Dryfruits and its impact on Blood Glucose

JohnyT2

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Hmmm, maybe my fish for protein was a mistaken suggestion, unless you still eat fish. I have on occasions made nut roasts which do have some bread crumbs but only a couple of slices of good bread which over the whole nut Roast amounts to a small amount of carbs. mixed nuts, mushrooms, peppers, onions, grated carrot, two eggs, herbs, garlic. When cold it slices well, is full of energy and freezes. I used to use this on some of my two day mountain rides before my DX, nutroast lasted two days and I am sure would go longer, did not go off, very filling and gave me energy.

You do much longer rides than I do, a days Mountain Biking for me would be about 80 kilometres, I also carry a sizeable 20 ltr back pack so have room for some luxuries.

Positive effects on diabetes control pushed me to keep enjoying it for long runs. Weekend long runs really makes a refreshing change. Some how for me it was exercise that made the reversals as changes in my diet where very minimal, like cutting down sugary drinks along with cut down in deserts and other high carb items which anyway was very low.

20ltr backpack would be a luxury to carry :D
 

NicoleC1971

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Agree, 100% :D

I am trying to build up a snack pack for my long distance cycling and running.
Looking for good combination of taste, energy, filling as well low carb. And since dryfruits and nuts are not much affected by rain, so even if it gets wet, it would still last long.

Hence trying to learn from experiences of others :)
Block of coconut (go to the 'ethnic' section of the supermarket). It is delicious and filling and you keep it in the fridge but could chop off a chunk or 3 to take with you.
I love making my own almond butter which I can then easily eat on the run (bake whole almonds for 10 minutes, blitz with a little coconut oil in a food processor for a while - noisy but it works eventually).
OR just buy some (Pip n Squeak did do some sachets for easy transportation in your bike bag).
I also add in cocoa powder and desiccated coconut. I am sure you could get away with dark chocolate chunks or eating it with a banana or sliced apple as the fat slows down the rise in blood glucose caused by the fruit or chocolate.
Am type 1 so would only go for dried fruit if my blood sugar was dropping or I really wanted some after a long cycle ride, having depleted my muscles first!
BTw have you guys come across this? Probably worthy of its' own post I think....
shopping
 
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JohnyT2

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I love making my own almond butter which I can then easily eat on the run (bake whole almonds for 10 minutes, blitz with a little coconut oil in a food processor for a while - noisy but it works eventually).
Well sounds interesting option, but carrying it on cycle would be difficult unless i can make tubes of it.
 

DCUKMod

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Positive effects on diabetes control pushed me to keep enjoying it for long runs. Weekend long runs really makes a refreshing change. Some how for me it was exercise that made the reversals as changes in my diet where very minimal, like cutting down sugary drinks along with cut down in deserts and other high carb items which anyway was very low.

20ltr backpack would be a luxury to carry :D

I'm another who look towards the nuts, rather than fruits.

I'm curious though; if your dietary changes have been minimal to bring you to this stage in your control of your diabetes, what makes you think to look to change your on-ride snacks?

Secondly, what plan have you formuklated for the time you suffer an injury or are unable to exercise, for another reason?
 

JohnyT2

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I'm another who look towards the nuts, rather than fruits.

I'm curious though; if your dietary changes have been minimal to bring you to this stage in your control of your diabetes, what makes you think to look to change your on-ride snacks?

Secondly, what plan have you formuklated for the time you suffer an injury or are unable to exercise, for another reason?


I think for me what worked was being able to burn out extra glucose in blood and I went into remission quite a long time ago.
So I kept following my workout regimes to keep my diabetes under control. Now that I have found that there are others also who had great success in controlling the same with other means like dietary changes. Its no harm to learn, test and practice the other things also as Plan B

I am not sure how long in my life i would be able to keep up with good exercise schemes or physically high active state and as you suggested what if i suffer an injury or unable to exercise so to overcome such scenario i am also trying to test the effects of dietary changes so that i am prepared to handle such fall outs and if this works i can transit to low carb diet until i am back into action.

