Counting carbs…How hard is that?

Many people choose to eat a low carbohydrate diet. For most diabetics it becomes a necessary lifestyle change.

One of the first things a type 2 diabetic is told: limit your carbohydrate intake. In many cases you are given a few booklets with carbohydrate counts for a number of popular foods. This information is broken down into groups:

Breads, Grains & Cereals; Starchy Vegetables; Beans and Peas; Fruits; Dairy; Non-starchy Vegetables; Proteins & Fats

Then there are the pictures: A closed fist to represent a cup. An open palm to represent 3 oz. protein serving (for meat and fish, really?). A cupped palm represents 1 oz. I know the pictures are to be used as guidelines. But does a 5’3” person usually have the same size fist and palm as, say, a 5’9” person? How is a person to judge? Is the shorter person cheating themselves out of grams of carbohydrates they could have? Is the taller person over eating?

This is followed by the recommendation that you have 45 grams of carbohydrates for breakfast, 60 grams, each for lunch and dinner, and 15 grams as a snack. Total = 180 grams of carbohydrates for a day.

Easy, peasy, right? Well, yes and no. As a vague set of guidelines it is a start. But every diabetic can tolerate a different number of carbs in his or her diet. What works for me (60-80 per day) is far too much for others. It becomes a case of trial and error until you find out what is right for you. This brings up the question of hoarding my carbs. If I did not use up my breakfast and lunch allotment, could I add them to my dinner allotment? The nutritionist at the diabetes clinic screamed at me an emphatic, “No.” My doctor says, “Yes.” Which one is right? The better answer is that it is best to keep your carb levels even through the day to avoid spikes in blood sugar. The other thing is to test on a regular basis to see how the carbohydrates affect you.

Still, counting carbs can bring some challenges. For instance, the “rules of thumb” that make no sense to me. 1) You do not count an item as a carb serving if it has less than 5 grams of carbohydrates. 2) You have to have 5 grams of fiber before you subtract the amount of fiber from the amount of carbohydrate grams. Is any wonder that only about 5%-8% of the people diagnosed with diabetes, ever succeed in managing their disease?

Meats, fish, chicken, whole dairy products, and fats have no carbohydrates. The problem is if you are keeping the amount of those items within the guidelines recommended by most doctors (i.e. 3 oz. of meat), you are going to be mighty hungry. If you increase them, you cardiologist is going to mighty angry with you. There is however an interesting correlation between lowering your carbohydrates and being able to tolerate more fatty foods in your diet. Fatty foods do not necessarily make you feel fuller. For some diabetics, having less carbohydrates in their diet, allows them to have more meats and cheeses. It is NOT something I advocate. It is just how it is. It works for me but not for everybody. If you are not diabetic, you can supplement smaller (recommended) portions of these high fat food items with pasta, rice, and other grains.

Although most diabetic can have some carbohydrates in their diets, the amounts need to be severely limited. It becomes necessary to fill their plates with more non-starchy vegetables. But, emotionally it is more difficult for us diabetics to just substitute vegetables for high carbohydrate foods. One way to get more vegetables into your diet is to make them taste better and have a variety of methods to prepare each vegetable. This way you might not get bored as quickly. It is not that we can’t have some high carbohydrate foods. We just need to keep them limited.

Here’s how I count the carbs for several different foods:

Bread:

The guidelines suggest a slice of bread is 15 grams of carbs. First question: How big and thick a slice is that bread? Easy answer is to read the label on the package. The next step should be to see how many grams of fiber that slice contains and subtract that number from the total number of carbs. Are you still with me? Not too hard to do this, but it does get more complicated. White flour breads are absorbed faster than whole grain breads so white flour breads are considered “bad” carbs and wheat flour breads are considered good carbs.

The terms “good” and “bad” refer to the speed in which the carbohydrates are absorbed by the body. I am a chef as well as a diabetic. I approach the control of my diet by preparing recipes that are lower in overall carbohydrates than many recipes. But taste is the end goal. For example: Sweet potato is a “better” carbohydrate than white potato. But if you are preparing a Shepard’s pie, the sweet potato may strike a false taste note. Then again, you should try it -- it might be a more interesting flavor combination than the standard recipe.

