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Confused

S

Sloanranger

Member
Hiya, I realise we are all different. Just trying getting my head around what to eat. I'm reading in a what have you eating thread on this site. Some people are eating bread, ice cream, pasta, jam etc. I understood they were to be avoided. I'm finding to hard to get around it all. This post not meant to get at anyone, I'm just confused.

Thank You
Jo
 
Putting it simply, type 1s basically don't make insulin (or not enough). Providing they inject sufficient insulin for their eating, they can eat what they want without diabetic problems (an unhealthy diet will still cause other problems). If they don't balance the insulin they need correctly, they risk either dropping too low in glucose (hypoglycemia) or going too high in glucose (hyperglycemia).

Type 2s don't have the same problem. We do make sufficient insulin but are insulin resistant. There are two schools of thought about what causes insulin resistance.

One says it's overeating, too much fat and sugar. Based on this, they recommend a low-fat, low-calorie approach with plenty of complex carbohydrates.

Others think it's caused by eating too many carbohydrates, whether simple (sugars) or complex. Based on this, they recommend a low carbohydrate, higher fat diet.

You will see different people with type 2 advocating for one or the other of these approaches. Both have their success stories. Many health care providers believe the first theory and approach are correct. However, they also expect most people with type 2 to get progressively worse, require more medication and develop diabetic complications leading to eyesight problems, neuropathy and possible amputations. Most type 2s on this forum are following the second approach.

Personally, I favour the second theory based on my own experience - I was basically vegetarian for 30+ years, eating a low-calorie, high-carbohydrate diet with lots of healthy fruit and vegetables daily with almost every meal including brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread or pulses. As I developed diabetes, I ballooned in weight without changing my eating habits. For me, weight gain and diabetes followed on from eating what many consider a healthy diet.

Since diagnosis, I have ditched the bread, the pasta, the pulses and the rice. I have increased my fat and protein consumption so that I don't feel hungry. I have lost 12 - 13kg so far and brought my HbA1c down from the 70s to 41.

One lesson to take on board is that we are individuals with different reactions to different foods. Some type 2 diabetics can eat oat porridge for breakfast without it raising their blood sugars. Some can even add a banana to that too. I can't. With a meter, I can check which foods reliably keep my blood sugars stable and those that reliably cause them to spike.
 
Lobsang Tsultim said:
Putting it simply, type 1s basically don't make insulin (or not enough). Providing they inject sufficient insulin for their eating, they can eat what they want without diabetic problems (an unhealthy diet will still cause other problems). If they don't balance the insulin they need correctly, they risk either dropping too low in glucose (hypoglycemia) or going too high in glucose (hyperglycemia).

Type 2s don't have the same problem. We do make sufficient insulin but are insulin resistant. There are two schools of thought about what causes insulin resistance.

One says it's overeating, too much fat and sugar. Based on this, they recommend a low-fat, low-calorie approach with plenty of complex carbohydrates.

Others think it's caused by eating too many carbohydrates, whether simple (sugars) or complex. Based on this, they recommend a low carbohydrate, higher fat diet.

You will see different people with type 2 advocating for one or the other of these approaches. Both have their success stories. Many health care providers believe the first theory and approach are correct. However, they also expect most people with type 2 to get progressively worse, require more medication and develop diabetic complications leading to eyesight problems, neuropathy and possible amputations. Most type 2s on this forum are following the second approach.

Personally, I favour the second theory based on my own experience - I was basically vegetarian for 30+ years, eating a low-calorie, high-carbohydrate diet with lots of healthy fruit and vegetables daily with almost every meal including brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread or pulses. As I developed diabetes, I ballooned in weight without changing my eating habits. For me, weight gain and diabetes followed on from eating what many consider a healthy diet.

Since diagnosis, I have ditched the bread, the pasta, the pulses and the rice. I have increased my fat and protein consumption so that I don't feel hungry. I have lost 12 - 13kg so far and brought my HbA1c down from the 70s to 41.

One lesson to take on board is that we are individuals with different reactions to different foods. Some type 2 diabetics can eat oat porridge for breakfast without it raising their blood sugars. Some can even add a banana to that too. I can't. With a meter, I can check which foods reliably keep my blood sugars stable and those that reliably cause them to spike.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the information. I have meter and will check whatnos good and not for my blood sugars. So much to learn
 
Sloanranger said:
Hiya, I realise we are all different. Just trying getting my head around what to eat. I'm reading in a what have you eating thread on this site. Some people are eating bread, ice cream, pasta, jam etc. I understood they were to be avoided. I'm finding to hard to get around it all. This post not meant to get at anyone, I'm just confused.

