Cooking without sugar, using substitutes, has limitations. A better policy is to make dietary changes to fresh produce based meals, avoid “diabetic” products like jams and chocolate as they have a marked laxative effect and poor taste.

All the books I have seen when trying to find something for my sweet-toothed father have been useless.

It is different for everyone but post-diagnosis eliminating damaging culinary habits becomes significant.

Sorry this is not what you are looking for but I hope you find something that will please your diabetic friend.

Wot fofro said. Substituting sugar with heaps of honey is not going to help. Best is to kick the sweet tooth. 

Thanks, I was hoping there would be something out there with sensible substitutions i.e. they already replace sugar with dates in cakes. It's easier said than done to someone in their 70s to say - change everything - so was looking for little steps!!

Noted on "diabetic" products - I'd alreayd read around that, thanks.

Atkins diet. 
 

chow down on those naked burgers

a young friend of mine recently started trying to encourage me to try this new diet where you just eat protein... You mean Atkins I asked her and she'd never heard of Atkins... either this sh1te comes around in cycles or I'm just getting old

Old Git/ Eddie it may be what they refer to now as "Keto". It's essentially a new version of Atkins but rebranded. The "science" behind it is is quoted as forcing your body to burn more cals in ketosynthesis but if you read around it it's so so bad for your organs long term. We are not meant to cut out whole food groups (Keto says lots of protein/ high fat and no carbs), we're just not meant to gorge on them like complete fatties. Lots of people will disagree and quote rapid weight loss and miracle results (Keto first became mainstream as it was promoted as short term solution only to weight loss but not to be maintained long term).