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Vegan and diabetic

StanleysMumma

Member
Messages
7
I'm very newly diagnosed, with a shocking A1c of 124! I've done a lot of reading already and am following a low carb diet, which seems to be working. I'm also taking Metformin. Daily fasting blood glucose levels have dropped from 24 to around 8 in just 2 weeks. I'm vegan and have found that it is difficult to reduce carbs to the level necessary for my needs at the moment without being really hungry. I'm eating a lot of tofu, nuts and seeds (other stuff too!) but it's not really sustainable long term. Are there any other vegans on here who would like to share some low carb ideas? Breakfast can be tricky especially, since I discovered porridge isn't low carb! I'm hoping to be able to reintroduce brown rice and maybe the odd small potato fairly soon but at the moment am so fed up of the new regime.
 
I have a vegan in my low carb group. She had vegan yoghurt and berries for breakfast and has discovered that chickpea pasta has up to 40=50% less carbs than the wheat kind.
I made her some smokey nuts (from Diet Doctor) which involves baking almonds for 15 mins in a medium oven then drizzling with melted coconut oil and smoked paprika and chilli, salt and pepper.
Also recently discovered mashing cauliflower then adding in fat and protein (cheese, butter and pancetta in my case but not yours obviously) and baking as a muffin.

In addition to Diet Doctor which is a very well curated site for recipes, try vegan keto on Youtube.
I suspect you will find coconut milk becomes your best friend (top tip isto buy that in the ethnic section of supermarkets where it is often cheaper).
 
My morning porridge could be vegan - 2 heaped spoons milled flaxseed to one of chia seeds plus a little oatbran. Add cinnamon, a little salt, and a small amount of chopped nuts or other seeds. Make with water, add coconut milk after cooking plus sweetener if needed.
I have this with double cream but you could omit it - and maybe add a little mixed spice for extra flavour?
I know the lowcarbprogram has developed a menu plan for vegans - in some parts of the UK you can get the initial costs funded by the NHS via your GP.
 
One of our favourite vegetarian dinners is a taco meat wrap with all the usual toppings. For the “ taco meat” I pulse walnuts and cauliflower, then add a bit of cooked chopped onion and garlic with cumin and chilli powder. The low carb tortilla I usually make does contain an egg, (gnom gnom site), I don’t how how that would work with a flax egg as substitute. I did see the Big Man’s World site has a low carb wrap without the egg but haven’t tried that site. If we want to make it more of a burrito type wrap I use Oh She Glows recipe for enchilada sauce, and sometimes make it fajita-ish by adding cooked slice peppers and lime. Hope that helps a bit. Annnnnd I just noticed you asked for breakfast‍ .
 
If you are vegan for ethical reasons, then that's non-negotiable and more power to you.
If you are vegan for health reasons, then it could be worth looking into shifting to vegetarianism so you can get eggs and B12 etc.
I'm not trying to start any argument or pass any judgement here, it's just that vegan low-carb is relatively limited and difficult, so opening your options would be of benefit to you, if possible.
 
Have you any movement on the vegan decision ?

I ask cause as a T2 you're already behind the 8 ball.
Meat, eggs, fish, cheese etc. are your friends.
Is there any chance you would rethink your principles for the sake of your long term health
 
StanleysMumma said:
Breakfast can be tricky especially, since I discovered porridge isn't low carb!
Click to expand...

Hey, this is a favourite as it looks like a cereal based dish. https://vegetariangastronomy.com/low-carb-superfood-breakfast-bowl-vegan/.

I personally make a bruschetta from cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil (or basil paste). I place this on super thin cut bread and add on leek tasting shoots (see image). Basically I stack a LOT of cherry tomatoes on top. I use bread and weigh it for my intake. Typically eating 2 is more than sufficient. You can also eat bruschetta using lettuce leaves instead of bread like you can for tacos!

Another breakfast idea uses avocado, fakon or Taifun hot dog sausages chopped up super fine (mandolin style) and vegan mozerella, olive oil, salt and pepper. Basically cut it in half and take out the avocado seed. Put on a grill so to char it a bit and remove for both halves. Add in the mozerella in the middle. In a pan fry or microwave the fakon/sausage. If frying add in the mozerrella and charred avocado to the pan using a spatula to stop the cheese falling out. Then low temp fry the avocado. Use a spatula to pick up the avocado. Add on the fakon. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top and eat.
 

