Any ideas for healthy veggie snacks that aren't boring?

[increasingly cynical]

Hi,

I don't like eating large meals and prefer to 'graze' with several healthy snacks per day instead. Before diabetes descended this was no problem (and a very healthy way of life), lots of fruit, small pasta or rice salads etc. I am now trying to low carb (and of course low sugar) and am rapidly getting sick of the sight of ryvita, cottage cheese, leafy salad, cheese, cream cheese, more cheese, quorn more quorn...

Same is true for drinks, I find my caffeine intake has gone up to really unhealthy levels because I can't drink fresh fruit juice anymore and I can't face any more mineral water, vegetable juice or herbal tea...

Can anyone recommend healthy vegetarian snacks or drinks which don't taste like sawdust and don't have lots of sugar or carbs in them?

Thanks :?

 

[timo2]

Re: Any ideeas for healthy veggie snakcs that aren't boring?

Hello increasingly cynical,

If you're low-carbing then I've no doubt that you'll already have a cupboard full of Macadamias, pecans and walnuts.

It's also worth remembering that God created the avocado because he loves low-carbers and
he wants them to be happy.

Regards,
timo.

 

[hanadr]

Re: Any ideeas for healthy veggie snakcs that aren't boring?

I make a low carb cheese dip and dip celery sticks,carrot batons and cauliflower florets. Lovely.
I'll check if I've put my dip on the recipes

 

[increasingly cynical]

Hi Timo2 & Hanadr.

Thanks - nuts and dips don't sound so bad... I'll check the recipies on here too...

 

[Spiral]

Have you found Rose Elliot's low carb diet cookbooks - there are 2 of them? She has also written a low GI cookbook. You might find some inspiration there, I have found some lovely recipies in there. You can pick them up very cheaply on eBay or at Amazon if you shop around a bit.

I have done a few things with soy sauce and roast seeds, but you loose a lot of the nutritional value of nuts and seeds when you cook them :? they are much better raw. I have made large fritatta and kept portions as a snack or for other meals. Have you tried different types of salad dressing? I have recently discovered the joys of lime juice and olive oil and I have been making lots of different salad dressings. I'm also having a fab time at my local Waitrose cheese counter - the best cheese counter in my part of Darkest Buckinghamshire I have also discovered oatcakes - lovely - but check the ingredients as some manufacturers slip wheat flour in to them

I am having to think very diferently about food - I have been a "proper" veggie since 1985 - and my reduction in bread, pasta, rice and potatoes is hitting hard. However, I have not been so hungry or had so many carb cravings since I reduced the carbs.

edit to add
And seasoning - have you experimented with seasoning? herbs, spices and the like? That can make a huge difference.

 

[ChocFish]

Hi, one of my favourite snacks and a change from ryvita is various dips, hummous as well, I make myself soups and take to work with me, prepare salads with all sorts of interesting dressings using herbs, cider vinegar, olive oil, flaxseed oil, mustard, etc whatever I am dreaming up at the time.

Another favourite is aubergine, I fry a plateful of thick cut aubergine slices till they are browned and a bit crispy, not soggy and I make myself open sandwiches with them.

Do yourself a little salad platter, put a nicely decorated hard boiled egg on top, eg one of those cute toadstool eggs (I think I posted a picture of one of those in the recipe forum on here).

As for drinks, I love iced water with a dash of raspberry syrup from the low carb megastore, prepare it in a bottle and keep in the fridge, very refreshing and I also really like the various fruit and herb teas, they do not upset my bg, drink them hot, drink them cold, mix with sparkling water.

I hope that some of this helps

Karen

 

[salsasue]

Wow! What a lovely lot of choices to try on here, many thanks!

Karen, love your signature tagline:

Challenges can be stumbling blocks or stepping stones, it depends how you view them

So very true, dependent on how positively or not the statement is viewed and personally choose the 'stepping stones' option!

sincere regards, salsasue

 

[increasingly cynical]

Thanks everybody,

Your 'foodie' tips are really useful, although I am findign increasingly that actually whatever I eat I get weird readings ! Ho Hum...

 

[Thirsty]

I make my own ginger and citrus cordial using this recipe and substituting sweetener for sugar. It's really refreshing served with sparkling water and ice or as a hot drink. A pleasant change from the usual squashes.

 

[dipsticky]

Hey thirty. What sort of sweetener do you use ? Thought some of them are not very healthy ?
That aspartame stuff is supposed to be real bad isn't it ? Thought that was in a lot of them ?

D.

 

[dryk]

Hi
I am also on insulin but I am vegitarian. I can suggest from my experience. If you take black gram(Kala Chana) or whole Mung (Moong dal) and soak in water for 24 hr so it get sproutes. Take the chana or Mung dal add (to your tast)salt, ginger, corriender leaves and lemon juce. you can eat good portion without effecting your blood sugar and it will give you lot of protines etc.
dryk

 

[Dipstick]

I have been trying to use the pages from the internet re raw food. Some of the recipes are marvellous and extremely tasty. I have suceeded in getting my BM down from 11 in the am to 7.2 today. I have done this by having a Green Smoothie in the morning for breakfast, then a lunch made from mostly fruit, veg, pitta bread and salad then fish and lightly cooked veg in the evening. If I am hungry in between I have a rice cake spread with houmous.

