Any Non low carbers here ?

[mish1953]

I'm still trying to find my path for food , I have had a look at the low carb threads and am looking at the non low carb thread to see if that would be my preferred path .

Looks like no one has posted on here for some months .. anyone still using non low carb here ?

Cheers
Hamish
HBA1c 12.6%
Cholesterol 5.5.
BP 132/80

 

[Jen&Khaleb]

You'll find a lot of the non-low carbers just post in the more general sections. Most of us still go under the title of controlled carb as having diabetes really is keeping everything in balance. At least you are taking steps to improve your health. If you want to eat quite a lot of carbs you need to be doing lots of exercise but you might need to check with a doctor first with your high BP. Your on the road to great health so don't give up.

 

[jopar]

Yes there are a lot of people who follow a non-low carb diet, they just don't tend to shout about it!

My diet is very much the same as it was pre-diabetic days with exception that when I do have the occasional fizzy drink it's diet and I don't take sugar in my coffee anymore... But my eating habits remain about the same as it always did... I don't wake up in the morning thinking how can I spread my permitted 30g of carbs over a day's worth of food I get up and as I go through the day, I decide what I'm eating total up the carbs and work out my dose of insulin (within a equation of other factors)...

This doesn't mean that I'm stuffing my face all day with horddles of high carb foods, with lashing of high doses of insulin, what it does mean is that I am consuming food at a level that suits my days activity, maintain a healthy body weight well to be honest I do border the line of being underweight and maintain exellent diabetic control (I'm in the 5% club) and after 20+ years I have no complications and don't take any medication or supplements other than my insulin which is realistically a very small amount compared to others (18units adverage per day)... And best of all I don't hanker after any food stuffs such as chocolate, puddings etc rarely eat them but know that I can if I wanted to..

As you are T2 then yes it's slightly different, you can't adjust metformin per meal etc like you can insulin.. So needs a slightly different way of tacking seeing your foods..

But there are many tricks you can do, such as portion size, cutting one thing back in your meal and adding something else to bulk it out (handy if you are a large eater) or perhaps swap it for something that has a lower GI value... Then reserving something for the occasional treat..

Some idea's

If you like your pasta it needs to be cut back, if you having something Lasagne then cut the portion size back and add a side salad.. Better still if you make your own pasta then you can use thiner layers of pasta knocking off some carbs (I find that if I make my own pasta it's a lot easier to perdict the impact of my BG's)

If you like you chocolate fix, then buy an expensive brand with high coco butter content, and have a piece of chocolate after your meal...

Many recipes for pudding, deserts, cakes etc can be adapted to lower carb content to a minium...

If you consider why people who follow a weight lose diet fail over a period of time, weight lost diets are based around either one or both of two things, Restricting portion size, or Restricting food types allowed... It doesn't address a simple fact that if you can't have something you are more likely to crave it! Be it a large plate or quantity of food or a particular item of food..

So sometimes it's better to chip away at the changes you need, so that the transision from one lifestyle to another is made easier than it is actually to go cold turkey over night...

P.S

For all those who are screaming about the dangers of long term high blood glucose causes complications.. Yes I know it does but if your body has been used to functioning with high blood gucose levels, then dropping blood glucose levels over night to normal levels can be more damaging than lowering them over a couple of weeks...

 

[Sarah69]

I don't low carb, I just can't bring myself to. Some of the things that people eat I'm amazed at, for example breakfast I'm afraid it's cereals for me I can't be eating nuts nd seeds. I have just seen what granola is and it looks like something you would hang out for birds! Swapping rice for grated cauliflower yuck! Most of the foods I enjoy I'm being told should be cut out, in that case there wouldn't be much left for me to eat!!

 

[mish1953]

Thanks for the advice folks ,
I'm still trying to work out what is best for me , I'm trying a lowish/middle carb approach to start with as I want to reduce my BS and my weight . I may add a multigrain wholemeal sandwich to my lunch tomorrow as I was ravenous all afternoon to-day
thanks again

 

[Grazer]

You must go as you want mish. Do remember that both Sarah and Jopar are using insulin, and that they can allow for their carb consumption in their insulin doses. That's not meant to be a put down in any way, but controlling blood sugar without insulin (or other sugar lowering meds) is difficult without at least moderating your carbs. I'm not low carbing but I restrict myself to 150 to 180 a day of low GI carbs. Good luck however you go.

