• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

How do you do it?

Sarah69

Sarah69

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,503
Location
Hethersett, Norwich
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Anything healthy!
I've read loads on this forum about low carb is the way to go. I can see that people have great results from this diet. I just think that I am way too fussy with food to be on a low carb diet. I have tried before with the help of others on this forum to go low carb but I just do not like the foods!! I do worry about the future because my diet is just utter rubbish and the older I get the less foods I like! I have no help from the diabetic clinic, they just referred me to a dietician, I know what I should and shouldn't be eating but just don't like it or the combinations of different foods makes me want to vomit!
 
I guess I'm lucky in that I don't seem to have emotional attachments to particular foods. There are some I like more than others, of course, but giving up things I know are bad for me doesn't seem to be an issue. Can't say I've even had real cravings for any specific food since starting LCHF. I don't know how any amount of advice could convince you to eat something against your will though. I know there are certain foods I can't ever imagine eating (eg oysters) even though I know they're nutritionally good for me, but luckily my list of "yuck" foods is pretty short.
 
It may help to spend some quality time on the internet and in the grocery store and make lists of foods you can have on a low carb diet. It does not have to be extremely low carb, people have had success at many levels. Instead of concentrating on the foods you don't like and trying to force yourself to eat them (a recipe for failure) take the lists I mentioned earlier and make a master list of foods you do like. You might be surprised.
 
It can take time to get used to the different taste ect of some LC foods especially the baking but its all about keeping an open mind and giving it a chance. I keep my diet pretty simple but I enjoy what I eat. Have a look on Pinterest for some ideas.
 
Oh how I agree!
I really do NOT like greens. Whenever I see advice to fill up my plate with cabbage or broccoli or spiralised courgette I could scream. I have stopped baking too.
I do not count carbs but I watch them.
I do like cream and cheese which is helpful - but I have a sweet tooth and love desserts so I eat fruit (sweetened with stevia) and cream. OK I know fruit contains carbs but, with no cakes and biscuits or crisps in the house, I can get by without them.
Given the chance - what would you prefer to eat? A packet of crisps and 4 chocolate biscuits? A big Mac with trimmings with a chocolate sundae? Fish and beer battered chips? Sausage and mash?
Me too!
What do we have - cold beef with salad, roast beef with celeriac and green beans, salmon without sauce and more greens, steamed fish and cabbage .................. ugh
 
Hi Sarah69,

I don't think I will ever stop craving carbs, so I use a lot of replacement products Eg Cavalier Stevia chocolate, Josephs low carb pita breads. I have never eaten vegetables or salad, and don't intend to start now. But it can be done, as my results below show. I treat myself to a box of McCain micro chips 3 times a week (30 grams carbs), which sends me up to 8 or 9. If I have a bad day, I try not to go mad Eg, had half a normal bagel last night when desperate, so damage limitation.

I don't know what you like...............I'm also very fussy, but can eat unlimited meat, butter, double cream, strawberries, cheese, mayo etc, so I find meal combinations that are palatable
 
Well what foods do you like to eat. Start writing a list. Then start searching for recipes with them.

Use pin interest for ideas, the diet doctor, real meal revolution, the recipe app for diabetes.co.UK

There are loads of resources out there to help you.

Try everything at least 3 times on different occasions and in 3 different ways before saying yuk.

Our taste buds change all the time. I now eat much spicier foods because I am enjoying the flavors more. Still can't stomach fresh coriander (cilantro) but will eat ground if it is called for in a recipe.

If you are still unsure ask here you never know who will come up with something you find palatable
 
I tried the diet and was not for me. I now eat what I fancy without the culprit foods that spike me. That suits me and am eating smaller portions. The weight is slowly coming off and my bs levels have reduced
 
Sarah, what are you eating now that you cannot do without? When you mention 'baking' are you missing home baked cakes and pastries? I miss things wrapped in pastry, and other things like chocolate digestives or crisps. The only way for me to do without these things is just not to have them in the house, and not venture down those aisles when shopping. It takes some doing!
Are you, like me, also trying to lose weight?
Are your bloods under control, and do you test yourself?
My GP told me not to test, so I've no idea how I'm doing. I tried to get a free testing kit one online but don't seem to have the right criteria, all the same I think I should perhaps buy one myself and see what spikes me. I don't think we'll ever stop craving carbs - but when I tried counting calories (for slimming) years ago when I didn't know I was diabetic, it was the fats I craved .... butter and cream and cheese and chips and cakes and chocolate ...... nothing's ever simple is it?
Like alcoholics, perhaps we should take one step at a time .... number one step might be to stop baking?
Then after a month, number two step (sounds like a barn dance!) cut out potatoes?
Mmmmm, might try that myself!
 
I'm in agreement wirh @Indy51.

