Courgetti spaghetti and almond milk (not together)

[Rachel64]

I think this is in the correct place but not entirely sure so if it should be elsewhere - sorry.
I decided that drinking skimmed milk was using too many of the the few carbs that I was allowing myself so bought some unsweetened almond milk - whoa that’s an acquired taste!😉 Managed to have some in my porridge (yes I know more carbs, but on a work morning don’t have time for a fry up). In tea, never again...............
Still on the same subject - really fancied spaghetti bolognese (haven’t had that since diagnosis) so bought some courgetti spaghetti to have in the place of pasta, it certainly didn’t float my boat and didn’t fill me up . Will just stop trying ‘new’ things for a week or two then I’ll try again with something else! 🙂.
Has anybody else tried things and thought the same as me or am I the odd one out?

 

[CathyB]

I tried the almond milk, decided it was not for drinking 😱 but worked ok for making cheese sauce! When I make bolognaise now I don’t bother with a spaghetti alternative, I just have the meat sauce 🙄

 

[Rachel64]

I tried the almond milk, decided it was not for drinking 😱 but worked ok for making cheese sauce! When I make bolognaise now I don’t bother with a spaghetti alternative, I just have the meat sauce 🙄

So pleased that I’m not the only one! Will try the almond milk in a cheese sauce 🙂

 

[Lanny]

Hi, @Rachel64, welcome from a fellow T2 of 17 years.🙂

You may well find your tastebuds changing as you eat less sugar! Sugar masks a lot of the more subtle flavours in food, especially cooked from scratch, & your tastebuds will gradually be re-educated! Then you can try the courgette & almond milk again! You’d be surprised by HOW amazing things can taste once you get used to less sugar in your diet!

I hated sugar free peanut butter when I first tried it but, now prefer it to the sugar version as there is SO much more flavour of the natural peanuts that’s masked by the sugar!😛

I also tried longlife unsweetened almond milk first &, although I liked it on its own, didn’t like it so much in tea. I now use both the longlife unsweetened version & the normal longlife version that has a wee bit of sugar, 2.4g/100ml, & that wee bit makes a big difference in tea!

In 17 years of diabetes I’ve had my ups & downs. When unwell, my blood sugars have been raised & when I get better & they come back down I’ve been amazed by how I slowly lose my tastebuds then, how amazing everything tastes again when blood sugars go down!

 

[Rachel64]

Thanks @Benny G, will have a try with cauliflower rice next time 🙂

 

[Rachel64]

Thanks @Lanny. I have to confess that there is a jar of sugar free peanut butter in the cupboard - tried once. Perhaps I should try it again! I do feel that my taste buds are changing but obviously still have a way to go 🙂.

 

[mikeyB]

It’s interesting how your tastebuds change. I stopped taking milk or sugar in tea a few years before I developed diabetes, and very rapidly couldn’t bear the taste of milk or sugar in tea. I couldn’t stand black coffee, or sugar free coffee. Same again, now I have an Americano without anything, love espresso, and the furthest I travel in milky coffee is a cappuccino or macchiato, again without sugar. Never a Latte, though, where the coffee shot mixes entirely with the milk.

The weird thing is I still have a sweet tooth - I almost enjoy having a hypo so that I can eat a jelly baby.

Go figure.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Getting BG under better control has radically improved the taste of good food for me. A Ryvita is like a little slice of ambrosia; salivate over nuts doused in lemon juice; find myself dreaming of fresh raw snowpeas or bran with kiwifruit.

On the other hand, had some vanilla ice-cream the other day & it tasted like a scoop of industrial chemicals.

 

[khskel]

I occasionally crave cabbage!

 

[stephknits]

I occasionally crave cabbage!

Nope, can't say this has ever happened to me..

 

[Eddy Edson]

I occasionally crave cabbage!

Not quite there yet!

 

[mikeyB]

On the subject of almond milk, it is devastating to the environment. 80% of Almonds are grown in California - it’s financially better than the citrus fruits they previously grew.

It takes 1,611 litres of water to grow the almonds needed for a litre of almond milk. California is in a drought situation. The underground aquifers are being drained. When they go, that’s it. And so will areas of California to subsidence.

