Don’t let your diabetes put you in a gastronomic straight jacket

If you’re a diabetic or have a diabetic in your family, you will know the constant effort of watching what you eat, exercising and keeping blood sugar scores at a healthy level.

Michael Moore is a Sydney chef who was diagnosed as a diabetic. Like a lot of diabetics, he was quite shocked as he considered he lived, in his own words, ‘a fit, active and healthy lifestyle’. He treated the condition ‘casually’ for eight years, then had a stroke. He recovered, but knew he had to treat his diabetes seriously.

These two attractive books give a range of tasty recipes suitable for diabetics, or anyone wanting to eat healthy and tasty food. Published by New Holland, these books live up to their excellent standard in photography, clear font and layout.

Food to Share has a range of snacks, such as chili nut mix, and pre-dinner nibbles like smoked salmon and fresh herb mousse. There are tuna and shrimp sliders. The salads range from a hot smoked salmon salad to an intriguingly named ‘happy family salad’, full of a wide range of good things. There is also a version of a Waldorf salad, one of my favourite salads. For the barbecue, there is grilled salmon, sang choy bau and chicken skewers. For family dinners there are variations on old favourites such as tacos, spag bol, meatballs, chicken nuggets, lasagna and chicken Maryland.

The book finishes with a beautiful baked pudding of citrus and poppy seed.

Much of the goodness comes from adding extra vegetables and using grained  or sourdough bread, instead of white. At times, just the egg white is used. Peanut butter features in baked goods. As a sweetener, Moore uses agave syrup which is readily available in health food stores. It is sweeter than sugar and has a low GI score. Oats, almond meal and quinoa appear often in the recipes and there is widespread use of chili and mint to add flavour. Other seeds and ingredients such as LSA, available in supermarkets, would become pantry staples.

Healthy Meals has a great range of cereal recipes, bars, slices and hotcakes. There are also two jam recipes. There are several high fibre, high protein shakes, the extra protein coming from tofu.

For lunches there is a variety of sandwiches which are basically meat with salad fillings but with great variety to give appeal.

There is every variety of egg dish – omelette, scrambled, frittata, fritters, boiled, poached, baked. Again, these are always served with interesting and unusual accompaniments.

Michael Moore presents a method of cooking chicken for use in cold dishes. The chicken is first simmered, then set in ice cold water so it is very moist. Again this book finishes with delicious looking puddings.

Michael Moore runs the restaurant ‘O Bar and Dining’ which is the revolving restaurant at the top of Australia Square in Sydney’s CBD. Used to be the Summit. His philosophy of food is put into practice here.

This food is not gimmicky and well within the range of the average cook. I certainly tend to try the recipes now I’ve bought some agave syrup.

Blood Sugar: Food to Share and Blood Sugar: Healthy Meals, by Michael Moore, are both available from Dymocks.

Please note: The information given in this blog is of a general nature only and should not replace advice given by your doctor or health practitioner.

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