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Query? Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Soup

glucogirl6499

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Hi I'm new to this with first post yesterday re carrots!
Now I've thought my favourite homemade soup is Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato, containing red lentils, garlic, onions, chicken stock and chilli flakes - what's the score with carb/sugar in grams once ground down and served - 1 ladle or 2, weigh it - arrgghhh! Thanks for help folks
 
Be careful with the sweet potato. They have the same carb value as ordinary potatoes, they are lower GI so take a bit longer to metabolise. Also, carbs squashed, ground down, mashed, juiced or over cooked is likely to impact more than the natural product. As an example, a new potato is less likely to impact significantly than the same amount of mashed.
 
Hi! I can't give you total carbs but sweet potato is high carb at about 20 to 27 per 100g (the clue is in the' sweet'!) Red lentils are 17.5g per 100g.
So on balance I'd guess your soup is rather high carb.
 

Thank you, never realised about the overlooking making it worse - it gets cooked to death so can liquidise! I'm such a fussy foodie too
 
As it is a fav of yours. I would weigh the main items carb items to work out the carbs, so lentil, butternut squash and sweet potato of the whole meal then work out carbs per serving.

Alternatively you could get an approx amount from something like this website
http://www.fatsecret.co.uk/calories-nutrition/search?q=Butternut+Squash+&+Sweet+Potato+Soup


I would also test before and after to see how it affects you. I'm ok with sweet potato others aren't
 
If you do make the soup ( which I could never tolerate) make sure to add some protein and fat to slow the absorption.

You could always try using it as a sauce / gravy allowing you to eat much less. Carbs as well as portions do matter.
 
miahara said:
Hi! I can't give you total carbs but sweet potato is high carb at about 20 to 27 per 100g (the clue is in the' sweet'!) Red lentils are 17.5g per 100g.
So on balance I'd guess your soup is rather high carb.
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The diabetic care call said around 19g per meal - I've never had help or info given before despite the diagnosis years ago. Many moons ago my mother was insulin dependant although late onset - she was given books that would say eg 3dsp beans, 1/2 tsp butter, 1 slice whole meal lol I need a chef a butler etc (joking) thanks for your advice - appreciated
 

Until you get used to judging quantities by eye, you should consider weighing your carbs and anything else containing carbs, and calculating the amount on your plate. Nutrition labels are a good start, plus the book (or app) called Carbs & Cals, available from Amazon. It was my bible when I first started and I still use it now. It can be a bind, but it is worth it, especially as your nurse gave you a target of 19g per meal. (I'm not sure she is correct in that as 19g at breakfast is too many. I can't manage any at all without seeing a rise I don't like.)
 
I've ordered a meter and test strips myself as I know care call would prob say don't - relatives had severe issues that I don't want ( despite not having got my head round this yet) hadn't thought to weight as always just made a big vat up as deemed healthy!! Thanks for the tips
 
The idea that anyone can say that a diabetic can eat a specific amount of carb in any meal and know that they will not be going high - or even low - is ridiculous.
The only way to be sure of the way various foods affect blood glucose is to test - some people react far more to the same foods in the same amounts.
 
Thank you Resurgam, as I'm new to all this he may have meant 19g per day but I am awaiting a test meter as I feel really nervous waiting 3 months for the next HbA1c to find I've been doing it all wrong through mishearing or misunderstaning all the info given in a half hour slot. Thanks again
 

Thanks I'll check out Carbs & Cals
 
Resurgam said:
If you check your levels for a few days it should soon show a clear pattern of how your diet changes your blood glucose levels.
Click to expand...

Just waiting for meter to arrive and also downloaded Carbs & Cals - think that’ll be a treasure. Thanks for your help
 

I very much doubt it would be per day. That is a very low amount for most people, never mind a pre-diabetic. She will have meant per meal. However, your meter will tell you what your personal tolerance level is, which may be more than this or it may be less. It also doesn't need to be exact. It is just a guide.
 
I've made a curried version yesterday but adjusted the recipe due to the carb level in the original recipe
Used

500g butternut squash
150g sweet potato
1 x 400 ml can coconut milk
2 tablespoons curry powder
250 mls vegetable stock
Cream to serve

Slice or dice the squash and sweet potato. Drizzle with a little olive oil and the curry powder and mix. Spread on a warmed baking tray and roast at 180c fan for 30 mins.
Open the can of coconut milk and blend with the roasted veg. I found it was still too thick so added the veggie stock. Add a dash of cream to the warmed soup before serving. I got 4 portions out of this.
As many have said you need to test to see the effect. I did this yesterday and it had next to no effect (only raised me 0.1) and I tested ever 30 mins for 3 hrs. It won't be the same for everyone though. For example, I love porridge but it gives me a horrible spike whereas others can eat it.
@miahara does another version with butternut squash and peanut butter which may be worth a try. It's all down to what you can tolerate and it takes a lot of testing to find out. Gets better once you know though.
 
If you use a free app like my fitness pal, you can input recipes and get a breakdown of carbs etc per portion. I either input the nutritional data for each item by scanning the bar code on packaging or if theres no barcode I search for the name of the item +uk as different countries show data differently
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/
 
glucogirl6499 said:
Thanks I’ll take a look at that one too
Click to expand...
Another two are my sugr and spark people. They take a bit more sorting out I found but once you built up a database they're fine. My fitness pal is easy to use but some times the data looks a bit suspect as it is member entered. Didn't stop me using it though.
 
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