Risotto. Experiment

alliebee

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After a tip from a low carber friend who swears she can tolerate arborio rice I've made a risotto mixed peppers and mushroom. I started off with butter and at the end of cooking time stirred a dollop of cream cheese and a godly handful of cheese...tested before eating at 5.8. And two hours later only 6.9...this frankly surprised me. But she says the butter cream cheese and cheese prevents the spike...and although risotto sounds strange for breakfast (admittedly) a bit late. Was so creamy. I couldn't wait to try it...I shall have this for tea in a little larger portion....its lovely when you find a food that doesn't spike you...god if I eat porrige. I can zip up into the teens!
 

Bluetit1802

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Ah but! Not wishing to spoil your joy, did you keep testing until your levels came back to 5.8? You may have missed the spike.
 

alliebee

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Just ran off quick tp test and I'm 5.9 now that's 2 and a half hours from eating...I was very sceptical. Tested every hour...I can't quite believe it
 
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alliebee

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In the intetests of anyone who may read this and be tempted to try....the risotto is now firmly back on the forbidden list of foods for me...I did have a larger portion for supper. @bluetit was quite right to warn me.....there I was happily munching away....1 hour later I was 9.8...oh dear....well we live and learn don't we.:(
 
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AndBreathe

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In the intetests of anyone who may read this and be tempted to try....the risotto is now firmly back on the forbidden list of foods for me...I did have a larger portion for supper. @bluetit was quite right to warn me.....there I was happily munching away....1 hour later I was 9.8...oh dear....well we live and learn don't we.:(

What were you in later tests though Allie? If it comes back down again very quickly that rise wouldn't necessarily be horrendous. Many non-diabetic people have fairly sharp rises on eating carbs, but they fall back again almost as quickly.

That said, rice can be tricky. I'm fortunate to be able to eat it in fair quantities, and one of our favourite, easy meals is Nigella's Pantry Paella. It's a great way of using up leftover Sunday roast chicken or pork.

I have tweaked the recipe and used cauliflower instead of the rice - so that obviously required much less liquid and is almost a stir fry, rather than a slow cook paella. The flavours are fab though.
 

alliebee

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You are right. I did comr down v quickly and at 2 and a half hours was back to 6.2...but I thought that sharp spike was too high?...mind you I had a big plateful...risotto has always been a fave of mine...I haven't tried cauli rice yet but I'm going to after everone seems to rave about it...also going to look at nigellas recipe...thankyou
 

AndBreathe

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You are right. I did comr down v quickly and at 2 and a half hours was back to 6.2...but I thought that sharp spike was too high?...mind you I had a big plateful...risotto has always been a fave of mine...I haven't tried cauli rice yet but I'm going to after everone seems to rave about it...also going to look at nigellas recipe...thankyou

There are conflicting views on spikes, both here on the forum, and on the wider web. My personal view is I'll be influenced by the volume under the curve. In other words, if there is a fast, high spike that comes down quickly, or a smoother rise that stays elevated for longer, there could be the same volume under the curve. Do you understand what I mean?

Thankfully, with my current way of eating, I don't really have big or long spikes, and by the nature of my measure (volume under the curve) an acceptable figure would be very dynamic anyway, due to the variables of spike/time elapsed and so on. I believe @Brunneria also subscribes to this way of thinking, so she may have something more helpful in terms of measuring the volume.
 
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alliebee

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That's fascinating...yes I totally understand that..it makes perfect sense...I'm becoming obsessed with all I'm reading about since my time away from the forum...there is a wealth of information on here and massive support..I'm going to look into this volume under the curve...thanks so much for this
 

phoenix

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Not surprising, Arborio or any of the 'fluffy' rices contains lots of amylopectin, when you heat it in liquid, it swells up absorbing the liquid . This is exactly what you do when you cook a risotto (or a rice pudding). This makes the starch very easily digested and so extremely high GI, Basically, the combination of the type of cooking and the type of rice means that you have started the digestion process already. All the starch quickly breaks up and the glucose arrives causing a spike that in turn needs a lot of insulin to deal with
The cheese in the risotto seems to have delayed the absorption down by a bit but it seems not by much.

That's why it's normally suggested that, if you eat rice, you eat basmati or similar. This has more of the other type of starch (amylopectin) and as long as it isn't cooked to death, will elicit a lower glucose response than the fluffy varieties. If you have some of your own insulin it will be more likely to be able to deal with it.

simple account
http://www.glycemicguru.com/Factors-that-Effect-Glycemic-Index.html
bit more detailed account
http://www.montignac.com/en/the-factors-that-modify-glycemic-indexes/
He also has a section on GI misconceptions with diagrams of example low GI and high GI area under curves
http://www.montignac.com/en/the-glycemic-index-concept/
 
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Brunneria

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There are conflicting views on spikes, both here on the forum, and on the wider web. My personal view is I'll be influenced by the volume under the curve. In other words, if there is a fast, high spike that comes down quickly, or a smoother rise that stays elevated for longer, there could be the same volume under the curve. Do you understand what I mean?

Thankfully, with my current way of eating, I don't really have big or long spikes, and by the nature of my measure (volume under the curve) an acceptable figure would be very dynamic anyway, due to the variables of spike/time elapsed and so on. I believe @Brunneria also subscribes to this way of thinking, so she may have something more helpful in terms of measuring the volume.

Hi,

It was the font of all wisdom www.bloodsugar101.com that introduced the idea to me, so you could find more info there, if you like. I only apply it in the most general way, and of course I can't really test the theory, but it just makes so much sense, doesn't it? Well, to me, anyway. :happy:
 

AndBreathe

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Hi,

It was the font of all wisdom www.bloodsugar101.com that introduced the idea to me, so you could find more info there, if you like. I only apply it in the most general way, and of course I can't really test the theory, but it just makes so much sense, doesn't it? Well, to me, anyway. :happy:


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. And there was me thinking you were so clever. ;)








:sorry:
 
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