Healthy, Diabetic-Friendly Holiday Recipes Everyone Can Enjoy

Holiday meals are a time-honored tradition for most families, especially during Thanksgiving. However, finding diabetic-friendly recipes can be a challenge. While it is important for everyone to watch portion sizes and limit refined carbohydrates, it is essential if you or someone you love is living with diabetes. 

The good news is that eating healthy this Holiday season doesn’t mean you have to skip your favorite foods. With a little creativity and a few smart ingredient swaps, you can reduce the amount of sugar, carbohydrates and fat in many recipes and make diabetic meals that everyone can enjoy. 

Try these easy ingredient swaps with your own favorite recipes:

• Replace butter or oil with unsweetened applesauce, pureed prunes or mashed bananas
• Swap out white flour with whole wheat flour
• Switch white cane sugar with sucralose or stevia
• Use mashed or riced cauliflower instead of potatoes or rice

There are many diabetes-friendly websites, including one created by the American Diabetes Association, where you can find delicious recipes like “Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole” and “Gluten-Free Mini Eggnog Cupcakes.” 

Pumpkin pie is naturally healthier than pecan pie because it is lower in sugar and fat. We love this delicious pumpkin pie recipe from the ADA—it’s diabetes-friendly and has rave reviews. It replaces sugar with a sugar/sucralose blend and uses canned pumpkin puree in place of canned pumpkin pie filling. 

Holiday Pumpkin Pie with Maple-Ginger Crust

Nutrition Facts/Amount Per Serving:

• Serving Size: 1/8 of pie
• Calories: 115
• Total Fat: 2.5g
• Saturated Fat: 0g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 135mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 22g
• Dietary Fiber: 1g
• Total Sugars: 11g
• Protein: 2g

Ingredients List

• Graham cracker crumbs (about 24 cracker squares): 1 ½ cup
• Maple syrup: 3 tbsp
• Canola oil: 1 tsp
• Egg white (lightly beaten): 1
• Finely minced crystallized ginger: 1 tsp
• Ground ginger (divided use): 1 tsp
• Splenda sugar blend: ½ cup
• Ground cinnamon: 2 tsp
• Ground cloves: ¼ tsp
• Salt: ¼ tsp
• Eggs: 2
• Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
• Pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling): 1 (15-oz) can
• Corn starch: 1 tsp
• Evaporated skim milk: 1 (12-oz) can
• Light whipped topping: ½ cup

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 425°F
• Make the crust: in a bowl, combine the graham-cracker crumbs, maple syrup, oil, egg white, crystallized ginger, and 1/2 tsp of the ground ginger. Press into a 9-inch, nonstick pie pan, to form an even crust. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, mix together the Splenda, cinnamon, the other ½ tsp of ground ginger, cloves, and salt.
• In another bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together. Add in the Splenda mixture and stir to combine.
• Add in the pumpkin and stir until the mixture is well blended. Dissolve the corn starch in about 2 to 2 Tbsp. of the evaporated milk. Add the corn starch mixture and the remaining evaporated milk to the pumpkin mixture, and mix until smooth. The mixture will be thin.
• Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the prepared crust. Place the pie on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes at 425° Lower the heat to 350°F, and bake an additional 40 minutes, or until the filling is set when a knife inserted comes out clean.
• Remove the pie from the oven, and let cool for 2 hours before serving. Cut into 8 wedges. Top each slice with 1 tbsp whipped topping right before serving.

At Healogics, our Wound Care Centers® across the United States are dedicated to Diabetes Awareness by sharing information and education about the link between diabetes and non-healing wounds. The American Diabetic Association recommends specialist-level foot care for diabetics who smoke or who have histories of prior wounds, loss of feeling, or peripheral arterial disease. The ADA also recommends specialized wound care treatment for patients with wounds that are chronic, previously treated, antibiotic-resistant, or severely infected.1 

Healogics helps our patients with diabetic foot ulcers and other chronic wounds heal faster. Our highly specialized care includes therapies that aid wound closure, foster new tissue growth and wound tissue regeneration. These therapies include total contact casting (TCC), negative pressure wound therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. 

Over the past 25 years, Healogics has helped to heal more than four million wounds. We have partnerships with academic and research-based scientists to consult and analyze, driving collaboration to provide better outcomes for our patients. 

Learn more about Diabetes Awareness.

¹American Diabetes Association, Microvascular Complications and Foot Care: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes 2020

https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/diacare/43/Supplement_1/S135.full.pdf