KITLIVING
continued over
MAKING CARBS COUNT
of year, either as a dusting or a glaze. It's
the same with things like honey-glazed
nuts which do the rounds too. The hot
favourite at this time of year is often
chestnuts, which have a high starch
content (but also with a high nutritional
value). They do need to be included in any
carb-counting regime.
Sauces
Basic gravy shouldn't be too sugary,
thanks to its savoury base. But moving
on to Bread sauce or cranberry sauce,
and even mint sauce will have a carb
value that you need to be aware of, along
with white sauce or brandy sauce. Keep
those to a minimum if you can.
Seasonal roasts
The traditional seasonal birds - turkey,
duck, even pheasant, shouldn't be too
much of a problem but avoid honey glazes
and sweet sauces that are often served
to accompany and stuffing contains
breadcrumbs, so include that as part of
your carb-counting routine. Seasonal
meats - as above - are pretty much plain
protein unless you start putting sugars on
them, but with meats that's a little less
likely than with the roasted birds.
Spices
The super great thinig about spices is that
they do not have a sugar or carb count
(not in the amounts used in cooking, if
at all) although they can smell sweet. All
the lovely seasonings that are easy to
obtain in winter can be used liberally, from
cinnamon to cloves, ginger and nutmeg.
Stuffing
It's always worth getting stuffed! Stuffing is
a mix of meat, spices and sometimes fruit
or veg additions, (see our watercress and
orange stuffing recipe here) just be aware
that stuffing also contains breadcrumbs
so there's a bit of carb content to be
considered.
Vegetables
Among the seasonal vegetables, there
are beetroots, Brussels sprouts, swede,
turnips and parsnips along with the usual
variations of potatoes in all their forms. As
with many veggies, there's plenty of way to
treat them. With contempt, if you happen
to hate sprouts! Beetroots, swedes,
turnips, parsnips and potatoes are all
root vegetables, and all have notable carb
content. Even carrots count as carbs when
cooked. Simply baked, the glycaemic
Wait, there's more! To read previous Making Carbs Count articles on beetroot, chestnuts
or potatoes, click on their pictures below.
index of root vegetables are not as high
as if they mashed as tends to happen with
potatoes and swede which tends to make
them absorb faster into the blood stream
(hence they have a higher GI).
Happy Christmas
Having wildly out of control blood sugars
will ruin your Christmas, but so will
worrying about every mouthful that you
eat. It's easy to say, 'don't eat this, don't
eat that', but we're only human, and it's
hard to keep saying 'no'. Dried fruits are
the ones to watch for, as they are a slower
release sugar, but keep on releasing
those sugars for quite a while, so keep
the mince pies to a minimum (they are
full of dried fruits), and keep to a spoonful
of Christmas pud (also full of dried fruits)
and savour it! Think twice about having
any sweet drinks either, be they the punch
at the office party, or any of granny's port.
Hopefully some of this information will
help you to make the 'best guess' when
faced with a plateful of festive food and,
armed with good 'intel' you can still enjoy
it. So keep your head screwed on, take
pleasure in the food and company, keep
your blood test kit handy and use it.