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Weekly Meal Plans

Quirkybee

Well-Known Member
Messages
128
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Morning

New to this lovely place and new to testing as of yesterday 24 August.
Readings after meal last night was 15, then 13.7.
After waking this morning it was 9.2

I've just had shredded wheat bitesize and half of a small banana for breakfast and just posted the same on another post on this forum.

I was advised to try protein etc instead as this breakfast could raise my levels, but I can't eat anything savoury for breakfast.

My question is, would there be anything on this forum or would anyone have a weekly menu (as a tested one or as an example) of meals I can try that are low carb please?

I've been advised by dietitian yesterday NOT to do LCHF, so I'm getting very confused and irritated if honest as to whch I follow.
I know how to cook, but since being properly diagnosed, it's as if all sense has disappeared, so I'd be so grateful for a few examples to kick start me.

I don't have a lot of time to trawl the net, so any ideas will be helpful. I don't get in til late each night, and try and do tea from fresh, but I'm stuck now with the low carb and need to feel fuller for longer. A salad and mackerel for lunch doesn't fill me up, that's when I start on the nuts and extra fruit, which is where my damage has occurred.

Thank you soon much
 
You could do a search on here for Viv's Diet. I found this very helpful to begin with.
I would be unable to eat cereal or banana as it would send my bg up but we are all different and what suits one may not suit another.
I would be lost without my meter and although you won't get one from the DN you can buy them yourself. Then you can 'eat to your meter' and keep an eye on how food affects your own bg levels.
 

Welcome to the forum. Your aim which is to keep your BG down to acceptable levels, well documented by Diabetes.co.uk itself. The problem you have is summed up in the two sentences that I've left from your original post.

As you know carbohydrate which is in your shredded wheat and banana will convert to sugar.

I was advised by my GP NOT to lower my carbs and stupidly I did as I was told and watched my condition get worse and worse, just being prescribed more and more drugs which may have kept my BG down but I was heading towards insulin injections. Not the end of the world but because I wanted to lose the weight I had gained because of diabetic drugs (Rosiglitazone and Gliclazide) I lowered my carbs, I didn't go high fat because my stomach didn't tolerate it and I'd had enough diarrhea taking Metformin.

As a result of lowering my carbs (less than 100gms a day as opposed to 250 - 300 gms a day), I lost about 4 stone, avoided progression onto insulin, no longer take Gliclazide, Januvia or Atorvastatin because I don't need to.

There is a general guidance message that I'll look for, but it's fair to say that lowering your carb will be a good start unless taking more drugs is better than diet change. Your dietician's advice is good for NON diabetics, not for you or me.
 
What you eat depends on what you personally can eat No one here can tell you what you can or can't eat as we are all very different. Some stick to very low carb diet while others have more moderate carbs some have high fat others prefer to do lower fat it is all trial and error. I think if you tried to stick to a set meals menu all the time you would soon get very bored just adapt the meals you ate before the diabetes cut out the sugar stuff lower the starchy carbs and maybe eat more veg to replace the potatoes rice and pasta. Have you tried cauliflower rice and courgette pasta as replacements.
 
You could always buy a copy of Dr Michael Mosley's 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet. Pretty sure that comes with diet plans and recipes.
 
Enjoy the meter! You will now have feedback on the impact of what you eat.
Have a look http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html for the target ranges for T2D
Was the dietitian part of your surgery team? I ask because they will be required to stick to the script and trot out the eatwell guide. Said guide contains a plate of food with 40% carbs. The fact is those carbs are converted by your body into sugar, just as efficiently as every other human. Your problem is your body doesnt deal with sugar very well any more. Your shredded wheat and banana would send my sugar very high indeed Foe breakfast these days I either have nothing, full fat greek yoghurt with a few strawberries or in the cooler times a Kipper, eggs in all forms bacon, high meat content sausages. The problem we all get is there is no hard-and-fast rule and what works for me may not work for you.

I still eat with my family but my plate will be slightly different. For example a spag bol would be without the pasta for me, but spiralised courgette instead
 
Full fat yogurt with some berries is an easy breakfast, a cold hard boiled egg if you can manage that is also good. There are also recipes for low carb "granola" that is very tasty with a bit of heavy cream on it. If your lunch is not enough add a couple pieces of cheese and a few nuts are fine and full fat low carb dressing will also make your salad a lot more filling for a lot longer. There are many recipes for low carb muffins that can be made when you have time and are grab and go preferrably with some real butter on them. In the afternoon instead of fruit, you could try veggies and full fat low carb salad dressing for a dip. Low fat products are full of sugar and will only make you feel hungrier. Full fat will keep you feeling full and in the end you will end up eating less calories, with no hunger, and lose weight. A good thing that is remarkably effective is a spoonful of peanut butter or other nut butter when you are feeling snackish. I have lost 30 lbs in the last 4 months without being hungry all the time eating low carb high fat. These are some of things I do and I hope this helps.
 
