There are sugar-free ice creams and toppings (choc sauce, cool whip) available.

Why not ask them what they'd like? Many people do not eat dessert at all.

My BIL avoids all sugars. Even dressings with vinegar has sugar. Deviled eggs, a veggie tray like carrots,celery,red pepper slices with a bean dip like humus...

Savory snacks. Roasted spiced nuts, no sugary recipes. Savory tarts or a spinach puff pastry tart, like spanakopita. Leek and goat cheese.

My Dad was diabetic, as was/is two BILs. The nuts are a good idea, the extra protein helps the blood sugar control, or it did for them.

They also liked this dessert, the pumpkin added fiber and the milk added protein, so it was slightly more balanced:

Sugar Free Pumpkin Mousse

• 2 pkg. (1 oz. each) Vanilla or Butterscotch flavor Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Pudding
• 3 cups cold fat-free milk
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 cup thawed lite whipped topping

Beat pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Add pumpkin and spice, mix well, fold in whipped topping, refrigerate one hour.

I've also made these cookies with Brown Sugar Splenda, and they turned out fine. Remember, though, that the Splenda used for baking isn't sugar free, it's just reduced sugar. And you can make them without the baking soda, but they're lighter with it. You can also add sugar free chocolate chips if you are inclined.

5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 cup brown sugar (I used the Splenda brand)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients, scoop tablespoon sized balls onto cookie sheet. Flatten slightly, sprinkle tops with sugar (if not the diabetic version), bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

Truthfully, though, every diabetic is different, just as all of us are. Some are more sensitive to refined carbs, some to fruit sugars, it all varies. Dad could eat a piece of apple pie and not have his blood sugar go as high as it would if he ate a plate of spaghetti. And just forbidding sugar isn't really helpful either, because those white/refined carbs are a problem too.

The nuts are pretty safe, maybe with some other snacky kinds of foods, like cheese and whole grain crackers and/or olives and if you wanted to add a low carb/low sugar dessert as an option, they could choose what was safe for them.

Or just ask them!

Annie

Fruit and cheese is a classic dessert. Yes, the fruit has sugar. All the starches are only complex sugars. The current interest in Low Glycemic Index foods is that their digestion is found to be slower so that glucose release is extended over a longer period so glucose spikes are reduced.

I have said this before, but it could be useful here. My Type I diabetic supervisor would occasionally forget his lunch. In its place he would substitute a can of Coke that he placed in an ice bucket in the lab. Every now and then he would take a sip over two or more hours. Even before portable glucose monitors, we could watch his blood glucose with our fancy lab glucose monitor.

To the extent that he or we kept any attention on his glucose, it would mainly have been for low glucose levels where temporary comma (or worse) or at least severe confusion would be a serious result. Brief high glucose levels are unlikely to cause any damage. You may recall that before personal blood testing, the best urine tests (assuming one used them) was to catch glucose above 200mg/dl and almost any diabetic could easily reach 800mg/dl urine values.

My point is that while suburb glucose control is a wonderful thing, most people used to manage with far less control. I suggest that most diabetics could easily nibble any dessert over an extended period with talk and coffee similar to my boss with his Coke, and even just eat the whole thing in a minute without any lifetime damage unless they remembered how wonderful dessert was, and went back to them with a vengeance.

Like folks said, depends on how strict they need to be. My friend makes a trifle dessert that her diabetic mom can eat - layers of angel food cake cubes, cool whip, vanilla pudding, and berries; using sugar free cool whip and pudding mix.

I will concur that it depends on how strict they are, by how much they limit their carb intake. Sugar free ice creams could be a good idea. Perhaps some small cookies where they can choose the portion they like. If you like to bake, things made predominantly with almond flour or coconut flour are good options. I would consider these lemon poppy seed muffins. If you do not regularly use agave, honey would be a good substitute. Baking them as mini-muffins also keeps the portion size manageable.

Chas: There is a significant difference in blood sugar control between type 1 diabetics and type 2 diabetics. Type 1 diabetics take a basal insulin that circulates throughout their system during the day which means carbs sometimes have to be ingested to compensate for this to prevent too low of a sugar. Some type 2 diabetics take blood sugar lowering medication but not all do. Further, blood sugar control is highly individualized and different foods and different levels of carbs affect people differently. For somebody just trying to provide once in a while treats for a friend, being conservative is likely the most kind option.

celery and carrot sticks are good but not dessert. I would hope that if they knew thew were coming for dessert they might have saved some carb allowance. Mini cheese cakes, in a nut crust are diabetic friendly.

grind almonds fine...1/4 pound

spray muffin tins with butter flavored pan spray and put a spoonfull of nuts in each cup and tilt so the nuts cover all surfaces.

beat 1 8 oz brick of cream cheese with one egg and one yolk and 3 T sugar and 1 tsp vanilla

divide among 12 muffin cups and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes untill puffed and golden brown.

at this time i would fill the tops with jam but for a diabetic i would grate a little dark chocolate over the top.

tishtosh is correct, everyone is different and Type1 and Type2 are usually managed quite differently. If you get sugar free ice cream, check the grams of carbs per serving (and note the serving size) against the regular stuff. Its the carb count that matters, and some of the sugar free products replace the sugar with other carbs.

I never read labels much until I got a Ukranian exchange student who came here to go to "diabetes camp" in order to learn about sugars/carbs etc. Their food packages were not marked with all the nutrients that we enjoy (or not! LOL) They just ate cake and took a shot! (NOT vodka, that was their Dad's job!)

I obsessed so much that she had to have a bit of juice from time to time cause her blood sugar would get too low because I was over doing things!

One of her friends got carried away and shoplifted some sugar free jam from Raleys!

This was 20 years ago, and now most high end organic stores have sugar/gluten/wheat/whatever free foods and deserts.

Plus all of the above!

Nancy

Thanks so much or all the comments. Diabetes is a complicated disease, and what works for one may not work for another. I love anything pumpkin so may try the pumpkin mousse, although the veggies and hummus is also a good choice. Again, thank you all so much for your suggestions.

as a type 2 diabetic, i have found that eating smaller amounts is best for me i never struggle with sugar but extra carbs will bring on disaster especially with little or no exercise so serve something one can have a very little serving of.....