Once upon a time, there was a lazy housewife. Late Friday afternoon, she would quickly throw a loaf of gefilte fish into the oven. The challah was a strange, half-baked contraption, and the cholent was a hodgepodge of canned beans and whatever sauces she had on hand. Not surprisingly, her Shabbos meals were always a dismal failure and ended with a lot of cranky children and many leftovers.
Not in vain did our sages declare this. And it's just as true for our blood sugar control. See how a lot of knowledge and a little bit of forethought can earn you a truly restful Shabbos.
Kiddush
The Shabbos seudah starts with a bang… and a real load of carbs. Here are the stats:
33–37 grams of carbohydrates per cup, or about 4 grams per ounce. It's also very high on the glycemic index, causing an aggressive rise in blood sugars. (Like everything in life, grape juice has its time and place — and is ideal for treating a low blood sugar.) If you'll be drinking grape juice or a sweet wine, make sure to pre-bolus to avoid a rapid spike.
Wine can be a better option, but beware of sweet wines that may contain as many or more carbohydrates than grape juice. Look for a dry, low-carb wine — the drier the wine, the less carbohydrate it contains.
Because alcohol can actually lower blood sugars, many people find they don't need to take insulin for the carbs in a dry wine. For the same reason, be careful with alcohol if your blood sugar is low — drink grape juice to avoid an even lower blood sugar.
How much do you actually need to drink for kiddush?
1.69–1.85 fluid ounces is enough. (Use a cup that holds 4.7–5.1 ounces, but there's no need to drink more than that.) Most wines may be mixed with ⅓ water.
Kiddush must be followed by a meal (קידוש במקום סעודה). Cake or cookies are commonly eaten if the meal will take place at a later time or different location. However, those with diabetes may benefit from another option: drink an extra revi'is of wine (an additional 2.9 ounces) for a total of 4.8 ounces. The added wine is counted as a meal according to halacha, and is a wise substitute for that carb-laden cake platter.
Hamotzi
There are two ways to get this right: carefully control your carbs… or use that food scale. Yes, even on Shabbos!
Matzah is the safe way to go since it has the carb count printed on the box and is always the same size. A standard matzah has 24 grams of carbs. Whole-wheat matzah contains 18 grams of effective carbs (22 grams of carbohydrates minus 4 grams of fiber) and is lower on the glycemic index.
Its carb factor is 0.5 — half its weight is carbohydrate. A 100-gram slice contains 50 grams of carb. The same approximate rule applies to all soft baked goods. We call it "The Rule of Fifty" — halve the weight, have your carbs!
Stated differently, every ounce of challah contains 15 grams of carb. An average slice weighs at no less than 3 ounces, bringing it to a grand total of 45 grams! Weighing your challah portion with a scale is highly recommended; it's nearly impossible to avoid errors otherwise.
שיעור להלכה: Two k'zaysim (a כביצה) must be eaten to meet all halachic requirements of washing, eating, and bentching. One matzah amply satisfies this shiur.
Just a minute — did you say a food scale on Shabbos?!
Yes, we did! Although measuring foods on Shabbos is usually forbidden, it's allowed במקום מצוה. In our case, the mitzvah of keeping blood sugars controlled and taking care of our health overrides the rabbinical prohibition of measuring foods. (See משנה ברורה הלכות שבת 306:36.)
Fish
Okay, I think I'm beginning to relax here. Fish is a protein, right? No carb counting!
Well… salmon is a pure protein, yes — but in which ocean do gefilte fish swim? A&B Famous, a popular brand of frozen gefilte fish, contains 7 grams of carbohydrates per slice; the sugar-free version has 4 grams per slice.
Gefilte fish is made with either flour or matzah meal, which must be counted. Try making it without flour and sugar, using a sugar substitute such as Splenda (and wheat bran instead of flour). It would then be a pure protein. Be aware, however, that substituting sweet potatoes and/or carrots for the sugar may not alter the carbohydrate content per portion — these are high-carb vegetables.
In general, you can calculate the carbs in any personal recipe by adding together all the carbohydrates included (the total amounts of flour and sugar) and then dividing that number by the number of portions made.
Soup & add-ins
Chicken broth is easy — but wait a moment! What about the lukshen and kneidlach?
First, there are some soup vegetables worth mentioning. Beware of sweet potatoes, which contain 28 grams of carb per ½ cup. Carrots weigh in at 8 grams of carb each (cooked; about ½ cup). Any soup cooked with these vegetables will absorb some — though certainly not all — of those carbohydrates.
