Wading through porridge!

[StuartR]

Type 2 - diagnosed 2 weeks ago.

I'm slim, don't need to lose weight and have a healthy diet. Well, that didn't work out too well!

I have porridge (wholemeal) + berries + oat milk for breakfast. And reading on here, it seems that's not such a good option.

I also thought I'd do myself good by making a hearty root veg soup + barley. It seems that's carb heavy.

If I can't eat what's "healthy", what can I eat that's good for me?

At this stage I need some basic guidance. Thanks!

 

[Lamont D]

Healthy for those who don't have metabolic issues.
What is healthy for you, you will probably find in our low carb forum or dietdoctor.com.
I had porridge for breakfast for over two decades believing it was a so called super food.
It was killing me!

Best wishes.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @StuartR and a welcome to the forum from me.

All (digestible) carbohydrates that humans eat digest into glucose (sugar) and thus tend to raise our Blood Glucose until/unless our Insulin rises enough to drive the glucose into muscles or fat cells. In Type 2 diabetics, this process takes longer than in 'healthy people'. It is slower because we suffer from Insulin resistance which means our cells resist this glucose because our fat cells are already overloaded. In slim Type 2's we don't have a lot of fat cells and so we tend to gain visceral fat (around our liver, pancreas and other organs). This disrupts the way those organs work, making the condition worse.

So all that so-called 'healthy whole grains' lots of fruit 5 a Day and Low fat is only 'healthy for those who don't have Type 2 diabetes, obesity (or other similar condition. Instead we need to eat a lot less carbs than we are used to (carbs are the only non-essential macro nutrient) and if we are relatively slim and just want to lose excess fat and not lean muscle mass, we need to eat more protein and more traditional fat (fats our grandparents used to eat when obesity and T2D was very much more rare -as was heart disease). Otherwise we will be in a calorie deficit.

Here is a link to the blog entry which enabled me to be in T2D remission quite quickly and maintain it for years: https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html

 

[StuartR]

Healthy for those who don't have metabolic issues.
What is healthy for you, you will probably find in our low carb forum or dietdoctor.com.
I had porridge for breakfast for over two decades believing it was a so called super food.
It was killing me!

Best wishes.

Thanks! I love my porridge! Time to leave it for Goldilocks and try something different.

 

[Antje77]

Thanks! I love my porridge! Time to leave it for Goldilocks and try something different.

Nothing to add (read that blog link @ianf0ster shared), just wanted to tell you I love the thread title!

 

[fumanchu]

Husband was the same - as good Scots we were quite happy wading through porridge as long as it was made with salt and water. Now he moans his face off at having to eat bacon & egg or boiled egg!

 

[LivingLightly]

Husband was the same - as good Scots we were quite happy wading through porridge as long as it was made with salt and water. Now he moans his face off at having to eat bacon & egg or boiled egg!

Even habits of a lifetime can be replaced for good, if there's a desire to succeed. Admittedly, this may take some time.
It helps to focus on the many delicious foods we can safely eat and not dwell too much on those that we really shouldn't have.

Your husband has a huge advantage because he has your care and encouragement and that's important.

 

[cantfindasuitablenamehere]

I've eaten "healthy" porridge for years. Well until I worked out what it did to my blood sugar a few weeks ago that is!

Using a CGM I could see that even if I made it with half the oats (20g), water instead of milk and soaked it the day before it would still spike my blood sugar first thing in the morning and keep it high for hours.

I have converted to eggs, cheese omelettes, low carb sausage, smoked salmon etc. I make a linseed / chia / cacao smoothie to make sure I'm not missing out on fibre.

There's no substitute for finding out what foods work for you and what don't. For me I've been surprised to find I can still enjoy baked beans and rice, but I have to skip potato, sweet potatoes and lentils altogether.

Good luck with your post-porridge breakfasts!

 

[StuartR]

I've eaten "healthy" porridge for years. Well until I worked out what it did to my blood sugar a few weeks ago that is!

Using a CGM I could see that even if I made it with half the oats (20g), water instead of milk and soaked it the day before it would still spike my blood sugar first thing in the morning and keep it high for hours.

I have converted to eggs, cheese omelettes, low carb sausage, smoked salmon etc. I make a linseed / chia / cacao smoothie to make sure I'm not missing out on fibre.

There's no substitute for finding out what foods work for you and what don't. For me I've been surprised to find I can still enjoy baked beans and rice, but I have to skip potato, sweet potatoes and lentils altogether.

Good luck with your post-porridge breakfasts!

Thanks! Lots of trial and error.

 

[fiona35]

I too used to love porridge for breakfast but using a Libre showed me how much my blood sugar spiked after breakfast even just using 15g, and it would stay high all morning.
I now make my own sort of porridge thing that has a similar texture but doesn’t raise my blood sugar at all, I believe others make something similar.

1 tbsp flaxseeds
1 tbsp coconut flour
2 tbsp ground almonds
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and then add boiling water from the kettle to achieve a porridge like consistency. When happy with the thickness I do add a tsp of single cream to make it creamier.

 

[Ruth H]

I have a small amount of oats, milled chia seeds, a little oat bran. The chia gives it a grey colour but it tastes nice, I add pumpkin or sunflower seeds and a big spoonful of Greek yoghurt. I always try to have a 10 minute walk after breakfast which helps.

 

[Spirit01]

I've eaten "healthy" porridge for years. Well until I worked out what it did to my blood sugar a few weeks ago that is!

Using a CGM I could see that even if I made it with half the oats (20g), water instead of milk and soaked it the day before it would still spike my blood sugar first thing in the morning and keep it high for hours.

I have converted to eggs, cheese omelettes, low carb sausage, smoked salmon etc. I make a linseed / chia / cacao smoothie to make sure I'm not missing out on fibre.

There's no substitute for finding out what foods work for you and what don't. For me I've been surprised to find I can still enjoy baked beans and rice, but I have to skip potato, sweet potatoes and lentils altogether.

Good luck with your post-porridge breakfasts!

My understanding is that sweet potatoes are okay for us with T2

 

[Antje77]

My understanding is that sweet potatoes are okay for us with T2

The only way to know for sure is to test before and after eating.
There are quite a lot of carbs in sweet potato, so it depends on how many carbs you can handle, and how much you eat.