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Struggling with diet

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Cabbie8

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Afternoon all, just after some advice re diet. I need things simplified and I’ll crack on with it. I looked into a diabetic nutritionist on insta but they wanted £900. I really just need to know the ideal breakfast, lunch and dinner to get me going. My levels were in the 90’s then down to 50’s but now but upto the 60’s

Any help would be good
 
Dietdoctor.com is a great source of information.
As well as our low carb forum.

As a diabetic, why do you need to eat all day, everyday?
the regime of breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and breaks inbetween is not conducive to having good control.
lowering your food intake, lowering your portion and most importantly, lowering your carb totals for the day will help get your levels down again. Intermittent fasting does work for most.
 
Why not? I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and a small supper snack and I have no problems with control. Totally agree with you about portion size and carbs but not everyone iwants to/is able to miss meals. I had a serious food issues for many years which caused a food disorder, missing meals and fasting are a massive trigger for me and I avoid them. I eat keto about 15g carb daily with between 1200/1400 calories and do fine. @Cabbie8 totally agree with @Lamont D about Diet Doctor they have lots of great meal plans, I used them for a good while and there is a great variety with all the recipes and counting of carbs etc done for you
 
Hi, just keep the carbs down and have enough fats and proteins to keep you feeling full. Don't worry about fats as a lot of what we are told is based on suspect science. Also beware some nutritionists as their knowledge may also be suspect. Eggs and bacon for breakfast is what I have together with a small quantity of homemade Muesli (not porridge with stewed oats)
 
Obviously you have a history that needs to be taken into account. As might others. And no one is saying it’s essential to skip meals, or even snacks, to gain control. Just easier.

Fundamentally the reason to allow longer breaks between meals, as opposed to constant grazing, is to allow insulin levels to fall back to baseline after being stimulated by food (Which we cannot measure the way we can bgl). Excess insulin is a major feature of type 2 which in turn contributes to insulin resistance and ultimately higher blood glucose levels. Reducing this is key to getting to the core of the problem and turning the tide back, as opposed to holding it in place.

Eating sufficiently filling meals with long lasting foods makes this happen almost by itself for many people cutting carbs and increasing healthy fats and proteins.

edit to add: another vote for dietdoctor. Try these pages as well as the recipe pages dietdoctor.com/diabetes and dietdoctor.com/low-carb
 
@HSSS - agree definitely no snacking - I eat at 5.30 am 12.30 for lunch and 6 for dinner - small snack at 10pm - usually an egg or a couple berries and soup spoon of Fage yogurt. Get to bed about 1 am - my days are very long and not busy but intense if that makes sense and I don’t think I’d get through them with my set meals, if my son is having one of his wakeful periods then sometimes I don’t get to bed. My regime keeps me from comfort eating
 
A healthy balanced diet designed for you that works for you, is far better than saying because I have this problem with fats, meat, vegetables etc. Doesn't mean that you will have health problems.
the problem we all face and have to discover is now much of certain foods can we be healthy with. Too much of a thing is bad, too little is bad. It is the Goldilocks zone. But there are certain of us that can do it differently and do well without having restrictions if some can't.
Fasting is good, if you can! If not, portion size is important. It is carbs not calories!
 
To get back on the OP‘s topic, I would agree with @Daibell , restrict carbs as much as possible and fill up with fats and protein, don’t go overboard with any one thing, have a broad range of food, avoid highly processed food, the fewer the ingredients the better.
 
Hi all, multiple posts were deleted for derailing the thread.

Can you all plese keep in mind the opening post:
 
Can you please start a separate thread on your questions? It's off topic.
 
