The exciting world of edibles tends to be… not so exciting when you have dietary restrictions. Luckily, there are other options for patients with dietary restrictions for creating edibles that will work for them. Here’s a guide to just a few.
Edibles for Patients with Diabetes
As you may have noticed, many edibles tend to be extremely high in sugar. Some recipes call for as much as 2 cups of sugar, whereas others require a much more diabetic-friendly 1/4 cup.
Because of this, alternative sweeteners such as agave, honey, applesauce and sugar free pudding are often used in substitution for sugar. Alternative sweeteners can come in many different forms – liquid and granulated, natural and artificial, like Splenda, which some folks don’t mind using.
Edibles for Patients with Dairy Intolerance
Dairy intolerance can make a patient unable to use products made with butter, milk or cream in the recipe. That could exclude ice cream, caramels and many baked goods from their options.
The easiest route to making edibles for patients with dairy intolerance is often to adapt recipes with non-dairy alternatives like oil or margarine, or a non-dairy milk in place of regular milk. A coconut oil-based cannabis butter would be an excellent substitution, as would coconut milk.
Vegan-Friendly Cannabis Infused Edibles
Of course, the dairy substitutions can carry over here. However, you may also want to remove eggs from your recipes as well. This simple replacement would help patients who are vegan or unable to eat eggs due to other dietary restrictions, such as cholesterol concerns.
Try powdered culinary egg substitutes available in health food stores – I know for certain that Newport Market here in Bend sells one that a vegan friend swears by. You can also get yogurt made from rice or coconut – 1/4 cup of yogurt equals one egg.
Gluten-Free Infused Edibles
Gluten is found in wheat, rye, oats, food starch, and several other sources. It can be damaging to the digestive system in patients with Celiac disease, so having a few gluten-free options to your recipe repertoire could be a good idea.
Switching to other flours will be necessary – it may take some experimentation, but there are a few options such as rice and coconut flours, sweet potato and more. Health food stores tend to carry a multitude of varieties.
If you’re trying out a gluten-free option, just change your expectations a bit for what the dough will look like. Gluten-free items tend to have rather different textures than their gluten-filled versions.
