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My "new" diet

T

TuTusweet

Well-Known Member
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Changing my diet has not been easy because I have very little room for manoeuvre . Now I seem to be scratching around to find things to alter.
During a normal week I used to have 6 cups of coffee in cafes with a teaspoon of sugar in each. So that's out.
I used to eat bread about 3 or 4 days a week --one slice each time. That's out.
I used to eat fruit yogurt--now I eat yogurt labelled no fat no sugar (but the fruit in it has sugar). It must be a tiny amount.
And that is my problem at the moment ---how much matters ??
Tonight I nearly opened a jar of RAGU to make Spag Bol.
Instead made my own Bol with onion and a tin of tomatoes. It looked rotten so without thinking I slung in a small tin of tomato paste stuff.
It was 155 g. It had 140 calories. It had 10g of carbs of which 7 g was sugar. SEVEN grams. Between two people.
Thats trivial. Isn't it ?? Or is it?? Do I really have to worry that much ? Really ?

By the way I've lost 5 pounds in 12 days. I'm buying new bathroom scales tomorrow.
Oh yes I did not have Spag Bol. I had Bol.
 
Hi. I go for 150gm-180gm of carbs per day total. Many go for a lot less. Above 200gm you may find you can't keep your blood sugar down; the meter is the ultimate guide. So, continue to read the labels and you will soon find foods that you like but that aren't stuffed with sugar or carbs. I have sweeteners with my tea & coffee.
 
TuTusweet said:
Changing my diet has not been easy because I have very little room for manoeuvre . Now I seem to be scratching around to find things to alter.
During a normal week I used to have 6 cups of coffee in cafes with a teaspoon of sugar in each. So that's out.
I used to eat bread about 3 or 4 days a week --one slice each time. That's out.
I used to eat fruit yogurt--now I eat yogurt labelled no fat no sugar (but the fruit in it has sugar). It must be a tiny amount.
And that is my problem at the moment ---how much matters ??
Tonight I nearly opened a jar of RAGU to make Spag Bol.
Instead made my own Bol with onion and a tin of tomatoes. It looked rotten so without thinking I slung in a small tin of tomato paste stuff.
It was 155 g. It had 140 calories. It had 10g of carbs of which 7 g was sugar. SEVEN grams. Between two people.
Thats trivial. Isn't it ?? Or is it?? Do I really have to worry that much ? Really ?

By the way I've lost 5 pounds in 12 days. I'm buying new bathroom scales tomorrow.
Oh yes I did not have Spag Bol. I had Bol.
Click to expand...

That's about one or two teaspoonfuls of sugar. Between two of you. Should be fine.
Tomatoes are sweet, so it's not all added sugar either.
Having said that, I use mince, (or quorn) tomatoes, fresh or tinned, a bit of tomato paste from a tube, a lot of mushrooms, herbs, garlic, peppers, onion. I grew a load of squash over summer, so I'm still eating the spaghetti squash with the bol sauce.
I drink coffee, without sugar,
I eat livlife bread occasionally,
I eat Muller Light yoghurt.
I cook most meals from scratch, and don't use any sauces or tins (maybe not entirely true, I do if they're low in sugar, and I'm rushed, but I normally avoid them), and use drymix ready sauces if I need to.
My best tip is probably a cupboard full of herbs, spices, chilli, soy sauce, and any meal can be made interesting.
 
Do stay positive -- you just need to tweak your diet:

Have 6 cups of coffee, but with sweetener
3 or 4 slices of bread a week is OK -- if you try the Livlife low-carb bread.
Have plain yoghurt with fresh berries, rather than fruit yoghurt.

Sensible adjustments can have a big impact
 
TuTusweet said:
Tonight I nearly opened a jar of RAGU to make Spag Bol.
Instead made my own Bol with onion and a tin of tomatoes. It looked rotten so without thinking I slung in a small tin of tomato paste stuff.
<SNIP>

Oh yes I did not have Spag Bol. I had Bol.
Click to expand...

Hi Tutu,

When we have Spag Bol in my house - I make what I call "fake Spaghetti" I use a Julienne Peeler to make strips of courgette and carrot, which I then saute gently for a few minutes in some olive oil (about half a teaspoon is usually sufficient) in a non-stick pan, add seasoning to taste and serve with your Bol sauce.

I got an inexpensive peeler in Lakeland http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15806/Julienne-Peeler

You may also like to try zero carb (Shirataki) noodles (sometimes called zero or miracle noodles) which you can get in Asian shops and online at Amazon amongst other sites - They are high in fibre so don't eat too many at once.
 
Hi

As said by others... coffee tastes ok with sweetener in it (many cafes and other places often have sweetner foc to pick up).

Many cafes will also cook a breakfast without the bread being added. You can feel fairly full just by eating a large omelette plus mushrooms, bacon rasher, fried toms and this type of meal wont really affect your bg levels.

As you've discovered, cutting down on the amount of carb that you eat every day is showing its effect on your bodyweight and with any luck will make your pancreas gland and other organs be able to function much better and you will then be able to tolerate eating a bit more carb in your diet but in general keep in mind that weight gain in excess is going to cause you to have problems.
 
Hi TuTuS... firstly congratulations on the weight loss, that is really going to help you so well done and keep it up :clap:

All I will add is to try to see the bigger picture when it comes to sugar, as all carbs turn to sugar I would have been more worried about the carbs in the spaghetti than the source, but that could just be me :D

Good luck with the diet. loosing weight is the best thing you can do if you are diabetic as it makes a huge difference to your control :thumbup:
 
Why do you have little room for manoevre? I plan meals for my husband who is T1 with kidney failure, so I'm doing low carb/low protein. It still gives me a huge range of stuff to cook. Today we had beef olives, stuffed with bacon, shallot and gherkin and some sauteed left over new potatoes and Brussels Sprouts for lunch. Pudding was a small portion of stewed apple with ginger, served with cream,no added sugar SMALL portion. For supper, I've had a slice Livlife breads toasted with some Camembert cheese. A varied day with low protein and low carb
Hana
 
If anyone is interested here is an update.

I still eat no bread except Ryvita, no pasta, no pastry, no potatoes, no added sugar, no rice.

Twelve days after my last blood test gave 139 BG my reading was 120.

In 20 days I've lost nearly 8 pounds weight.

Next stage will be finishing off all the sugar laden jars of pasta sauces. I do not want to throw out good food ---it will probably just not be replaced. And I have a trick to eat very little but still taste it.

I've become a keen jar label reader. I used to eat half a jar of Mango chutney with curry I used to make about every 5 weeks. Half a jar is 77 GRAMS OF SUGAR. Thailand made Sweet Chilli Sauce is basically pure liquid sugar with crushed chilli flakes suspended in it. That will have to be thrown away.

The attention to detail needed is high I find. I had a full English fry up this morning. 2 eggs and sausages and bacon plus Tomato plus mushrooms plus hash brown toast and a tube of brown sauce was my reward for my reading of 120. But I ate less than half the hash brown an brown sauce and a quarter of the slice of toast. This was my intake reduction. I cannot believe i have such self control.

Thank you for reading.
 
Re: My "new" diet

Hi tutu if you're having a cooked breakfast beware of TFT hidden carbs in sausages as most have bread in them. Look at some if the German ones like Frankfurters they tend to have little or no bread. And have gash browns or toast not both


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
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