Low-Carb Holiday Desserts

Articles - Dr. Bernstein Shares His Insights

The Diabetes Diet
Richard K. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.C.E., F.A.C.N., C.W.S., FACCWS. .,

I have shared with you some low-carb recipes from my book, The Diabetes Diet, to enjoy for the holidays.
Have a safe and healthy holiday.

Dr. B

Chapter 7

Recipes for Low-Carb Meals

The following is an excerpt from “The Diabetes Diet” Chapter 7- This is Part of a series of features reprinted from the book The Diabetes Diet.

Low-Carb Holiday Desserts:

Pumpkin Pie
Sweet Ricotta Tort
Chocolate Mousse

The recipes that follow are wonderful examples of how you can eat well with no fast-acting and very little total carbohydrate. While developing a meal plan is a science, it is also an art. The science offers you the metabolic and nutritional underpinnings of what should and should not be in your meal plan. The art portion is the negotiation that has to take place between you and your physician, and between your nutritional needs and your lifestyle, especially your tastes and the time you have to spend in cooking.

You can do well with these recipes, but you can also do well by adjusting these recipes to your own tastes. The recipes were developed by Marcia Miele, the mother of a type 1 diabetic, as noted before. Marcia comes from a cooking family. She is an award-winning chef with a fine figure who owns and runs, with her sister Gloria and mother, Daisy, the Peter Herdic House, an elegant gourmet restaurant in a beautiful restored Victorian mansion, situated on Williamsport, Pennsylvania’s historic Millionaire’s Row.

When it comes to food, she knows her stuff. You’ll find the low-carb recipes here invitingly delicious and inventive. Her son is fortunate — we should all be so lucky as to have someone around the house who can whip up dazzling feasts that happen to be good for you.

USING THE RECIPES
All the recipes are, in one sense, a guide to how you can incorporate foods you may not have considered eating into your diet, and how you can use low-carbohydrate foods and protein to arrive at tasty alternatives to foods from the high-carbohydrate world.

You can use the recipes exactly as written and trust that they will play a significant role in assisting you with blood sugar normalization, or you can play with them and customize them, to suit your own tastes and dietary guidelines.

It is best, however, unless you are a seasoned cook yourself, to try the recipes first as they are written and then adjust them to taste. Changes in herbs and spices are generally not likely to alter blood sugars significantly. Including slightly more or less protein is fine — this should be part of your negotiation with yourself — but if you’re diabetic and taking blood sugar–lowering medication, you will need to account for it. You also need to be consistent from day to day and meal to meal (if you eat 5 ounces of protein for breakfast, then you should eat 5 ounces for breakfast every day).

In general, however, you should follow carbohydrate and protein content guidelines and check your blood sugar to make sure that it remains stable. If a recipe calls for less carbohydrate than required by your meal plan, add some vegetables, salad, bran crackers, or other acceptable food, to the meal to make up the difference.

In a heatproof mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks about 3 minutes, or until they are pale yellow and thick enough to form a ribbon. Beat in the cognac. Set the mixing bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and beat for about 3 minutes, until the eggs are foamy and warm. Then set the bowl over a pan of ice and beat for 3 or 4 minutes or until the mixture is cool again and thick and creamy as mayonnaise.

In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, add the coffee and melt chocolate in it, stirring constantly. When the chocolate has melted completely, beat in the butter, one piece at a time. Add all sweeteners except 1 tablespoon of the vanilla syrup. Beat to form a smooth cream. Beat the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Taste for sweetness.

In a separate bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites until they are stiff enough to form stiff peaks. Stir one-quarter of egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten it. Carefully fold in remaining egg whites. Spoon into 8 dessert dishes. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Whip cream with remaining tablespoon of vanilla syrup. Top each serving with whipped cream and sprinkle with grated orange zest.

We would like to thank the publisher Little Brown and Company and Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, for allowing us to provide excerpts from The Diabetes Diet.

Copyright © 2005 by Richard K. Bernstein, M.D.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Author’s Note
This book is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. The reader should regularly consult a physician for all health-related problems and routine care.

For information on how you can purchase Diabetes Diet, go to www.Diabetes-solution.net
Now on Special for $18.99. Regular $24.95

"Getting to the Heart of Diabetes" is a guide to understanding CVD, diabetes and insulin resistance. This is a small guide with 4 chapters, Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Controlling Diabetes and Warning Signs for heart attacks and strokes. After reading the booklet, your patient can take the next step by putting their new knowledge into action. As part of the program patients receive the following free of charge………….
1. Heart of Diabetes Journal to track your progress in managing your diabetes and reducing your risk for cardiovascular disease;
2. 12-month subscription to Diabetes Positive magazine; and
3. Incentives throughout the year to help stay motivated.

Other Products by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein.

Get Adobe Acrobat Now Tip: To save PDF's without viewing first, right-click the link and choose "Save Target As" from pop-up menu This Web site and its contents are Copyright 2000-2009 by Richard K. Bernstein, M.D., Little, Brown & Company, and/or other copyright holders as may apply. No portion of this Web site may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of Little, Brown & Company and/or Richard K. Bernstein, M.D. and/or any other respective copyright holder(s). HOME ABOUT Dr. BERNSTEIN TESTIMONIALS ARTICLES SEARCH CONTACT Buy the Book Read it Online Recipes Links Visit the NEW Diabetes Forum