Cooking for a type 2 diabetic, especially one who is taking Mounjaro, is tough. Really, really, really tough. I've always been a "home cook" rather than a "take out" person, and I've focused on making food that's nutritious, particularly food that's low in fat, calories, and sugar. That said, trying to adjust to a "Mounjaro diet" has been challenging. According to the Eli Lilly website (they make the medication), "Mounjaro is an injectable prescription medicine that is used along with diet and exercise to improve blood sugar (glucose) in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus." Lily offers a few recipes and tips, but what they don't tell you is how to cook for someone taking the medication.
Mounjaro, according to my husband, who is taking the medication, kills the appetite and makes foods taste different. You also can't eat as much as you once did. That may be fine if you're an overweight diabetic, but often diabetics have lost a substantial amount of weight before they are diagnosed. Many people--like my husband--actually need to gain weight back. That's hard to do if a medication decreases your interest in eating. Gaining weight is especially hard because diabetics need to limit starchy carbohydrates like pasta and potatoes or foods that include a lot of sugar, especially refined sugar. People taking Mounjaro also need to be wary of foods that are high in fats (especially saturated fats), which can cause stomach/digestion problems. I can report that we've been careful to include plenty of whole grains, lean proteins, low-fat dairy, and fruits and vegetables in our diet and to limit the salt in our food as the American Diabetes Society and most reputable health care experts say is "generally recommended." All that "healthy eating" means that cooking is more complicated and time-consuming than ever before.
Cooking for someone taking Mounjaro means that many of the foods need to be made "from scratch," rather than resorting too frequently to the "dump the jar of sauce in the pan" route or zapping pre-made/prepared items in the microwave. Even simple things like salad dressings, ketchup, and barbecue sauce can be challenges because they frequently contain loads of sugar, salt, and weird preservatives. You can make your own dressings and sauces--which, frankly, sometimes do taste better than the bottled stuff--but that takes extra time. Dishes also need to include plenty of vegetables, which provide beneficial nutrients and fiber to those who aren't eating a lot. That's hard if people don't like veggies! Whole grains, in my view, are great. They include lots of fiber and nutrients and, I think, often have more taste. On the down side, whole grains usually take longer to prepare and cook. Lean proteins are fairly easy, but, if you're on a budget, that can increase difficulties. The best sources are often fish--like salmon--which can be expensive. Chicken and turkey are good options until someone in the household protests that they are "tired of chicken-like meat" and "starting to grow feathers!" Fortunately a can of tuna isn't too pricey! Beans and legumes also are good sources of protein and generally inexpensive. The carbohydrate loads in beans and legumes are high, but beans and legumes also include beneficial fiber which helps slow how quickly the body absorbs the carbohydrates.
Baking is, in my view, the most demanding aspect of cooking for someone who is a diabetic taking Mounjaro. Baked goods often are loaded with carbohydrates in the form of flours and sugars, and saturated fats feature prominently. For example, many cakes include four sticks--a full pound--of butter. I've probably looked at dozens of recipes during the past week that feature titles that include the words "decadent," "ooey gooey (if that's a word)," "indulgent," and my favorite, "perfectly rich and dreamy (we're talking about a cake here, not a spouse)." Nonetheless, diabetics, especially those taking Mounjaro, need to be careful of excessive carbohydrate and fat loads. The extra carbohydrates will cause glucose spikes, and the high fats may cause significant stomach/digestion problems. That doesn't mean diabetics can't have an occasional treat, but they need to avoid "decadent" and "indulgent" desserts unless they want to decay (which is the root word for "decadent") or get sick because they've "indulged" in excess of what they should have avoided eating. So, how do you bake for someone on Mounjaro?
Baking for a person on Mounjaro requires creative substitutions and a willingness to accept that baked goods won't be the same as those you might have made before.
The baked goods won't be very sweet. You'll need to cut way back on sugar in all its various forms--refined sugar, honey, agave nectar, maple and other syrups, and molasses. You can sweeten desserts with fruits--which contain sugar but also feature lots of fiber and nutrients--but even those you need to use in moderation. What about artificial sweeteners and all the new "natural" sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit extract, and allulose? Some taste weird, some are bad for you, some can cause stomach problems, and some simply haven't been sufficiently tested to use, in my view. The artificial and "natural" sweeteners also will change the texture of your baked items--and not in a pleasant way. I've decided that sticking primarily to fruit for baking probably is best. That said, using fruit for baking, as with artificial sweeteners, will change the texture as well as taste of your baked goods. For example, it will be hard to bake a crispy cookie (but I'm working on it).
Your baked goods also won't be "light and airy" because of the need to include a significant amount of whole grains in the recipes. For example, using whole wheat or oatmeal flours will make your cakes and breads denser and heavier than if you baked them with all-purpose or pastry flour. Coconut flour absorbs moisture and also will give your baked goods a different texture than before. Nut flours provide a substantial amount of protein to your baked goods, but they also include fat, which you'll need to consider in your recipes. You often cannot substitute flours "one for one."
Changing the fats you use in your baked goods will change their flavor and texture, too. For instance, butter, which has a high concentration of fat, provides taste as well as fat in breads and pastries. Similarly, coconut oil sometimes has a nutty and sweet flavor and sometimes not. It's also loaded with saturated fat. I've had good luck with using canola oil, which has a neutral taste, and olive oil, which has different flavor profiles depending on the type but is generally "fruity." Substituting fruit purees for part of the oil in baked goods works, too, but will, again, affect flavors. For example, you can substitute mashed bananas for part of the fat in a recipe, but you'll end up with a product that has at least some banana flavor.
In short, you'll need to adapt how you bake and your expectations for the final products. You can bake good tasting breads and desserts, but it will be harder than before. Sorry. I will add that you'll get used to the different tastes and textures and learn to appreciate the sweetness of fruits, the nuttiness of whole grains, and the ease of adding oils to batters and dough. Plus, you'll be eating food that's more nutritious and less likely to cause blood sugar spikes than treats that are "decadent" and "indulgent."
Finally, cooking for a diabetic taking Mounjaro can be frustrating because, after all your work to try to make something nutritious and still tasty, the person you want to feed well simply isn't interested in eating. You want them to like your food (that you've spent hours preparing), but they simply don't feel like eating any food. You are hungry, but they are not. If you ask the person what they would like to eat, they probably will tell you what they like or used to like. Nonetheless, when presented with the food--mashed potatoes, for example--the person may simply have no appetite or interest in eating it. Or, if they do eat the food, they eat only a tablespoon or two. So, what do you do? I've decided, as much as possible, not to take things too personally and to keep trying to make nutritious food that's acceptable on a "diabetic diet." Every once in a while, I hit on something that "the Hubs" actually seems to want to eat.
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