General rules I try and stick to:
no bread of any sort
no pasta
no pulses, including peas and broad beans
no oats, barley, rice or wheat (or things made from them - cakes, biscuits etc.)
no root vegetables (there are a couple of exceptions e.g. radishes)
no added sugar or honey or jam
no fruit except for a few berries (i.e. 2 or 3 at a time)
no sweetcorn

plenty of leafy green vegetables: salad leaves of all sorts, lots of different cabbages, Brussel sprouts, watercress, pakchoi etc.
loads of mushrooms
small amounts of tomatoes and onions (mainly spring onions)
courgettes and aubergines
a variety of cheeses - both for meals and snacks
full-fat milk and full-fat yoghurt
eggs and more eggs
olives - both for meals and snacks
pork scratchings (a wonderfully indulgent treat, but watch out for your teeth)
Quorn pieces and mince
Beef
Chicken
Pork
Fish

When shopping, check the nutritional information on the back of packets. In the panel, it will typically show two columns of information. The one to pay attention to is the column under "per 100g". Check how many carbohydrates at shown in that column (not just sugars). If it's over 10g, it's too much for me. If it's between 5 and 10g then I might get it as a special treat. If it's 5g or less, then I can buy and eat it without worrying.

So for instance, Weetabix are shown as having 69g of carbohydrates per 100g: way, way, way too many carbs for me. I find it easier to check the per 100g column and avoid those foods that are higher than 10g. Some manufacturers attempt to bamboozle us by listing the per serving amount more prominently. I avoid the manufacturers that do this since I think they're trying to be deceptive.

A lot of the choices you're left with are (minus the potatoes and bread) what our parents and grandparents would have eaten.
 
Hey there,

Thank you for the info. I am doing a little research Weetabix’s nutrition labels. Upon my findings I have found 69g of carbs in 100g of weetabix, sounds bad right? However as it says on the nutrition label 2 weetabix biscuits equate to 37.5g (way below 100g) this translates to 26g of carbs, so if I was to have just 1 weetabix buscuit then the total amount of carbs would be just 13g.

(Nutrition label from Weetabix website)

I’m assuming this would not cause a spike in blood glucose, although I could be totally wrong? I will test with my free style libre very soon.

Please see image attached for reference.

Thank you
 

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That sounds about the right maths. Whether it causes a spike is a bit individual though.

Some need to eat as few carbs a day as 20g so this would be most of them, in one hit, on something that will not fill you up at all and will likely make you hungry again after a short peak. Would you really only eat one? What about the milk and anything you top it with? Also some are more susceptible to spikes to certain types of foods eg grains like this or at times of the day - often in the morning for breakfast.

Ultimately you and your libre/meter get to decide what to eat. Do you really want to push things to the limit? Maybe occasionally for special occasions but every day just for a bland bit of cardboard?
 
@arfanj, Just to put the 1 biscuit of weetabix into perspective, my carb tolerance means that my daily carb total is in the 20gms to 40gms range depending upon the type of carb and the carb/protein or carb/fat ratio at each meal - which affects the speed of carb absorption.
Thus, even if I could restrain myself eat just 1 biscuit of weetabix for breakfast with no added sugar, it would leave me with unrealistic carb restrictions for the remaining meals in that day!
 
As others have said, your maths seems right but that‘s too much for me. I typically keep my carb intake below 30g a day. Having almost half from just one wheat biscuit doesn’t make much sense for me. I’d rather have most of my carbs come from leafy green and other vegetables.

As I explained, I find it easier to avoid foods that are greater than 5% carbs, and totally cut out those with more than 10%: it makes shopping much easier. It makes meal planning much easier. But we each have to work out a way of eating that works for us as individuals, and if you keep checking with your meter, you will be able to find your own balance.
 
Brekkie said:
Wheetabix- NHS love
Click to expand...

I think it's an absolute triumph of marketing that they have convinced everyone that a food which has to have added vitamins (niacin, thiamine, iron, riboflavin and folic acid) just to have a little nutritional value, is an healthy alternative to real food.

Eggs on the other hand are naturally rich in vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B12, vitamin D, selenium and iodine. They also contain vitamin A and a number of other B vitamins including folate, biotin, pantothenic acid and choline, and other essential minerals and trace elements, including phosphorus. No doctoring required
 
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