Fruits and vegetables:

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Great! The problem is that there are no nutritional labels to read on apples or other fresh items at the “stupidmarket.” For example:

A small apple (4 oz.) is 15 carb grams. Is that slightly bigger than your open palm? Or is it the equivalent of four of your cupped hands? Not to worry. It is 4 ounces. You can take it to a scale and weigh it. If it is more than 4 ounces, start cutting away some of the apple. Don’t forget to take into consideration the fiber grams (about 1 gram for each ounce of apple). So if that 4 ounce apple has 15 grams of carbs less the 4 grams of fiber, it “nets out” to 11 grams of carbs. Now all you have to do is find someone to eat the parts of the apple you cut away. Then there is the question of whether or not the carb count includes the peel. If it does, is the peel part of the grams of fiber you subtract from the total? I have looked and looked for that answer and asked various nutrition people, but no one seems to know.

Below is a recipe for a French Apple tart. As a chef I am going to tell you that this recipe is not a second rate substitute for something else. It is just simply delicious. The substitution of ground nuts for some of the flour not only lowers the carbohydrates, but adds another layer of flavor to the crust (¼ cup of flour = 20 grams of carb. ¼ cup of ground nuts = 2 grams net carb).

What I do in my recipes is to add up the total grams of carbohydrates, subtract the total grams of fiber, and divide that by the number of intended servings.

French Apple Custard Tart

6-8 Servings

Net Carbohydrates:                 16g. (1/6 tart) - 12g. (1/8 tart)

Crust:

Note: I use this sweet crust below for all my tart recipes. It does NOT have to be blind baked!

You can increase the grams of fiber slightly by using whole wheat flour. It does ad a gram or so of fiber and an interesting subtle flavor to the crust.

You can divide this tart into either 6 or 8 servings. 8 Servings give you a decent-sized piece. 6 servings give you a very generous piece.

9-10 inch removable bottom fluted tart pan sprayed with Pam.

                                                                                    Carbs   Fiber    Net Carbs  

Crust:

¾ c. flour                                                                           60g.                           60g.

¼ cup toasted nuts (either Almonds, Walnuts, or Pecans)    6g.            4g.            2g.

¼ c. GRANULATED SUGAR SUBSTITUTE                                0g.

1 pinch salt                                                                         0g.

¼ tsp cinnamon                                                                   0g

½ tsp. baking powder                                                          0g.

4 tbsp. butter or margarine                                                 0g.

1 large egg                                                                          0g.

1-2 tbsp. iced water

Filling:

3 large eggs                                                                        0g.

1 tbsp. corn starch                                                              7g.                            7g.       

1/2 cup GRANULATED SUGAR SUBSTITUTE                           0g.

1/3  cup sour cream                                                            3g.                            3g.

1-2 Tbsp. brandy                                                               0g.

Or

1 -Tbsp. Trop 50 orange juice                                              2g.                            2g.

1 - tsp. vanilla extract                                                          0g

1- tsp. ground cinnamon plus 1 tsp. to sprinkle over the top of the tart.         0g.

1 – Tbsp. butter to dot top of tart                                          0g.

1-2 Medium eating apples (Jazz, Pink Cripps, etc.)                30g.      8g.           22g.

                                                                                    ____________________

                                                            Totals             108g.   12g.        96 g.

                                                                        1/6 tart serving:                    16g.

                                                                        1/8 tart serving:                    12g.

How I prepare this recipe:

Crust: In a food processor with a steel blade pulse all of the dry ingredients until very well combined and the almonds disappear into the mixture. Add cold butter and pulse until butter is well distributed in the flour mixture. Add the egg and pulse until mixture forms a ball on the blade. Sometimes you will need to add a little ice water to make it form the ball. Remove dough pat into a disc about 5”-6’’. Wrap disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least ½ hour, but overnight will also work.

Roll out the crust on flowered surface to about a 14 in circle. Using your fingers fit into tart pan. This dough is fragile and will break. Not to worry just piece it together with your fingers. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes before filling

Filling: Combine all ingredients EXCEPT the apples in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat slowly to combine and then increase the speed to thoroughly blend.

Peel and slice the apples thinly and arrange in the slices in a lotus pattern around the tart shell. SLOWLY spoon the custard over the apples. Dot with butter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon.

Bake at 350 for 26-30 minutes until the custard is set and the apples are a light golden color.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the tart pan.