Hi Lucy
Please don't despair! We all have down days, and it can be awful - particularly when you think if someone offers you more chicken you'll probably wring their neck - the person, not the chicken!
Have a look at Viv's Modified Atkins Diet again, if you haven't before, and have a good look at the list of allowed foods on a very low carb diet. There really a lot of options there, even if they all end up being 'meat and 2 veg'!
Last night I had broccoli and cauliflower with butter and mayonnaise, with a good portion of roast turkey leg (my freezer's full of them - I buy them from our local butcher at Christmas, when everyone else just wants a turkey crown). The cold left-overs will be a lunch-time salad, with a little pate as well.
I had bacon and egg for brunch today. I shall be having strawberries and cream, sweetened with Splenda, a bit later on. Tonight is a pork stir-fry with garlic, ginger, leek, red and orange pepper, mushrooms and a few cashew nuts.
Lunch is usually salad - lettuce, cherry toms, strips of pepper, radishes, a few olives - with cold meat or cheese or fish, or an avocado.
If I'm out during the day - and remember that, though I'm officially retired, I do site work with a bit of digging and I'm outdoors, on my feet, nearly all day - I take a plastic box full of cherry toms, strips of pepper, cold meats incl. those individual peperamis, chunks of cold sausage, chunks of cheese or those little Babybels - and so on. Sometimes I'll make up a little box of tuna mixed with mayonnaise, and take the box of salad too. I don't eat it all at once - I graze throughout the day.
Sometimes, if there's nothing else for it, I'll have a wholemeal salad sandwich. I find buffet lunches are the worst - but you can always take the top off a sandwich and just eat the filling. And usually there's cold meat and chees, and I always eat the salad they use for decoration. I don't do puds much, never have, which is lucky for me.
My calorie intake is usually around 1500 per day, sometimes over, sometimes as low as 1200. My guess in your case is that you may not be eating enough fat. Fat is the highest in calories - a knob of butter on your veg, a tablespoon of full-fat mayonnaise on your veg (yes, with the butter :shock: ) and on your salad, will bring your calories up a bit. Eat a few nuts, too - unless you have an allergy?
I eat a 2-egg omelette cooked in butter every morning, which starts me off on less than 2g carb but about 200 cals. I eat avocados occasionally - sometimes I have one halved, remove the stone, fill the hole with a low-carb dressing, eat with teaspoon. mmmm!
Avocados are full of nutrients and very good fat. I usually eat salad for lunch, and meat, sausage or a casserole with veg for supper.
When I was first diagnosed I was a bit like you - I could eat nothing in the way of conventional carby foods - bread, potatoes etc. I'm finding now, 5 stone later, that I can take a bit more - the occasional sandwich made with whole-grain bread; sometimes a small portion of Lizi's Granola - the original one; more fruit. As you get to eat more carbs, so you bring down the fat quantities.
The Atkins book I recommend now is Atkins Diabetes Revolution by Dr M C Vernon & J A Eberstein RN. I would also recommend the Low-carb recipes section on here. When you're at home, and you really can't stand it any longer, look at WhitbyJet's low-carb recipes and cook yourself up something really delicious!
At least we're at the right time for salads and veg. For the winter (or even for now) buy yourself a wide-mouthed Thermos flask and make some delicious low-carb soups - or try some of the lower-carb ready-made ones. Read the labels carerfully for hidden nasties.
I work on the principle that I've over-worked my poor pancreas in the past and now I'm giving it a well-earned rest. It seems to be appreciating it and seems to be a bit better now - or my insulin resistance is less. You too should find that things improve
Do allow yourself the occasional treat. You'll find it's usually pretty easy to eat out on a low-carb diet, and a small treat now-and-again won't hurt. I guzzled garlic bread and tagliatelli carbonara one night when I was in Inverness - didn't dare test! - but I was back in the low 5s as soon as I got home. And if it kills me, further down the line - well, it was worth it! :lol: :wink:
We all get fed up every now and aain - you're not alone, and we're all on your side. Good luck!
Viv 8)
PS I keep having to add bits as others reply! I too wouldn't worry about taking Metformin - I take it myself. Though it doesn't have a large effect on overall BG levels, I'm told it does smooth spikes. It's supposed to be good for weight loss (??), and I also take it for its CHD/stroke protection, 'cos I'm a statin refusenik.