Eat to beat diabetes: Delicious dinners that are just 500 calories (2024)

Gnawing hunger. Deprivation. For so many people, these are the images that dieting immediately conjures to mind — until now.

The incredible success of my revolutionary 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet is changing the face of weight loss.

Research has shown that eating 800 calories a day for eight weeks is the best way to lose weight quickly, correct your blood sugar levels and dramatically reduce your risk of diabetes.

And my diet plan is backed by studies which show that if it is done properly, a rapid weight-loss diet can be a safe and effective way to cut dangerous belly fat and achieve your weight-loss goals.

And it’s really not difficult. Where’s the hardship when you can tuck into 800 calories of deliciously comforting cauliflower cheese, quiche or coq au vin?

As your blood sugar levels improve you simply won’t feel hungry any more.

All this week, the Mail is featuring scrumptious low-calorie recipes from the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet Recipe Book, created by my wife, GP Dr Clare Bailey, who has been using this approach very successfully with her patients.

Working with nutritionist, Dr Sarah Schenker, she has created meals which contain healthy fats and nutrients and are specially designed to banish cravings and keep you feeling fuller for longer.

The real secret of the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet is the effect it has on a hormone called insulin.

Insulin is produced by your pancreas and one of its jobs is to keep your blood sugars under control. When you eat a sugary or starchy meal your blood sugar levels start to rise, rapidly.

Because high blood sugar levels are bad for your body, your pancreas starts to pump out insulin, to bring your blood sugar levels down. At the same time insulin will also encourage your body to store excess calories as fat. If you keep on eating a lot of sugary, starchy foods then your pancreas will struggle to keep up, desperately pumping out ever more insulin.

This will not only make you fatter and hungrier, but will also raise the risk that your body will either become resistant to the effects of insulin or your pancreas will stop producing it.

Either way, you will have joined the nearly four million people in the UK who have type 2 diabetes.

The way to break this vicious cycle is to bring your insulin levels down. And that’s where the 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet comes in.

If you can cut right back on sugars and starches — bread, white rice, pasta and potatoes as well as cakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks — you will be heading in the right direction. The recipes featured all this week show you just how deliciously easy it is to do so.

One way to boost this blood sugar reduction even further, is to go for slightly longer periods without eating food.

Technically, this is ‘fasting’, of course, but you can achieve the blood sugar lowering benefits without any kind of suffering, simply by skipping the occasional meal, or subtly extending the period between dinner and breakfast (by cutting out any late-night snacks).

Overnight, or if you skip breakfast, your body gets a break from digesting food and is able to get on with the essential tasks of internal spring cleaning and self-repair.

The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet plan suggests days when you might skip breakfast and have a more substantial brunch instead, or after a big lunch one day, perhaps skip dinner or just have a bowl of miso soup instead.

Doing this means you can be fasting for around 16 hours almost without noticing.

It shouldn’t be tough — research shows people who eat two meals a day feel less hungry and more satisfied than people eating exactly the same number of calories but spread throughout the day.

Each recipe featured in this week’s Daily Mail has been specifically crafted to control calories, maximise nutritional content and eliminate insulin-triggering sugars and refined carbohydrates.

Stick this out for eight weeks and the impact on your weight — and your blood sugar levels — will be dramatic.

Indian-spiced prawns

Serves 2

• 250g large prawns
• ¼ tsp chilli powder (to taste)
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp tamarind paste (or ½ tbsp mirin or juice of half a lime)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in two
• ½ 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 100g spinach (frozen or fresh)

• CALORIES 190 • PROTEIN 24g • FAT 7g• FIBRE 2g • CARBS 10g

Marinate the prawns in the chilli powder, turmeric and tamarind paste for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a non-stick saucepan and sauté the onions until softened then add the garlic and cinnamon stick. After 2-3 minutes, add the tomatoes and the marinade (not the prawns).