I would strongly recommend others to look into other ways of controlling diabetes too, what if LCHF or Keto has long term effects that are not known now.
 
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Muddy Cyclist

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I would strongly recommend others to look into other ways of controlling diabetes too, what if LCHF or Keto has long term effects that are not known now.
Good point, like you I think it's both LCHF and Aerobic Exercise that helped move my Kilos, biggest problem now is maintaining my weight and muscle.
As for the unknown, well we all have to decide what is at this moment working for us. In my eyes anything that keeps us off the medication or is helping to get someone off the medication or into remission can only be good, let's face it if we do nothing the long term effects of diabetes will very likely be devastating, so we take our chances and face the unknown as an adventure.
 
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NicoleC1971

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I think for me what worked was being able to burn out extra glucose in blood and I went into remission quite a long time ago.
So I kept following my workout regimes to keep my diabetes under control. Now that I have found that there are others also who had great success in controlling the same with other means like dietary changes. Its no harm to learn, test and practice the other things also as Plan B

I am not sure how long in my life i would be able to keep up with good exercise schemes or physically high active state and as you suggested what if i suffer an injury or unable to exercise so to overcome such scenario i am also trying to test the effects of dietary changes so that i am prepared to handle such fall outs and if this works i can transit to low carb diet until i am back into action.

I would strongly recommend others to look into other ways of controlling diabetes too, what if LCHF or Keto has long term effects that are not known now.
Except that we do know that throughout history, humans have thrived on non processed foods some of which were low carb. We have a method of producing an alternate energy (ketones and glucose) without eating glucose because of large brains are metabolically demanding and our food supply wasn't as readily available as it is now. Our large brains then devised a way to make large quantities of starch and sugar cheap and tempting for the masses which has probably caused the rises in obesity and diabetes over the last 40 years. So I'd say that our recent high carb processed food diet has been the failed experiment and not eating low carb/high fat.
If you can exercise intensively enough to gain or maintain your large leg, back, shoulder and chest muscles then this will help keep your metabolism working well that's great however most people will need to change the way they eat if they are to keep diabetes at bay.
 

JohnyT2

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Except that we do know that throughout history, humans have thrived on non processed foods some of which were low carb. We have a method of producing an alternate energy (ketones and glucose) without eating glucose because of large brains are metabolically demanding and our food supply wasn't as readily available as it is now. Our large brains then devised a way to make large quantities of starch and sugar cheap and tempting for the masses which has probably caused the rises in obesity and diabetes over the last 40 years. So I'd say that our recent high carb processed food diet has been the failed experiment and not eating low carb/high fat.
If you can exercise intensively enough to gain or maintain your large leg, back, shoulder and chest muscles then this will help keep your metabolism working well that's great however most people will need to change the way they eat if they are to keep diabetes at bay.

There are various narratives to history. One could be that in history the people use to work very hard and hence there high carb or high fat diet was metabolically consumed, slowly we tried to reduce the hard work but we didnt reduced the carbs, but we found innovative ways of consuming carbs and kept on making life sedentary and then when diabities stuck we suddenly started thinking oh, we are consuming lot more than what our body can handle in current state as it has burned out its resources much earlier to control glucose in blood as compared our expected life.

I think diet should not be the only solution. Especially a diet that is based on changing form where body gets energy in long term.
If fat was suppose to be day to day source of energy then human body would have stored glucose in some other form and would have used the fat for day to requirements and not glucose. Ketone is bodies reserve energy mechanism. Its like your inverter in house, which takes up charge when power goes out.

Having said that I dont deny the outcomes of Keto diets, that probably on the expected lines that if you close down the gates and only use taps the house will never get flooded.

A balance of diet, physical exercise and mental well being should be good enough in most cases to get into remission.

Indian yogic practices share many insights on same line, they had mediation for mental well being, yoga and related kriyas for physical exercise, a balanced diet, which also included fasting and prohibition / limitation of certain diet items in certain situations.
 

