Cake Decorating Jessie

Insulin is a hormone that helps your body control the level of glucose in your blood. People with type 2 diabetes cannot properly utilize insulin or their pancreas does not produce enough insulin. This ultimately results in high blood sugar and the inability to convert it to energy. 

Diet and diet alone is the root cause of type 2 diabetes.

In addition, there are other “aggravating factors” such as life style, lack of exercise, heredity and obesity that can predispose you to this health condition and/or make it worse.

The #1 risk factor for diabetes is what you eat and foods such as white sugar, white bread, white rice, foods that are deep fried in hydrogenated oil as well as excessive consumption of caffeine containing beverages and alcohol.

On the other hand, strictly avoiding the foods mentioned above can give you the best possible immunity against diabetes and many other health conditions.

But what about cakes, cookies and desserts? They are ALL full of white sugar and white flour that are main ingredients for most recipes. Does it mean that you should never eat them if you are diabetic or would like to protect yourself from developing diabetes?

I have a confession to make: I love cakes, candies, cookies, desserts and sweets. It may sound naïve but I have never realised how much sugar they contain until I started to bake on my own and went through the list of the ingredients. And that’s where I got scared… because they’re ALL full of sugar.

I thought that there should be a better way of baking that is delicious but also healthy at the same time. So I started my research and here is what I discovered:

1.    Low fat and low carb recipes are highly promoted as healthy and suitable for diabetics but, in fact they are not.  Commercial desserts that are labeled as “low fat” are packed with sugar and carbohydrates. And while the “low carb” options might have less sugar, they use chemical-laden, artificial sweeteners which taste awful and are even worse for people with diabetes and anybody trying to prevent it.

2.    To create healthy cakes and desserts the first step is to remove every ingredient from the recipes that are unnatural or refined, as well as anything that would spike blood sugar or cause the body to store fat. Then substitute these items with proteins, healthy fats and fiber.

3.    Diabetic cakes should have ingredients that prevent sudden spikes of blood sugar and don’t cause the body to store fat.

Ingredients That Are Full Of Sugar

Thanks to misleading messages from food companies many people don’t realise that ANY type of sugar can raise their blood sugar levels. Although some sweeteners such as molasses, honey, agave syrup and raw sugar are promoted as being healthier than white sugar, the truth is that all of them still increase your blood sugar.

According to the American Diabetes Association, all these types of “healthy sugar” account for about 15 g of carbohydrates per tablespoon and are NOT a part of truly healthy diabetic recipes that supposed to be completely sugar-free.

ALL foods that are listed below are high in sugar and should NOT be used as desserts or ingredients for your diabetic cake recipes:

• Any kind of sugar such as white, brown, table, cane, raw and rock sugar
• Most syrups such as golden, maple, corn syrup and molasses
• Treacle, marmalade, jellies and jam that are on average 65% sugar
• Honey is often marketed as a “natural alternative” to sugar but don’t be mistaken because honey contains 80-85% of sugar
• All sweets such as candies, M&M, chocolates, ice-cream, mousses, puddings sweetened desserts and jellies
• Fudge, cakes and biscuits, cookie chips baked with most common flours
• Fruit juices and canned fruits in syrup. For example, some sorts of apple juice contain more sugar per glass than Coca Cola…
• Dry fruits contain much higher sugar amounts than fresh fruits. For example, 100g of raisins contain 60g of sugar.
• Sweetened packet drinks, fizzy soft drinks, vitamin waters, energy and sports drinks, sweet wine and sherry are ALL overloaded with sugar
• Glucose and foods containing glucose
• Condensed milk, flavoured milks, low-fat milks, flavored cream cheeses  and yogurts have sugar added
• Artificial sweeteners because many of them are toxic to the liver and can have side effects
• Chocolate. Beware from “no-sugar” chocolate alternatives: they contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, Ace K, sucralosea and litame or undesirable sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, isomalt, maltitol and mannitol that still raise your blood sugar.

How To Turn A “Sugar Bomb” Into A Healthy Cake

To be truly healthy the diabetic cake recipes should fulfil the following criteria:

1.    Include all-natural low glycemic (GI) ingredients to avoid spikes of blood sugar and fat storage.

2.    Be completely sugar-free. Refined white sugar and corn syrup is poison and even natural sweeteners like agave and honey will still raise your blood sugar. And the bad news is that ALL cakes and dessert recipes contain a lot of sugar and carbohydrates that convert into sugar in your body. However, there is a delicious alternative to sugar and dangerous sugar substitutes that are made from aspartame. It is an all-natural sweetener that has zero calories, zero glycemic index and zero additives.

3.    Be high in protein because protein takes longer to digest and it is known to slow down the absorption of carbohydrates.

4.    Contain healthy fats like coconut oil. Fats slow down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates just like proteins do. Healthy fats can prevent insulin resistance and glucose intolerance when they are used as a substitute for margarines, spreads, shortening and hydrogenated oils. In the long run, it can also help you increase your metabolism and trim down your weight.

5.    Include healthy flour alternatives that are low in GI and will not cause your blood sugar level go high. Most even so-called “healthy” bakers choose whole grain flours over refined white flours.

But whole grain flours are still very high in carbohydrates, have high glycemic index and are NOT suitable for diabetics and those who want to lose weight.

There are low glycemic flours that are a healthier alternative because they have much less carbohydrates than grain-flours.

Imagine being able to make again sweet treats like cakes, candies and desserts for yourself and your family that actually taste like if you would use sugar but doesn’t elevate your blood sugar, safe for diabetics, kids, anyone with a sweet tooth, people who are watching their sugar intake and also want to lose weight.

If you would like to learn how to make sugar-free diabetic cake recipes or think that this is impossible get FREE Report Sugar-Free Dessert Recipes