Check the seasoning and cook the sauce on a moderate heat until it thickens. Then turn the heat to low and stir in the prawns and spinach. Cook prawns until they change colour if using fresh or for 5 minutes if they are already cooked, stirring occasionally. Serve with cauliflower rice or stir-fried shredded cabbage.

Coq au Vin

A classic French dish made with braised chicken and a rich red wine and mushroom sauce. Serve with cauliflower mash to mop up the gravy.

Serves 4

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 chicken legs
• 10 shallots
• 50g pancetta, or smoked bacon lardons
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 400ml red wine
• 300ml chicken stock
• Bouquet garni
• 1 carrot, cut into batons
• Handful of parsley, chopped

• CALORIES 500 • PROTEIN 40g • FAT 28g• FIBRE 2g • CARBS 10g

Preheat the oven to 180c. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof pan and fry the chicken until golden all over. Add the shallots, pancetta, garlic, mushrooms and herbs and cook gently for 5 minutes, then scatter over the cornflour. Add the wine and stock, bouquet garni and carrot. Stir well.

Transfer to the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Scatter over the chopped parsley and serve with cauliflower mash (steam a whole chopped cauliflower for 8 minutes with a finely sliced leek, then drain and mash with 2 tbsp creme fraiche or 1 tbsp olive oil).

Cauliflower cheese

Serves 4

• 2 medium cauliflowers, broken into florets
• 200g ricotta cheese
• 200ml creme fraiche
• ½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 100g mature Cheddar, grated
• 50g diced bacon or lardons, fried (optional)
• 2-3 large jalapeno peppers from a jar, diced (optional)
• 50g Parmesan, grated

• CALORIES 450 • PROTEIN 20g • FAT 39g • FIBRE 2g • CARBS 5g

Preheat the oven to 160c. Place the cauliflower florets in a baking dish in the oven (mix in broccoli florets, too, if you like). In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the ricotta, creme fraiche, Worcestershire sauce and Cheddar. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove the cauliflower from the oven after about five minutes, stir in the bacon and jalapeno peppers, if using, then pour over the cheese sauce. Scatter with Parmesan and return to the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the mixture is bubbling and brown on top. Serve with fresh greens.

Chicken wrapped in Parma ham

The chicken absorbs the flavours from the Parma ham, which forms a delicious crust.

Serves 2

• 1 heaped tbsp full-fat cream cheese
• 1 garlic clove, crushed or finely chopped
• 2 small skinless chicken breasts
• 6 slices of Parma ham (or prosciutto or serrano)
• 1 tbsp olive oil

• CALORIES 320 • PROTEIN 39g • FAT 18g • FIBRE 0g • CARBS 0g

Preheat the oven to 180c. Mix together the cream cheese and garlic and season with black pepper and a pinch of salt. Spread the mixture over the surface of the chicken breasts and wrap 2-3 slices of ham around each. Drizzle with olive oil, place it in an oven dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the juices run clear (not pink) when pierced with a sharp knife.

Serve with a salad or green vegetables.

Salmon with lemon and dill

Serves 4

• 3 peppers (red and yellow) chopped into large pieces
• 2 courgettes, roughly sliced
• 2 red onions, chopped into wedges
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 1 small egg
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Handful of dill, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp walnuts, crushed
• 2 tbsp ground almonds
• 4 salmon fillets

• CALORIES 370 • PROTEIN 28G • FAT 23G • FIBRE 4G • CARBS 14G

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Put the peppers, courgettes and onions in a baking dish or tray, season and drizzle the olive oil. Start baking them in the oven while you prepare the fish. Beat the egg in a bowl and mix in the lemon zest, dill, walnuts and almonds, then season with a pinch of salt and black pepper.

Remove the vegetables from the oven after 10 minutes and place the salmon on top, leaving a gap between each fillet. Spoon the nut crumb mixture evenly over each fillet and return them to the oven for another 15- 20 minutes.

Serve with the roasted vegetables.