 

[Ausra]

I don't low-carb, but I do try to make more healthy choices about food.
What I believe is you can eat almost anything if you believe that anything is good for you (as long as you realise that eating chocolate and take-aways all day is really not good for you).
I have nothing against people who do low-carb, who really do low-carb. But there are a lot of people saying they do, but actually all they do is strugling every day not to eat a chocolate. I tried and did not succeed. I tasted it and liked it, but could not last long. It's all I can say.
I am against sugar, but i still have it in my tea. A tea without sugar is only water with herbs to me. It does not warm me up or give me any emotions. I can drink water with herbs and then imagine how i am feeling great not having sugar anymore in my life and it would help, but a big part would be taken away from my life. All know the feeling..
I have been consuming sugar all my life since I was a baby so to take it away from my life completely would take many years. It does not mean that I will not try, I am trying every day to have it less and less.
But what if our bodies already adapted to sugar over all those years that passed since we lived in a caves and now actually we need it. The world changed, so did we. And yes, probably cave people were more healthy and intelligent than we are now. And this is where I will finish this story as I am not following myself anymore..i doubt if anyone is. It is only my thoughts,thanks for reading, but actually you didn't have to

 

[mish1953]

Thanks Ausra - I enjoyed reading it
I reckon primative man/woman probably enjoyed the odd sweet thing, honey, cane sugar, fruits etc .
Im middle carbing .. no pasta, rice max 2 slices of bread , loads of veg, probably about 80g to 100g carbs a day , and no sugar in coffee/tea , no cakes, I have a realy craving for a scone and strawberry jam but have managed to avoid it so far. a small 80% bit of choccy now and then helps.

 

[Ausra]

Wow mish! You are a low-carber and looks like you're doing great! Happy for you!
Let us know how you will manage to avoid sugar, maybe you will inspire us too
When I was low-carbing I could not taste any chocolate (even high cocoa percentage), because then i couldn't stop, i had to have more. Carbs crave carbs!

 

[SueR]

I'm reasonably new to this forum and am not a low carb person either.

I know my diet needs to improve drastically but after 2 years on Byetta, with frequent side effects, I am learning to enjoy food again. Carbs are part of that food and I can see no reason to give them up. I recently started on insulin - Humalog - and am slowly getting used to it.

I try to be sensible where sugar is concerned and do avoid it, sticking to sugar free drinks etc and use sweeteners. I make my own cakes and reduce the sugar in them, so I am trying to be sensible. Once the New Year arrives and the world goes back to normal then my diet will improve - and I'll get out on my bike more too.

I find being a diabetic very hard and confusing, because everyone seems to have a different opinion on what you should and shouldn't eat...

 

[Sarah69]

Hi SueR, I don't low carb either. I don't like salads, not many veg and even less fruit. I'm on novorapid so just try and adjust my insulin to what I eat. It seems that people are very down on you if you don't low carb though. All the food that is either cut down in portion control or not eaten at all, is the food I eat regularly,so I would be left with nothing left to eat!

 

[SueR]

Having looked at what a low carb diet involves, I know that it's not the diet for me.. I can't eat a lot of dairy products and eggs are out too.

In time I'll be able to adjust my insulin to suit the foods I eat and enjoy. I eat veg, fruit and salads but like my pasta, bread and rice too.

I think it's a case of doing what suits you and taking no notice of the negativity about carbs.

 

[wiflib]

Please don't think that people like me who have no choice but to eliminate carbs from our diets, think those who don't are in some way negligent or downright daft about controlling their diabetes. I certainly don't.

I really wish I could est carbs but I can't, my meter tells me so.

wiflib

 

[bonnynemia]

Hi Everybody:

I am new here.

I am an old type 2 diabetic: 76 and have been a type 2 since July 1991.

Please understand that I come here not to teach. Mainly, I am here to tell my unbelievable story. It may encourage somebody to come up with better ideas insofar as management of type 2 diabetes is concerned.

My diagnosis was based on a sky-high fasting sugar reading of 468 mg/dl. (I live in Midland Michigan USA.) I refused to take pharmaceutical drugs or insulin because of a story I heard earlier that they cause hypoglycemia which, I was told, was worse than hyperglycemia.

