Newly diagnosed Vegan diabetic

[Catherinegf]

Diabetes runs in my family. My mother and grandfather have type 2 diabetes. I am of a normal weight. I exercise. I eat an incredibly healthy vegan diet. I don't eat huge amounts of carbs. I tend to rely on pulses for protein. Mainly chickpeas as I love houmous. Can anyone offer me any advice on how to lower my glucose levels by changing my diet? I've been prescribed metformina but I really don't like the idea of being on pills for the rest of my life. I do have an underactive thyroid aswell. I take thyroxine for this and have done for years. My BMI is around 23. My HBAC1 was 51 today. My fasting glucse level is 129 mg/dl , or 7.2mmol/L

Any advice on how to modify my diet is hugely approecaited. If I can't eat pulses I've no idea where to get my proteins from!
Edited to say - type 2 diabetes and I'm in my 40's

 

[lucylocket61]

Diabetes runs in my family. My mother and grandfather have type 2 diabetes. I am of a normal weight. I exercise. I eat an incredibly healthy vegan diet. I don't eat huge amounts of carbs. I tend to rely on pulses for protein. Mainly chickpeas as I love houmous. Can anyone offer me any advice on how to lower my glucose levels by changing my diet? I've been prescribed metformina but I really don't like the idea of being on pills for the rest of my life. I do have an underactive thyroid aswell. I take thyroxine for this and have done for years. My BMI is around 23. My HBAC1 was 51 today. My fasting glucse level is 129 mg/dl , or 7.2mmol/L

Any advice on how to modify my diet is hugely approecaited. If I can't eat pulses I've no idea where to get my proteins from!

Welcome. It's a big help if you can put what type of diabetes you have in your profile, then others can see straightaway what sort of information we can give.

 

[Diakat]

I am assuming T2 from family history and a1c value - correct me if that is wrong.
Do you have a meter? Testing will tell you what your levels are and if you are in range.
Swapping the pulses for tofu may help with levels.

 

[EllieM]

Edited to say - type 2 diabetes and I'm in my 40's

Have they checked that you are T2 rather than T1/LADA ? Or just assumed because of your age and family history? (They should do a GAD antibody test and a c-peptide test because the number of T1s initially misdiagnosed as T2 is seriously scary.). A Vegan diet would be much easier for a T1 than a T2.

I give hummus to my T2 low carb dad (he goes for under 30g per meal so 90g per day), and combine it with raw vegetables instead of bread.

Avocadoes, glorious avocadoes?

Maybe sit down and work out exactly how many carbs you are having per day and then see how you can reduce it. Also, get a meter, so you can tell which foods your body can tolerate and which it can't. The carbs in pulses tend to break down much more slowly than in bread, so it may be that your body will tolerate them better, but you won't know without a meter.

Good luck.

 

[Diakat]

Calling on @Marie 2 who is a long standing vegan, T1.

 

[Mr_Pot]

The usual advice on this forum for those wanting to reduce their carbs is to eat more meat and dairy. Obviously that is no use to a vegan, unless the reason you eat a vegan diet is not ethical but because of perceived health benefits, in which case you might reconsider.

 

[ziggy_w]

Diabetes runs in my family. My mother and grandfather have type 2 diabetes. I am of a normal weight. I exercise. I eat an incredibly healthy vegan diet. I don't eat huge amounts of carbs. I tend to rely on pulses for protein. Mainly chickpeas as I love houmous. Can anyone offer me any advice on how to lower my glucose levels by changing my diet? I've been prescribed metformina but I really don't like the idea of being on pills for the rest of my life. I do have an underactive thyroid aswell. I take thyroxine for this and have done for years. My BMI is around 23. My HBAC1 was 51 today. My fasting glucse level is 129 mg/dl , or 7.2mmol/L

Any advice on how to modify my diet is hugely approecaited. If I can't eat pulses I've no idea where to get my proteins from!
Edited to say - type 2 diabetes and I'm in my 40's

Hi @Catherinegf,

Welcome to the forum.

I make my own hummus, but use lupin beans rather than chick peas, this lowers the carb content to almost zero and doesn't really taste much different. Also chia seeds are quite versatile almost have no carbs, but lots of protein.

 

[Jaylee]

Diabetes runs in my family. My mother and grandfather have type 2 diabetes. I am of a normal weight. I exercise. I eat an incredibly healthy vegan diet. I don't eat huge amounts of carbs. I tend to rely on pulses for protein. Mainly chickpeas as I love houmous. Can anyone offer me any advice on how to lower my glucose levels by changing my diet? I've been prescribed metformina but I really don't like the idea of being on pills for the rest of my life. I do have an underactive thyroid aswell. I take thyroxine for this and have done for years. My BMI is around 23. My HBAC1 was 51 today. My fasting glucse level is 129 mg/dl , or 7.2mmol/L

Any advice on how to modify my diet is hugely approecaited. If I can't eat pulses I've no idea where to get my proteins from!
Edited to say - type 2 diabetes and I'm in my 40's

Hi there,

I'm not a vegan but do partake in the occaisional dish.
Quite partial to anything with mushroom or cauliflower steaks..
Sautéed courgette instead of the classic chip. I don't mind experimenting.

What I will do is tag in @Chook & @Walking Girl . Who may have some ideas.

I would advocate using a BG meter, which may help with your choices pending on the effects of certain food groups & Blood glucose levels..

Hope this helps!

 

[Marie 2]

BTW, my husband is a type 2 with an A1C of 6.5% and a vegetarian.
@Walking Girl is a vegetarian and a type 2 and should be able to help.
@LooperCat might also be able to give you some suggestions

Hi!