Enjoy your almond milk while you can. The more you drink, the quicker it will disappear, along with a lot of California’s life giving water.

If you can use Almond milk without conscience, then go ahead. But there’s a heavy cost.

 

[JMyrtle]

I heartily concur over the almond milk and courgetti, both totally disgusting but why the problem over skimmed milk although I agree that that is totally disgusting as well!
For the tiny amounts involved why not use full fat milk in tea and coffee as it is far better for you than "the skinny stuff" as many vitamins are lost when the fat it removed.
For cheese sauce use cream cheese wicked together with a little milk and you will find it thicked without need for wheat or cornflour.
When it comes to pasta don't forget you can much reduce the carb content by cooking, cooling and reheating it, if you don't believe me check your meter readings and compare the results, if I do that pasta doesn't raise my levels at all but rice does although that can always be padded out with vegetables .

 

[Lanny]

On the subject of almond milk, it is devastating to the environment. 80% of Almonds are grown in California - it’s financially better than the citrus fruits they previously grew.

It takes 1,611 litres of water to grow the almonds needed for a litre of almond milk. California is in a drought situation. The underground aquifers are being drained. When they go, that’s it. And so will areas of California to subsidence.

Enjoy your almond milk while you can. The more you drink, the quicker it will disappear, along with a lot of California’s life giving water.

If you can use Almond milk without conscience, then go ahead. But there’s a heavy cost.

Thanks for that info @mikeyB🙄 I had no idea. I learnt something new today!🙄

It’s not the fat in milk but, the sugar! Semi skimmed milk tastes sweeter & skimmed milk even more sweeter! If you think about it, it makes sense: with fat skimmed away the overall volume is less so, the same amount of ss & s milk is sweeter than the same amount of whole milk.

Edited to remove mistake. Quick post as I was rushing out the door for my Physio appointment!😳

 

[JMyrtle]

Like I said you the proper full fat stuff it's much better for you and you are not losing the vitamin content as you are with skimmed.

 

[Rachel64]

I occasionally crave cabbage!

I love cabbage 🙂

 

[Rachel64]

Thanks for the info @mikeyB. I didn’t realise the impact almond ‘farming’ was having on California! My conscience will be clear as if and when I finish the almond milk in my possession I shall not be buying any more. Will only use it up to try the cheese sauce suggested

 

[Rachel64]

I heartily concur over the almond milk and courgetti, both totally disgusting but why the problem over skimmed milk although I agree that that is totally disgusting as well!
For the tiny amounts involved why not use full fat milk in tea and coffee as it is far better for you than "the skinny stuff" as many vitamins are lost when the fat it removed.
For cheese sauce use cream cheese wicked together with a little milk and you will find it thicked without need for wheat or cornflour.
When it comes to pasta don't forget you can much reduce the carb content by cooking, cooling and reheating it, if you don't believe me check your meter readings and compare the results, if I do that pasta doesn't raise my levels at all but rice does although that can always be padded out with vegetables .

I’ve used skimmed milk for years and really don’t like the taste of full fat or semi skimmed. I like the idea of your cheese sauce - do you think it would work ok using skimmed milk? I must try the pasta too using the cook, cool, reheat method 🙂

 

[Rachel64]

@Lanny I didn’t really think about the sugar content being more in ss and skimmed than in full fat when I converted to skimmed many many years ago as I didn’t want the fat (dieting) then and it was considered ‘best’ for helping with weight loss. It’s only with my recent diagnosis of diabetes that has made me look at the carb content of everything! 😉

 

[CathyB]

On the subject of almond milk, it is devastating to the environment. 80% of Almonds are grown in California - it’s financially better than the citrus fruits they previously grew.

It takes 1,611 litres of water to grow the almonds needed for a litre of almond milk. California is in a drought situation. The underground aquifers are being drained. When they go, that’s it. And so will areas of California to subsidence.

Enjoy your almond milk while you can. The more you drink, the quicker it will disappear, along with a lot of California’s life giving water.

If you can use Almond milk without conscience, then go ahead. But there’s a heavy cost.

I had no idea! Won’t be using it any more then. For the oss time I make my cheese sauce I think I’ll stick to a little semi skimmed 😱