JohnyT2

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Good point, like you I think it's both LCHF and Aerobic Exercise that helped move my Kilos, biggest problem now is maintaining my weight and muscle.
As for the unknown, well we all have to decide what is at this moment working for us. In my eyes anything that keeps us off the medication or is helping to get someone off the medication or into remission can only be good, let's face it if we do nothing the long term effects of diabetes will very likely be devastating, so we take our chances and face the unknown as an adventure.

My solution to maintaining the weight came in form of cross training. Body is smart to adapt to a constant pattern of exercise, where by it optimizes the effort and outcome if same activity is done for longer period. Otherwise there would be regular need of increasing the efforts to overcome the body adaptation. So if you do multiple types of activity in random order, like cycling one day, running other day, swimming, core excersises, weight lifting, aerobics etc etc, it should keep body weight in check.
Atleast thats what i think as of now.
 

NicoleC1971

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There are various narratives to history. One could be that in history the people use to work very hard and hence there high carb or high fat diet was metabolically consumed, slowly we tried to reduce the hard work but we didnt reduced the carbs, but we found innovative ways of consuming carbs and kept on making life sedentary and then when diabities stuck we suddenly started thinking oh, we are consuming lot more than what our body can handle in current state as it has burned out its resources much earlier to control glucose in blood as compared our expected life.

I think diet should not be the only solution. Especially a diet that is based on changing form where body gets energy in long term.
If fat was suppose to be day to day source of energy then human body would have stored glucose in some other form and would have used the fat for day to requirements and not glucose. Ketone is bodies reserve energy mechanism. Its like your inverter in house, which takes up charge when power goes out.

Having said that I dont deny the outcomes of Keto diets, that probably on the expected lines that if you close down the gates and only use taps the house will never get flooded.

A balance of diet, physical exercise and mental well being should be good enough in most cases to get into remission.

Indian yogic practices share many insights on same line, they had mediation for mental well being, yoga and related kriyas for physical exercise, a balanced diet, which also included fasting and prohibition / limitation of certain diet items in certain situations.
I am very pro exercise for metabolic health and general wellbeing ( it is my job) but the idea that modern exercise can counteract our modern dietary habit is a popular myth IMO.
Glucose is the preferred source of energy and the body stores a small amount in muscle glycogen and liver fat for acute use after which it must tap into the fat stores. IF all we did was consume enough starch/sugar to replace muscle/liver glycogen then we would remain healthy but we not only eat too much of the stuff but also eat it frequently so that any excess is very easily and efficiently converted into fat by insulin. So to keep with the tap analogy, to stop the flood firstly turn down the water as well as widening the drain (bigger muscles= better clearing of glucose= better insulin sensitivity). Any exercise done to benefit health needs to balance building of muscle versus breakdown of muscle; chronic use of the treadmill or a bike might result in the latter which is why I don't advocate it to my clients trying to lose weight.
Totally agree that it is a balance between exercise (building muscles rather than burning calories) and diet (allowing the body to burn excess fat stores and not encouraging new fat stores) but I do see a lot of men who really want to believe that if they exercise they can eat as if they were teenagers!
 
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Listlad

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I have always enjoyed dried fruits. Dried apricots, dried pear, prunes, dried figs, raisins and dates. I used to think they were healthy for me. I have stopped now and do not eat any at all now.

I do eat walnuts and peanuts.
 
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Guna108

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I don't know if this might be useful, but I saw this recipe for Coco-Nutty trail mix recently: 1 cup (60g) unsweetened coconut flakes, 1 cup (120g) chopped raw pecans, 1/2 cup (60g) raw pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup (30g) cacao nibs, 1/4 cup (7g) freeze dried raspberries/strawberries. Preheat oven to 150C. Spread all ingredients except cacao nibs and berries on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 mins, until the coconut flakes turn a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before mixing in the cacao nibs and freeze cried berries. It makes approx 255g and has 7.7g total carbs per 40g serving.
 