Thank You
Jo
Click to expand...
Using your meter and counting the carbs is the best approach to my thinking.
All carbs turn to glucose in the body, but the amount of carbs our bodies can deal with is highly different between people.

Some of our T2 members can eat up to about 150 grams of carbs (which is still considered low carb) over the day and still see pretty good numbers on their meter, so bread and pasta are not out for all.
Many of our members do well if they keep at around 80 grams of carbs, which can still include some ice cream. And there are some low carb icecreams out there as well.
And some of our members go all out keto, staying under 20 grams of carbs. So it's exactly like you said, we're all different! :)

Many of the breads you see on the What have you eaten today thread (https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/page-2593) are either bought or home made versions of low carb bread, so some posts can be a bit misleading. I regularly mention eating bread, but the bread I eat has only 3.8 grams of carbs a slice.

And then we have some members juggling both diabetes and other conditions, making sticking to low carb not the best course of action, so they make compromises to improve their quality of life.
 
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Sloanranger said:
Hiya, I realise we are all different. Just trying getting my head around what to eat. I'm reading in a what have you eating thread on this site. Some people are eating bread, ice cream, pasta, jam etc. I understood they were to be avoided. I'm finding to hard to get around it all. This post not meant to get at anyone, I'm just confused.

Thank You
Jo
Click to expand...
Hi Sloanranger, Jo,

Firstly welcome to the forums. :)

Yes it is confusing for most of us especially in the early days but keep reading around the forums and things tend to become clearer.
As for the food, as has been said it often depends on what type of diabetes you have as to what to eat. I am type 2 and was eating all the things you have listed above but it wasn't working well for me as my numbers were not coming down in fact going up and my DN and doctor were talking about adding more drugs and maybe an injectable. That shook the 'bleep' out of me, so I joined this forum and learned about the Low Carb diet and how much success people were having, so decided to try it and yes it helps me big time, my numbers have halved, the only bread, pasta I eat is of the LC type. I also have other medical conditions that I'm trying to cope with as well and surprisingly they have also settled down since starting the Low Carb diet. I am not advocating this for you just trying to explain why you see the differences in our diets. The other thing recommended is a Blook Glucose meter, by testing in a morning, just before eating and 2 hours after eating will tell you what spikes you and also which carbs affect you badly and which you can eat.

Please let us know which type of diabetes you have and if you have a meter.

Looking forward to reading more of your posts :)
 
Lobsang Tsultim said:
Putting it simply, type 1s basically don't make insulin (or not enough). Providing they inject sufficient insulin for their eating, they can eat what they want without diabetic problems (an unhealthy diet will still cause other problems). If they don't balance the insulin they need correctly, they risk either dropping too low in glucose (hypoglycemia) or going too high in glucose (hyperglycemia).

Type 2s don't have the same problem. We do make sufficient insulin but are insulin resistant. There are two schools of thought about what causes insulin resistance.

One says it's overeating, too much fat and sugar. Based on this, they recommend a low-fat, low-calorie approach with plenty of complex carbohydrates.

Others think it's caused by eating too many carbohydrates, whether simple (sugars) or complex. Based on this, they recommend a low carbohydrate, higher fat diet.

You will see different people with type 2 advocating for one or the other of these approaches. Both have their success stories. Many health care providers believe the first theory and approach are correct. However, they also expect most people with type 2 to get progressively worse, require more medication and develop diabetic complications leading to eyesight problems, neuropathy and possible amputations. Most type 2s on this forum are following the second approach.

Personally, I favour the second theory based on my own experience - I was basically vegetarian for 30+ years, eating a low-calorie, high-carbohydrate diet with lots of healthy fruit and vegetables daily with almost every meal including brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread or pulses. As I developed diabetes, I ballooned in weight without changing my eating habits. For me, weight gain and diabetes followed on from eating what many consider a healthy diet.

Since diagnosis, I have ditched the bread, the pasta, the pulses and the rice. I have increased my fat and protein consumption so that I don't feel hungry. I have lost 12 - 13kg so far and brought my HbA1c down from the 70s to 41.

One lesson to take on board is that we are individuals with different reactions to different foods. Some type 2 diabetics can eat oat porridge for breakfast without it raising their blood sugars. Some can even add a banana to that too. I can't. With a meter, I can check which foods reliably keep my blood sugars stable and those that reliably cause them to spike.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this really good info and like you option 2 is what i follow after doing lots of research and reading info
 
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