My husband has suffered with diabetes for nearly 20 yearsthough all this time he seems not to be paying much attention to it. He alwayshad a sweet tooth and would never give up his chocolate and cakes. When we gotmarried I used to bake him a cake for every Sunday and somehow it became atradition. But when John found out about his diabetes he would not have any ofhis GP’s advice that he should cut down on some of the foods and to start doingsome more exercises. He even did not tell me that the GP told him that. Johnjust once came home with the news from the GP that he has diabetes type 2 and thatthe doctor would soon start him on some medications. Me, being a woman andwanting to know more, I started to ask around what this diabetes really is andwhat can be done about it. I even bought a little book to read, but of coursewas hiding it from John who every single time I started a  conversation about his diabetes, replied itwas under control and the GP knew what he was doing and as long as he takes hismedications he’s going to be fine. But with time I learned that this was notentirely true.  One day when I became abit more confident as I read the book inside out, and I found out that few ofmy girlfriends in the village had also type 2 diabetes, I didn’t want to keepignoring John’s approach to his condition and pretend nothing was happening. Afterour unhelpful chat that lasted for over a week John admitted that he reallyliked his cakes and chocolate and biscuits and he didn’t want to be limited.

He agreed to start taking our dog for walks, but he wouldnot give up his sweet treats. His explanation was that he lived long enough tobe told what to do and if he wants to continue eating cakes he would. But Iwasn’t prepared to give up. I had to find another solution how to replace hisbeloved cakes with an alternative.

I started to look into some cooking books, and found thereare so many out there for diabetics! I took few ideas from there and there andstarted to experiment with my baking. First, I just started replacing the regularwhite sugar with the low calorie one, then replacing the flour with the riceflour, and then gradually changed my baking of cakes completely.

Less eggs, yogurt, vegetables replacing the butter and oil,

The most important was to make the change for John gradually,because when I stopped baking his cakes he was just being difficult all thetime. Nevertheless, with my slow and gradual change he handled things better. SometimesI even wonder if he even noticed the change in the cakes at all! The cakes aredefinitely smaller, and in less numbers, and not as rich and sugary as theywere before. I know that the best for John would be to give it up completely,but at least I found a compromise.

So I know I’m cheating but it’s a cheating on cakes and fora good course! I am most happy that John even lost some weight and is enjoyingwalking our dog so much he would not let me go now! He says he made so manyfriends….