How do we feel about Falafal ?

[Anonymous]

I had a rather experimental lunch today - trying a few things I wouldn't normally have, namely..

Tomato Soup - 6.6g
Spelt Cracker with sunflower seeds - found these in a big waitrose - 11g but larger and thicker than a Ryvita
1 Spinach Falafel - 3.3g
2 Sweet Potato Falafels - 11.5g
85% Dark Chocolate (Lindt) (a 10g piece) - 1.9g

So that's a total of 34.3g of carb, which is a lot for me and it did spike me.

Before lunch - 4.3
1hr reading - 8.3
2hr reading - 9.2
3.5hr reading 8.3
I have been very lazy this afternoon, reading and lying on the couch, so I'm not surprised the 3.5hr reading was high. I then went and did a bit of light diy outside and now my level is back at 5.5 .

So I obviously ate too much, but perhaps if I'd not had the spelt cracker (which to be honest was a bit hard on my teeth) then those numbers would have stayed in the 8's.

and how do we feel about Falafel? They are delicious, especially the sweet potato ones and sweet potato is supposed t be ok isn't it ?

S

 

[tree-peony]

I adore falafal :cry: but that's a lot more carb than I can cope with.

 

[Paul1976]

I like Falafel(and other middle eastern food) too but haven't had it since before diagnosis so I don't know what it would do to my levels but my Morrocan recipe mousakka I find I can get away with luckily! :thumbup:

 

[borofergie]

Yum, fried carbs.

The fat might help blunt the spike a bit, but you'll get the double whammy of an insulin spike at the same time as a stomach full of fat.

 

[Anonymous]

Well that's sort of why I asked.

The sweet potato ones are 23.9g carb per 100g - and contain (in order) Gram flour, potato, onion, milk, rapeseed oil, carrot, chickpeas, sweet potato (11%), rice flour, coriander, vostizza current, egg

So fairly carby those I have to agree.

The spinach ones, on the other hand, are 13.9g per 100g and contain (in order) Spinach (55%), rapeseed oil, gram flour, onion (17%), milk, chick peas (6%), egg

That makes the spinach ones much better I think - but I was told on here (quite sharply if I recall ) that you can't count sweet potato carbs so I thought of hoped they would be better.

 

[borofergie]

That makes the spinach ones much better I think - but I was told on here (quite sharply if I recall ) that you can't count sweet potato carbs so I thought of hoped they would be better.

Well some people in Paleo circles reckon that Sweet Potatoes are "safe starches" and have a smaller impact on your BG and insulin response than regular starches. Whether or not they have a big impact on your BG depends on your metabolism. Jimmy Moore (a non-diabetic low-carber) did an n=1 experiment on this recently, with pretty negative results:
http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/jimm ... tato/13976

Personally I doubt that they are much good for T2 diabetics with bust up metabolisms. However, if I had to choose, I'd prefer sweet-potato over grains or legumes any day, so if you are going to eat the Falafal, then sweet-potato is probably a good sub.

The only real answer is to do your own n=1 experiment and test your BG after eating it...

 

[Anonymous]

I have been googling around this, this morning and there are lots of low-carb/paleo sites that loosely praise sweet potatoes, but in a fairly lightweight "they're fab - here's how you cook them" sort of way.

I did come across this

http://suppversity.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/metformin-and-sweet-potatoes-what-do.html

which suggested that you need to eat the leaves to get the effect. Anyone heard this?

 

[borofergie]

I have been googling around this, this morning and there are lots of low-carb/paleo sites that loosely praise sweet potatoes, but in a fairly lightweight "they're fab - here's how you cook them" sort of way.

Ashley Tudor has a whole new book about them:"Sweet Potato Power (Smart Carbs, Your Body, Your Rules)"
https://www.facebook.com/SweetPotatoPower

Be careful though, this swing to "safe starches" is coming from the Paleo community rather than the diabetic low-carb (if there is such a thing). It might well be that sweet potatoes are fine for people on a relatively low-carb diet who don't have metabolic syndrome. As far as I can see, all starchy carbs are pretty bad for T2 Diabetics (except perhaps in very small quantities). The only opinion you should really trust it your meter. If they spike you, then don't eat them again (or moderate the quantity).

