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Low GI potato for home grown

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covknit

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Type of diabetes
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Hi everyone.
Does anyone know of a source for ascertaining low GI varieties of veg suitable for growing on an allotment in the UK? I love my allotment. I think about it every day to the point of obsession but I am new to this diabetes lark and am determined to control it and not let it get the upper hand. It has stolen too much of my life already.

Other than the sweetness factor between different tomatoes and squash I had assumed there was not going to be enough variation in the GI levels to make changing my favourites worthwhile. After all a quarter gardeners delight is worth more than a dozen balconi tomatoes. My has yet unwrapped xmas spiraliser is waiting for the courgette season and I plan to grow a lot more boring green zucchini this year although I am sure to find room for a few of the more interesting ones. I have worked out a spiraliser can be used on carrot and zucchini. Beetroot sounds messy to me. Hopefully there will be a wider repertoire of spirals once I get into the swing of it.

I have been almost self sufficient in potatoes but since being diagnosed t2d in September I have been obliged to give most away. However potato days will soon arrive in town so I thought I would grow a few most suitable for the lowest GI forms of potato cuisine. Then I found there is a low GI potato. Charisma. The website is Australian. I have grown desiree in the past and that has simply the worst rating. Do you think there is scope for home grown diabetes friendly veg or shall I concentrate on the new fruit cage and nero kale? The Charisma article can be found here http://foodwatch.com.au/reviews/item/product-review-carisma-cutting-the-gi-of-potatoes.html
 
They might be low(er) GI than other potatoes but that doesn't mean they are low carb. I would avoid potatoes altogether and use the space on the allotment to grow a big variety genuinely low carb vegetables, which with a few exceptions, means above the ground crops.
 
Hi @covknit , I'm in much the same boat as you as I grow a lot of veg. However since being diagnosed I've reduced spud growing considerably as I now seldom eat then at all and what I now grow is mainly King Eds for the rest of the family. I'm not convinced that Carisma is significantly or safely low carb as there's no real data provided and all the data I have on spuds shows very high GI levels as well as high carbs.
There's loads of options for low carb home-grown veg. For a start you don't have to stick to green zucchini as there are yellow varieties too. Leeks are low carb 2.5/100g, spinach and chard is less than 1/100g, turnip 2.0/100g, cherry toms 3.6/100g, green beans 4.0. carrots 4.4 to 6.0, onions 8. Then of course there's things like lettuce, radish, sweet peppers, mange-tout peas 3.3 (other peas are quite a bit higher in carbs). All the above- ground green veg are low carb, so you've a vast range of brassicas to chose from and most salad veg too. Raspberries/blackberries and strawberries are good lower carb fruits, blueberries are a great crop to grow but are quite a bit higher in carbs so need to be eaten in moderation.
Happy gardening!

Dave
 
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I love a good roast potato with lots of onion sauce on it..:D

This is the world I have made for myself..:joyful:
 
Thanks for the replies. It seems I shall have to forego peas. I doubt I have any mange tout in my seed stash. Uncertain because our volunteers xmas pressies included some heritage peas of unrecognised variety - robinson - or maybe that was the name of the tomato. I had better grow those. I certainly will be growing potatoes for the rest of the family. There is nothing like a home grown spud. I get a small taste occassionally by cutting the end off one of DH. I am going to try to grow a lot of cauliflower this year. I am taking advice from someone who does very well with them. I will draw a veil over my success (as in lack off) to date. I think I will convert to the green zucchini type courgette has they seem a better replacement for pasta than the patty pans and tondo's I normally grow. I have not eaten any pasta since diagnosis in September so I can polish up my halo a little there. With homegrown on the horizon there should be less chance of a summer slip. I used to eat a lot of pasta.

I shall be freezing berries as soon as I get them home this year. No more jam making. I have the makings of a new fruit cage earmarked. I shall order a couple of Juneberries to give a slightly earlier harvest. There should be room for another 6 bushes but I am not sure what yet. I already have rhubarb, 2 blueberry, a dozen or so blackcurrants and half dozen gooseberry and redcurrants. I have been promised a white currant.

My spinach looks beyond hope, chard indistructable, nero and calabrese going well. Leeks harvested and should last a couple of months. Garlic and radar through about 4 inches. Shallots are already delivered to the lottie shop, sprouting looking good and I am trying to wait a month before I start sowing. I have a tendency to find myself with hundreds of seedlings in March. I already need to pot on my leeks.

Potato tubers ready to be put up for chitting foremost, charlotte, kestrel, carolus, cara, pink fir, sarpo mira, belle de fontenay. Oh dear
 
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