This come directly from the American Diabetes Organization web site.
Sweeteners & Desserts
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If you have diabetes, that doesn't mean you can't eat sweets. People with diabetes can eat desserts, use sweeteners, and still keep their blood glucose (sugar) levels in their target range. These options are available for sweetening your foods:
Sugar and other sweeteners with calories including honey, brown sugar, molasses, fructose, cane sugar, and confectioners sugar
Reduced-calorie sweeteners including erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol, and xylitol
Low-calorie sweeteners such as ascelfume potassium, aspartame, saccharin and sucralose
Sugar and Other Sweeteners with Calories
In the past, people with diabetes were warned to avoid sugar. Experts believed eating sugar would rapidly increase blood glucose, resulting in levels that were too high. Some people even thought eating sugar caused diabetes, an idea that we know now isn't true. Research has shown that sugar has the same effect on blood glucose levels as other carbohydrates, also called carbs, such as bread or potatoes. Calorie for calorie, sugar raises blood glucose about the same amount as other carbohydrates. Now experts agree you can eat foods with sugar as long as you work them into your meal plan as you would any other carb-containing food. The same guidelines apply to other sweeteners with calories, including brown sugar, honey, and molasses.
Of course, most sweets and desserts don't provide the important vitamins and minerals found in more healthful foods, so you'll want to make sure you're still getting the nutrients you need. Many sweets, in addition to having carbs, are also high in fat and calories.
Further Reading . . .
Forbidden Foods Diabetes Cookbook contains all the foods you dream about eating but didn't think you could! Also, this book contains 150 simple-to-prepare recipes, each with their own nutrient analysis. To find more cookbooks, click here.
If you like sweets, but also want to lose weight, you can try these tips:
Satisfy your sweet tooth with fresh or dried fruit
Eat a small serving of your favorite dessert, instead of something ordinary
When you are eating out, split desserts with a friend or family member
Cut back on the amounts of sugar and fat in your recipe favorites
Try new recipes for lower-calorie sweets
Choose lower-calorie, lower-fat versions of your favorite desserts
Use a low-calorie sweetener instead of sugar for your coffee or tea
How can I have sweets and still keep my blood glucose on target?
The key to keeping your blood glucose on target is to substitute small portions of sweets for other carb-containing foods in your meals and snacks. Carb-containing foods include bread, tortillas, rice, crackers, cereal, fruit, juice, milk, yogurt, potatoes, corn, and peas. For many people, having about 45 to 60 grams at meals is about right. Serving sizes make a difference. To include sweets in your meal, you can cut back on the other carb foods at the same meal.
For example, you'd like to have cookies with your lunch. Your lunch is a turkey sandwich with two slices of bread. Your first step is to identify the carb foods in your meal. Bread is a carb. You decide to swap two slices of bread for two slices of low-calorie bread and have the cookies -- it's an even trade. Your total amount of carbohydrate remains the same for the meal.
Here's the link.
http://www.diabetes.org/nutrition-a.../sweeteners.jsp
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