As well as Metformin, I take fast and slow insulin. My readings are always too high, so a few months ago the D nurse talked me through counting carbs and adjusting insulin to suit. I still have problems and I am now so sick of potatoes and pasta that my stomach turns when I look at them. Any suggestions please? I know I need to eat something, but what? I feel I am turning into a real fussy eater, as Im not too keen about a lot of green leafy vegs either. What can I eat? Shall I stop the carb counting? All suggestions gratefully received.
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Sick of carbs.
- Thread starter lynbrown
- Start Date
Potatoes and pasta are terrible for trying to control BG anyay - you're better off without 'em.
As for alternatives, just have more of whatever you're usually eating with the pasta or potatoes. Having Spag Bol? Just have a couple extra spoon fulls of bolognese. Having Jack Potatoe with Tuna mayo? Just have extra tuna mayo!
There are TONS of low-carb lists on the web, just google some and make a list of the foods on there that you like.
As for alternatives, just have more of whatever you're usually eating with the pasta or potatoes. Having Spag Bol? Just have a couple extra spoon fulls of bolognese. Having Jack Potatoe with Tuna mayo? Just have extra tuna mayo!
There are TONS of low-carb lists on the web, just google some and make a list of the foods on there that you like.
dawnmc
Well-Known Member
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- 2,453
- Location
- Sheffield
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
If I were to eat pasta or potatoes my BS would be sky high, if you wont eat green veg, why don't you have it in a big veg soup. I think it might be a good idea for you to have a good peruse of the forum to see what everyone else eats. Certainly most reduce carbs - carbs convert to glucose which is sugar.
Raymond Starr
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 116
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Wow I have only just be diagnose a few weeks ago and I no potatoes and pasta is well of the menu for me my Bg just rockets up just eating two spuds you got to eat fish chicken lean mince turkey swede salad ect ect fruit rye bread there is plenty of food out there for you to enjoy
Daibell
Master
Hi. You must carb count. We are all different with varying degrees of pancreatic loss and insulin resistance thru weight gain. First, if you are overweight try to get that down as it makes any injected insulin work better; keeping the carbs down will help. I assume you have been told how to adjust you Basal and Bolus? The Basal should be set to give you a morning fasting sugar level of around 5-7 mmol. The Bolus, of course, is adjusted to put post meal sugar after 3 hours or so to be in the right range. I still have potatoes, bread, pasta and so on but keep the portions down and adjust the Bolus to suit. I've managed to avoid weight gain on insulin. I focus on the proteins, fats and some veg (yuk). Have egg and bacon for breakfast, cheese for lunch and so on?
Andy12345
Expert
hi, its obvious your fed up 
try not to lose hope, veg is great, its a shame you dont like it, maybe you could investigate different ways of eating it like the soup as previously mentioned but theyre are other things to do if you dont already, i hated veg but i googled it and things like asparagus used to be yuk but when hot fried in ghee/olive oil/ butter until it starts to go black the squeeze a lemon over it and served with a nice juicy steak its awesome, try adding chinese five spice to your veg and stir fry it with some chicken, the point is you can pazaz the veg up a bit to make it more palettable, but veg isnt all, salads, meats cheeses etc etc by eating the lower carb stuff you may find your insulin gets easier to deal with, i dont take insulin but ive read others say that.
try to stay positive
best of luck
try not to lose hope, veg is great, its a shame you dont like it, maybe you could investigate different ways of eating it like the soup as previously mentioned but theyre are other things to do if you dont already, i hated veg but i googled it and things like asparagus used to be yuk but when hot fried in ghee/olive oil/ butter until it starts to go black the squeeze a lemon over it and served with a nice juicy steak its awesome, try adding chinese five spice to your veg and stir fry it with some chicken, the point is you can pazaz the veg up a bit to make it more palettable, but veg isnt all, salads, meats cheeses etc etc by eating the lower carb stuff you may find your insulin gets easier to deal with, i dont take insulin but ive read others say that.try to stay positive
best of luck
phoenix
Expert
- Messages
- 5,671
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
As Daibell , it really helps if you are able to count carbs and adjust your insulin and it doesn't matter whether you adopt a lower or higher carb diet.
Carbs are in pasta and potatoes but they are in a whole range of other foods and if you don't take the amount into account when you inject then your glucose will either go too high or too low.
For example veggies aren't carb free. The amount of carbs in one homemade veg soup could be twice that in another . I just looked at one list on the fat secret site. There were some veg soups that for me might only require 1-2 u of insulin but one that would probably need almost 4u.
I got the feeling that you are getting confused and were sticking with just those two foods because you are uncertain and fed up with the whole thing. It does take time and practice to learn how to do it.
I assume that your nurse gave you a starting point ie 1 unit for so many carbs you do need that for a starting point. You do need to know that.
. .
A lot of people find the Carbs and Cals book or App useful. This is a pictorial guide to how many carbs there are in various size portions.
http://www.carbsandcals.com/
It won't be as accurate as weighing and measuring your own portions but it's a good guide.
There are some other resources that can help. Unfortunately they are directed at T1 but I certainly know of T2s who use the same methods successfully
This page has links to a basic carb list and a book about carb counting and adjusting insulin. ( the examples in the booklet are of fairly high carb meals but the methods of working things out are the same for lower carb meals)
There is also another link to an online course that you can do at your own pace.
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Managing-your-diabetes/Carb-counting/
Carbs are in pasta and potatoes but they are in a whole range of other foods and if you don't take the amount into account when you inject then your glucose will either go too high or too low.
For example veggies aren't carb free. The amount of carbs in one homemade veg soup could be twice that in another . I just looked at one list on the fat secret site. There were some veg soups that for me might only require 1-2 u of insulin but one that would probably need almost 4u.
I got the feeling that you are getting confused and were sticking with just those two foods because you are uncertain and fed up with the whole thing. It does take time and practice to learn how to do it.
I assume that your nurse gave you a starting point ie 1 unit for so many carbs you do need that for a starting point. You do need to know that.
. .
A lot of people find the Carbs and Cals book or App useful. This is a pictorial guide to how many carbs there are in various size portions.
http://www.carbsandcals.com/
It won't be as accurate as weighing and measuring your own portions but it's a good guide.
There are some other resources that can help. Unfortunately they are directed at T1 but I certainly know of T2s who use the same methods successfully
This page has links to a basic carb list and a book about carb counting and adjusting insulin. ( the examples in the booklet are of fairly high carb meals but the methods of working things out are the same for lower carb meals)
There is also another link to an online course that you can do at your own pace.
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Managing-your-diabetes/Carb-counting/
foxglove
Well-Known Member
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- 209
- Location
- Norwich Norfolk UK
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
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- Diet only
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I enjoy counting my carbs and..come to that..my calories as well especially as I have been on a diet to lose weight for a couple of years.
There is a forum called MyFitnessPal where you can log all the foods you eat each day and it will add up the things you want to keep an account of..Mine is set with counting the Calories, Carbs, Fats, Sugars and Fibre and there are other things you can put in as well. It takes out all the hard work of totting up constantly.
There is a forum called MyFitnessPal where you can log all the foods you eat each day and it will add up the things you want to keep an account of..Mine is set with counting the Calories, Carbs, Fats, Sugars and Fibre and there are other things you can put in as well. It takes out all the hard work of totting up constantly.
