Diet controlled

[Bertiedette]

I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes for 6 years now.I have managed to keep it under control..No medication..Since last Christmas I have become so lazy.Fed up with always being aware and thinking about all I eat....Has anyone else found it hard to stick to a different proactive to food...Any tips ?. Thanks.

[TheAwfulToad]

First, congratulations on such a great result. There are so many diabetics who simply refuse to even try what you've done, and they suffer terribly for it. It's worth sticking to the plan because the upside is so good, and the downside is so very bad.

Can you give us some idea of what you're eating? I'm not diabetic, but I eat a diet with an extremely low glycemic load and I enjoy it a lot. I have a diabetic friend who does the same thing (a little more strictly!) and has no problems at all. It could be that you're needlessly restricting certain foods, or you're maybe not being adventurous enough seeking out new ingredients and/or recipes.

[Bertiedette in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Hello thanks for responding. My normal day is a home made smoothie.Consists of spinach broccoli ,piece of avacodo and mixed berries made with water..Lunch is mainly nuts and a banana fresh figs.

Dinner roasted veg very little meat or fish.Here we go piles of fruit sugar free angel delight..Then just lately too much chocolate in bed.

Discovered having the odd cake or ice cream doesn't make very much difference to my readings .Just had an Hbc1 test taken. Will get the result on Friday next..I hope that I have not gone up again.But I am hooked on the sweet stuff once more. Maybe the reading will shock me into new resolves once more..

[TheAwfulToad in reply to Bertiedette]

It sounds to me like you're just not eating enough. In particular, you need to get a lot more fat into your diet. Your body has only lost the ability to turn carbs into energy, but it's still firing on all cylinders as far as fat is concerned ... as long as you give it some to work with.

Of course, keeping to a very low-calorie/low-GI intake as you are will sort-of work (simply because there's so little of anything in it) but nobody can run on fresh air and water. Hence the hunger at teatime.

Realistically, if you're controlling your blood sugar well enough with your current glycemic load (which is still relatively high), and you can tolerate a cake or ice-cream, you've probably regained some insulin function. Obviously I'm just guessing wildly here, but you could probably eat up to 50g net carbs per day, which makes food choices pretty simple: you can eat more-or-less anything that "normal" people eat except sugar, potatoes, rice, and flour-based foods (pasta, bread, etc). Or at least, keep off them for a while until you've confirmed via blood tests that all is well. Consider fruit a treat; half a banana or an apple is OK, but no more than that. If you're craving a dessert, a few strawberries with a blob of clotted cream should hit the spot without creating any significant insulin demand.

Try a nice British fry-up for breakfast: a couple of eggs, some good quality bacon and a sausage, fried mushrooms, maybe half a tomato. No toast or baked beans. Coffee (if you like it) with cream and no sugar. You'll feel like you can take on the world after that. The glycemic load is close to zero, and there's a substantial amount of fat there that you'll be able to burn for energy.

Similarly with dinner; there's no need to overdo it with the animal protein (meat, eggs, whatever), but do have a slice of something nice with your roasted veg; a chicken quarter, say. Or a Spanish omelette. That's not just for flavour but also your energy top-up.

Crudely speaking, if you were to do 50g/day carbs (200kcal) then you should be aiming for roughly 180g fat per day, assuming you're of average weight. That's surprisingly easy to achieve with added meat, fish, butter, cheese, and suchlike.