This would be so useful for me too. I know I need to loose weight to get my diabetes under better control and for my other health problems. If anyone has such lists I would be very grateful for a copy.Hi I have type one and half diabetes and spent a week in hospital with dka . I have been told by my diabetic nurse that
I have to lower my carbs.
Can anyone please supply a list of what food I can and cannot have
Thank you
I second all the suggestions you've received.
Just for fun, I'm going to try to summarize the variation I use of the Low (healthy) Carb High (healthy) Fat, (low to moderate healthy protein) diet to see if I can do it concisely. [laughing]...
"Eat PFC every 3 [hours]" as Dietician Cassie often says. By that she means include a healthy protein, fat, and carb in every meal and snack. In the beginning, you'll probably need to eat a snack between meals. I did. Eventually, your need for snacks likely will lessen or only be needed occasionally, and you'll be able to fast 12 hours between your last meal and first meal.
No processed sugar, high fructose corn syrup, agave syrup, grains, or highly refined, damaged, omega-6 rich vegetable oils - (corn, soybean, canola, saffola, sunflower, cottonseed, peanut) - starchy, below ground vegetables or legumes, or fruit. No processed foods. Did I cheat? Yes, sometimes. For the first month, I kept a small box of gluten-free cookies in my freezer. The first week, I'd have four corn chips topped with cheddar, warmed in the microwave. I didn't tolerate fruit at all in the beginning, but after about six weeks I added small amounts blueberries - (six, and yes I counted them) - in the beginning, later a 1/4 to 1/3 cup mixed berries with meals, occasionally small amounts of starchy vegetables and legumes too.
Watch your protein intake with each meal. Excess protein is converted to glucose and will spike your blood glucose. My lean body mass is 100 pounds, so I only need an egg for breakfast, and 2-3 ounces of meat with lunch and dinner. My husband, who is bigger than I am, needs more protein, of course.
Drink lots of water throughout the day. It's okay to alternate water with tea (or coffee) but both can be dehydrating. Sweet tasting beverages made with artificial sweeteners are not advised because they reinforce your cravings for "sweet" and studies show they also cause you to eat more. As a rule, I drink a cup of water before each cup of tea.
Stevia, a natural sweetener that doesn't affect blood glucose levels is okay, but it can lead to cravings for "sweet" too. The form I use is Stevita liquid extract. I don't use it daily. It's more of a special treat.
Tea with breakfast and after lunch, keep cravings for sweets manageable. Wine with or after dinner, also is helpful. It's that little something I need after a meal to replace what used to be a cookie or other treat.
Also find a way to add a minimum of a 1/4 teaspoon salt to your daily diet, because you're no longer getting enough by eliminating processed foods. I did it by adding a 1/8 teaspoon salt to a mug of hot water and stirring well to dissolve, then worked up to 1/4 teaspoon. I like salt so while this seemed a bit different at first, eventually I liked it. Today I add the salt to my vinaigrette with spices instead. Even though the body recycles salt, you'll need more salt if you're physically active and sweat. You'll know your salt intake is too low if you feel light headed, fatigued, perhaps irritated, or have a headache. If these symptoms are due to low salt intake, they should improve soon after having some salt. In the beginning, I craved two sources of salt intensely, corn chips, later olives, when my salt intake was too low. Your body will find a way to tell you.
Two supplements that are critical to improving your diabetes: vitamin D3 and magnesium which almost all of us are deficient. Most of us need a minimum of 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day, sometimes 5,000 IU or more if you're very low. The vitamin D3 will help your immune system work better, and reduce inflammation and insulin levels, but it can take a long time to get back into the normal range so the sooner you start the better.
Magnesium's involved in almost 300 processes in the body so it's very important. It also will reduce and eliminate the muscle cramps that occur with low carb eating. I take 600 mg magnesium citrate a day, half with breakfast, half with dinner. There are many different forms of magnesium. Some, like magnesium oxide, will give you loose, frequent stools. Seek guidance. Initially, I'd take 200 - 300 mg magnesium citrate, half with breakfast, half with dinner, then increase if muscle cramps continue.
Constipation. Eating lots of fiber rich, plant foods, taking magnesium, and drinking water will all help. Bumping up the magnesium temporarily can also help.
I have severe insulin resistance so it took me a full 4 weeks to get my blood glucose levels down, but they never dropped below the pre-diabetic range for me. I'm patient though. My diabetes took decades to develop. I anticipate I will continue to heal over time. Not having any sugar, starchy, below ground vegetables or legumes, or grains, or fruit greatly helped. A 1/4 cup berries may be okay. Later you'll be able to add limited amounts of these foods back into your diet, especially berries, yum!
Berries, lemons, and limes are all low carb. I think grapefruit is too.
Even though I've always eaten a reasonably healthy diet this diet took me a couple of days to adjust to. In the weeks that followed, it got easier and easier. It really helps if you clear out foods you're choosing not to eat, and have on hand a variety of snack foods.
Everyone has there own variation of what diet works best for them for a variety of reasons: level of insulin resistance and the body's diet requirements. I spent a lot of time researching this. What I learned is that while everyone benefits from a plant based diet, some need animal protein with every meal, some don't, and most of us are somewhere in between. Additionally, some people can only eat plant foods cooked, others only raw, most of us are somewhere in between. Those who are only mildly insulin resistant can tolerate more carbs, sometimes up to 150 g carbs, those with severe insulin resistance only 20 to 50 g carbs. I've heard it argued that the carbs in above ground, non-starchy vegetables shouldn't be counted. I'm not sure, but I think this is true after the body becomes more tolerant and resilient, though not initially.
Book Recommendations: For the low carb diet, The Blood Code (2014) by Richard Maurer. For a vegetarian/vegan, low carb diet, The Blood Sugar Solution (2014) by Mark Hyman or The Low Carb Dietitian's Guide to Health and Beauty (2015) by Franziska Spritzler. For the whole food, plant based diet - (high healthy carb, low fat; strongly limits or eliminates animal proteins and fats) - The End of Diabetes (2012) by Joel Fuhrman - (Warning: he wrongly trashes the low carb diet, but the book in general is otherwise quite good).
The low carb diet works best for the majority of diabetics, but not all. You won't know until you try it for a few months. If the first diet doesn't work, try a different diet.
Because you now have type 1.5 diabetes, I'd add to my recommendations: Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, 4th edition (2011) by Richard K. Bernstein, M.D. so you can learn about the low carb diet from a type 1 diabetic. It's also an excellent reference for type 1 diabetics, type 2's too.
Ask for help here if you choose to do the vegetarian/vegan low carb diet.
To be continued...
I would also recommend "Diabetes Epidemic & You" by Joseph R Kraft who was a pathologist that carried out over 13,000 autopsies and made careful observations about the disease drivers and CVD impact on diabetics. Very interesting.
Sent from my iPad using DCUK Forum mobile app
Book ordered Kevin. Thanks for the reminder. I was reading the book's reviews on Amazon here in the US a second time, and came across this link to Ivor Cummins interviewing Dr. Kraft in 2015. I'm watching it now!
I do treasure my Volek and Phinney books. I'm glad someone here persuaded me to buy the second book after purchasing the first because neither is complete without the other. It's also helpful to read them in sequence. The published history of the diet beginning with Banting 150 years ago was so interesting. They, more than anyone, convinced me that I wasn't going to kill myself by eating less carbohydrates and more healthy fats!
Thanks also for the kind compliment Kevin. It takes a long time to write these posts, and I do have plans to collect all my writings in one place eventually.
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