Indian Food...

[oopsupside]

..... I'm newly diagnosed and will be sticking with the Type of food recommended by my surgery diabetes nurse and the lovely "class" I went to today which featured Diabetes UK quite heavily and was recommended by a professional dietitian and the diabetes nurse.

I love Indian food and have decided once a month is fine. I'm a vegetarian and am seeking recommendations.

Thanks in anticipation

David

 

[oopsupside]

bump

 

[rebrascora]

Hi
Since you are likely just pre-diabetic, if that, from what I have read of your intro post, then very small changes are probably all that is required and therefore on the occasion of a once a month Indian takeaway, then reduce the amount of carbs you eat...ie if you normally have a naan and rice, choose one or the other and maybe don't eat it all but you can bulk your meal out with extra veggie dishes like saag, cauliflower, brinjal or mushroom bhaji. Avoid dishes which contain potato too like saag aloo. Otherwise, go for it and enjoy!

 

[stephknits]

The carbs and cals app or book do a good section on takeaway / restaurant food and will give you a good indication of how many carbs are in your choices. I tend to just have the curry without rice or naan and have learned to enjoy it that way!

 

[oopsupside]

Thank you. I am type 2 and my latest score was 55 so not too bad!

My T2 came about from using the dreaded Prednisolone steroids. I was on 80mg back in March and have tapered down to 20 mg.

David

 

[oopsupside]

The carbs and cals app or book do a good section on takeaway / restaurant food and will give you a good indication of how many carbs are in your choices. I tend to just have the curry without rice or naan and have learned to enjoy it that way!

Thank you I will buy the book now. David

 

[rebrascora]

Ah! I just checked out your into post and there was no reading given at that time. 55 is still not huge (I was double that, 112, at diagnosis 😱) so you don't have to be terribly strict but I agree with @stephknits that if you can learn to eat your curry without rice or naan or chupattis that is best. Unfortunately the lentil dishes (dahl) will also be quite carby so try to opt for the cheese/curd (can't remember what they call it in Indian cuisine off the top of my head... mental block) versions of curry.

 

[rebrascora]

Or prawns if you eat those..... not sure how vegetarian you are.

 

[Docb]

Indian food is not off the menu - far from it but "English" curries from your backstreet curry house need to be approached with caution. The reasons are two fold. First, they come with rice and or bread. Both are high in carbohydrate and will not help your blood glucose. More subtle is that "English" curries are made with a gravy which is got from a huge stock pot and basically made from boiling potatoes, onions and flavourings. The potatoes give you another big dose of carb.

If you do your own cooking then spicy food is not a problem, just don't use carb laden ingredients. Marinade meat in spiced yoghourt and grill it. Experiment with curried vegetable dishes. Eat them with yoghourt based dips or create a "curry" sauce with wine and creme fraiche. Think about long slow cooking in an oven rather than belting stuff out to shift as many customers as possible. Think about curried fish.

If you go to a takeaway then choose it carefully. Look for one with a variety of more authentic dishes on the menu. The one I go to is brilliant. It has an open kitchen so I can see what is going into the dish and more importantly they are proud of their food and want you to see it being made. Last night I had marinated chicken cooked in the tandoor with a veg bhaji. Their veg bhaji is not something indescribable coated in batter and deep fried, but fresh veg cooked in spices. They have several dishes on the menu which are dry curries ( none of that gravy ) which are low carb. Saag Paneer - spinach cooked with spices and cheese - is a good example.

Go for it.

 

[oopsupside]

Or prawns if you eat those..... not sure how vegetarian you are.

No on prawns! 🙂

 

[oopsupside]

Indian food is not off the menu - far from it but "English" curries from your backstreet curry house need to be approached with caution. The reasons are two fold. First, they come with rice and or bread. Both are high in carbohydrate and will not help your blood glucose. More subtle is that "English" curries are made with a gravy which is got from a huge stock pot and basically made from boiling potatoes, onions and flavourings. The potatoes give you another big dose of carb.

If you do your own cooking then spicy food is not a problem, just don't use carb laden ingredients. Marinade meat in spiced yoghourt and grill it. Experiment with curried vegetable dishes. Eat them with yoghourt based dips or create a "curry" sauce with wine and creme fraiche. Think about long slow cooking in an oven rather than belting stuff out to shift as many customers as possible. Think about curried fish.

If you go to a takeaway then choose it carefully. Look for one with a variety of more authentic dishes on the menu. The one I go to is brilliant. It has an open kitchen so I can see what is going into the dish and more importantly they are proud of their food and want you to see it being made. Last night I had marinated chicken cooked in the tandoor with a veg bhaji. Their veg bhaji is not something indescribable coated in batter and deep fried, but fresh veg cooked in spices. They have several dishes on the menu which are dry curries ( none of that gravy ) which are low carb. Saag Paneer - spinach cooked with spices and cheese - is a good example.

Go for it.

I will skip the breads and fried bhaji

 

[Docb]

I will skip the breads and fried bhaji

...... and think twice about the rice!

 

[oopsupside]

Will do. I don’t usually have rice. D