs: instead of plain flour use oat flour or whole wheat flour. Or next time skip on sparkling sugar on top and just use crushed almonds instead.
But keep in mind, pumpkin has a medium glycemic index and you always need to count its carbohydrate content in your daily allowance. The best way to do this is to download a diabetes diary app like DiabTrend and log your meals in it.