 

[Artichoke]

I figured if I had to avoid potatoes I should avoid sweet potatoes as well. I agree with borofergie that testing is a good idea as we all have fruit and veg we can/can't eat. I adore Middle Eastern food and when I tried GI I ate a lot of it but low GI just didn't work for me. OP's meal was really pretty carby, that would be more than half of my day's allowance in one meal !

 

[borofergie]

I figured if I had to avoid potatoes I should avoid sweet potatoes as well. I agree with borofergie that testing is a good idea as we all have fruit and veg we can/can't eat. I adore Middle Eastern food and when I tried GI I ate a lot of it but low GI just didn't work for me. OP's meal was really pretty carby, that would be more than half of my day's allowance in one meal !

Me neither. But when I've lost another couple of stones, and put my diabetes completely in to remission then I'm going to try adding sweet potatoes.

If you going to eat carbs, any type of tuber is a much better choice than grain based junk. If they cured my T2 tomorrow, I'd never go back to grains.

 

[Anonymous]

OP's meal was really pretty carby, that would be more than half of my day's allowance in one meal !

Mine too but you have to experiment. I have found that the sweet potato falafals are a bit too high, but I can manage the spinach ones fine. The spelt crackers are off the list as are pretty much any cracker type thing except if that's the only carb I have and I don't have soup now.

It's a wonder I find anything to eat

 

[BioHaZarD]

I have Finns rye crispbreads if I want a cracker, 4g carbs per slice, no sugar I sometimes have 2 or 3 for breakfast with cheese and these do not spike me.

 

[Anonymous]

I will look them out, thanks.

 

[phoenix]

Me neither. But when I've lost another couple of stones, and put my diabetes completely in to remission then I'm going to try adding sweet potatoes

I hope to goodness you don't try and do a Jimmy Moore (1tbs of honey and 3 of butter on half a potato )Even though he replaced the honey with sweetener ( how can that be paleo?) it still sounded horrid Why sweeten sweet potatoes in the first place?)

 

[borofergie]

Me neither. But when I've lost another couple of stones, and put my diabetes completely in to remission then I'm going to try adding sweet potatoes

I hope to goodness you don't try and do a Jimmy Moore (1tbs of honey and 3 of butter on half a potato )Even though he replaced the honey with sweetener ( how can that be paleo?) it still sounded horrid Why sweeten sweet potatoes in the first place?)

No, because I'm not stupid.

There's some nice stuff here from Paul Jaminet on GI and safe-starches, that you'd probably appreciate Phoenix:
http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/10/ho ... -toxicity/

 

[medorrhinum]

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/main-lowcarb-lobby/665173-falafel-recipe.html
1 cup dried chickpeas or 16 oz. can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans.
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons flour
Salt
Pepper
Oil for frying

but it still has a little flour?

(This is my first post on this forum!)

 

[Anonymous]

Well done with the first post and especially we'll done for posting about Falafel's. I will work out the carbs when I have my book - perhaps I could use half/half almond flour.. will try it and report back.

 

[medorrhinum]

Thanks swimmer
I usually eat my Falafel from a local Israeli Kosher snack bar (in London) but with salad and leave out the Pita bread. I do not enquire what is in it and it never disturbs me, it is a treat! But I do make my own humous apparently zero glycaemic load.

 

[Rubyjewelz]

I figured if I had to avoid potatoes I should avoid sweet potatoes as well. I agree with borofergie that testing is a good idea as we all have fruit and veg we can/can't eat. I adore Middle Eastern food and when I tried GI I ate a lot of it but low GI just didn't work for me. OP's meal was really pretty carby, that would be more than half of my day's allowance in one meal !

I never eat fruit/ vege i can't eat...I google and check everything...x