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Struggling to find food I like?

L

Loukay1

Well-Known Member
Messages
114
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi I've been asking many questions about my high bg levels I've been getting with my newly bought monitor, roughly between 18.6 & 26.8, I got lots of helpful advice about changing diet to very low carbohydrate diet.
I was encouraged to come here for some inspiration!
However, I'm really struggling to find any food I like
I'm not a huge fan of eggs, Bacon or many vegtables.
I'm allergic to nuts & coconut.
I've tried looking on diet doctor for ideas & googling low/no carbohydrate meals but nothing appeals in the slightest.
Is there anything I haven't checked? Or I'm I just best to stop checking my by & go back to trying to lose weight with a low calorie diet & hope my bg sorts it's self out that way?


Sent from my SM-G930F using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
Meats, fish, cheese etc there you don't have to create the recipes from the website, pick a few things you like and create your own dish x
 
Any meat, any fish (without a coating), any dairy food, vegetables that you do like as long as they aren't root vegetables like potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, salads and peppers, tinned fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel etc.

Eggs are a staple for diabetics. Can you try them cooked in different ways to see which your prefer? Fried, boiled, scrambled, poached, omelette? Add some cheese or mushrooms to an omelette?

Which foods do you like? These are the ones to concentrate on.
 

I'm exactly the same! I've had advice from this site but been told many times that I'll have to learn to like the foods I don't like. That is such a stupid thing to say. I've never liked wine I try sips occasionally but still don't like it! I can't bear cucumber if I have a salad with anything I'll pick it out but can still taste for many hours after its vile. I don't like a lot of low carb food or food in general. I would love to low carb to bring my sugars down buts it's just not going to happen. I struggle to eat food daily. I've eaten out twice in the last 2 days, I had a jacket potato with cheese and red onion with salad, had to pick out cucumber, beetroot and raw carrot. Yesterday I had a carvery.
 
I eat about 70g carbs a day - I don't eat eggs because of an allergy, don't eat nuts except at Christmas as they mess with my weight, I do eat lots of veg - I know it can be difficult to change our mindset - I eat some carbs but small amounts e.g 2 very small new potatoes, a slice of protein bread,

Try to look at what you do like you don't have to eat food you don't like but things do have to change your numbers are pretty high and a low calorie diet although may help with weight loss won't reduce your numbers enough. I have lost 154lb but if I eat too many carbs it still affects my blood sugars

What kind of food do you like is there any veg you like to eat? What about meats? Do you eat dairy such as cheese? If we know what you do like we may be able to help you a bit
 
I am not sure what to advise here.

Clearly for a diabetic diet is not just having food for the pleasure of its taste, it is part and parcel of our treatment if we want to stay healthy.

Carrying on with the same high carb diet, that probably contributed to making us diabetic in the first place, and which I bodies can no longer cope with, just because that is the food that we are used to and like, clearly is not the way forward. But you know all that already. Repeating the same actions expecting a different outcome is as a wise man once said the definition of insanity.

Which does you no good at all if you can not bring yourself to like the more low carb choices.

Perhaps you need to experiment with food more, different ways of preparing it, for instance.

Or you can bargain with yourself more, allow yourself an infrequent treat of a high carb meal you like, for putting up with x meals you don't like.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
That's a bit unfair @Sarah69 lots of members have tried to help you in so many ways including myself - I remember asking you if you had to eat carbs could you try halving your portions and you said no you'd be hungry I recall lots of others over the years trying to find a way for you so your statement isn't fair on those that have tried to help
 

Loukay - I'd be interested to hear about the foods you would like to eat, as I never fail to be astonished by the inventiveness of folks out there and how they have discovered alternatives to so many carby foods.

I'm fortunate to really enjoy vegetables and many forms of protein, but like just about everyone else who has been diagnosed with T2 on here, I did have to change my eating habits after diagnosis.

Many folks considering moving to a reduced carb diet envisage living on lettuce leaves, spread with butter, with a side of a 32oz steak, when like all forms of diet, one size doesn't fit all.

Give us a few ideas of what you like, say at breakfast, lunch and dinner times, and anything you just can't eat, due to, say, an allergy, and you may be surprised by what comes up.
 

I haven't said that I haven't had advice because I have. But advice telling me to eat food I don't like, because I'm not suddenly going to like it am I isn't helpful!
 
When you say you are allergic to nuts are you sure it include all nuts ? I find macadamia nuts are very different from others nuts and they taste very delicious and very neutral at the same time a little like solid cream . It is so difficult to advice people that are both allergic and also picky when it comes to foods and taste , I myself am also not very fond of cucumbers but find them delicious in freshly made tzartiki but then again why consider cucumbers essential they are not really dense in vitamins or other nutrients . I think your way to go would be to be curious about all kinds of food you haven't yet tasted .... can' t find a better advice , in the end only you know what you are willing to try https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes
 
Hello

This is good advice, give it a go. X
 
Sarah69 said:
I haven't said that I haven't had advice because I have. But advice telling me to eat food I don't like, because I'm not suddenly going to like it am I isn't helpful!
Click to expand...

Pretty simple equation then, is it not? Perhaps you should consider not asking in the event you're not ready or willing to hear. Can't lay it out more clearly than that
 
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Sarah69 said:
I haven't said that I haven't had advice because I have. But advice telling me to eat food I don't like, because I'm not suddenly going to like it am I isn't helpful!
Click to expand...

