cut back on your carb intake. Big Thanks to Diabetes Daily for sharing!
( This was posted by writer David Edelman)
1. Get Your Pasta Fix the Easy Way. Spaghetti squash is one of our favorites. You cook it and it easily shreds into spaghetti like strands. Plus, it has 7g of carbs per serving – 30g less than the real deal!
2. Enjoy Zucchini Crust Pizza. Pizza has earned its reputation as a difficult food. It’s not only high in carbs, but also fat. This slows down the digestion and often leaves you with high blood sugars hours later. You can replace traditional pizza with two big slices of zucchini crust pizza which only has 10 grams of carbohydrates.
3. Embrace lettuce wraps. Big pieces of crispy iceberg lettuce can be a very refreshing substitute for bread.
4. Lower the Carbs Pasta Salad. Adapt your traditional pasta salad recipe by adding chicken, ham, black beans, diced tomatoes, cucumber, or other vegetables. Rather than having pasta star in the show, give it a featured part on stage left.
5. Give Mac and Cheese a makeover. Add little chunks of rotisserie chicken or broccoli equal to the amount of pasta. Now a one cup serving has 30% to 50% fewer carbs.
6. Experiment with Portobello Mushroom Pizzas. If you are a mushroom fan, you can easily get your pizza fix. Just place portobellos on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Then add tomato sauce, mozzarella, and your other favorite toppings. Broil it until the cheese starts to get bubbly, brown and delicious.
7. Replace mashed potatoes with winter squash. Winter squash has half the grams of carbs as potatoes (18g per cup compares to 37g) plus 80% fewer calories. Cauliflower mashed “potatoes” have even fewer grams of carbs: a mere 6g per cup.
8. Snack on cheese crackers. It’s easy to make very low-carb crackers. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet and make little disks of shredded cheese. Make sure they’re not stacked too high in the middle or they won’t crisp evenly. Now broil them for about 7 – 10 minutes. Alternately, you can microwave them for about 30 seconds.
9. Enjoy Sweet Meat. Sometimes you just want a little sweetness. To stay low carb, try mixing sweetness with savoriness. For example, cornish hens with an apricot glaze is rich in sweetness but has only 13g of carbs. Plus it’s easy to make and will be an easy hit with family and friends.
Spicy Chicken Shawarma, a Meal-Worthy Salad
10. Make Salads Worthy of a Meal. Start with a base of dark, leafy greens. Now add some serious protein: turkey, chicken, salmon, ham, steak, eggs, or black beans work really well. Next, add a moderate amount of vegetables such as cucumber, tomato, olives, hearts of palm, mushrooms, sprouts, and avocado. Finally, finish with a good vinaigrette, blue cheese, or other lower carb dressing.
11. Make Soups Worthy of a Meal. If you typically get your soups from a can, it’s no surprise that you don’t think of them as full meal options. Plus, the sodium levels are through the roof! Instead, try home made Chicken Posole, Chicken Chili with Peppers, or the World’s Best Vegetable Soup and you’ll be a believer.
12. Join the Peanut Butter Revolution. Peanut butter is a filling and healthy low carb food. We like it straight from the jar, but it’s yummy with vegetables like carrots and celery and on apple slices.
13. Keep Hummus with Vegetables Handy. Replace pita chips with freshly sliced red peppers or pieces of endive. Dip in hummus and enjoy. You can buy hummus in so many different flavors, so experiment to see what you love best. One serving of peppers and hummus is about 5-7g of carbs and endive is even less!
14. Deliciously Deviled Eggs. These are great to make and have around. They last a week in the fridge and have a single carb per serving. If you’ve never made them before, here’s a fool-proof deviled eggs recipe.
15. Replace Chips with Popcorn. Popcorn has just 6g of carbs per cup. Compare that to 20g to 30g for a small bag of chips.
DD Double Down, Fast Food Makeover Winner
16. Think Outside the Bun. Last year, we did a fast food makeover of the KFC Double Down sandwich which used two pieces of chicken in place of the bun. The results were surprisingly delicious. The options for fillings are endless, just try to stick to healthier options like vegetables and reduced-fat cheese in lieu of bacon.
17. Substitute Low Carb Tortilla’s. There are many brands of lower carb tortillas that actually taste good (finding good low carb bread is much more difficult!) You can easily substitute bread for tortilla for virtually any sandwich topping – or even make a thin crust pizza.
18. Try Almond Milk or Soy Milk instead of regular. Almond milk is surprisingly good. It feels lighter than milk (more like skim), but works extremely well in cereal and smoothies. Soy milk has a richer texture and works well, too. Both have 2 to 6 grams of carbs – less than half of any type of regular milk!
19. Replace Chips with Pork Rinds. Pork rinds have zero grams of carbs. They are higher in fat (including some saturated fat). But if you were going to eat potato chips anyway, then it’s a lower-carb substitute.
20. Try Low Carb Protein Shakes. There are a slew of recipes for low-carb protein shakes. They usually contain protein powder, a little fruit, a little dairy, flavorings, and ice. The LowCarbFriends forum has a huge list of things to try.
21. Find Low Carb Fast Food. Make yourself aware of ways to eat low-carb at fast food restaurants.
22. Savor Sugar-Free Jello and Pudding. For a quick snack, sugar-free Jello and Pudding can be great choices. Remember to read the box: sugar-free does NOT mean that it has no carbohydrates. For example, even sugar-free Jello has one to two carbs per serving.
23. Swap Pretzels for Nuts. If you love salty snack food, try replacing the carb-heavy ones you usually reach for and switch to a handful of almonds, pistachios or cashews. They pack in a lot of protein and good for you fats. Be careful not to eat too many, though because they are also calorie dense and do have some carbs.
24. Make the Right Fruit Choices. Some people with diabetes have a very difficult time eating healthy snacks like fruit because of the naturally occurring sugars they contain. If grapes give you an unwanted blood sugar spike, try blueberries which have a lower glycemic load. There are many fruits that people with diabetes can enjoy regularly. Just make sure they’re a part of your diet- fruit is so good for you and delicious too!
25. Chocoholics Rejoice. Do you crave chocolate but are tired of the inevitable blood sugar spikes? Try replacing milk chocolate and chocolate bars with a smaller portion of dark chocolate. Hershey’s and other “candy” chocolates are mostly sugar and very little actually chocolate. Dark chocolate has antioxidants in it, like blueberries, so you can justify indulging yourself every now and then. And a little goes a long way.
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