Diabetes - Everyday Eating

[iddt01]

Hi all, just to let you know we have produced another new Free booklet that you may find of use Please find details about Diabetes – Everyday Eating below:

“IDDT is frequently contacted by people who want advice about their diet. Very often, particularly just after diagnosis, people simply feel they do not have enough information about diet and how it affects their diabetes.

People are often told that they need to eat healthily, lose weight and to stay away from sugary and fatty foods. This particularly applies to people with Type 2 diabetes and can leave them without the information they need. As one gentleman said “I want to be told what I can eat – not what I can’t”.

People with Type 1 diabetes who were diagnosed before 1986 were taught to count carbohydrates. However, there is now a whole generation of people using insulin and, just as importantly health professionals, who have not been taught about the benefits of counting carbohydrates.

It is for these reasons IDDT has produced a FREE twenty page booklet ‘Diabetes – Everyday Eating’. It gives people ideas about everyday, affordable meals, advice about snacks and eating out and along with a 4 week menu plan, will be especially useful to anyone who has been newly diagnosed. It is a stepping stone to learning more about diet and diabetes.

IDDT produces a wide variety of FREE information. For more information about the work of IDDT or to receive your FREE copy of ‘Diabetes – Everyday Eating’ contact IDDT:

IDDT, PO Box 294, Northampton NN1 4XS
Telephone: 01604 622837
Web: http://www.iddtinternational.org/?page_id=2999

Best wishes

Martin

 

[Otenba]

It's a great idea, but a bit disappointing to see that you give whole meal nutritional information, yet keep the meal amounts within vague. I mean, for example, "a glass of orange juice" can mean anything - especially to a DAFNE diabetic who needs to know to the ml to work out the correct carbohydrate amount of the juice.

Never mind though, I understand that you've not designed this to be that specific - many will still benefit from this in one way or another. Kudos!

 

[cally]

I have looked at it and am a bit confused about whether it is aimed at type 1 or type 2?

I thought it contained an awful lot of carbohydrate!

 

[anna29]

Hi all.
I recieved this in the post only yesterday its relevant and informative, helpful and includes some great ideas, pointers with meals.
Gives carb amounts and calories as well as weekly meal/menu ideas and examples.
Even my mum has borrowed it till the weekend to read!
Anna.x

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Seems to endorse the usual old rubbish Quote:
"The official guidance is to eat a balanced diet by following the eatwell plate:"

And another quote:
"Starchy carbohydrates
Most people will eat 5-10 portions a day."


5 to 10 portions of carbohydrates a day :lol: :roll:

I couldnt bear to read any further, I would strongly advise people to stay well clear of this booklet unless they want to double their insulin, definitely NOT for T2's.

Edid: The web site also seems totally oblivious to DAFNE and the current carb counting advice

 

[iddt01]

Very quick to judge Sid - perhaps you should try reading the remaining 15 pages and then passing some constructive criticism like Otenba!

 

[phoenix]

I agree the idea is good and I feel a bit bad about offering criticisms but I do have my doubts about the menus. I'm just going to answer from an insulin users perspective, rather than T2. Though I'm certain that many would agree with SId.

As Otenba comments here is a lack of precision , the term medium portion is very vague. I think it would be better to be more precise (150g potatoes etc )
As you say newly diagnosed people in the UK aren't introduced to carb counting, nor do they know how to adjust their doses. They are usually on fixed doses (quite often with bimodal insulins.) The daily carb counts vary from 138 to 250+ g carbs, individual meals from 17g to 130g. I would need to use between 1.4 units and 11 units of insulin for these meals. On a fixed dose, this variation could lead to hyperglycaemia after some meals and hypoglycaemia after others.
Another smaller, though important point is that many doctors put all people with diabetes onto statins. Grapefruit juice is contraindicated with most statins, I think some sort of warning would have been a good idea.

 

[AMBrennan]

You know, I was tempted to just post "Wait for it..." yesterday. At the end of the day there are two camps here - balanced diet and low-carb. Reasonable arguments simply don't work here.

As you say newly diagnosed people in the UK aren't introduced to carb counting, nor do they know how to adjust their doses. They are usually on fixed doses (quite often with bimodal insulins.)

Really? Guess I was lucky to have waited until I was sick enough to be seen by the experts.

 

[phoenix]

Really? Guess I was lucky to have waited until I was sick enough to be seen by the experts

you only need to read some of the posts from the newly diagnosed to read how little people seem to be taught about carb counting and using insulin.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Very quick to judge Sid - perhaps you should try reading the remaining 15 pages and then passing some constructive criticism like Otenba!

When you are advising T2's to eat between 5 and 10 portions of carbohydrates a day then yes I will be quick to judge iddt as that advise is dangerous and will never lead to good control without massive amounts of medication and or insulin to cover it and is completely unnecessary not only for diabetics but non diabetics as well in fact I would go as far as to say that it is info like that which has led to the current obesity epidemic which is now sweeping the nation.

You may not like my criticism but its the truth as I see it, and I speak as a diabetic who has lost 4 stones in weight and kept that weight off now for over 2 years and my HbA1c's have all been in the 5%'s since 3 months after diagnosis when it was 12.9%.

I may be wrong about reducing carbohydrates to control diabetes but it has worked for me and 1000's of other diabetics and I am sure I wouldnt have the control I have if I followed your advice.

