Type 2 Meals & Snacks

Hi

I do LCHF (see www.dietdoctor.com/lchf), how low you go with carbs and how high with fats is up to the individual, in the context of a calorie balance to lose weight.

Anyway, a typical day for me would be:

Breakfast. The diabetic full English of bacon/egg/mushroom/tomato, or just bacon and egg, or sometimes Greek yoghurt with a few red berries and a dash of grated coconut.

Lunch. Usually a 'Mediterranean' type selection from salami/avocado (or guacamole)/cheese/olives/tomato/hummus/mackerel pate.

Supper/dinner. Protein in the form of steak/mince/chicken/fish/good quality burger with salad and/or vegetables (not below-ground ones like carrots or parsnips though). Glass of red wine. Some berries with double cream for dessert.

With calories from fat and protein rather than carbs you may not feel the need for snacks between meals, but if you do try cheese or nuts (brazils, hazelnuts, almonds).

Drink plenty of water. Tea and coffee is OK, try coffee with cream rather than milk. Decaff is probably better from mid-afternoon.

HTH

Frying the full English in butter is good ...

Agree with all the above adding fish of any sort but oily is best for health but nothing wrong with cod and a few celeriac and/ or swede chips and lots of veg A handful of almonds and a square of very dark choc (over 80%) is a nice treat in the evening
CAROL

Eating fat per se doesn't make you fat. It's best to cook in butter, even lard, or rapeseed oil. Cereals are generally not good because they are full of sugar, and are often relatively expensive as well. How about eggs?

Hello him indoors! Yes, we all get told by DN's and health care professionals that cereal and wholesale bread is good ......then we all come here and learn much more!! Rod has provided you with good info, I'm 14 weeks into lchf and have never looked back, at first used to snack on a few almonds if needed, but now I am never hungry between meals! Bacon, egg or bacon and mushrooms for breakfast really sustain me well (pre diagnosis would have been cereal or toast and then craving and snacking later!! Carbs are addictive and more you have more you want!) I haven't got bored with my new menus, my tastes have changed and heightened a lot in such a short time!! I've gone two Jean sizes down already (I'm 6. 2/12" tall too!) Keep posting with questions and progress, it's a fab place here!!

Hi there. If you go onto the low carb forum there is a thread there called " what did you have to eat today". Its got loads of ideas what people eat for breakfast lunch and dinner

Hi Lesley60, welcome.

Most of us would have some difficulties with banana and tinned pears - do they not spike you at all?

Low GI/GL is another way.
I don't particularly like fat, so,
breakfast is a couple of ryvita, with half fat cheese and ham.
Dinner tonight has been brisket, (slow cooked) with oven baked sweet potato chips, (spray of one cal oil just to brown them)', with steamed broccoli, broad beans, and french beans, gravy made with the juice from the slow cooker, but with the fat skimmed off

Portion controlled, about 800 to 1200 calories a day initially to lose 4 1/2 stone, then back up when I wanted to maintain weight.
I found gym sessions, improved muscle tone really made a difference to my glucose intolerence.

Hi Himindoors!

Some good advice in this thread
There may be the odd bit of advice that pops up on a thread of yours that may confuse you but all I would say as a previous newbie myself is go with the majority on advice as that was what helped me.

All the best

Paul

A very good post from paul.
We've all been newbies, and the best advice we can give is to find something that suits your self.
It's easy to get carried off on the first posts, particularly if they are indeed the majority, as some members are very keen to share their methods, as that's what worked for them, as indeed others that post different methods have found what works in their case.
As to confuse, I have to agree, the idea of bacon fried in butter does take some getting used to initially.
But we don't all do the same, it doesn't suit us all, and it's important to find a diet you can adopt, and continue to eat.

The other good tip, no one else has mentioned it seems, is to get hold of a blood glucose meter, and test after each food.
You'll find which foods raise your BG, and which don't.

Douglas99's suggestion about getting a blood glucose meter and testing to see what happens to your blood glucose after particular foods is very important.

We all get handed advice by our doc or nurse, but there is no way of knowing if that diet works for our individual body - unless we test.

Since we are all different ages, sizes, fitness levels, backgrounds and preferences, there is no single diet that suits us all - but we can work out exactly our best diet - by testing.

Type 1 diabetics are given test meters on prescription.
Type 2s usually have to fund their own (unless they are very lucky).

If you get one, make sure you have checked the running cost. You have to buy the meter and pots of test strips.

The best value meter I have ever seen is the Codefree meter, available from Amazon, eBay, and direct from the manufacturer.

It may look like an unnecessary cost, but there is NO WAY I would have my diabetes under such good control if I didn't test.

sanguine said:

Hi Lesley60, welcome.

Most of us would have some difficulties with banana and tinned pears - do they not spike you at all?

Click to expand...

Hi sanguine thank you for welcome Luckily they don't spike me but I think if I had them every day they would.
Pre LCHF I ate way too many carbs and craved savoury snacks. Now on LCHF I seem to be craving sweet things!
Need ideas on what to have for dessert I think. Sometimes I have yoghurt with blueberries or strawberries but bit fed up with yoghurt at the mo!
Lesley

Luckily I'm happy with berries and double cream with a scattering of grated coconut at the moment. I have on occasion had rhubarb or (in season) gooseberries.

I would definitely have a good browse through our Low Carbs forum particularly the What have you eaten today? thread for menu ideas, and Viv's Modified Atkins diet one which gives you a great list of what is best to eat to reduce glucose levels, and also lose weight - if you need to!

Investing in a meter is one of the best things you can do, together with eating a low(er) carb diet.

In general, I eat leafy, and "above ground" vegetables, salads, herbs, and lower sugar fruits (e.g various types of berries), meat, fish, nuts, eggs, cheese, cream, Greek yoghurt, butter, olive, coconut and walnut oils, and drink water, herb tea, coffee with almond or hazelnut milk - i.e. most foodstuffs except those high in/full of sugar/starch/carbs. Beware of diabetic specific foods as they're usually a rip-off, and those designated light/lite as these tend to be full of extra sugar/carbs. Learn to read any food labels carefully to help with your choices.

It helps too if you can think of your meals as a meal in general, rather than categorize them into breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, as you can then give yourself more flexibility in what you eat, so for example you can have soup or salad, or even roast beef for breakfast instead of cereals and toast!

Robbity