Flan is a Mexican custard dessert, typically topped with a caramel sauce. An important part of managing your diabetes health is following a healthy diet plan. Desserts such as flan, while not strictly forbidden, should make a rare appearance on your menu. Even if you prepare flan with artificial sweetener instead of sugar, the dessert remains high in dietary cholesterol.
Sugar
Most persons with diabetes can safely include small amounts of sugar in their diet. This may seem counter-intuitive since having diabetes means you have excess amounts of sugar in your bloodstream, but the American Diabetes Association reports that your blood glucose levels are more affected by the amount of carbohydrate you consume than the type. In other words, your blood glucose reacts similarly to the carbohydrates found in sugar as it does to the carbohydrates found in fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes and dairy. However, unlike many other carbohydrate-containing foods, sugar is extremely potent in carbohydrates. Therefore, eating just a tiny portion of sugar will likely cause a significant increase in your blood glucose levels.
Artificial Sweetener
Unlike sugar, artificial sweeteners do not contain carbohydrates and will therefore not cause your blood glucose levels to rise. Purchase artificial sweeteners in a granular form and use them instead of sugar when making flan and other desserts. Five artificial sweeteners currently have approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: acesulfame potassium, aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, and neotame. Using artificial sweeteners does not make flan or other desserts healthy. Even though artificial sweeteners do not affect your blood glucose, other ingredients in flan such as whipping cream and egg yolks make the dessert high in cholesterol and saturated fat.
Milk
Flan contains milk, an excellent source of protein and calcium. The American Diabetes Association recommends that you include 8 oz. of non-fat or low-fat milk with your lunch and dinner meals. Commercially-prepared flan will likely contain whole milk because the fat in whole milk helps give flan its creamy texture. If you make flan at home, use 1 percent milk instead of whole milk. You will save 4 g of saturated fat and 70 calories per serving.
Considerations
A 1/2 cup serving of traditional caramel custard flan contains about 222 calories and 34.85 g of carbohydrate. Keep in mind that the American Diabetes Association recommends that you consume between 45 and 60 g of carbohydrate per meal. So if you eat 1/2 cup of flan with your meal, you do not leave much room to include carbohydrates from more nutritious sources such as vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Consider eating 1/4 cup of flan instead. If you crave a creamy treat, non-fat plain yogurt mixed with fresh berries makes a healthier alternative.
References
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Diabetes Meal Plans and a Healthy Diet
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Sugar and Desserts
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Cutting Calories and Carbohydrate
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Artificial Sweeteners
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness -- Dairy
- United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database
