A month on from being diagnosed and going low carb

[Lula]

Hello all,

I was diagnosed in April as a Type 2 diabetic - as a total foodie and baker of cakes this was a blow. This forum has been so helpful to me, the nurse I saw basically told me to go away, lose weight, and eat a high carb diet. I wanted to make a post about how I am feeling one month on. This is what I have been doing...

I experimented a lot with breakfast as I don't like eggs and I have limited time in the morning with kids to get ready. Sometimes I would cook some turkey bacon or normal bacon the night before and have it cold with some salad. Eventually I started having one slice of toasted Burgen bread with peanut butter and a tiny bit of St Dalfour jam, which doesn't raise my BG and is very filling. This is the only bread I have now, and one slice a day seems to be ok for me.

For lunch I generally make a salad in a box which could be anything involving cheese, meat, lettuce, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, avocado, tomatoes, onion, my homemade coleslaw...whatevers in the fridge. I also have Weight Watchers yoghurt sometimes which are very tasty.

For tea I usually make a curry or a stir fry. My favourite at the moment is stir fried chicken with a bit of peanut butter and soy sauce, with shredded cabbage, mushrooms and onions. I don't eat pasta, potatoes or rice but I cook them for my family, in moderation. I like puddings, and sometimes have blueberries or raspberries with cream - strawberries made my BG go very high.

I would love ideas for snacky stuff that doesn't have to be prepared in advance. At the moment I eat cheese strings, pumpkin seeds, nuts and oranges, but I'm out a lot and want things I can take with me when everyone else is eating biscuits.

I haven't weighed myself as I want to wait until I see the nurse in July but I've gone down about two dress sizes. I'm wondering what my cholesterol is like as surely a lot of cheese and meat will raise it? I am very lucky as I've managed to get a repeat prescription from my doctor for testing strips and lancets.

I really miss baked beans on toast, sushi, sandwiches and crisps. I've made a lot of mistakes with my diet, such as drinking lots of orange squash and not realising it wasn't sugar free. I have mad cravings for Whole Earth peanut butter. I feel much healthier - if I've been very careful with the carbs and sugar, I feel as if I'm buzzing with energy.

If I don't get enough sleep my BG goes higher and I feel rubbish all day. I'm a bit constipated!

What works for you? I'd love to know what everyone else is eating.

Lula x

 

[silverbox]

Hello!

I'm a Type 1 in my 30s .....

Oddly enough, I find baby food really fills me up, AND its low in carbs/sugar!! Its great as a snack when you don't have much time. I usually have a couple of jars during my work shift, or if I'm out and about and hungry - I'll even start the day with some! The desserts are great! Precede them with one of the baby food 'meal' jars and they should curb any spikes!

Don't knock it till you've tried it!! Just a suggestion anyhow.....

 

[sparkles]

Hi Lulu,

I am also type 2 and have also just begun my first low carb diet ever. I’m assuming you meant to say the nurse told you to veat a ‘low carb diet’ I liked hearing how you are doing it and how you’re feeling. Reading my Atkins books I realise that the excess energy feeling is quite normal (as well as being good.)
I don’t know ’burgen bread’ but Im sure I couldn’t have it just yet anyway. (Im on foundation stage) I am not really craving bread ...but I do miss it. I used to love my toast on a morning. I knew things were going wrong for me diabetes wise when I would wake through the night craving it… then pop down the dilly dancers and satisfy the craving with anything up to 6 slices of toast and jam! (How bad was that!) When one day I realised I’d had 12 slices beteen going to bed and waking so I went back to the Drs. They had been banging on about the need for me to diet for a year or two and I did try, ...half heartedly (low fat diets as in nhs literature) ... but it never lasted . I just love food! I was very silly not to sit up and take notice of what everyone was saying to me for so long but I went into denial I guess. I LOVE FOOD and they were wanting to deny me it. I cant survive emotionall or physically on lettuce leaves like some can. I just couldnt so it but more so I didn't even want to. This time’s different. I'm not craving on this diet. Im not hungry to the point of discomfort either. This time I think I can do it. and because I think I can I'm more motivated and I'm more likely to succeed.