First because your diet was so healthy to start and your BMI is so low. You need to keep in mind you could be a type 1/LADA. Type 1/LADA is a slower progressing form of type 1 and harder to diagnose because you still make insulin for a while.
I was a vegan and when my numbers started to fluctuate they kept telling me I was a type 2 without ever bothering to test me. It wasn't until I switched doctors that I was tested and properly diagnosed. So if things don't make sense, you could be a misdiagnosed type 1/LADA. I'm not saying you are, just keep it in mind. My fasting levels kept slowly creeping up and even a salad ended up sending me over 200.

Exercise is really important as it helps force the cells to use glucose, losing weight really helped my husband but it sounds like you aren't overweight at all. As a vegan hopefully that meant you weren't eating a lot of junk, but if you were you have to clean up your diet and get rid of soda, cookies, cake, candy type thing.

I am a type 1, but my husband eats a lot of what I eat, although he eats more protein in he loves the fake meats out now. Some vegans don't like them but they are an excellent source of protein and no carbs usually. Tofu falls into that category too.
Commonly a lunch consists for me a huge bowl of veggies (I use frozen it's just easier) tofu, seitan or tempeh mixed in. You can garnish it with braggs aminos, nutritional yeast, lemon, cashews or other nuts or I have some sauces or flavored seitan I also use on them. Low carb and healthy, a large bowl is about 20 carbs.

Mastering diabetes is a vegan program, although strict that allows high carbs low fats to control blood glucose levels
They have some free information. scroll quite a ways down for the food eating list
https://www.masteringdiabetes.org/reverse-insulin-resistance-presentation/
https://www.masteringdiabetes.org/recipe/

Other low carb vegan
https://lowcarb-vegan.net/
https://www.staceyhomemaker.com/low-carb-vegan-recipes/
https://lowcarbyum.com/category/special-diet/vegan/
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/weekly-meal-plan-the-low-carb-vegan-menu/
https://www.ruled.me/comprehensive-guide-vegan-ketogenic-diet/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/vegetarian

 

[VashtiB]

Hello and welcome,

I'm not a vegan so no real advice for you- my sympathies though as I suspect it will be a little more difficult for you. My daughter is vegan and I do worry for her if she becomes a diabetic.

Good luck- I hope you find some alternatives to help.

 

[Walking Girl]

Diabetes runs in my family. My mother and grandfather have type 2 diabetes. I am of a normal weight. I exercise. I eat an incredibly healthy vegan diet. I don't eat huge amounts of carbs. I tend to rely on pulses for protein. Mainly chickpeas as I love houmous. Can anyone offer me any advice on how to lower my glucose levels by changing my diet? I've been prescribed metformina but I really don't like the idea of being on pills for the rest of my life. I do have an underactive thyroid aswell. I take thyroxine for this and have done for years. My BMI is around 23. My HBAC1 was 51 today. My fasting glucse level is 129 mg/dl , or 7.2mmol/L

Any advice on how to modify my diet is hugely approecaited. If I can't eat pulses I've no idea where to get my proteins from!
Edited to say - type 2 diabetes and I'm in my 40's

welcome to the forum. I have to echo others who have said maybe further testing is in order, particularly if the Metformin doesn’t drastically help. In addition to type 1.5, there is MODY diabetes. Easy to Google, hard to recap because it’s many different types, but all with a strong genetic component. Did your doctor test C-Peptide? It’s an inexpensive test (at least in the U.S.) and will tell you if your pancreas is producing sufficient insulin. Diabetes is either insulin resistance and/or insulin insufficiency. Sounds like an odd question, but how is your cholesterol? High LDL, low HDL and high total C and insulin resistance tend to “gang together” so cholesterol can be a proxy for insulin resistance and may help determine if that is your issue v. Insulin insufficiency.

There is also a theory of visceral fat in the liver and pancreas being the main problem. Depending on genetics, ethnicity and body type, it is possible for a normal weight person to still have organ fat. I’m not saying you do, just trying to tap into all options here. You may want to look up the Newcastle University diabetes studies by Roy Taylor. There is a story of a normal weight T2 on his sight, who did the very low calorie diet for several weeks and got stellar results.

anyway, I eat a lot of beans/lentils myself and from everything I’ve read the are good for T2, so hopefully you do not find the need to give them up. I personally ate a terrible diet before my T2 diagnosis but cleaned it up completely. I eat a lot of vegetables, with a big focus on green leafy veggies, beans, nuts/seeds and fruit along with some intact grains. Sounds like you already have a healthy diet, though.

edited to add: I sure understand not wanting to be on meds forever, but if you do some Googling on Metformin, you will find there are some who take it without needing to because they feel it may be something of a “fountain of youth” pill...guess my point is, if it works for you, it’s not one of the worst meds to be on.

 

[Catherinegf]

This is a massively delayed thank you! I had some up and downs and it turned out I'm type 1. My GAD levels were off the chart when they tested. My pancreas is a has been! I did look at mastering diabetes and it worked really well for me! I do now have some junky snacks and some wildly varied days. On the whole though I'm not doing too bad! I now have the Libre 2 and that's a game changer. I eat loads of fruit and veggies, combined with wholegrains and pulses. Loads of fat sends me sky high for hours. Also Buttermilk vegan choccy range is my occasional naughty treat. Well that and popcorn. I just accept that I'll run high afterwards. It's swings and roundabouts. I have also found that the colour of my socks seems to impact my blood glucose levels.
I am now looking at potentially self funding the omnipod. I'm just holding out to see if the hybrid loop system is released into the general T1 population.
Everyone that commented, thank you for your time, care and consideration. I came out of denial and listened to everyone's advice. Did a load of research and got a propoer diagnosis.