Marie 2

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Almonds dusted with cocoa powder are delicious! Nut butters with cocoa powder added to it is delicious too (stevia added for a safe sugar if desired). Any nut chopped and mixed with a melted chocolate (chocolate chips, chocolate bar) add some coconut, blueberries or cocoa nibs if you want. I add lots of nuts, as many as I can mix in and it still hold together once it's cooled.

Can you tell I like chocolate?
 
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Except that we do know that throughout history, humans have thrived on non processed foods some of which were low carb. We have a method of producing an alternate energy (ketones and glucose) without eating glucose because of large brains are metabolically demanding and our food supply wasn't as readily available as it is now. Our large brains then devised a way to make large quantities of starch and sugar cheap and tempting for the masses which has probably caused the rises in obesity and diabetes over the last 40 years. So I'd say that our recent high carb processed food diet has been the failed experiment and not eating low carb/high fat.
If you can exercise intensively enough to gain or maintain your large leg, back, shoulder and chest muscles then this will help keep your metabolism working well that's great however most people will need to change the way they eat if they are to keep diabetes at bay.

I agree. If any diet is the untested diet, it's the low fat diet. It's been a demonstrable calamity. Yet almost everyone clings to the idea of it as though humankind evolved eating deadly diets for three million years and then discovered in 1950 that manmade food was necessary to support life :shifty:
 

bulkbiker

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If fat was suppose to be day to day source of energy then human body would have stored glucose in some other form and would have used the fat for day to requirements and not glucose.

Which is exactly what indeed happens when we stop overloading our bodies with carbs?
I look at it in this way.
The body processes toxins first to rid them from the body.
Starts with poisons that we hopefully rarely take in
Then goes to alcohol which is processed next
Then carbohydrate which it either uses immediately or turns into fat for storage
Finally it uses its historic fuel fat.

This to me seems the most sensible suggestion for the development of prehistoric man.
Fat is the "preferred" fuel hence we turn other fuel types into it to store. The body runs best when utilising it.
 
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Which is exactly what indeed happens when we stop overloading our bodies with carbs?
I look at it in this way.
The body processes toxins first to rid them from the body.
Starts with poisons that we hopefully rarely take in
Then goes to alcohol which is processed next
Then carbohydrate which it either uses immediately or turns into fat for storage
Finally it uses its historic fuel fat.

This to me seems the most sensible suggestion for the development of prehistoric man.
Fat is the "preferred" fuel hence we turn other fuel types into it to store. The body runs best when utilising it.

Yes indeed. Many folk mistakenly believe that glucose is the body's 'preferred' fuel source. I think the truth leans more toward the body burning glucose preferentially because it is toxic in excess and must be processed (used right now or turned into fat by lipogenesis). It is now looking more and more as though our fuel is supposed to be predominantly fat, with glucose being used mainly to replenish the fat that we burn.
 

Antje77

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Well sounds interesting option, but carrying it on cycle would be difficult unless i can make tubes of it.
No problem, just visit a store with camping gear or do a google search for refillable tubes.
 
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Listlad

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When I speak to the non diabetic lay person they all believe that we need carbs for energy. So they cannot conceive of the idea of not eating carbs. This appears to be a very common held belief.
 
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NicoleC1971

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I agree. If any diet is the untested diet, it's the low fat diet. It's been a demonstrable calamity. Yet almost everyone clings to the idea of it as though humankind evolved eating deadly diets for three million years and then discovered in 1950 that manmade food was necessary to support life :shifty:
Aka we are the only animals clever enough to make our own food and stupid enough to eat it.
 

KK123

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I agree. If any diet is the untested diet, it's the low fat diet. It's been a demonstrable calamity. Yet almost everyone clings to the idea of it as though humankind evolved eating deadly diets for three million years and then discovered in 1950 that manmade food was necessary to support life :shifty:

I agree Jim, everyone clings to it because the so called 'experts' browbeat us into thinking it is the only way. Even now, EVERY single Dr or Consultant or medical person I meet are absolutely convinced that a low fat diet is best.