I'm on a very low carb diet (<50g carbs a day) and apart from a few speciality foods (e.g. sesame flour and ground almonds for baking, or stevia and erythritol for sweetening), I eat a completely normal, healthy and varied diet. All I've done is avoid all foods high in starch and sugar, and increase the amount of fattier/oily foods - otherwise what I choose to eat is pretty much unchanged.

I sometimes think that some people have a huge lack of understanding of what actually eating a lower catb diet does entail - and it certainly doesn't have to be in any way extreme. As long as you know/understand and avoid those food which give you high glucose spikes you can eat whatever suits you. You can change things gradually so that your body can comfortably adapt to a new diet - it never has to be a dramatic cold turkey shock treatment. And LOW CARB DOES NOT EQUAL NO CARBS as some people appear to think - they are two different styles of eating. Common sense comes into it!

Robbity
 
One of the biggest problems when starting low carb is the hunger pangs and the need to eat your favourite foods.
Depending on where you are on the road to better control, you really don't have to do without some of them. Just the really bad ones!
It's about portion size.
The reason a lot of T2s don't eat these foods is because they know what the effects would be if they indulge.
I think that if you can discover your baddies and concentrate the goodies that don't spike you too .such you will be getting somewhere.
There are always alternatives.
Because I have to very low carb and experimented with different foods and found that my tastes have diversified and eating stuff that I never thought I would, salad is great if you get the combinations right.
Tastes change and if you know that it is beneficial, it makes you feel much better.
Plan your shop, plan your foods that your gonna buy, do it on line so your not persuaded to buy something you can't resist, if it's not in the house, that is half the battle. You like fish, have it without the batter, bake but don't eat too many, curries are low carb, soups are low carb, find different ways to cook meat. Steak with onions mushrooms, bacon, gammon and eggs, I'm getting hungry now!
Plan ahead, if I can, you can.
Best wishes.
 
A friend of mine knows someone who ignored the warnings for seven years and ate what he wanted. He is now missing a foot.
 
Not everyone eats a lc diet to control their diabetes, just find what works for you and controls your bg.

I found that after diagnosis I needed to eat around 60g of carbs a day to control my diabetes that meant eating small portions of carbs with each meal but I still ate potatoes, bread and most other foods but in small quantities, I still found I needed to avoid higher processed foods like white bread and rice but substituted wholegrain and seeded bread and basmati rice which when eaten in small quantities actually had little effect on my bg levels, but I did a lot of testing in the first year testing before and after every meal till I was able to gauge the portion sizes that were right for me.

And after losing a lot of weight I was able to increase the amount of carbs I ate although I still avoid very fast acting carbs like whit bread even today, I also eat pasta only very occasionally.

I have never added any fat to my diet as by eating fewer carbs I was naturally increasing the percentage of fat in my diet and I always felt that adding extra fat just meant adding extra calories which I was trying to avoid in order to lose weight..
 
I was lucky that my pre diabetes was picked up early so I low carbed (having tested and found it was carbs that increased my BG), and it is fear that is my motivation! I fear the complications of diabetes and that keeps me on the straight and narrow!
I was watching a programme about diabetes and the doctor said the sugar in your blood is like shards of glass damaging your blood vessels I find that image useful if I am tempted!!
I found it very difficult in that I had normal Bmi and was a runner when diagnosed so no obvious solutions, like losing weight for me.
 
The only regular meal I eat is breakfast. I work full time in a hospital, I have lunch then. I rarely eat an evening meal, I will cook eat it then I don't want it. The only meal I do eat is a Sunday roast. I like meat chicken, beef, lamb and pork. I don't like much veg. I eat some fruit, grapes with my lunch when I'm working I don't eat fruit any other time. I could live without savoury food. I don't get excited about it and as time goes on it getting worse! Being told not to buy certain food doesn't work, I love chocolate as I have mentioned many times before, if I don't buy it, it's on my mind all the time and I'll go to the shop and buy it. I was referred to a psychologist by the diabetes team at the clinic I go to but it didn't help and they didn't think I had a problem!
 
Who said you can't eat chocolate?
I eat chocolate most nights but because I low carb less than 30 g a day I choose to eat dark chocolate 70 or 86 %.
I crave sweets occasionally and make my own cakes, pancakes and mousses. I use a mix of almond flour, coconut flour and golden flaxmeal. It even makes up a bread that can be used as bread, sandwiches or French toast.
My taste buds have changed so milk chocolate is like swallowing a mouth full of sugar these days.
I eat pasta but i make gnocchi only with ricotta cheese.
Its about changing your eating habits, a lifestyle choice, low carbing is not a diet for most of us.
Diets to many are about starving and have negative connotations. I make a choice to eat in a way that does not raise my BG levels and keep them elevated. And I have never been hungry in choosing this lifestyle, I actually eat far less these days.

Its actually interesting to hear peoples views on low carbing as so many give up in the first few weeks because they think they are being deprived. The only thing that you deprive yourself of are high blood sugars
 
Back
Top