Baking Tips for Diabetics

According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population suffers from some type of diabetes. The disease occurs when the body lacks insulin to convert certain foods into energy, usually sugars and starches. With medication, exercise and some changes in your baking habits, you can control your diabetes. Here are some tips to keep in mind when baking if you or someone you know has diabetes.

Read Nutrition Labels

• It is very important, as a diabetic, to read the nutrition labels on the ingredients you buy for baking. As a diabetic, you have to watch your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood-sugar levels.

  Pay attention to the sugars, carbohydrates, fats and fibers in baking ingredients you buy. Make note of the fats: Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can be good for you. Trans fat and saturated fat will raise your cholesterol.

  According to the American Diabetes Association, you can subtract the fiber grams from the carbohydrate grams if a food has more than five grams of fiber. Finally, keep in mind the serving size listed on the package; if you use a smaller or larger portion, you will have to recalculate the nutritional amounts accordingly.

Sugar Substitutes

• You don't necessarily have to take the sugar completely out of a recipe to make it suitable for diabetics. You can just cut down the amount of sugar in the recipe. That works especially well if you're baking with fruit.

  If you are taking the sugar completely out of a recipe, try substituting fruit juice, molasses or honey. You can also just use a sugar substitute such as Splenda or Sugar Twin. When baking, just use the same amount of the substitute as you would for regular sugar.

  Keep in mind that some sweeteners will not work as well for baking. Equal and Sweetmate should not be used in recipes cooked for more than 20 minutes.

Cut the Fat

• Fat is a key factor diabetics have to consider. When it comes to baking, there are a number of ways you can cut down the fat in your recipe.

  In recipes that call for whipping cream, you can use the same amount of low-fat ricotta cheese or low-fat cottage cheese instead. Blend whichever cheese you use and then mix it into a plain yogurt.

  If a recipe calls for sour cream, use low-fat or fat-free instead. Don't use non-dairy sour cream, because it is made with hydrogenated fat.