Long story short, I have been using exercise as my only t2d medication for more than 20 years now. I don't consider the heart-healthy, natural, and fresh (raw or cooked) foods I have been eating as parts of my diabetes control method because most of them are carbohydrates. Carbs are notorious for creating high fasting and after-meal sugar levels.

I don't have any diabetes complications yet. My past A1c's were from 5.2% to 6.3%, the one done in June 2011 was 5.6%. Height: 5'7', weight: 139 lbs.

I eat only 3x/day and exercise 4x/day before each meal and before bed for a total of 90 to 100 minutes. No hard or soft drinks for me, only water.

I strongly believe that I will be a diabetic all my life, and I have no problem with that. Why? Because I have always been living like I have no diabetes.

Thanks for your time.

P.S. When you find time and you want to know more about me, please google the words, erika gebel, the science of exercise. The article includes a case study on exercise: bonny damocles. Please click on my name.

 

[ladybird64]

The carb issue is always going to be a divided one but I think it really comes down to personal choice.
I am not a low carber (still waiting for the definition of that one!) but I am aware that for the vast majority of us, carbs do affect our bg's. It seems to me that isn't negativity, it is a fact. If people choose to eliminate or drastically reduce their carb intake it is their personal choice and I don't recall anyone putting anyone else down if they choose not to follow the low carb lifestyle. Well, I fib, maybe a few posts in the past but nowadays everyone concentrates their efforts on supporting each other.

I am primarily talking about type 2's in this post and I know that there are many who have no choice but to take insulin after trying meds and diet. There are also those who choose not to/or can't change their diet, again their prerogative, and they are happy to take insulin to cover what they eat.

Given the choice (note the word choice) between adapting my diet to reduce my carb intake with a little less rice, pasta, spuds so on and having to inject myself every time I eat, I choose the former.
Just as some cannot understand why some people would choose to cut down or give up foods they enjoy, I find it difficult to understand why some would rather be ruled by a regime of injections if they could possibly avoid it by making a few changes..different strokes I guess.

As I have said elsewhere my daughter is on insulin for her type 2 as well as other meds for medical conditions. She has no choice. She also has to follow a very restricted diet (generally) and she has no choice in that either. I dearly wish she had a choice but she doesn't.
I do and I choose to adapt my diet a bit. That's not low carb, that's just making a few painless changes.

Bottom line is whatever works for you, then that's the way to go. Nobody should be frowned upon whichever way they choose.

 

[SueR]

I have been criticised on another forum because I do eat a high carb diet. I found this forum and feel very happy to know that other diabetics do eat carbs.

I am new to all of this carb stuff, I eat what I have always eaten, cereal for breakfast, sandwhiches for lunch meat and veg for my evening meal. Over time rice and pasta have been added to it, I am of the old school of eating - I'm almost 53.

I am open to changes and know I do have to make them, but find it difficult. I have a diabetic partner and sorting meals out to suit us both is a challenge at the best of times. I'll get there in the end - Christmas hasn't helped matters either !

 

[borofergie]

As Malc (Grazer) and wifilb and some of others have noted above, unless you are taking insulin, then controlling your carbs in one way or another is probably your only choice if you want to control your BG levels.

There are different ways of doing this - Sid uses portion control, some people go for low GI and others (including me) try to cut out as many carbs as possible.

You just have to do whatever works best for you. If it gives you good BG control (and is sustainable) no one here will knock you for it.

 

[SueR]

I do use insulin - and so does the other half - and that is making carb control difficult. Our BG levels are not stable and until they are we are both increasing our insulin every 5/6 days. Increasing my insulin makes me hungry and only carbs seem to help - the hunger lasts about 2 days and then settles down again. It's just a side effect and I'm getting used to it !

Our specialist nurses - we are under different ones - are happy with the progress we are making as our levels are dropping. It's just a case of battling on until our levels settle - which I am told they will do in time.

 

[ladybird64]

Glad to hear that you are managing to get your levels down Sue, I know it's not easy.

Borofergie is spot on, the people that frequent this forum are not the type to put the boot in and tell you what to do..whoever had a go at you elsewhere should be ashamed.

I hope that you continue to make progess.

 

[SueR]

Thanks Everyone for your support, it does help.

I'll battle on and I'll get there in the end, I can but try