I thought semi-skimmed would help with weight loss especially as my husband has high cholesterol . During the day I eat really healthily (I think). Salad and fruit for lunch. 1 slice white bread. Dinner is meat and 2 veg and fruit and plain yoghurt. No snacks. I only drink water and black tea and coffee. I am desperate. Help.
Okay.... That isn't exactly low carb, but then, I don't know how low you want to go. Do you test before a meal and 2 hours after? Because that can tell you just how bad your insulin-resistance is, and how far you have to go to modify your meals. (If you go up more than 2 mmol/l, the meal was too carby for your pancreas to process back out.).
Thing is, what you're eating righ now doesn't seem sustainable in the long run because honestly, you sound absolutely miserable on your current diet.
Point one: Check Dietdoctor.com for recipies. There's a world of good stuff out there that won't spike you and tastes wonderful.
Point two: learn what's carby and what's not. Bread (Brown, white, any) is carby, as are potatoes, corn, rice, cereals, pasta, wraps, anything made with dough. So if you can scratch those, or look for the low carb breads or konjac pasta, go for it. Above ground, leafy greens are great, so your salad's good. Fruit is very high in fructose save for a moderate amount of berries. (The vitamins from them can be found in veggies too, so you won't be missing anything if you cancel out the fruit and compensate with an extra helping of veg). Eggs, mushrooms, sausages, cold cuts, olives, nuts... Cheese is good, as is bacon. Yeah, bacon. You mentioned cholesterol, but a TINY little amount of cholesterol comes from diet. 2 percent or something, from the top of my head. It doesn't really make an impact. Our own bodies produce the stuff, and if your husband has high cholesterol he might be wanting to join you on this journey. (Especially if you, he, or both of you suffer from fatty liver disease as well. It's kinda part and parcel with T2 in any case.). I was on statins for a few months (which made my life hell with the side effects), and on low carb, high fat, I could ditch them because my cholesterol got better as I lost weight. Besides that, cholesterol, in recent studies, is turning out not to be such a baddy after all. As a T2, fat is your friend. I mean, I have bacon once or twice a day. Keeps me from going hunrgy and it tastes great. I went from well over 102 kilo's -I stopped weighing myself at that point, too depressing- to 76, and still losing weight. I'm not tired all the time anymore, I'm not fighting never-ending infections, I can actually walk fair distances now without collapsing into a weeping heap... My fatty liver is getting better, my eyesight has improved, my HbA1c is 34... And I'm just one person. It goes got a lot of folks here.
For me, meals look like this: Eggs, bacon, cheese and mushrooms. Sometimes some cherry tomaties tossed in for variation. (You could add sausages too). Salads with either tuna, goat's cheese or salmon, with things added like olives, bacon, capers, mayonaise or a good wine vinigar/olive oil. Maybe some celery or cherry tomatoes again. In the evening I usually have some sort of meat or fish with cauliflower rice or broccoli rice with bacon (there it is again!) and cheese. Only this past week have I added some full-fat yoghurt, but don't actually need it, just because I like it. Snacks for me are olives, cheese, extra dark chocolate, walnuts, pecans, cold cuts, celery with a little hummus etc. Like you, my bowels have something to say about things like chia and other seeds, and it seems like psylium husks are in the same camp (AUCH!!!), which I only discovered after buying two whopping pots of the stuff, but there's still enough out there we can munch on. As for drinks, I'm drinking a lot of tea. Sometimes a little bit of goat's milk with some butter and water added, dash of cinnamon and a tiiiny little amount of sweeteners. (Sweeteners don't agree with everyone. Again, that's something you'll find out when you test.) Bulletproof coffee is so good, even if the recipy looks revolting. It's surprisingly delish. There are flavored sparkling waters with no carbs or sweeteners, and if you test, who knows, you might get away with a pepsi max or something. You can add cream to your coffee and tea, (better than milk, because again, slows down sugar spikes AND makes you feel full.).
I'm not a kitchen princess. Once I find something that works for me, I stick with it. But if you do love to cook, check out Diet Doctor's recipies for Fathead Pizza, mug cakes, and what have you. There's really a whole lot of variety out there and you don't have to not enjoy food. Heck, I went to McD's this weekend and had a burger. Without the bun, it's low carb!
Going low carb for diabetes is a lifestyle change you have to be able to stick with. And that's not going to work if your relationship with food is wonky and stressed. You could go for meds, and/or insulin, it's all a viable option, but if you want to tackle it through diet and reverse the condition, you need to be able to stick with it in the long term. And the only way to do that, is to eat things you enjoy. get some happiness back at the dinnertable. So find out what you like within the low carb spectrum. And check if there are things you realy, really want, but can't have anymore if you want to watch the carbs, and see if there are alternatives for those. Like courgetti instead of spaghetti.
Good luck!
Jo
