Diabetes diet can include sweet treats
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Mary Swoope and daughter, Grace Swoope, 17 work together to prepare a healthy snack.
When most parents of diabetic children learn of the youngster’s diagnosis, they listen carefully to health care professionals and then try to learn how to handle the chronic disease.
Mary and Gray Swoope of Madison went beyond that, making it a priority to eat healthier as a family to help manage their daughter’s condition.
Seventeen-year-old Grace is just like any other high school senior, except that she suffers from juvenile diabetes, also called Type I diabetes.
The Swoopes take comfort in knowing that their daughter is not alone. Juvenile diabetes is a disease millions of kids, including thousands from Mississippi, are diagnosed with every year.
The Swoopes learned Grace had Type I diabetes when she was 10 years old, Mary said, after she exhibited many of the common symptoms.
After absorbing the shock of finding out their daughter was the fourth generation of their family to get diabetes, the Swoopes searched for ways to help them cope.
“We did a lot of research on Type I and quickly learned that what children eat plays a big part in how they are able to stabilize their blood sugar,” said Mary.
“Thankfully, we were not a family that ate a lot of sweets or fried foods, both things that can play havoc with a diabetic’s condition. However, I did make some adjustments both in the types of food that I serve and how I prepare them.
There is currently no cure for diabetes, which, in the juvenile form, involves the pancreas’ inability to produce the insulin needed to process sugar. Type I is one of the more treatable chronic diseases.
The diabetic gets insulin through shots or an insulin pump, which Grace now uses.
Today, Type I diabetics can eat many of the same foods as everyone else, including desserts in moderation, as long as they adjust their insulin to handle carbohydrate intake.
“You can live a high-quality life with diabetes, especially if you are careful with your diet,” said Mary.
“You don’t want to eat too much sugar, but now it’s believed that carbohydrates play a big part in regulating Type I. That is something that is a relatively new discovery.”
Michelle Alexander, executive director of the Mississippi chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, collaborated the Swoope’s findings on the importance of watching carb intake.
Alexander said the lunch table at this summer’s Juvenile Diabetes camp at Twin Lakes contained a “carb count” for each of the food items, including chicken strips and sandwiches.
“Most of the children already knew that they needed to restrict carbs, but we wanted to show them that they could still have some of their favorites, just in moderation,” Alexander said.
Mary said that she now serves the family, which includes 10-year-old Anne Carrie, meals consisting mainly of complex carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables.
While she admits the family has never been dedicated to eating vegetables, they try to eat a balanced diet from all of the food groups.
“I learned that you can still eat many of your favorite dishes by substituting healthier ingredients,” she said.
“For instance, our family loves a shrimp and pasta dish from Chappy’s Restaurant in Long Beach. I got the recipe and substituted healthier olive oil for much of the butter. Gray says that he can tell the difference, but it still tastes good and is so much healthier.”
Mary says she is thankful many items on Grace’s diet that were previously too bland have been improved to the point that her family enjoys them almost as much as the regular version.
“Whole wheat pasta is good for Type I diabetics, but unfortunately the first version wasn’t very tasty,” she said.
“There are some name brands that have been improved but actually Kroger’s store brand is the one I buy. Our family loves it.”
Other food items she regularly serves are whole wheat bread, turkey bacon and other lean meats, 100-Calorie Snacks, low-sugar cereals like Special K and salads, one of Grace’s favorite foods..
Mary also found that Clabber Girl, makers of the baking powder commonly used in cakes, now produces a sugar substitute that is easier to use than others are because it “measures equally to regular sugar. Some of the others must be used in different amounts and are hard to use. This one is so much simpler,” Mary said.
While the Swoopes have adapted well to the necessary changes at the dinner table, they still cling to one vice: pudding night.
“We have one TV show that we watch as a family and that is The Biggest Loser,” Mary said.
“One of our family traditions is eating pudding while we watch the show. Instead of the high-fat version, I now make sugar-free Jell-o pudding mix, which tastes surprisingly good.
“I often crumble some of the cookies from the 100 Calorie Snack line into the pudding.”
Another innovation that makes life easier for Grace is her insulin pump.
When she orders a latte and a cookie at Starbuck’s with her friends, all she has to do is key the number of carbs she is about to ingest into the pump’s keypad.
The pump then decides how many units of insulin she’ll need after the snack.
Thanks to the pump and her mom’s attention to her diet, Grace’s life is pretty much like those of other kids her age.
As a senior at Madison Central High School, she’s involved in the French Club, broadcast classes and theater production.
Like most, she anticipates going off to college next year. Her mother is just happy that she can enjoy her senior year and have fun with the rest of her classmates.
“It’s important for Grace to lead a normal life like her friends,” Mary said. “And it’s wonderful that she can still eat some ‘fun foods’ that teenagers eat, like Chick-fil-A, pizza and ice cream. Other parents need to know that their child can enjoy a normal life like their friends after a diagnosis of Type I.
“It takes a little adjustment, especially in the foods that you eat, but it can be done. And of course, the results are worth it.”
Following are some “enlightened’ snacks for kids from the JDRF Web site:
Favorite Brownies
4 squares bitter chocolate (unsweetened)
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup chocolate chips plus an extra half a cup for topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Either in a saucepan or in your microwave, heat butter and chocolate until melted. Once melted transfer to a large bowl. Mix in sugar. Beat in 4 eggs until blended. Mix in flour and vanilla. Blend in remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into greased pan. Sprinkle extra chips on top. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and cut into squares,
When cut into 16 pieces, each piece is about 49 carbs.
Peanut Butter Granola Bars
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
2 cups granola
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup raisins or chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or peanuts
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups crispy rice cereal
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-by-2- inch baking pan. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the peanut butter and honey. Let cool. In a large bowl, mix the granola, oatmeal, raisins, sunflower seeds, and walnuts. Stir in the peanut butter and honey mixture to coat. Slowly mix in the eggs. Gently stir in the rice cereal and press the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on the edges. Cool and cut into squares. The kids can help wrap them individually in foil or plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator. Makes about 16 bars.
Options: Instead of raisins or apricots, add chocolate chips (this variation of the granola bars are about 40 carbs each).
Berry Smoothie
1/2 cup low-fat or low-carbohydrate milk, soymilk or rice milk
6 ounces silken tofu or 6 ounces plain low-fat yogurt, or a combination
1 cup frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
1/2 small banana
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon flax meal
1/2 teaspoon Splenda or preferred sugar substitute
Mix all of the ingredients in a blender until well blended. Then pour and enjoy.