Chilli squid with lentils

Serves 4

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 250g pack ready-cooked Puy lentils
• Juice of half a lemon
• 4 medium-sized squid, cleaned
• 4 generous tsp sweet chilli sauce or 3 large red chillies, diced and mixed with 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil and seasoned

• CALORIES 160 • PROTEIN 18g • FAT 5g• FIBRE 3g • CARBS 13g

Sweat the onion in olive oil until it starts to brown. Stir in the lentils and simmer for a few minutes to heat them through. Season with salt, black pepper and lemon juice.

Cut each squid tube open, lay it flat and score the inner surface with a sharp knife in cross-hatch lines about 1cm apart.

Season and cook on a very hot griddle with the cross-hatched side down for 1-2 minutes, then turn them over — they will curl up almost immediately, indicating that they are cooked.

Serve the squid on top of a pile of lentils, each with a generous tsp of chilli sauce. This dish goes well with a rocket salad, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

Aubergine lasagna

An excellent low-cal, low-carb Mediterranean-style vegetarian meal for anyone missing pasta (add Quorn or minced meat to the veg if desired).

Serves 4

• 50g spinach, chopped
• 50g Parmesan, grated
• 100g cottage cheese
• ½ red pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 200g mushrooms, chopped
• 1 fat garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 300ml passata
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200g aubergine, sliced in ½cm strips
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 50g Cheddar, grated

• CALORIES 200 • PROTEIN 14g • FAT 13g • FIBRE 3g • CARBS 7g

Preheat the oven to 200c. Mix the spinach with the Parmesan and cottage cheese, and season to taste. Place the chopped red pepper and mushrooms in a separate bowl along with the garlic, herbs, passata and olive oil. Season well.

Spread half of the tomato and veg mixture over the bottom of an ovenproof dish, followed by alternating layers of sliced aubergines and the cheese and spinach mix. The last layer should be aubergines. Spread the rest of the tomato mix over the top and dot with the cherry tomatoes. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until the aubergine is soft.

Remove the foil and sprinkle grated cheese over the top then return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Serve with a crunchy green salad.

Breakfasts

For so many inveteratedieters, breakfast is ahigh-sugar problemmeal often grabbed onthe hop.

But instant cereals or toastand jam just can’t keep you feeling fulluntil lunchtime, instead they’ll sendyour blood sugars soaring,only tocrash a few hours later leaving youhungry and tormentedby cravings.

Alternatively, you can still diet andlose weight dramatically quicklywhen you start your day with a goodhealthy breakfast.

Just ditch the morning cereal andtoast and experiment with differentenergy-boosting combinations ofproteinand plants such as eggs,avocados,fish, tomatoes, mushroomsand spinach. Delicious!

The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet isbased on the principles of the Mediterraneandiet, and that includes somefull-fat dairy products.

So we recommend dumping thosethin, insipid low-fat diet yoghurts andindulge in deliciously thick and creamyGreek-style yoghurt instead.

It might go against all your long-helddietary principles, but full-fat Greekyoghurt has been strained to retain ahigher proteincontent, which alongwith a high fat content means a smallamount (a few tablespoons) will keepyou feeling full until lunchtime withoutsignificantly raising your blood sugar.

There is now clear evidencethat adiet containing dairy products doesnot cause diabetes or have a significantimpact on cholesterol.

Live unsweetened yoghurt willalso help boost the healthybacteria in your gut.

Although it can be expensive,look out for full-fatcoconutyoghurt as a deliciousnon-dairy alternative, too(unsweetened, naturally!).

Eggs — however you cook them —make a nutrient-dense, vitamin-richhigh-protein breakfast or lunch.

They also keep you full for longerwithout pushing up your blood sugarsor cholesterol.

And even though you are cuttingback on starchy carbs, porridgedoesn’t have to be off the menu.

Just drop the instant oats (whichcan send blood sugar levelssoaring)and look out for coarse oatmeal madeof relativelyunrefinedsteel-cut orIrish oats.

