Cooking for friends with diabetes

Q: Hello Ginny,

I have a girlfriend and I like her a lot. When we started dating she told me that she has diabetes type II. She is so kind and she has cooked dinner a few times for me and I love it, but I’d like to cook for her more often, however I need to be conscious about her Carbs intake. She told me that she is allowed 45g of Carbs per meal and I was wondering if you have recipes that I can cook that would be within that amount of allowable Carbs intake per meal, or at least point to what direction I should go in order to abtain such recipes.

Please let me know. Thanks.

A: How lovely that you want to cook a dinner for your friend!

Most people with diabetes watch their carbohydrate intake carefully. You said your friend is having 45 grams of carbohydrates per meal. What are carbohydrates? They are all the starches (bread, pasta, rice, cereal, potatoes, corn, beans and lentils), fruits (fresh, frozen, dried and juice) and milk products (milk, yogurt, ice cream) that we eat. Each general serving is approximately 15 grams. A serving is about 1/2 cup.

Your friend is trying to have 3 carbohydrate servings per meal. What would a dinner for her look like? A big salad; a serving of fish, chicken or beef (spices are great but be careful with sauces); and vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, zuchinni, spinach ect.). So far we don't have many carbohydrates in the meal. Some patients are tracking very intensively and count salad and vegetables. If these are in servings dishes, your friend could help herself and either count them or not. Now, if you wanted to add carbohydrates like potatoes and dinner rolls, place these in serving dishes as well. If there are choices for people with diabetes, that is such a plus. Your friend can put the amounts on her plate that fit in with her personal plan and what she chooses to have at the meal.

There are great cookbooks that you can check out too: Betty Crocker's "Diabetes Cookbook", "1,001 Delicious Recipes for People with Diabetes" by Sue Spitler and "The Everything Diabetic Cookbook" by Pamela Hahn.

I am also sending your note to my friends, Lisa and Ann, to see if they have more information to add.

Happy cooking, ginny