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Great reply however I know a lot of vegan diabetics who've been living fine for the past 30 odd years. Like for most people there's always ups and downs with any diet. There's various food industries out there which have over stressed the importance of iron and b12. The key point here is that you can have any diet as long as it's balanced. Of course supplements help, but this is sometimes convenience over not being Jamie Oliver meets a nutritionist!

I've not eaten eggs for 25 odd years or more. But it's wrong to think a vegan, keto diet is somehow lacking. The shame I find is that most vegan restaurants and vege/vegan offerings are carb based food other than balanced. So, for the post initiator I empathise as it seems impossible now to eat. It's more education. I was in the same position. However, it took time to learn my way out of it and literally cook different country foods and discover new ingredients and cooking techniques.

Eating rocket, watercress alongside kidney beans, chickpeas and tofu is great and their application in modern Vietnamese, Southern India, Israel, Japan, Mexico to Ethiopia (but you change out the bread for lettuce) which are great, interesting and varied. The use of fruits and nuts really jazz up any cuisine and a great source of iron. Many can be batch made and this makes a whole working week of balanced food. Spanish food, especially summer gazpacho can be blended in with a tasteless silk tofu.

B12 is easy with supplements or using marmite in quantity during the course of a week in stews, fortifying mushrooms, and of course side dishing with crudo and peanut butter dip. Iron I take as a supplement during winter typically as lifestyle. But I can eat iron based foods but I prefer to eat more seasonal. Vegan summer foods are typically less heavy and to be honest very enjoyable so I drop the pills then

For me, the hardest part was where to find the information 30 years ago. With all the info out there it's now not wasting time.
 
Ronancastled said:
Have you any movement on the vegan decision ?

I ask cause as a T2 you're already behind the 8 ball.
Meat, eggs, fish, cheese etc. are your friends.
Is there any chance you would rethink your principles for the sake of your long term health
Click to expand...
Absolutely not, I would never eat animal products. I couldn't live with myself and actually I've now got the diabetes within a normal range and am coming off the meds. Power to plants!
 
Thanks for the comments folks! I signed up for this when newly diagnosed but haven't been back since June! Just read all the recipe suggestions and feeling hungry now

Since my diagnosis in May, my glucose is now within the normal range and so I'm over the moon. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on things very closely and won't let it slide. It was such a shock, but it just goes to show that it's possible to get control back over your body when it decides to try to kill you.
 
I think I'm just eating a normal vegan diet now, just trying to keep the carbs down. I have been able to reintroduce a lot of foods I thought I couldn't eat anymore such as wholegrain or basmati rice and whole wheat pasta. The biggest thing for me has been to maintain daily blood glucose testing and work out which foods are OK for my body. Its important to realise that you can have 2 different starchy carbs and each may have a different effect on your glucose. For example mine will rocket when I have potatoes but it seems I can have as much rice as I like! Without the glucose meter, I really would not have been able to do any of this.
 
StanleysMumma said:
It's official! I'm I'm remission
now off my meds and hba1c in non diabetic range since October. So pleased!
Click to expand...
Excellent news!

If you feel like it a post in the Success Stories with more on how you did it would be great.

There aren’t many examples on here of vegans in remission and I for one find it hard to make constructive suggestions (I’m about as far from vegan as it’s possible to be), so it would be good to have a ‘live’ example to point others to.
 
StanleysMumma said:
Absolutely not, I would never eat animal products. I couldn't live with myself and actually I've now got the diabetes within a normal range and am coming off the meds. Power to plants!
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your success. I am another vegan for ethical reasons and have been eating vegan keto. My blood sugars are now in normal range and have been for over 6 months. Hoping to drop some tablets at my next blood tests. Since eating in a vegan keto manner I have become less hungry and usually eat two meals a day. Sometimes one. I practice intermittent fasting so don’t eat breakfast. Japanese Konjac has great zero carb noodles and rice made from it.
 
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