These might be more chewy, and youmight need to soak them overnight orcook your porridge for a little longer,but they retain the nutritious innerkernel, and because unrefined carbsare broken down and absorbed moreslowly by your body, they will keep youfuller for longer.

Oats contain lots of fibre, of boththe soluble and insoluble kind, andthis fibre contributes to keepingblood sugars down and supportinghealthy gut bacteria.

Mushroom omelette

Serves 1

• 80g mushrooms, sliced
• 2 eggs
• Small knob of butter (or a dash of oil)

• CALORIES 210 • PROTEIN 14g • FAT 17g •FIBRE 1g • CARBS 0g

Sauté the mushrooms in a drizzle of oilfor 4-5 mins. Gently whisk the eggs andseason. Heat the butter in a small nonstickfrying pan then pour in the eggs.After a few seconds lower the heat, add themushrooms and cook the omelette untilthe underside is golden brown. Foldit in two and serve it while it is still a bitrunny on the surface (it will go on cookingon the plate).

Avocados with pre-baked tomatoes

Serves 2

• 200g tomatoes (about 3)
• ½ tsp dried tarragon, oregano or rosemary
• 2 ripe avocados
• ½ tsp paprika
• Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

• CALORIES 300 • PROTEIN 4g • FAT 29g • FIBRE 7g • CARBS 8g

Cut tomatoes in half, scatter with herbs and bake for 30 minutes at 180c. Meanwhile, cut avocados in half, scoop out flesh and divide between two plates. Mash roughly, top with baked tomatoes and sprinkle with paprika, chilli and black pepper.

Big mushrooms with feta

Serves 1

• 60g spinach, roughly chopped
• 30g feta, crumbled
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 2-3 large flat mushrooms
• 1 tbsp olive oil

• CALORIES 130 • PROTEIN 7g • FAT 10g• FIBRE 2g • CARBS 2g

Wilt the spinach in a pan, drain it and squeeze out excess water. Place in a bowl and stir in the feta with pepper and the nutmeg.Remove the stalks from the mushrooms.

Brush the caps with olive oil then place them on a baking tray flat side down and fill them with spinach mixture. Bake in an 180c oven for 15 minutes.

Greek yoghurt with nuts, seeds and berries

Toasting nuts and seeds transforms theirtaste as the heat sets off a chemical reaction,enhancing the flavour.

Serves 1

• 2 large tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp (15g) toasted seeds or nuts
• Small handful of berries

• CALORIES 200 • PROTEIN 9G • FAT 18G •FIBRE 2G • CARBS 5G

Nicely uncomplicated.Just assemble it ina bowl and tuck in.

Kipper and tomatoes

Packet kippers take 2-3 minutes in a microwave to warm through. For extra oomph, sprinkle with chilli flakes and black pepper.

Serves 1

• 1 smoked kipper (or mackerel fillet)
• Knob of butter
• 100g tomatoes

• CALORIES 230 • PROTEIN 10g • FAT 20g • FIBRE 1g • CARBS 3g

Grill or microwave the smoked fish with a knob of butter, according to instructions. Serve on a bed of tomatoes, either cold or cooked.

Apple & cinnamon porridge

Cinnamon has a natural sweetness, reduces the speed at which the stomach empties and has been shown to lower blood sugar.

Serves 1

• 25g rolled oats
• 175ml semi-skimmed milk
• 1 apple, grated
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• CALORIES 260 • PROTEIN 9g • FAT 9g • FIBRE 4g • CARBS 38g

Put oats and milk in a saucepan, with grated apple and cinnamon. Add pinch of salt to enhance flavours. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick to the pan.

• Adapted by Louise Atkinson from The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet Recipe Book by Dr Clare Bailey with Dr Sarah Schenker, published by Short Books at £14.99. © Sarah Schenker and Clare Bailey 2016. To order a copy for £11.24 (offer valid to October 13), call 0844 571 0640 or visit mailbookshop.co.uk. P&P free on orders over £15.