I cant wait for the day I can eat bread again but t know that for me it must from now on always be a low carb one probably. (they say if you stop you put wieght back on. ) I'm trying to see this diet as a life changing excercise. I'm trying to re'educate myself with healthy attitudes and mind set. I want to know what Im eating so I'll go for raw, unprocessed ingrdients. If I dont know what it is I'll read about it on wikipaedia and Im collecting recipes and ideas. It is a life change. I'm on a new journey so its getting rather exciting. I thought I couldnt do it because of my low income but now I know I can. The hardest part is closing my eyes to high price on what I would once have seen as a luxury comodity. (but telling myself, look you've earned that... I'd have spent three times that much on ****** proccessed foods over the last week or two if I had'nt been on this diet. Veg is comparatively cheap.) I’ve been collecting together low carb bread recipes and investigating the different types of flour and what they are and how they act. I want to be able to eat well and not feel hungry in future (as well as control my BG and weight.). Re low income- speciality low carb loaves are probably expensive so I think its good to try and become self sufficient here.

I was also interested in your use of peanut butter.. Something else I love. - How is peanut butter in terms of low carb diets? Is it low carb ok? I suppose so as long as NAS but not yet for me in foundation stage. I also love it in cooked foods esp incl chicken.

For my snacks I like slices of red pepper. Sometimes as long as I don’t have too long to wait a few thin slices of red pepper staves off a hunger attack. For breakfast this morning I had two boiled eggs cut in half with a thin slice of Mediterranean salad cheese ((lidl) something likeFeta) on top with a tiny bit of mustard on top of that. It felt quite substantial. Macadamia nuts are supposed to be excellent and low carb (by comparison to other nuts I think) I love silver box’s idea of the baby food as a take out snack.. And there must be such a variety including desserts!!! But not being allowed fruit yet these too will have to wait for me/ L I have also wondered what my cholesterol is doing with me eating all those eggs, far more than I would normally. In Atkins diet revolution book though he does say don’t get tested after only two weeks wait till after 6 weeks as than it will show. So I’ll wait a bit longer before getting tested.

I also don’t sleep so well very occasionally. At one stage it was my legs jittering that kept me awake. Ive since discovered atkins says this is common in foundation stage and can be because of low levels of three micronutrients - potassium ? ? - Cant remember . He suggests finding suppliments. Which I’ll doe if it worsens or doesn’t stop. That’s interesting I Will check to see if I also get highter BG readings after a bad nights sleep. I havent had any constipation until the other day and then I did.. Quite distressing isn’t it? Spoiled my day. But seem to have got over it.
;
Don’t know what Im going to have tonight yet. I have an NHS diabetes book from the library with 50 recipes in it.. I quite fancy this one which has virtually no carbohydrate in it :

Bhuna Fish Steaks
4 cod steaks 150gm/ 51/2 oz each.
1 tbsp olive oil
For the marinade:
1 inch freshly ground ginger root grated
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp mustard powder
1 Tblsn lemon juice
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper.
1. Mis the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl with a tablespoon of hot water to make a paste.
2.cover the fish steaks both sides with the marinade paste and stand for 15 mins.
3. Line a grill pan with foil and coat with a little oil
4/ preheat grill
5.drizzle half the oil over the fish steaks and grill for 6 mins.
6.turn steaks over drizzle the remaining oil over them and grill a further 5 mins.
7.serve with rice or naan bread and curried vegetables.

Of cause I cant have the naan bread or the rice so I would have to have mote veg. Actually my problem is I don’t have fish steaks either- Problem!! - but I do have some of those little cheap frozen cod in butter sauce blocks and I’m thinking I could adapt to use them. We’ll see.

Keep it up lulu all sounds good to me..
SPARKLES

 

[sparkles]

just had to let you know the tesco value cod in butter sauce worked fine in that recipe. There are only 2 of us. I took 4pks from the freezer 2 for tonight and 2 for tomorrow. (Half the marinade is also put aside for tomorrow.) I opened the fish pks while semi frozen and scraped the butter sauce into a pan then mixed loads of herbs into it and used it as a dressing for steamed cauliflower. The remaining fish looked pathetic - only a thin sliver about 2 ins x 3 ins if that. But it was beautiful when grilled -almost meaty. I'll see if I can copy that recipe onto the low carb recipe thread so it doesnt get lost.
SPARKLES.