Breakfast Recipes (6g or lesser carb)

This page is dynamic. I will keep adding more recipes as I find them, try them out and see how they impact my blood sugar.

This is one of the most difficult problems for me as a Indian Vegetarian diabetic i.e. Finding enough variety of things to eat that have low carbs. The other day, we visited an Indian Temple and went to their Prasad shop to pick something to eat. There was idli, vada, chutney, tamarind rice and yogurt rice i.e. absolutely nothing to eat for a diabetic. Anyways, made me glad I had packed my food with me.

Note: I need protein at breakfast as without that I will get hungry very quickly. I am always having 1 scoop of Optimum Nutrition Whey protein with my breakfast. It has 24g of protein and the actual carb content depends on the flavor. Usually it adds 2 grams of carb per scoop. Factor that into your diet plan.

Breakfast Recipes:

Sautéed and browned Tofu with Mushrooms, Jalapeno and Green onions (chives)

Costco's organic tofu has about 9 grams of carbs in one whole block that I absolutely cannot finish in one go. So you can cut half a block and cut the block into 1 cm square. Use 1 or 1/2 tbsp. oil, heat it in a non-stick pan then put the tofu in there. Sprinkle sabji/garam masala on it Stir fry at high flame

until the tofu becomes brown on the sides. When nearly done, put finely chopped Jalapeno and Green Onions in there. Add salt to taste.

Note: I am a bit conflicted about the mushroom. It might be worth putting the mushrooms after the tofu is browned in the same pan or sautee the mushrooms in 1/2 tbsp. oil separately. The mushrooms release a ton of water and the entire dish turns soggy. Not my favorite, but it does fill you up. In past,  I have even tried draining the mushroom water into a separate container to let it dry faster. I then drank the mushroom water... It tasted pretty mushroomy and was not bad actually.

Note: Additionally,  you can put chopped celery in the mix as well to add a bit more flavor.

Zucchini pizza

Cut 1 Zucchini into thin slices, chop about 60 grams of your favorite cheese into thin strips and sprinkle on top of the zucchini and bake for a minute or two in the microwave until the cheese starts flowing and covering the zucchini. Eat it while still hot. Microwave baked zucchini starts grossing me out when it is cold. 60gram cheese will have usually 2 grams of carbs in it. 1 cup Zucchini adds about 5gram carbs. So, this might be slightly over 6 grams, but oh, well.

Note: you can try a cast iron pan or grill to slightly sear zucchini for better taste.

Dishes based on Shirataki Noodles and Tofu Noodles

Recently, I discovered the joy of Shirataki Noodles at my brother's place. I could not actually believe that something like this existed. Although Tofu Noodles have very little carbs, about 3 grams or so per serving, the Shirataki noodles have 0 carbs, 0 sugars, 0 proteins and well.. 0 calories. Those fantastic Japanese folks. I could kiss them :) I have tested my blood sugar after eating them just to be sure, and they don't raise the blood sugar at all.

Essentially, you can stir fry any number of vegetables (celery, green onions, capsicum/bell pepper) and add the drained Shirataki noodles in there and you have am amazing breakfast.

Note: The key ingredient of the Shirataki Noodles is called Konjac, which is the flour from the root of the Devil's Tongue plant. It thickens really quickly and very little is required to thicken soups or other dishes where thickening is required. For soups etc, people claim that 1/4 teaspoon is plenty enough. I am planning to buy it from Amazon

Cream Cheese with Soybean & bran crackers

Soybean is pretty much the only grain that diabetics can eat in reasonable amounts (count the carbs) without raising blood sugar too much. Soy is an oilseed, not a true grain so it does have some oil, but given that on a low carb diet you are not having carbs, it is fine to have the oil.

Whole soybean flour is available in the Indian grocery store for very low costs. You can get wheat bran from Whole Foods or other stores for pretty cheap again. Wheat bran has higher total carb but very little digestible carb. For each cup of Soy, I add 2 cups of Wheat bran. Preheat the oven at 450 degrees F. Mix the soy and bran and make them into balls. 1 cup of soy mixed with 2 cups of bran should make about 8 balls. You press the balls and flatten them a bit so they become circular. Chop some garlic into small pieces and stick them into the circular disks. Take a baking utensil and lightly spread raw, dry, soybean flour on the bottom. Carefully place the disks in the utensil and make sure not to press them or they will get stuck to the bottom. Bake for about 20 minutes and you will have the soy/bran crackers. These crackers are very dry and will usually last you a week or two in mild cool weather.

For breakfast you can have 1 soybean cracker with as much cream cheese as you want. Different cream cheeses have different amount of carbs into them depending on what was mixed into them. e.g. Philadelphia onion and chives cream cheese has 2 gram carb in 2 tbsp. If you get pure cream cheese, according to google's nutrition info, 3oz (85 grams) has 3.5g carb. That is a LOT of cream cheese.

One benefit of this breakfast is that this is good for going on roadtrips. You can bake a bunch of crackers and go through breakfast real quick.