At least just have a look at the Raw Food pages. The food is not really as it sounds.

 

[wootters]

Hi Dipstick, my dietician had a fit when I proudly told her I had swapped bread for wholegrain rice cakes - she says rice cakes are a big no no - are very high G.I. And there was me thinking that wholegrain rice (and nothing else as it says on the packet) must be good for me.....

Back to the oatcakes I suppose

 

[Thirsty]

Hey thirty. What sort of sweetener do you use ? Thought some of them are not very healthy ?
That aspartame stuff is supposed to be real bad isn't it ? Thought that was in a lot of them ?

D.

Normally, I use small quantities of sucralose (Splenda), just enough to take the edge off the sourness imparted by citrus fruits. Aspartame? It depends on who you believe. The web's awash with conspiracy theories and scare stories, yet it's approved for use in most countries. I don't use it simply because I don't like the taste but, given the amounts sold every year, I'd expect to see some pretty drastic increases in health problems if it was truly as dangerous as some suggest.

Sweeteners that you should definitely treat with caution are the polyols aka sugar alcohols, nearly all of which have a powerful (and painful!) laxative effect in many people.

Here's what Snopes has to say about aspartame, and they're usually right, but ultimately, you'll have to decide for yourself.

 

[Funky Mum]

What about butternut squash chips? They are very sweet in taste so may not be to everyone's taste.
I just slice them into chip shapes and spray with frylite and then oven bake till they look dark golden.
I've also been told that swede chips are nice but not tried them yet.

 

[JustDoIt]

I've been a vegetarian (don't eat fish) for 30 years and have only just been diagnosed as Type 2. I'm glad to see it is possible to manage Diabetes on a vegetarian diet (eating meat/fish is not an option for me). In the last month I've got down from 21.0 to 5.4 so am really hopeful of staying on diet control.

My favourite snack is a savoury snack made of cooked veg (I'd love to know if you experts think it sounds appropriate for Diabetes sufferers):

• 1 x cup of finely diced onion (cooked with frylight)
  2 x cups grated carrot (as above)
  any other left over cooked veg finely chopped
  1/2 cup of oats
  1/2 cup rice
  grated cheese
  sunflower seeds
  any flavouring (I like Knorr Veg stock cubes and a little tomatoes sauce)
  eggs to bind all of the above together.

Bake in the oven until set then cut into snack size pieces (can be frozen) - I prefer it cold from the fridge.
:roll:

 

[Spiral]

Have you tested after eating this JustDoIt? I'd be interesed in you readings an hour after eating it, that is when I get my biggest spikes :shock:

It looks a bit high on the carbohydrate front, what with oats and rice and also 2 cups of grated carrot (root veg can be high in sugar). But we are all differnt and manage differnt things without spiking our blood sugar depending on what meds we take or how much insulin we are still producing. And time of day can influence this too.

 

[ronjo94]

I have just found Kallo rice cakes (various varieties) and have tested them. I undestood that rice cakes were high carb from all that I've read (high gi ). I found that having 3 rice cakes spread with Lurpak light spread for evening meal only raised my BG by .1 mmols. I took readings at 1,2 and 3 hours to prove (to me at least) that these were suitable.

ronjo94

 

[inwales]

I have just found Kallo rice cakes (various varieties) and have tested them. I undestood that rice cakes were high carb from all that I've read (high gi ). I found that having 3 rice cakes spread with Lurpak light spread for evening meal only raised my BG by .1 mmols. I took readings at 1,2 and 3 hours to prove (to me at least) that these were suitable.

ronjo94

Do you find that rice cakes give you a full feeling?

Why not make your own nut butters using almonds, walnut or brazils?

 

[LittleGreyCat]

What about butternut squash chips? They are very sweet in taste so may not be to everyone's taste.
I just slice them into chip shapes and spray with frylite and then oven bake till they look dark golden.
I've also been told that swede chips are nice but not tried them yet.

I think that vegetables such as butternut squash, swede, parsnip etc. may be quite high in carbs. Related root vegetables to swede and parsnip include the sugar beet.

Trawling through this discussion I haven't seen much about cooking a mixture of vegetables as soups, main meal soups, and stews. (the difference being, I think, the thickness of the mixture i.e the amount of water included).

I like 'beany stews' containing root vegetables (carrots, parsnips etc) other vegetables such as butternut squash, beans such as mung beans, green lentils, onions, tomatoes and seasoning. Plus anything else in the fridge (e.g. courgettes, mushrooms, peppers) which look more than a day or so old. I find this tasty, satifying, and varied depending on what goes in. It is also easy to freeze.

I suspect that this may, however, be higher in general carbs than is acceptable for dedicated 'low carb' people.

It does, however, seem reasonably balanced nutritionally.

Cheers

LGC