Having settled my husband of 50 odd years into residential care at Easter 2021 as his dementia had reached the point where it wasn't possible to care for him or keep him safe at home I had hoped that I would be able to resume some of my previous activities and interests. However I had emergency surgery just before Christmas, which revealed that I have a neuroendocrine tumour (slow growing) and was told to follow a low fibre diet, which is totally opposite to the sort of diet recommended to someone with diabetes. Brown bread, rice, pasta, raw vegetables, green vegetables, beans, most fruits are among the foods that are off my menu!! I had a telephone call from the local surgery just before Easter to tell me that my most recent blood test showed that I have type 2 diabetes. The advice at this point was to cut back on sweet stuff such as cake and sweets, a reminder that potatoes contain sugar, so to go easy on those and to have smaller sized apples, pears etc. I am due to see the diabetic nurse at the surgery on Monday and will ask her advice and have a telephone appointment with the dietitian from the cancer hospital in a week or two so hopefully a way forward will soon become clear.. Any suggestions would be extremely welcome in the meantime! I normally have a positive outlook on life, but the dietary dilemma has caused me some sleepless nights trying to puzzle my way round it.
It never rains but it pours!
- Thread starter NannaH
- Start Date
I’m so sorry, what a lot to be going through!!
The “recommended” diet for someone with diabetes is not always the diet that works the best. Really, rice bread and pasta should be minimised or avoided altogether, whether brown or not, so don’t beat yourself up about not being able to eat brown rice and bread. You’d be better off not eating rice and bread at all.
A good diet for a type 2 diabetic is, usually, one that minimises carbohydrates (not just sugar). So - avoid potatoes, rice, bread, starchy vegetables, flour and of course sweets biscuits and cakes.
On the other hand, meat (both white and red meat), fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, dairy, above ground veg (cooked is fine) butter and olive oil don’t generally raise blood sugar, so it can work well to mostly base your diet around these. Plenty of healthy natural fats, protein, dairy and a minimum of carbs
The “recommended” diet for someone with diabetes is not always the diet that works the best. Really, rice bread and pasta should be minimised or avoided altogether, whether brown or not, so don’t beat yourself up about not being able to eat brown rice and bread. You’d be better off not eating rice and bread at all.
A good diet for a type 2 diabetic is, usually, one that minimises carbohydrates (not just sugar). So - avoid potatoes, rice, bread, starchy vegetables, flour and of course sweets biscuits and cakes.
On the other hand, meat (both white and red meat), fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, dairy, above ground veg (cooked is fine) butter and olive oil don’t generally raise blood sugar, so it can work well to mostly base your diet around these. Plenty of healthy natural fats, protein, dairy and a minimum of carbs
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I’m sorry for all the difficult changes life is bringing you.
Diabetic nurses and dieticians come in two flavours. Those that have caught up with the results low carb has been achieving and the science behind it and those that try and force us to eat the very things that cause our levels to go up as they believe carbs are essential - biologically we can survive without any and we can get all we need to survive from protein and fats.
I’ve even seen that some cancer care programs advocate less sugar as some types “feed” on that sugar, in which case lowering glucose can only potentially be beneficial for that as well as the diabetes directly eh?
Here’s some useful information to have in mind when discussing diets with your care team. If the cancer diet matches better with the low carb most of us follow successful which I suspect it might I’d ignore the old fashioned “eat starchy carbs with every meal” too many type 2 get told to do to their detriment.
Intro to T2 and low carb. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/
All the things I wish I’d been told earlier https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/th...ish-i’d-been-told-at-type-2-diagnosis.173817/
Well most of that is quite lucky as they are also terrible for diabetes too. Bread, rice and pasta of all types and colours are high carbohydrate and raise blood glucose levels. Cooked veg are fine if you avoid the starchy ones like potatoes, parsnips etc. beans and most fruits can raise blood glucose by a fair bit in most of us too.
Diabetic nurses and dieticians come in two flavours. Those that have caught up with the results low carb has been achieving and the science behind it and those that try and force us to eat the very things that cause our levels to go up as they believe carbs are essential - biologically we can survive without any and we can get all we need to survive from protein and fats.
I’ve even seen that some cancer care programs advocate less sugar as some types “feed” on that sugar, in which case lowering glucose can only potentially be beneficial for that as well as the diabetes directly eh?
Here’s some useful information to have in mind when discussing diets with your care team. If the cancer diet matches better with the low carb most of us follow successful which I suspect it might I’d ignore the old fashioned “eat starchy carbs with every meal” too many type 2 get told to do to their detriment.
Intro to T2 and low carb. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/
All the things I wish I’d been told earlier https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/th...ish-i’d-been-told-at-type-2-diagnosis.173817/
Yes, one bit of good news is that a low-fibre diet can be optimal for t2 diabetes. Fruit and grains raise your blood sugar greatly, pulses are also best avoided. My cardiologist tells me to stick to lean meat and vegetables- when I follow his advice, my numbers are good. I like leafy veg or runner beans for more balance, but if that's too much fibre, it's not essential: you can easily eat well and healthily on meat, eggs, fish, cheese, mushrooms etc.
Follow the tumour doctors advice though- my father is T2, and when he gets chemotherapy, his blood sugars drop a lot, so there may be variables.
In any event, I think your diet dilemma can be resolved, and hopefully that will help things going forward: good luck!
Follow the tumour doctors advice though- my father is T2, and when he gets chemotherapy, his blood sugars drop a lot, so there may be variables.
In any event, I think your diet dilemma can be resolved, and hopefully that will help things going forward: good luck!
Thank you for all the support and the great advice. I'll bear the advice in mind when I discuss diets with the medics. It's useful to have done some research and have some basic knowledge of what might be involved. Changing from a 'normal' diet to a low fibre one was relatively trouble-free once I understood the basics, so I'm confident that will be the case this time. Just a case of changing habits and making friends/family aware of the new 'restrictions' when eating out and remembering to say 'no thank you' to proffered treats.