The carb count of kneidlach (matzah balls) varies with your recipe. Use the same method: calculate total carbohydrates in the recipe, divide by the number of balls yielded. For example, a standard recipe with 22 grams of carbohydrates that makes 5 medium balls contains 4.4 grams of carb per ball.
As for noodles, ½ cup of cooked noodles contains 20 grams of carbohydrates — about 5 grams per 2 tablespoons. Serve with a tablespoon-sized scoop and the carb counting will be a breeze.
Low-carb dieters can make pesach'dige "lokshen" — purely fried eggs, a protein. You can include a bit of soy flour and seltzer to give the egg mixture additional substance. Or, omit the noodles entirely and just go with low-carb soup vegetables — celery, zucchini, white radishes, turnips, kohlrabi.
Main course
Here are the carb counts of some typical Shabbos sides. But we don't know exactly what's on your plate! The actual measuring and calculating is still up to you.
- Farfel — ½ cup contains 15–20 grams. If you cook your own, remember that nutrition facts on the packaging are for the dry (uncooked) product.
- Potato kugel — a 3-ounce slice (typically 2"×2") contains 13 grams of carbohydrates.
- Lukshen kugel, sweet — a 3.5-ounce slice contains a whopping 48 grams. (We've witnessed a chef dump an entire 5-pound bag of sugar into one Yerushalmi-style noodle kugel pan!) Count 40–45% of a sweet kugel as carbs.
- Lukshen kugel, salt & pepper — a 3-ounce slice has 22 grams. Count 25–30% for unsweetened varieties.
- Flour kugel — varies by recipe. A typical 12-slice kugel with one pound of flour (343 g carb), ⅔ cup Splenda (10 g carb), oil, water, and spices works out to 29 grams per slice.
You can also make a delicious, lower-carb lukshen kugel using spaghetti squash and a sugar substitute. Same ingredients as a typical noodle kugel — just exchange the noodles for the spaghetti squash, which contains only 7.8 grams of carb per cup (cooked).
Cholent
Cholent — which needs no introduction — usually features beans, meat, and potatoes. Of course, your family recipe will have its own unique additions and secret ingredients.
Pay attention to which beans you're using. Lima, kidney, and pinto beans contain about 30 grams of carb per cup. Navy beans and barley are really carb-dense — almost 40 grams per cup.
If your cholent is heavy on potatoes, remember to add those into the count as well. ½ cup of cooked potatoes is 14 grams of carbohydrate.
To sum up: ½ cup of beans and potatoes is 15–20 grams of carbs.
You can scoop the cholent into plates using a cup (or any cup-sized ladle) for easy carb counting. Omit chunky pieces of meat when doing this so you get a more accurate count. (To avoid problems with בורר on Shabbos, it's best to leave small pieces of meat in the cup while measuring.)
Soybeans contain only 7 grams of carb per cup — the best choice for low-carbers. Other carb-cutting tricks: go heavy on the meat, use tofu instead of potatoes, and add fresh pumpkins, turnips, or kohlrabi to the cholent instead of potatoes and carrots.
And now… for dessert!
For canned compote, just consult the label. Sweetened applesauce contains about 20–25 grams of carbohydrates in ½ cup; unsweetened contains 12–15 grams in the same amount.
Those on a lower-carb diet can make compote by mixing various berries with water and Splenda.
It's all in the timing
If you're still reading this article, you're probably aware that a typical Shabbos seudah contains a lot of carbs — possibly a lot more than you ever realized! Accurate carb counting is certainly the first step to excellent control; however, it's not the entire story. Insulin is all about the timing, and this is especially true on Shabbos.
Since the Shabbos meal often lasts over an hour from beginning to end (and cholent is usually served towards the end of the meal), a single bolus of insulin before eating is just not a good idea. In addition, dietary fat, protein, and the fiber from those cholent beans will all work to slow down the absorption of the Shabbos food.
What to do? Try pre-bolusing for the grape juice and challah, and then continue to bolus as necessary throughout the meal — "bite and bolus."
An extended, square wave, or dual wave bolus are also excellent options, especially before the cholent.
Depending on your prior experiences, you may or may not choose to administer insulin for protein as well. Most people do require some additional insulin for the Shabbos meal, when a large amount of protein is consumed.
Next Erev Shabbos, make sure your diabetes control earns a place on your to-do list. Then, sit back and enjoy our day of heavenly rest. Ahh… Shabbos!