My Diabetes Information Blogs
Discipline of a Diabetic Pastry Chef
10/30/07
Nutrition & Exercise
Diabetics should avoid desserts, but one makes his career out of the sweet treats.
A story about a pastry chef with type 1 diabetes describes how he is able to be balance his occupation with his health needs. In a world of sugar, other carbohydrates, and fat, he uses quite a bit of restraint. If you struggle to limit the tasty treats that harm blood sugar control, perhaps you can glean some inspiration from Chef Shannon Swindle.
Even before his diagnosis, Swindle was changing his eating habits by eating more simple foods. He was shying away from the processed flower that his body would rapidly convert into glucose. In the Dallas Morning News he points out that he even has to account for "root vegetables like carrots and beets" because of all of the carbohydrates they contain.
Carrot and beets are healthy foods full of nutrients. We would also add sweet potatoes and yams to this list. Consume them for their nutrition, but plan accordingly for the effect they will have on your blood sugar.
It is obvious that pastries and other deserts can be harmful to people with diabetes. Perhaps it takes a pastry chef to convince some of us that there can even be sugar lurking in healthy and beneficial foods.
Source: The Dallas Morning News, October 2007