It may interest you to know that I was advised about diet by an NHS dietician and a specialist diabetic nurse who both agreed with my choice of lifestyle and would be horrified at your 5 to 10 portions of carbs a day.

 

[RussG]

Sid - unless I read it wrong, the IDDT 'portion' is 15g CHO, meaning 5-10 portions is 75-150g CHO a day. I have to say that is not a huge amount in my book. For lots of people even 150g a day would count as a significant reduction on their current diet.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Sid - unless I read it wrong, the IDDT 'portion' is 15g CHO, meaning 5-10 portions is 75-150g CHO a day. I have to say that is not a huge amount in my book. For lots of people even 150g a day would count as a significant reduction on their current diet.

That would put a different light on it but where does a portion being 15g of carbs come from????? Every dietician and DSN I have spoken to has always said a portion is what will fit in a persons cupped hand which would seem sensible advice as a girl who is 5 foot and a fag paper tall will naturally have a smaller cupped hand size than a 6 foot 10 inch rugby player with hands like shovels who will naturally require more energy/carbs. Or is everyone supposed to eat the same amount of carbs despite having totaly different energy levels/requirements, different weight, size and sex?


Still if IDDT want to re write the nutrition books thats fine with me, just as long as no one thinks that means 10 portions of chips from the chippie :roll:

 

[Etty]

It's not 5-9 portions of cho but of starchy cho. Then you add 2-3 15g-portions of milk-dairy (another 30-45g cho). Then add 5-9 portions of fr ± veg. Most of their e.g.s are about 15g portions of fruit (e.g 1 medium apple), so could be 75-135g of cho in those. Then there's "fatty and sugary foods" which you should avoid but can have up to 4 portions, such as 4 scoops ice cream or 4 tbsp jam etc. Even the advised 2-3 portions of protein could include pulses. So, theoretically, you could get up to 300-400g of cho following their advice!

 

[AMBrennan]

It's not 5-9 portions of cho but of starchy cho

Could you please explain why carbohydrates from vegetables does not count as "starchy carbohydrate" given that they are not sugar - e.g. kidney beans have 20g carbs / can, of which 2.4g is sugar.

2-3 15g-portions of milk-dairy

5-9 portions of fr ± veg. Most of their e.g.s are about 15g portions of fruit (e.g 1 medium apple), so could be 75-135g of cho in those

Firstly, how come a "food" designed for newborn cattle is essential to human adult nutrition?
Further, that sounds a but unrealistic. I'm not very good at maths but I don't think one can eat 45g of lactose (carbs from milk plus 75g of sugar from fruit plus some from vegetables (e.g. 6g/100g peas) while eating less than 50g sugar in total (GDA).
Also, I think 60g of carbohydrates from vegetables are unrealistically high - I don't regularly eat 1kg of carrots or 3 cans of kidney beans in a day. Further, non-negligible carbohydrates from vegetables are starch (unless you're counting fibre, which you shouldn't)
I haven't read the document in detail, but these errors troubling.

 

[Hobs]

I have looked at it and am a bit confused about whether it is aimed at type 1 or type 2?

I thought it contained an awful lot of carbohydrate!

Yes it does and as a 'carb watcher' I would get spikes if I followed this .. I give it a thumbs-down

 

[Etty]

It's not 5-9 portions of cho but of starchy cho

Could you please explain why carbohydrates from vegetables does not count as "starchy carbohydrate" given that they are not sugar - e.g. kidney beans have 20g carbs / can, of which 2.4g is sugar.

2-3 15g-portions of milk-dairy

5-9 portions of fr ± veg. Most of their e.g.s are about 15g portions of fruit (e.g 1 medium apple), so could be 75-135g of cho in those

Firstly, how come a "food" designed for newborn cattle is essential to human adult nutrition?
Further, that sounds a but unrealistic. I'm not very good at maths but I don't think one can eat 45g of lactose (carbs from milk plus 75g of sugar from fruit plus some from vegetables (e.g. 6g/100g peas) while eating less than 50g sugar in total (GDA).
Also, I think 60g of carbohydrates from vegetables are unrealistically high - I don't regularly eat 1kg of carrots or 3 cans of kidney beans in a day. Further, non-negligible carbohydrates from vegetables are starch (unless you're counting fibre, which you shouldn't)
I haven't read the document in detail, but these errors troubling.

I'm using their 5 categories, which are not based only on carb content-- starchy carb, protein, milk-dairy, fr+veg, fatty/sugary foods (as in so-called " Eatwell" plate I suppose, recommended to the general population).

Re dairy-- obviously not essential, but delicious.

Sixty g carbs from veg?-- no, not likely, but 7/9 of their e.g.s were not veg, but fruit, so not so hard to do.

Non-negotiable carb from starch in veg? All carbs are negotiable to me. Starch from veg is the same as starch from bread in your bloodstream.

 

[AMBrennan]

Further, non-negligible carbohydrates

i.e. ignoring that beans have 0.3g sugar/100g

Non-negotiable carb from starch in veg?

You wouldn't happen to be using an iPad, would you?

 

[carolyn56]

Greetings - Having type II dm for 5 years, and finally deciding to become more aggressive w/ management, I'd like to start the "4-6" small meals/day program. question: do I need to take insulin prior to each meal? That's lots of testing, me thinks.