Thanks for all your replies.
Yes I am the Ardvark who had a heart attack a week ago today.
Being told I am now Diabetic has messed with my head quite a bit.
I've stopped ALL bad foods and drink and am trying to introduce good ones to replace them.
Understanding how things work is a bit much for a single brain celled Ardvark
I'm getting there slowly
Some questions I've asked may seem daft and stupid to some but if I don't ask a question I won't get an answer.
Like most I have a routine for foods and drink I take to work for instance.
I'm after a menu of foods similar to what I had for work that'll keep both "fat and "sugar" camps happy.
Keeping the fat and sugar camps happy... Well, honestly, you have to keep YOU happy. That's the important bit here. Happy, and if at all possible, alive.
Thing is, if you cut carbs, and you really, REALLY have to do that if it's diet you're going to go for rather than medication (High bloodsugars cause damage to heart and arteries), you should up the fats... It's kinda hard not to, because you're likely to become deficient in vitamins and minerals if you don't. Plus, you'd be hungry all the time if you didn't up the fat intake. You'd just keel over. Wouldn't be doing your heart any favours either if your, say, potassium dropped. I know my mom's been rushed to hospital a couple of times because her heart was just going absolutely bonkers because she was way too low.
It's a bit of a balancing act, really. Okay, I'm going to post my little thing again under here, and hope it'll give you a few answers you can work with, or give you some questions you want answered. No idea whether I'm repeating myself though, so if I am, I'm really sorry. Just a little concerned, because basically all people I knew with T2 who have passed, did so because things went wrong in the heart and oarta department. And they had really, really bad dietary habits, looking back. (They didn't know any better, and neither did their doctors. I'm talking 20-30 years ago eh.). In any case, there's so much you can do to get your health back up to good. One more thing before the whole nutrition thing: When my mom had her heart attacks (couple of days in a row, like afterquakes after the big one hit), she was very emotional for a year or so after. That's absolutely normal. And when I was diagnosed with T2, I got really depressed, because I didn't know I actually had a say in this condition. You just got hit with a whole LOT of scary stuff in one go. I just wanted to let you know that if you're having trouble with it, speak up. Talk here if you want support. Maybe, if you feel like it's getting too much, see your doctor and discuss therapy or medication. Not saying any of that's set in stone, just, in case you're feeling that stiff upper lip start to tremble, it's perfectly alright. We've all been there in some form or another. Just take care of you.
Anyway:
There’s a few things you should know.
1. Practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested, so not just straight sugars, but starches too. Food doesn’t have to taste sweet to make your blood sugars skyrocket.
2. A meter helps you know what foods agree with you, and which don’t. Test before and 2 hours after the first bite. If you go up more than 2.0 mmol/l, the meal was carbier than you could handle. (It’s easy to remember, as you’re a T2: all 2’s, all over the place!)
3. In case you didn’t know already, this isn’t your fault. It’s genetics, medication, decades of bad dietary advice, and basically all manner of things, but nothing you can actually blame yourself for.
4. Diabetes T2 is a progressive condition, unless you (also) change your diet. So you have options. Diet-only, diet with medication, or medication only. But that last option will most likely mean more medication over the years. (And there is more than just metformin, so if it doesn’t agree with you, there’s lots of others to try). So even if going really low carb isn’t for you, you might consider moderately low carb an option, with meds to assist.
5. Are you overweight? 90% of T2’s are. Yeah, that means 10% are slim and always were. If you did gain weight, it was the precursor of this metabolic condition. We make loads of insulin, but become insensitive to it. So carbs we eat turn to glucose, and normally, insulin helps us burn that glucose for fuel. When it doesn’t, that glucose is stored in fat cells instead. When those fat stores are full, the glucose remains in our bloodstream, overflowing, into our eyes, tears, urine, saliva… And then we’re T2’s. So weight gain is a symptom, not a cause. This also means that “regular” dietary advice doesn’t work for us. The problem lies in our inability to process carbs. And most diets focus on lowering fats and upping carb intake. Which is the direct opposite of what a T2, or prediabetic, for that matter, needs.
6. There are 3 macro-nutrients. Fats, protein and carbohydrates. Those macro’s mean we get the micro-nutrients we need: that would be vitamins and minerals. So… If you ditch the carbs, you should up another macro-nutrient to compensate, to make sure you don’t get malnourished or vitamin deficient. Carbs make our bloodsugars rise. Protein too, but nowhere near as bad as carbs do, so they’re alright in moderation. Fats however… Fats are as good as a glucose-flatline. Better yet, they’ll mitigate the effects of any carbs we do ingest, slowing down their uptake and thus the sugar-spike. Contrary to what we’ve been told for decades; fats are our friends.
7. Worried about cholesterol? On a low carb diet, your cholesterol may rise a little as you start to lose weight. That’s a good thing though. (Believe it or not). What was already there, stored in your body, is starting to head for the exit, and for that it’ll go into your bloodstream first. So when you have lost weight and it stabilises, so will your cholesterol. And it’ll probably be lower than what it was before you started out.
8. You’ll lose weight on a low carb diet. Weightloss will help with your insulin-resistance, and not only that… Going low carb might help with other issues as well, like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and depression.
9. Always ask for your test results. You don’t know where you’re going, if you don’t know where you’ve been.
So what raises blood sugars? Aside from the obvious (sugar), starches raise blood glucose too. So bread, and anything made with grain/oats flour, rice, pasta, corn, cereals (including all the “healthy choices”, like Weetabix and muesli), most beans and most fruits. So you’ll want to limit your intake, or scratch them altogether.
Which food items remain on the shopping list? Well, meat, fish, poultry, above ground veggies/leafy greens, eggs, cheese, heavy cream, full fat Greek yoghurt, full fat milk, extra dark chocolate (85% Lindt’s is great!), avocado, (whole) tomatoes, berries, olives, nuts, that sort of thing… Meal ideas? Have a couple:
Scrambled eggs with bacon, cheese, mushrooms, tomato, maybe some high meat content sausages?
Eggs with ham, bacon and cheese
Omelet with spinach and/or smoked salmon
Omelet with cream, cinnamon, with some berries and coconut shavings
Full fat Greek yoghurt with nuts and berries
Leafy green salad with a can of tuna (oil, not brine!), mayonnaise, capers, olives and avocado
Leafy green salad with (warmed goat's) cheese and bacon, maybe a nice vinaigrette?
Meat, fish or poultry with veggies. I usually go for cauliflower rice or broccoli rice, with cheese and bacon to bulk it up. Never the same meal twice in a row because of various herbs/spices.
Snacks? Pork scratchings, cheese, olives, extra dark chocolate, nuts.
Of course, there’s loads more on the web, for people more adventurous than I. (Which is pretty much everyone). Just google whatever you want to make and add “keto” to it, and you’ll get a low carb version. There’s a lot of recipes on the diabetes.co.uk website, as well as on www.dietdoctor.com where you’ll also find visual (carb content) guides and videos. And I can wholeheartedly endorse Dr. Jason Fung’s book The Diabetes Code
. It’ll help you understand what’s going on in your body and how to tackle it, whilst not being a dry read. Not only that, but you’ll know what to ask your doctor, and you’ll understand the answers, which is, I believe, quite convenient.
