Pumpkin??

[Catsymoo]

Hi all,

Yesterday my boyfriend purchased only a pumpkin when he went out to buy dinner (men are useless at shopping, aren't they?), although it's very small compared to the ones I am used to. (Dutch do not celebrate Halloween). I initially raged at my boyfriend as I am sure I read before that pumpkin is high carb and ridiculously high GI... and I told him this before!

However, when I read the label, it said 4g carbs/3.9g sugar per 100g, which is pretty darn low for a sweet vegetable. I'm sure it would be okay since I take insulin, but I am just wondering how you other diabetics have gotten on with it? I adore pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup, I tried those in America. Not that keen on making the pie, but soup sounds lovely. And boyfriend also suggested making pumpkin mash as a potato substitute.

Oh! And what about the seeds? I remember I loved those as well in America. (This was before I was diabetic).

 

[halfpint]

Hi Catsymoo, can't help out with info on pumpkins, will be interested in hearing some of the responses.

But on the soup front - Fab winter soup - butternut squash and chilli - really does warm you. Downside - butternut squash has more carbs than pumpkin I think one good bowl of soup would equal my total days intake of carbs.

 

[LouiseW]

Pumpkin is one of the veggies I've used in low carbing - if you do a google search on low carb pumpkin, you'll find lots of recipes, some of them with nutritional information.

I love pumpkin pie. There are some recipes for something approximating pumpkin pie, using Splenda if you include that in your diet.

I have a can of pumpkin in the cupboard. I think I'll try this recipe - http://www.food.com/recipe/low-carb-pumpkin-sausage-soup-106467

8.4 net grams of carbs for a bowl of it.

 

[noblehead]

Pumpkin boiled in salted water is 2.1g of carbs per 100g weight (Calorie, Carb & Fat Bible).

Pumpkin soup is both nutritious and delicious, my wife makes it either with sweet potato or carrots, pumpkin seeds are nutritious too and have many health benefits....some of which are mentioned here:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... thbenefits

 

[Ann19]

I've made pumpkin soup over the weekend, I'm type 2 and had no problem with my levels on eating it returning back to pre-meal level after 2 hours. :thumbup:

Ann

 

[noblehead]

I've made pumpkin soup over the weekend, I'm type 2 and had no problem with my levels on eating it returning back to pre-meal level after 2 hours. :thumbup:

Ann

Do you roast the Pumpkin first Ann ?...... try it if you don't as it give the soup a stronger taste :thumbup:

 

[Ann19]

I've made pumpkin soup over the weekend, I'm type 2 and had no problem with my levels on eating it returning back to pre-meal level after 2 hours. :thumbup:

Ann

Do you roast the Pumpkin first Ann ?...... try it if you don't as it give the soup a stronger taste :thumbup:

Yes, I roast it first. I also have a recipe for 'Pumpkin and Poppy seed' cake, I've not yet managed to make it low carb. The first attempt yesterday, I used 50% ground almonds and 50% coconut flour. It was a disaster!! :***: Shall have to buy another pumpkin and try it again.

Ann

 

[Catsymoo]

Well, after eating pumpkin soup and a slice of bread while cooking the soup... AND pumpkin seeds that I roasted. I can confirm that pumpkin is great. I felt sick about 20 mins after eating, I was worried that it gave me a spike... I was sitting at 2.9 mmol/l. But I was so full and didn't wanna eat! I've never had a hypo where I was actually full. Wasn't nice. But at least now I know that pumpkin is seemingly fine for blood sugar.

 

[AMBrennan]

I read before that pumpkin is high carb and ridiculously high GI... and I told him this before!

However, when I read the label, it said 4g carbs/3.9g sugar per 100g

That might be because GI tends to be little bit... odd when it comes to food that doesn't contain a lot of carbs since it's done by measuring glucose response to 50g carbs worth of food, so you'd have to eat about 1.2kg of it - odds are they just made that up, like they did for cheese: You'd need to eat 4kg of cheddar to get 50g carbs, so they arbitrarily decided that cheese had the same GI as milk since it's clearly impossible to actually measure it.

 

[borofergie]

I read before that pumpkin is high carb and ridiculously high GI... and I told him this before!

However, when I read the label, it said 4g carbs/3.9g sugar per 100g

That might be because GI tends to be little bit... odd when it comes to food that doesn't contain a lot of carbs since it's done by measuring glucose response to 50g carbs worth of food, so you'd have to eat about 1.2kg of it - odds are they just made that up, like they did for cheese: You'd need to eat 4kg of cheddar to get 50g carbs, so they arbitrarily decided that cheese had the same GI as milk since it's clearly impossible to actually measure it.

That's an excellent point.

Truth be told, GI is a pretty useless measure by itself. You're much better off thinking about Glycemic Load. Even if the GI of a food was artificially high (as AMB suggests) the GL would still be low because the amound of carb is low.

 

[phoenix]

That might be because GI tends to be little bit... odd when it comes to food that doesn't contain a lot of carbs since it's done by measuring glucose response to 50g carbs worth of food, so you'd have to eat about 1.2kg of it - odds are they just made that up, like they did for cheese: You'd need to eat 4kg of cheddar to get 50g carbs, so they arbitrarily decided that cheese had the same GI as milk since it's clearly impossible to actually measure it

Well I use the Univ of Sydney GI site

Butternut pumpkin, boiled
GI 51; serving 80g carbs 6 Glycemic load 3
Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata), peeled, cubed, boiled 30 min
GI 66; serving 80g carbs 18 Glycemic load 12
Pumpkin, boiled in salted water
GI 75; serving 80g carbs 4 Glycemic load 3

So unless you're unlucky enough to get the wrong variety then in spite of it being a relatively high GI, the percentage of carbs is so low that it doesn't really make a big impression on glucose levels (watermelon is similar)

The index doesn't contain any entries for cheese since as you say, it doesn't make any sense to try to measure. (Aunt Sally?)