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Can a vegan diet improve sugar control ?

N

Neil.graham

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I'm about to embark on a radical change of diet, moving from one where I eat the right fats, watch the glycemic load etc to one where I only eat plant-based food. This is in response to yet another article which promotes such a diet
and makes serious claims about overcoming insulin resistance and reducing medication and in some cases even reversing the diabetes. Anyone out there who's tried this ? I've been type 2 for about 10 years and now struggling to keep good control, the GP advising me to go on to insulin if no improvements soon.
 


I´ll like to follow your jurney ... my daughter is a vegetarian, so I eat mostly vegetarian foods , as she does most of the cooking .. and Cooks wonderfull vegetarian meals... I myself have been thinking of going vegan... but think it is too radical a change for me... It is much more difficult to be low carb in a vegan diet...

but if one was a vegan before catching diabetes , then the risk of getting it is under 1/3 of what it is for average meat-eaters so something good the vegan diet is doing to prevent bad lifelong deseases...

but when already diabetic it is more complex.

there is a threat with vegetarian recipies for diabetic in this forum somewhere.. dont know how much of it is vegan
 
It makes sense to change your way of eating if your current way is not working for you. I turned vegan earlier this year and it has improved my diabetes control greatly. But like all ways of eating, there are good ways and bad ways of eating for diabetes control. It is about balancing your macronutrients. For me, this has meant lower carb and higher fat. I avoid the big hitters - rice, potatoes etc. Plant fats from nuts, seeds, oil, avocados etc.

If you are considering a high carb, low fat diet which some other forums promote, I have no experience of this. Wouldn't fancy it personally.
 

are you avoiding plant fats from nuts , seeds and oil and avocado ?
 
Hi Freema and Avacado Sevenfold,
Thanks for your encouraging responses.
Avacado Sevenfold : have you noticed an improvement since you went vegan ?
I'm keeping a daily diary of my food intake and blood sugar counts with the intention of doing a weekly review of how things have gone, and I'll post my thoughts on the success or otherwise. Be glad for any comments you may have.
 
Sounds like a good plan. What was your diet like before now? Were you low carbing?

I noticed a difference right away when I stopped dairy. The ring on my finger became loose so maybe I had some inflammation going on that I was unaware of. This may be contributing to my better levels. Since changing this year, my hba1c has gone down from 40 to 35. I take 2 x 500mg metformin a day. I didn't turn vegan for diabetes reasons so this improvement has just been a bonus.
 
I had been eating low carb, mainly veggie for about six months and then a friend sent me a link to a vegan activist talk which stopped me in my tracks and I went vegan overnight. Not only overnight, but the day before a week's holiday on Lake Garda! Can you imagine trying to eat vegan AND low-carb in the land of pasta, risotto and pizza? I was determined, however, and many salads and grilled vegetables later I arrived home feeling virtuous, lighter and fitter (the walking helped too). I managed to survive by adding loads of nuts, beans from the deli counter and some surprisingly tasty vegan cheese I found in the local supermercato.

After that experience, coming home and cooking for myself has been a doddle. My freezer is now full of fritters, burgers, seitan steaks and any number of bean dishes. Because I cook from scratch I know what goes into everything, which makes it easier. Oh and yes, I'm also retired so have time to do all this - not sure it would have been at all easy to eat healthy vegan when I was still working.

Type 2, diagnosed 2008, controlled by diet and exercise.
HbA1c = 5.9 at last annual review in July 2016
 

I was eating very badly, though very often vegetarian foods for dinner, but I ate lots of bread with fibres in , but also very fat pizzaes , and with bacon and processed ham , and lots of sweets... but the worst I think was that I did only sit down all the time, and I had some medicine for depression, as the usual antidepressant didn´t work for me anymore I was allowed to have an antipsychotc medicine called serequel... and this medicine is known to cause diabetes sometimes, and of raising the blood glucose on average and not at least to cause weight gain...
I felt my brain was repaired... and my depression went totally away and also my huge huge mental tiredness... but I think that my weightgain, this medicine and my not moving at all caused my diabetes and on top of that my not very good diet...

I am afraid that high fats from animals and processed meat is very bad in the long run for maintaining a healthy body... so therefore I study what kinds of food-styles seems to offer the longest life expectence..

I am not totally vegan... just know the statistics from what I have been reading...

and vegans are the ones with the far lowest risk of getting diabetes... even though usually rather high in carbs.. but not in sugars and processed foods...

my inflamations have almost gone away now after loosing a lot of weight and after avoiding fat from meat and very little from dairy products...

but this could be due to lowered insuline as some scientists state that raised insuline levels like in diabetics 2 causes inflamations just by being to high...(dr. Rhonda Patrick)
 
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@Freema We can only look forward to better health now and not think too much about how we came to have type 2. I remain optimistic that we are doing our best. That is all we can do
 
Healthy vegan is not "fast" food is it? Haha. Lots of soaking nuts and marinating. Not complaining though as it is so yummy it's worth it
 
yes I totally agree with you, nuts are healthy fast food... but not proccessed food....--

mentally I´m still feeling fine even when having this type 2 condition... it made me wake up and take control myself over my health... ... and actually I have much more energy after starting training and eating much healthier ... so much that I now look forward to moving and getting out of bed and out of my flat ... thanks for your comments... now I must a trip out in the wonderfull autumn sunshine
 
Not a vegan, not even a vegetarian, but meat and dairy-free meals that are low-carb are eminently possible. I do a mean tofu stir fry...
 

By eating a healthy vegan diet low in cholesterol and saturated fat, but balanced enough to include fibre and protein, blood glucose levels can be made easier to control.

This type of diet, particularly when combined with exercise, can help to lower blood glucose levels and better manage diabetes.
Studies in the past have shown that those people who follow a low-fat vegan diet, avoiding meat and dairy, lower blood sugar levels very efficiently and lose weight. Researchers have shown that people with diabetes who eat a vegan diet also lower their cholesterol and improve kidney functioning.
 
Have you got any links to these studies?
 
Diakat said:
Have you got any links to these studies?
Click to expand...
no, i'm consuming these things from last 3 years and i know there benefits well as i'm diet conscious i always focus on consumption protein and their benefits i'm aware of their nutrition facts

as about the study first i want to know your particular field of area what actually you want to know
 
I want to read the studies to see the evidence for the claim about improved glucose control.
 
I have been eating a vegan diet plus fish for 4 years now, to help with arthritis. (successfully). I have become prediabetic during that time. I think this was because I was still a bit overweight and also began taking an antipsychotic, a statin and a steroid inhaler. I have now also switched to mainly low GI foods and lost some weight. I am due an Hba1c test next week and am hoping I am back to normal. I eat fish to make up for the nutritional deficiencies of the vegan diet. It is also very difficult to find vegan food on UK holidays. I feel fitter and healthier.
 

Going Vegan could certainly help but there are many unhealthly vegans out there. The trick would be to stay away from processed foods. I know a few people who went vegan for ethical reasons but due to the fact they love the take of bacon for example they buy the processed bacon from the store. This is much worse than the animal product.

I often say if you are going for whole foods such as plants, seeds and legumes then call is a plant based diet as you can easily idenify what you can eat. It's not restrictive either though it does take some time to get use to it and does involve preperation of many foods.

Personally I am vegetarian and could call myself vegan or plant based most days however, I sometimes have honey or the odd egg on toast.

Depending on what you like to eat some staples for me:

- Veggy thai green curry
- Bean burgers
- Bean chili
- Roasted veg
 
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