First Post! Food question.

DavidGrahamJones said:

Hello and welcome,

you've started to take some of the correct first steps as shown by your improved BG (Blood Glucose) readings. Don't forget it's not just sugar, it's carbohydrates (which will convert to glucose in the body) that need to be watched. How much carb you can eat is going to be the big question. I eat < 100 gms carb a day against the non diabetic average of 250 - 300 gms a day. I don't touch pasta/rice/bread/potatoes, but might cheat once in a while. I see you are eating pasta and rice which doesn't seem to affect your BG too much. I'm assuming you have a BG meter, it's essential, whatever the doctor or nurse says. It's the only way we can monitor what a certain food does to our BG. No good waiting for an HbA1c which you might get every 6 months if you're lucky, mine seem to be annual at the moment.

I personally didn't replace carb calories with anything, so no extra fatty stuff (not what everyone does), but at least it helped me lose 4 /12 stone. Could do with losing more but the metabolism is not helping, I eat about 1200 calories a day, and with a BMR of 1900 (it would be more if I took exercise into account), I should be losing something.

Something to keep in the back of your head is that we are all different. I've seen people on this and other diabetic forums who can eat shredded wheat for breakfast without problems, others would have BG readings going through the roof. Another good reason to have your own meter.

It's a lot to take on board initially, just don't panic, there's a lot of experienced diabetics on this and other forums, so just ask.

All the best
Graham

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Mep said:

You can pretty much make up dishes to suit what you need. I have to do this for another condition I have and it's amazing what I come up with minus a few ingredients that should be in the dish. For example I make curry without chilli... now that is unheard of especially for the indians I have married into my family. But when I told them my recipe they now make it for me and told me I did well with the mix of spices. So I can say with indian dishes it is best to make your own curries from scratch, don't used processed sauces in the shop, some of the pastes are ok. I have learnt to make it myself and you can make so many variations. I tend to use cumin, turmeric, coriander seed, and coriander a lot in my indian food. When I could eat more food I'd used fresh tomatoes, chilli, etc. I will use stock, olive oil, and herbs a lot more so food isn't dry. I have problems with getting food down at times so I have to make sure my food isn't too dry for me. I'm sure you will find things that work well for you. I do eat carbs and I'm not doing LCHF diet, although I have done it in the past. It's a good idea to give that a go if you haven't already.

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BooJewels said:

Welcome @pineapplekeith


Carbs are - especially relevant for a diabetic - sugars too. All carbohydrate counts, so read this aspect on labels, not just the sugar part. Ensure that you double check the full table on the back, not just the highlights on the front of the packets - manufacturers are sneaky and if a product has no added sugar, they'll highlight this without mentioning the 70% starch they also contain! Look at the amount of grams of cabohydrate per 100g - then tie this in with the serving size and see how many grams you're likely to have in a portion.

Carbs as a food group comprise starch, sugar and some fibre like cellulose. Sugar digests and becomes blood glucose quickly, whole wheat which is mainly starch also becomes blood glucose, it just digests and processes a little slower - the end result is the same, only the timing differs. Protein also becomes BG too - but again, more slowly and to a lesser degree. So pretty much everything you eat will have an impact on your BG readings. Through trial and error and regular testing you will find out how your own body responds to foods.


Sorry, but this really isn't much of an improvement. From memory, there are something like 4% less carbs in Weetabix than Shredded Wheat, but when it's around 40g of carbs per serving, saving a couple of grams isn't much of a saving for a diabetic. If you add cows milk to it, then you're adding some more too. And don't even think about sugar or honey on it!

Most of us who low carb have things like eggs for breakfast, I have mine scrambled with cheese and always have a serving of Greek yogurt - I find that fills me up well. You can have bacon, ham, high meat sausages, mushrooms etc. etc. which will be much better for your control than any cereal or toast. Breakfast is possibly the trickiest to make the change with as it has always been a traditionally carb-heavy meal for most people.
Thanks Boojewels, have to say your breakfast meals sound better than cereal! I thought bacon, ham, sausages etc., were off limits, will give it a go.
As for curries and sauces, just make your own. I use a lot of cream, creme fraiche and tinned tomatoes as bases for sauces - although not everyone can get away with the toms, I'm okay with them. They'll taste better and won't take any longer to cook than opening a jar. I watched a cookery program yesterday when Lorraine Pascale made a chicken tikka with spring onions, ginger and garlic, tomato paste, single cream and garam masala and paprika and it looked yummy. The rice is the thing to watch out for - another pure starch - keep the portion small if you can tolerate it, eat more of the sauce and meat and rather than naans, I have inexpensive poppadoms at 3g carbs each. Small substitutions can make a surprising difference without spoiling your enjoyment of a meal.

If you're very new to this, it can be a shock to the system. Making changes in stepped stages might be more palatable and sustainable. For example, I wasn't sure that I could stomach yogurt at breakfast, so I started by adding chopped fruit to it, then progressed to a selection of seeds, then I started putting less and less in and within a month, I realised that I just like a nice creamy plain yogurt on its own. Now I add nothing to it and really enjoy it. So any improvement is a move in the right direction, but if you have tough habits to break, doing it in stages might make it easier to get used to.

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daisy1 said:

@pineapplekeith

Hello Keith and welcome to the forum In addition to the great replies you have already received, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find this useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

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