Snack recipes for someone with no teeth, needing low/lower carb sweetish things

[soupfiend]

So my dad cant eat nuts (easily) or crunchy things (easily) but likes a snack and has been told to cut out sugars as much as he can.

He is very elderly, loves cooking and sent me a recipe earlier for something he will try to cook as being lower carb, its bloody banana bread! He sees this as a nice snack in the evening

Thing is, all my lower carb type recipes and snacks consist of nuts or nut type things

I think he would like the cheese and almond crackers that I saw on another thread but thats a savoury thing, any ideas for things not too hard or crunchy, not too high in carbs?

I dont want him eating artificial sweetners or anything

(also, he does have some teeth here and there)

Because low carb doesnt mean no carb

Im just looking for something lower, swaps, substitutes etc

I eat low carb but still eat a breakfast of prunes and porridge

Hes not on his death bed, he is 87 and wants to experience good health, his doctor has told him to cut out/down on carbs and get his blood sugars down and that is what he is going to do. He is fairly healthy apart from this, has a cyst on his gallbladder apparently and a bit anaemic but thats all at the moment, he did suffer some internal bleeding back in the summer but they reckoned it was diverticiulitus, although he was very ill then

But no ongoing health conditions

He lives with my mum 2 hours away, I dont give him anything!

I was just looking for ideas to feed back because he has a sweet tooth, fruit is fine, its when he is looking to bake things with flour in it that Im trying to advise him not to

Greek yogurt mixed with stewed fruit or banana with cinnamon or ginger. You can also mix some nut butter in for fats/protein .

If he needs to cut out sugar he needs to find non sugary snacks. Why does he needs snacks? Genuine question. Does he have cup of tea in between and want a biscuit with it? Or is he not able to tolerate long breaks between meals? I think your strategy might depend on the issue.
Cheese might be good as a snack e.g white Stilton with apricots it’s still sweet but you can’t eat much.
(I know you can but still…)

Fair enough, your Dad sounds like a great man!

I suppose I was just thinking of my own mother who passed away at 88 and struggled with the instructions given to her about similar diet related things. Half (or more) of the time she didn't follow the rules, smacked her lips after eating the "forbidden fruit", then got very confused and worried that she would die on the spot because she didn't follow the doctor's rules!

I know you are coming from a good place though, and well done for caring so much.

He likes savoury things and I have advised to eat savoury snacks. He knows I eat low carb but I eat lots of cheese and nuts, its virtually what I live on, and he was asking waht I eat, but he cant copy that.

But I know he cant eat nuts because of his teeth and you dont always want cheese and savoury things as a little snack

Its just to gather some ideas about what he could have thats not so nutty but not so cakey or biscuity and he likes cooking so its nice to put stuff together

Neither of them eat that much now to be honest but they will eat potatoes, pasta, a nice pie (pastry) and that needs to be swapped out

I think he might get a bit snacky in the evening thats all.

The key is not to lose any weight as he is very slight so I dont want him cutting a load of calories out

If he's just been told to cut out added sugar then flour may still be OK. I would guess that the banana bread recipe he found had replaced the sugar with banana ? Could he have something like toast or oatcakes with nut butter on ? Oatcakes are fairly soft and meant to be low GI.

Well he is switched on enough to not get confused as such except that despite what I set out for him the other day, and sent him meal plans from diabetes web sites etc, he then goes and tells me proudly that he had cereal for breakfast followed by egg and bacon on toast.

Unnecessary carbs all round!

Is he diabetic / pre diabetic ? Trying to work out the reason for the reduced sugar advice.

Nut butter mixed with almond flour, rolled into bags and then pressed flat work as cookies/biscuits if you bake them for 8-10 minutes? You could always add dark chocolate chips.

He didnt say whether he was told to cut out 'added' sugar or not, but I know from my own knowledge and my OH being type 2 diabetic that the minute you cut right down on flour/bread/potatoes/rice/pasta etc etc, your bloods are a lot more manageable and thats what he needs to do. He can have about 100g or less of carbs a day (includig fruit or veg/milk/pulses/legumes) and be ok

I might simply tell him to get the lidl protein balls that I use

Yes he has been told his result was 48 which I believe is diabetic. I havent seen it though

@soupfiend - it might be worth you actually checking through the recipes / diet plans on the diabetic sites as I signed up to one through Instagram once when my blood sugar levels were borderline concern - and meal suggestions were things like a cheese toastie on white bread !

I know Ive seen some of them, dreadful advice. And my OH was still recieving terrible advice the last time I went with him about starchy carbs being ok

However my dads doctor must be more switched on as he simply told him to cut down/out carbs, lower his sugars and then come back in 4 months to see if its helped his bloods.

Personally I dont eat bread or pasta or most things with flour in (although the odd food still seems to manage to get through!) I eat very small amounts of potato (cant remember the last time I had potato) and very occasionally rice.

What about something like a homemade oat bar sweetener with puréed dates or mashed banana? There are lots of recipes online for that kind of thing. Often with nut butters, which I assume he can tolerate?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating potatoes, pasta or pie as long as it's not all they eat. I think you're being a bit too controlling sorry.

I have a lot of diabetic family members and none of them have been advised to cut anything out entirely, just eat it in moderation.

There is an 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book. Could probably get it on eBay or borrow from the library. I made the no-flour brownies once and they were ok.

Controlling!

He asked me about my diet, that is my diet so I advised him as such

I dont live with him, or cook fo rhim, or do his shopping so have no 'control' over what he does. Hes a grown adult who will make his own decisions. Honestly this site

He eats in moderation already, but needs to very much lower carbs to get his sugars down, the easy ones to reduce and swap out are the main ones, he needs to make sure he eats the right ones which are dairy, pulses/legumes/fruit and veg. It doesnt leave room for pastry, potatoes, rice and bread.

How about avocado with smoked salmon, date, peanut and banana smoothies, kefir/greek yoghurt with chopped banana, homemade rice pudding with low sugar?

If your dad is very elderly is there really any point in making the remaining years miserable by not eating something that brings pleasure ?

Actually he would love a rice pudding, he wouldnt need to add any sugar, I might see if he can make it with something like freekeh or other grains

The no flour brownie is a good idea as well

He loves smoked salmon but he knows how to swap and substitute for savoury food

How about boiled eggs with mayo, carrot sticks dipped in hummus or mayo, roast chicken, cheese, olives.

What about baked oat type things? Not sure about carbs levels but I made some nice baked oats slices out of bananas, oats, a bit of honey and some cinnamon, and milk. I think chopped apple would go well in it as well. Healthier than your average cake I imagine.

Perhaps scratch my above recommendation of rice pudding in light of the low sugar! Perhaps some celery with cottage cheese/cream cheese if your dad is ok with the stringiness of celery, otherwise perhaps apple slices with skin removed?