Churches can lead in making meals, treats diabetic-friendly

Diabetics love to eat and want to be included at church socials. There are many ways that the managers of church kitchens and fellowship organizers can work with diabetics to joyfully do things that enable them to fit seamlessly into the food-based aspects of church life.
   
According to Sophie Woodruff, director of food services at Spring Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, serving meals at a large church means purchasing food in bulk from a food distributing company, rather than buying small quantities from a local grocery store. Sugar-free or no-added-sugar items that some companies offer are often limited, she said.
   
Of the approximately 450 meals that she and her kitchen staff cook and serve at the church Bible study/fellowship each Wednesday night, about 25 diabetics that she knows of come through the line.
   
At these weekly suppers, the church kitchen offers sugar-free cookies in lieu of sugar-sweetened desserts. The cookies are clearly labeled “diabetic cookies” and are available next to the sweetened desserts at the serving window. Woodruff said she tries to buy different sugar-free cookies to give diabetics variety, sometimes offering sugar-free angel food cake.
   
“We don’t want it to look like they’re getting punished,” she said, noting unsweetened tea is kept on a separate table with plenty of artificial sweetener nearby.
   
Churches large and small can find ways to be even more diabetic-friendly by considering new ideas for suppers, youth meetings and Sunday School fellowships.
   
One way is to provide a variety of sugar-free drinks. Anyone becomes quickly bored with diet cola or water, and there are plenty of choices available, even packets of sugar-free cider or sugar-free hot cocoa that can be dissolved in hot water. Sugar-free or artificially sweetened lemonade mixes are available in grocery stores.
   
For cookoffs or dessert contests, make sure a category for low-sugar, sugar-free and perhaps low-fat items are included and these are clearly labeled as such. When they are mixed with other desserts and not labeled, there is confusion.
   
There are numerous recipes for enticing desserts with tastes that rival their traditionally sweetened counterparts. Artificial sweeteners that can be used for baking are commonplace these days.
   
Sugar-free cheesecake and egg custard that is both sugar free and cholesterol free (Egg Beaters or similar), sweetened with Splenda, are only two of thousands of enticing dessert recipes that when served, are likely to be pleasantly mistaken for the traditional versions.
   
Gifts of boxed candy can be made to diabetics. Many of the major brands including Russell Stover and others offer great-tasting sugar-free chocolates attractively boxed for the holidays, and they are sold near sugar-sweetened chocolates in discount superstores and drug stores.
   
One of the worst foods for diabetics is pizza. One researcher compared a pizza meal to a non-pizza but still high carbohydrate meal and found that the pizza meal caused the blood sugar to continue to rise significantly for as long as nine hours after the meal. For pizza outings or pizza deliveries, select pizza restaurants that offer lower calorie vegetable pizzas on thinner crust.
   
Have a diabetes dessert night out, where everything is sugar-free or no-added-sugar. Believe it or not, there are literally thousands of great sugar-free dessert recipes. Invite the whole church to taste and learn how much fun sugar-free can be.
   
If serving a plate for diabetics, or anyone for that matter, learn the fact that less is more, especially when it comes to carbohydrates. An entire dinner plate filled with nothing but pasta and meat sauce, for instance, is usually too much carbohydrate for a diabetic meal.
   
Read about healthy ways to cook for diabetics: “The Diabetic Four Ingredient Cookbook,” (Coffee and Cale Publishers), is by Stacy J. Anderson, clinical dietitian and certified diabetes educator for the Texas Diabetes Institute. “Forbidden Foods Diabetic Cooking” is by Maggie Powers and Joyce Hendley.
   
Another helpful book, “Diabetes Solution,” a complete guide to achieving normal blood sugars, is written by Richard K. Bernstein, a physician who has diabetes. It addresses insulin types and their usage, glucose testing, exercise and vitamins.