*sweet temptations

Sweet temptations!

In 2003 my  darlin husband was diagnosed  with Type I (Autoimmune) Diabetes, also known as latent autoimmune diabetes.  In short, his body attacked his pancreas (thinking it was a viral strand) until it no longer works. It was very hard for him, firstly because he has always been very healthy and to a degree I think we sometimes think we are invincible.  He also has a sweet tooth. He was initially diagnosed to be a Type II diabetic, however nothing the doctors did helped him keep his blood sugar numbers where they should be.  We, as a family, removed all refined products from our cupboards. Sugar as we know it. Flour as we know it. Processed foods. Condiments. You name it, we got rid of it.  We worked very hard to keep his numbers where they needed to be and we never saw the results his body needed to be yielding for the protection of his other organs.  After a year of being treated as a Type II diabetic we finally pushed through the necessary steps to get him a referral to a specialist because he was simply not well.  Once we got him over to a specialist, he was properly diagnosed as a Type I diabetic -one who no longer has a pancreas that operates. No insulin at all to offset the sugars his body absorbed. 

Since having been diagnosed as a Type I, his life  has been more fulfilling. While he still has to not go  over board with carbs, he can pretty much eat what he wants. He now has a pancreas- an exterior pancreas.  Well that is, he has an insulin pump- we call it his "game boy".  If he should desire to eat a candy bar and drink a coke for breakfast, lunch and dinner while it would not be a wise healthy choice, he could do it. He would simply pull out his insulin pump and administer insulin through his catheter when needed.  He would never choose such reckless meals, but he might like a tasty cinnamon bun for breakfast every once in a while.

When I bake I often try to keep as many refined products out of the mix as possible. (BTW.. we did add some of the SAD items back to our cupboards) When a recipe calls for flour, I will mill wheat berries to provide the flour needed. Should the recipe call for sugar (white refined), I will use sucanat, sucanat with honey or honey itself depending on the recipe.  These changes will help the complex carbs enter into his blood stream at a slower rate.

Today we had cinnamon rolls!!  We used Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls recipe, but I did make a few changes in the ingredients. I did use fresh milled wheat for the flour, sea salt for the salt and sucanat in place of the sugar.  Warning: The recipe states that it yields for eight people. Um.. that would be some really large buns.. we turned out about eighteen LARGE buns.  This is one of the easiest recipes for cinn rolls that I have ever used. Enjoy!