In yesterday’s post I said we’d stopped eating Ismail Merchant’s Claverack Carrot soup, after I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes– “because of the potatoes and carrots in it”.
Shelagh, in a comment this morning, asked whether it was the sugar content of the carrots that was the problem.
Twelve years ago, when I started reading up about the effect of certain foods on blood sugar levels, carrots featured in the “better not to eat” column in much of what I read.
I have avoided them ever since.
Shelagh’s question prompted me to do some research this morning and I found that carrots are “off the hook” now, in terms of the glycemic index and glycemic load–which measure the effect of various foods on blood sugar levels.
Debunking the carrot myth
Raw or cooked, carrots are good for you and they won’t send your blood glucose on a roller coaster ride. End of story. Why? Well, not only are they a low GI food (41), they have very few carbs. In fact, to get a hefty portion of carbs from carrots you’d have to crunch through at least 5 cups or 750 g (about 1½ lb) at a sitting – a pretty awesome achievement even for carrot lovers.[From GI News the newsletter of the Glycemic Foundation]
Their GL–glycemic load or carbohydrate per portion–-is very low.
In other words they are OK for diabetics–-eaten in moderation as with everything!
I have been a bit behind the curve on this and it’s good to catch up!
Regular potatoes though are definitely NOT off the hook–in particular mashed potatoes and chips (fries).
Sadly Ismail’s recipe for carrot and ginger soup is still “off the menu” for me!
Robin Ellis 
So you will be able to have a few carrots now. I saw yellow and purple ones in the market the other day – the dark ones being labelled ‘witches teeth’! Soon they will have a Christmas theme no doubt….(Santa’s socks or something).
Do parsnips come in the ‘occasional’ category too? I have always thought them too sweet for my taste, but they are really good in a soup with a cooking apple added. Am going to try your sweet potato soup tomorrow.
Have just picked a bowlful of tomatoes from the greenhouse – and still some more to come – if they survive the next week or so it will be the longest season ever (for me, anyway).
No–sadly–parsnips are “still off the menu”.
Lovely to have tomatoes ’til November!
Jimmy has always eaten carrots as vegetables along with turnips though I do keep them to a minimum.When he first became diabetic and I was floundering around trying to find out what he could eat, I asked the doctor and he said that in modoration they were O.K.So you see your mantra does work. Parsips are always a no- no none of us like um.Though your soup will be on the menu.
How about that carrot ginger soup with sweet potatoes instead of white ones???
I think that would make it taste too sweet–but you could try…