After being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes I had to make several, radical lifestyle changes to get my blood sugar measurements in the ‘normal’ range (70 – 100 mg/dL fasting and <130 mg/dL 2 hours after a meal).  I never really ate sweets so eliminating empty calories found in sweets was not a problem but giving up bread was a struggle.

I love bread.  Rolls, sub sandwiches, muffins, bagels….it didn’t matter.  I grew up having some sort of bread product with every meal and I’ve even walked out of a restaurant that didn’t serve baskets of bread with the meal.  But as a diabetic, I soon realized that bread products that were high in carbohydrates would cause my blood sugar to spike to dangerous levels and I therefore had to eliminate it.

Eliminating the dinner rolls, bagels and breakfast sandwiches were easier to give up and eventually I didn’t miss those but I really struggled with two types of meals that are almost deal breakers for me – sandwiches and tortillas.  I ate a sandwich at least once a day and my family loves Mexican food and we eat it at least twice a week.

Although I tried eating the contents of sandwiches without the bread or eating fajitas without the tortillas, I just really didn’t enjoy these favorite meals of mine without the taste and texture of the bread products.

Fortunately for me, there are two products that I found at my local supermarket that make excellent bread substitutes and won’t spike my blood sugar.

Sandwich Alternative

Joseph’s bakery has a low carb/high fiber pita made with flax, oat bran and whole wheat that provides the perfect canvas to hold my favorite sandwich ingredients.   Each pita contains 8g of Carbs but also has 4g of fiber so the net carbs of a whole pita is only 4g.

I cut the pita in half, stuff my favorite meat, cheese, fixings and dressings into the pocket and it makes for a fantastic sandwich.  Because I cut the pita in half, I only consume 2g net carbs with each sandwich and my blood sugar measurements 2 hours after the meal are negligibly different than if I at the sandwich without bread.

Tortilla Alternative

La Tortilla Factory has a low carb/high fiber tortilla that has allowed me to enjoy Mexican night at the house with the rest of the family.  Each tortilla has 10g of carbs but with 7g of fiber, the net carbs consumed is only 3g.  The tortilla is big enough for a single meal for me but the company also has a larger variety that has only 6g net carbs (18g carbs/12g of fiber) and while I haven’t tried this larger size, 6g net carbs is not enough to spike your blood sugar after a meal.

I can’t bring these tortillas with me to Mexican restaurants but I’ve also found that if I order corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas, my blood sugar still stays within normal ranges 2 hours after I ate.

If you are a Type 2 diabetic and miss your sandwiches and tortillas then check your local supermarket aisles for these products and start enjoying them again.