'THANK YOU ALL' for commenting and advising. I understand it will take time to adjust. I've been borderline for 10+ years, with fasting test only 7.1, just over guideline. My hba1c over the years has never gone over 40, until this last few months and I just don't know why. The dietitian said that she could not understand this, as she would have expected me to gain a lot of weight for my reading to be 113.

So I've been used to eating healthily with treats here and there, lost 3 stone in the last 3 years and no mess for diabetes, until recently. So I'm a bit confused how I've suddenly changed.
I have though and don't want to get worse or become insulin dependent, so will devour all the advice I can get.

I just get moithered in my head when reading too much advice, I have enoygh of thinking tobdo as it is lol, but I guess that's what I have to do.

My bg 2 hrs after my breakfast about 10 mins ago was 16.4 and now I've read your comments ref my breakfast, I'm not surprised either. I won't have that now for a while, but I will miss it. It's not because of it being sweet with the sweeter, it just keeps me full til around 12pm.
I've brought 2 pieces of ham and a little pot of nuts to nibble on if needed in work.

I'll check the links out, so thanks for that too walnut_face and serena51.
 
Hi @Quirkybee
You need to decide which diet you want to follow.
If it's low carb high fat then you could start looking here
http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb
food and meal ideas .. you don't need to join to look at the recipes
Personally I went very low carb and had good results in reducing my blood sugars.
However I would say that Low Carb is something that you need to be pretty strict with especially at the beginning. it won't work if one day you low carb and the next you eat a lot of carbs. Having a carby breakfast isn't a good idea ... ever.
 
You posted this while I was typing my response.. so yes good idea to drop the carbs for breakfast. But you will need to up you fats if you are going to make LCHF work for your otherwise you'l get hungry and start snacking on bad things. It may sound counter-intuitive at the moment but it has worked for so many of us..
 
 
Dietiticians and DNS in general have yet to adjust their thinking to the low carb revolution which actually was up and running back in the 60's when my friend's father had to measure every bit of carb., then it became fashionable to advise eat brown everything etc pasta, bread, etc Good luck with your search., Going against orthodox advice is always an uphill struggle.
 
Thank you bulkbiker

I will do what you advised, it's just that I'm trying to understand about the high fat part and just don't get it. How can eating butter, full fat mayo (in reduced portions of course), plus other foods etc, help to reduce weight loss.

My life is pretty hectic, I have my 'young' mum ill with Alzheimers, I'm trying to study and it's non existent, work full time and am pretty stressed. I know the majority of us have stress and other family problems surrounding health etc, so I'm not one to be making an excuse for this, just explaining that sometimes I can only manage to function on focusing on work.
I'm a happy person though and always try to see the funny side of life etc and have MANAGED my long term glucose intolerance by losing weight by following Slimming World and keeping my HbA1c to 40 all this time, until the last 4 months or so where it's increased to 70+, then to 113. I don't know where I've gone wrong within this time, as I've lost weight steadily and not gained, increased exercise by buying a good mountain bike and going cycling after work with friends a couple of times a week, when time permitting.

So, I feel I need someone to actually chat with me and spend time trying to understand this LCHF diet.
I like to document info as it's good feedback for me and I really want to try and reverse this diabetes, if possible, or at least revamp my existing diet, so that I don't have to take any tablets, or just reduce my tablets.
I just feel blocked in my head if that makes sense as this high reading and official diabetic confirmation has thrown me somewhat.....struggling!!

Thank you.
 
Quirkybee said:
Thank you bulkbiker

I will do what you advised, it's just that I'm trying to understand about the high fat part and just don't get it. ... So, I feel I need someone to actually chat with me and spend time trying to understand this LCHF diet....
Click to expand...

For me, diagnosed T2 16 months ago after almost 10 years at the 'pre-diabetic' level, the three things which have helped me most have been:
  • Dr David Cavan's Reverse your diabetes (a bargain for all that explanation and expert guidance!)
  • a place on a local X-PERT course, for face-to-face contact with other people in the same boat, plus practice in working things out for myself with the support and encouragement of the course facilitator
  • my diabetic nurse at the GP's, who is the sort I feel I can be open and honest with, and who is always very realistic
Oh - and this forum, of course!
 
I have my annual diabetic check on 5 September and will have bloods done to see what my HbA1c is since taking Metformin 2 months ago.

The last time I spoke with GP Nurse, she registered me for the course you mentioned above and my employer, who is also diabetic, said I'm free to attend this course during work hours, so that was promising. I don't know when I'm due to attend yet or know the dates of these courses.

So hopefully I will gain a better understanding and knowledge of what's going on and the changes I need to make.

I will check the book that you've mentioned too, thank you.
 
@Quirkybee If you've seen a pretty sudden change in your HbA1C for no obvious reason, then it might be worth asking if it's possible you have LADA, which is often called slow onset Type 1.

I'm not suggesting that you do have this, but just in response to your comment above, it may be something worth looking into or eliminating at least.
 
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