Guest Writer

I am republishing this article originally published in the
EclecticCooking Newsletter which seems to have entirely
disapeared off the net both the newsletter and article.

Conversion of A Diabetic
By Guest Writer, Paula Kalamaras

November 9, 2000, was a day in my life which will always
signify a drastic change. I got a note from my doctor
stating, "Unfortunately, you are diabetic." I burst into
tears and Paul (a longtime friend and writing partner) had
to spend several minutes calming me down before he could
find out what was wrong. I did call my mom and did tell
her that I felt like I had just been handed a death sentence.
Later I read an article about writer Ken Kesey who had died
from diabetic complications after surgery. In short, I was
depressed, upset and figured I would have a short life. Wrong.

After I calmed down and stopped planning my funeral, I
decided to be more rational about the situation. I called
my doctor and found out exactly what was going on. I
called the diabetic counselor, Lori, and set up a meeting.
During the two meetings in the next week, I made some
discoveries about my situation- good and not so good.
The bad news was that my blood sugar tested in the
high 300's. Normal blood sugar, after fasting, should
range between 80 and 120. The good news was that my
cholesterol was excellent and my blood pressure was
perfect. I also did not have any kidney damage. So, even
though I do have a way to go before I am in control, I
am not as unfortunate as others with type II diabetes
complications. I may be insulin resistant in that my
blood cells do not use the glucose I consume properly,
but everything is still working pretty well. What a relief.
We concluded that I would be on medication and work
on my diet to bring my diabetes under control.

While discussing my food needs with the diabetes
educator, I learned about what modifications I should
make in my diet and in my cooking. I reviewed my
eating patterns and discovered that all those "good for
you" carbohydrates were causing me a lot of trouble.
That meant that bread, fruit, many veggies (vegetables)
and, essentially,"all that grows from the ground" were
the foodstuffs I had to limit. Other foods, such as protein,
dairy products and fats were to be limited according to
the food exchanges Lori gave me. Lori basically told me
that I was to have 30 to 45 carbohydrates per meal and
about an extra 20 carbs (carbohydrates) or so for a snack,
dependingon how many carbs I had already consumed.
Essentially, I was limited to about 90-120 carbs a day.
Let's put that in perspective: One McDonald's hamburger
has 37 carbs (the bun, you know)an order of small fries
has 29 carbs. A normal slice of bread has 29-31 carbs per
slice. Most pasta (1 cup cooked) has about40-45 carbs
(carbohydrates). And that doesn't count what is in the
sauce or what is on the side. You become a whiz at reading
labels and, if your math skills are a bit rusty, don't worry,
you will be adding and subtracting in no time at all! It is
difficult but not impossible.

One of the ways I deal with my disease is to create new
recipes and modify old ones every day. I am going to control
this disease and not let it control me. It isn't easy. A normal
ten-minute shopping trip now takes two hours now. Some
days all Iwants to do is cheat and ignore my condition, but
then I reconsider. If I don't cheat, I can live a long and healthy
life. One of my first discoveries was artificial sweeteners on
the market. Aspartame and saccharin were not my first
choice. Iwasn't really happy baking with Aspartame and I
hated the taste of saccharin. Then I discovered Splenda®.
What a wonderful product! As I understand it, Splenda is
real sugar but with a chemical modification that makes it
go through your system without attachingitself to your
blood cells. This is good. So I began experimenting with
Splenda as well as almond flour and soy flour. I also found
other low carbohydrate ingredients. I'll let you know what
happens.

Thanksgiving and Christmas I made a special mousse pie
that was carb limited and absolutely yummy.
I'd like to share this recipe with you.
Chocolate Mousse Pie
(Serves 8) About 20 carbohydrates per slice:
http://eclecticcooking.community.everyone.net/community/scripts/topics.pl

The recipe link does not work so here are some other low
carb mousse and dessert recipes
http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/lowcarb-desserts.html
http://baking.about.com/od/lowfatcarbandcalorie/r/lowcarbcmousse.htm
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/598/0.shtml
http://www.camacdonald.com/lc/Cookbook/Desserts.html
http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/lc/recipe39.html