anti oxidants

[la signora]

Hello I have just been told I am prediabetic and am seriously thinking of using LCHF diet.
I do not need to lose weight and have been eating a well balanced diet which included lots of fruit. Of course I will have to give up the fruit because of all the sucrose (this will be very hard). However I am worried about missing out on all the healthy properties of fruit and will eat more veg. Can you advise me what those vegetables should be and which contain the most anti-oxidants.
I would be very glad of any advice.
Thanks

 

[mo53]

Hello. Im sure an expert will post soon to help.

 

[Brunneria]

Hi,

Sorry about the delay - only just seen your thread @la signora .

You asked about veg suitable for a low carb diet. The good news is that almost all veg is good for low carb - providing that they grow above ground.

The root vegetables are not so good, and the starchier they are, the worse they are.

But different people can eat different amounts of the starchy veg. I can eat the occasional potato, while others can eat much more. Lots of people find sweet potatoes really useful and fine on their blood sugar.

The best thing to do is get a blood glucose meter (if you haven't already got one), and find out what your blood glucose is before eating and then two hours later. It will very quickly show you whether your body can tolerate portions of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.

 

[la signora]

Hi,

Sorry about the delay - only just seen your thread @la signora .

You asked about veg suitable for a low carb diet. The good news is that almost all veg is good for low carb - providing that they grow above ground.

The root vegetables are not so good, and the starchier they are, the worse they are.

But different people can eat different amounts of the starchy veg. I can eat the occasional potato, while others can eat much more. Lots of people find sweet potatoes really useful and fine on their blood sugar.

The best thing to do is get a blood glucose meter (if you haven't already got one), and find out what your blood glucose is before eating and then two hours later. It will very quickly show you whether your body can tolerate portions of potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc.

Thank you very much Brunneria.
I have just bought a meter and am going to try and find which foods I can safely eat.

 

[Brunneria]

Oh, a couple of other things:

You may find that while most fruit sends your BG (blood glucose) too high, berries (strawberries, black, blue, red, white, cherries, Logan...) are ok. Especially if eaten with cream. The fat slows the digestion, which means the BG goes up slower. Obviously, as with everything, portion size is a huge factor.

So berries have a lot of antioxidants. So do acai berries, and you can supplement those, I think.

Generally (I think!) the more colour there is in a veg or fruit, the more antioxidants they have. So 'eat the whole rainbow' if possible.

 

[Harpar]

Hi, I go along with @Brunneria on the 'colourful' vegs. peppers, toms, greens etc. as you are just pre-diabetic its good that you are looking at taking control now. Look towards cutting down (or possible out completely), spuds, bread, pasta, rice, pastry, cereals etc all very carby. As you love fruit, you might find that just cutting out the worse ones is enough to keep you stable, all the 'berry' fruits seem to be fine for most people, but try apples, pears and oranges and see how they affect you, you might find that if you dump the starchy carb with a meal you can have a piece of fruit after as pudding. The only way to find out is to test. Test before you eat, then test at +2hrs and will luck you will be back to your starting point. However with fruit, it can give you a spike much earlier, at around 35 mins, so if you intend eating the less safe fruits, try testing a particular meal and see how you react, then on another day, eat the same meal with a piece of fruit for afters and compare the results, but add in two additional tests at +35-40 mins, and again at +1hr, this will give you so much more info on how its affected you. You might find that you can't manage an apple on its own for example, but an apple with a piece of cheese might be OK, or maybe a banana is bad on its own (they really do spike you so watch out), but a banana with lashings of cream poured over might be OK - they only way to find out is with your meter, you will have to do lots of experimenting, hopefully you will still be OK with some of your favourites.

 

[JTL]

Lemons.
I have at least three lemons a week usually squeezed into green tea.
Full of you your antis.

 

[JTL]

The nuts I eat might have too.

 

[la signora]

The nuts I eat might have too.

Thanks Jack. Already on the nuts. Can I have gin and tonic with the lemon?

 

[JTL]

Thanks Jack. Already on the nuts. Can I have gin and tonic with the lemon?

I would ....