I have no idea of the foods you do and don't like. But to quote Henry Ford 'If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.'

Maybe you might find it helpful to make an appointment with a dietician and go with a list of the foods you do like
 
I am amazed by the number of people who post on this forum that they find a low carb diet difficult to follow because they have a very limited range of foods they like. Obviously ethical vegetarians, and those with allergies or other medical reasons are going to have restrictions, but others seem to have the pickiness of a 4 year old. I avoid high carbs but that leaves hundreds of foods and thousands of ways of preparing it.


We all have food preferences, but if they are damaging your health then having something else instead of your favorite meals, or at least modifying them, must surely be worth the effort.
 

I WAS exactly the same - couldn't bear celery, couldn't eat Greek Yoghurt without filling it full of honey... lived for crisps, chocolate, cakes and pastry and am a fussy eater who hates cooking ! No hope you might think!
.....At the risk of sounding like some of the smug answers one can get from people who have got their diabetes under control - (there's nothing more annoying than being told someone else's success story that doesn't bear any resemblance to you issues or journey. OR being lectured at and told off - for Gods sake we're all adults !).......
However, after having dodged a cancer bullet at the start of this year (ovarian cancer found whilst having hysterectomy for uterine cancer - both stage 1 grade 1) I was diagnosed with type II diabetes in May. Thought that perhaps the Universe was trying to tell me something as I entered my 55th year on this planet. Didn't want the tablets and so decided to try the low carb thing......I have quite honestly been amazed at how easy it is, and how much weight I've lost (2 stone in three months) and my HBA1C has gone down from 70 to 53. So, I'm still not out of the woods, but getting there. I would really urge you to try the low carbs. Don't worry about the fancy low carb recipes, they'll be full of things you don't like ! Get a list of 'healthy' foods you can tolerate and work out their carbs - then work your own diet around that. I don't eat breakfast anymore, just have coffee with cream. My lunch can sometimes consist of a celery stick and a lump of cheese (yes I said celery !) My tastes have changed so much in three months that I can now eat celery and plain Greek yoghurt! and the biggest craving I have is for apples !!! However this is my story, not yours, you need to find the way that it works for you. I suggest testing your blood before and after every meal, if you aren't already that is. I have been testing about 8 times a day for three month (and no my fingers do not look like pin cushions !) It's the knowledge of what my BS is doing moment by moment during the day that has kept me on the straight and narrow ! Unlike with weight, the moment you eat something that affects you, the BS levels spike. It's also worth knowing what foods do what to you. A jacket potato would be terrible for me, but might be fine for you, you won't know without testing. It's a personal journey, but one worth taking if you can possibly manage it. Feel free to ignore everything I've said - or to message me if you'd like to chat further.
 
There was a TV show a while back about people with weird food phobias. If your "pickiness" reaches the kind of extremes shown (eg one woman who would only eat Yorkshire puddings with gravy), then you need psychological help:

http://www.anxietycare.org.uk/docs/eating.asp

If you can eat meat and a few vegetables, maybe some low carb fruit like berries, then you'll survive, even thrive. If the response to that idea is "I'll get bored" - well, that's not a phobia, that's just being difficult for the sake of it. Food isn't and shouldn't be "entertainment". It's for nourishment. Again, if you think you can't survive boredom, you need psychological help. Being bored has always been part of the human condition and it's a good idea to learn how to cope with it.
 

Thanks for your reply although this isn't my post I was just telling the struggles that I have. At the moment it goes beyond just not liking food. Once I have cooked something I can't eat it. Whilst I'm cooking I think I must rinse my hands about 10/20 times, I can't bear anything food wise touching my skin. I work on a hospital ward and find meal times the worst. I can do breakfast ok there's not too much of a smell except for toast which I can't bear. Lunch/tea time are the absolute worst for me the smell makes me feel ill, the food looks disgusting and people have food combinations that I think are just vile eg, lasagne with mashed potato and veg, I would have it with either chips or a salad., the same again with macaroni cheese which I would not eat full stop. There are also patients who need to eat a puréed diet, I'm not able to feed them as that food does make me feel sick, I can feel it coming up.

When I'm at work I only test before breakfast and before bed, it's not possible while I'm at work to test more. I've had lots of advice on here obviously people trying to help but being told that I'm like a child having a temper tantrum because of food I don't like isn't helpful they do not know me or know how food makes me feel. Thanks again.
 
My uncle was a butcher making his own dripping, faggots, sausage and burgers (before kebabs) the finished product was amazing but having seen it in the creation stage I had to use the off brain technique and pretend the creation stage never happened. I often wonder how people working in hospital kitchens get on.

Maybe you need to design a range of low carb, microwave ready meals and sell the concept to a major supplier. I am sure there is already a significant market and it is likely to grow if the predictions for the spread of diabetes is to be believed.
 
If you can keep to what gives you the best BG reading you are making progress. Maybe alter a recipe to omit ingredients. A recipe is for guidance only. It certainly is not a sacrosanct. There are many ways to alter the ingredients or method of cooking any dish. If in doubt just pop a post on the recipe side of the forum. Some people achieve amazing turnarounds in weeks but there are plenty of posts from people who have not and more posts from people who have challenges. You are sure to recognise some aspects of your life if you read long enough so pick out the bits that will help you get to where you want to be. Only you can decide what is right for you, how you want to live and where that will take you.
 
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