What do you guys eat?

[Jaskot]

I've swapped to a low carb diet. From you guys' experience what fruits are okay? Is skim milk? The other day I made a shake with a cup of milk, 5 strawberries, a banana, flax seeds, and chia seeds. It really spiked my blood sugar. I am really new to all this and I'm trying to figure out some things I can enjoy while being diabetic.

What do you typically choose at restaurants? What do you really enjoy for snacks that doesn't spike your blood sugar?

Also I have chewable vitamins that have 8g sugar and 8g carbs, should I switch to a different kind?

How much carbs per meal should I allow myself?

Thanks!
-Johnson

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

Take some time and read this web page:

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

The idea is to eat real, unprocessed food as much as possible, while cutting out starchy food and eating natural fats. Avoid "low fat" factory processed food.

Apart from berries, fruit should be avoided. Bananas are very high in carb content. Skim milk should be avoided as it's low fat and highly processed. Berries with whipping cream or full fat nonflavoured yogurt is an awesome breakfast or dessert.

At restaurants simply avoid sugar and things with sugar in them, things made from grains (bread, pasta, pizza, noodles, etc), rice, and starchy veg (e.g. potatoes). A typical thing I would order at a restaurant in the past would be steak and garden veg. Now I'd just get a steak.

If you cut out sugar, grains, rice and starchy veg you should not need to count grams of carbohydrate. You will naturally be at a low number.

Snacks: bacon, tree nuts, pork scratchings, full fat plain yogurt, etc.

If you eat nutrient dense, natural whole foods you really should avoid taking vitamins. You should only supplement with specific vitamins if a doctor reviews your blood work and tells you that you need a supplement. Studies have shown that taking vitamin pills generally do not result in better health. i.e. vitamins in the diet are essential, but more is not better.

Good luck.

 

[Pasha]

Read all you can from here,

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

and welcome to the forum of course, hope you enjoy it here.

 

[bobrobert]

Take some time and read this web page:

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

The idea is to eat real, unprocessed food as much as possible, while cutting out starchy food and eating natural fats. Avoid "low fat" factory processed food.

Apart from berries, fruit should be avoided. Bananas are very high in carb content. Skim milk should be avoided as it's low fat and highly processed. Berries with whipping cream or full fat nonflavoured yogurt is an awesome breakfast or dessert.

At restaurants simply avoid sugar and things with sugar in them, things made from grains (bread, pasta, pizza, noodles, etc), rice, and starchy veg (e.g. potatoes). A typical thing I would order at a restaurant in the past would be steak and garden veg. Now I'd just get a steak.

If you cut out sugar, grains, rice and starchy veg you should not need to count grams of carbohydrate. You will naturally be at a low number.

Snacks: bacon, tree nuts, pork scratchings, full fat plain yogurt, etc.

If you eat nutrient dense, natural whole foods you really should avoid taking vitamins. You should only supplement with specific vitamins if a doctor reviews your blood work and tells you that you need a supplement. Studies have shown that taking vitamin pills generally do not result in better health. i.e. vitamins in the diet are essential, but more is not better.

Good luck.

I think that this is too restrictive??? A small apple because it has a lot of fibre maybe acceptable?

 

[Mike d]

You may not have that choice ..... try your small apple but test and see what it does

 

[jennygee]

Hi!
I like you have only been diagnosed this year but six months down the line I have quite good BS readings and my recent HbA1 was 33 (originally 59 in January). My only problem is with the morning fasting BS, but I hope this will gradually get lower. I have lost about 10lbs in weight over the six months.
I find I am eating a good variety of foods, even though I have cut out pasta, rice, sugar, potatoes - just have the occasional chip or roast potato - and I limit my bread intake to no more than one and half slices per day. I am eating more vegetables, salads and fruit (particularly berries) and full fat dairy (milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt). I don't eat out and tend to cook from scratch. I have found a spiralizer gadget which is great for making veggies more interesting. My husband has commented that my meals look a lot more interesting than before the diabetic diagnosis!
Good luck with your meal choices!
J

 

[Enclave]

I think that this is too restrictive??? A small apple because it has a lot of fibre maybe acceptable?

It's not really too restrictive..you soon get used to what's what and what will affect your blood sugar levels .. The alternative is way too restrictive..diabetes compilations are no walk in the park. I cannot eat apples, pears, banana, plums, but can eat strawberry, blueberry, rasps ...
As the wife says ..no foods are off limits ..but the size of the food is adjusted to allow for my carb intake ... So if I want half an apple ..that would be my dinner for that day ... No thanks I would rather have my dinner ! If your vegetarian it's easy to adjust to the LCHF way of eating ...
Hope this helps

 

[Brunneria]

If you want to see what low carbers on here are eating, on a daily basis, have a look at this thread:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/
You will find a delicious range of highly nutritious ideas.

The key is to test your own tolerance to foods with a home meter. If an apple spikes your blood glucose, then it is off the menu. If it doesn't, then you can confidently eat it in reasonable portions.

I'm puzzled that anyone thinks LC is restrictive. I have a greater variety of veg, fats, proteins and even fruits now, compared with when i filled half the plate with nutritionally inadequate starchy carbs, and wasted a large proportion of my calorie intake on sugars and hidden sugar.

 

[bobrobert]

My use of the word restrictive was with respect to the poster stating that the only fruit that should be eaten was berries. I highlighted the appropriate sentence.

Apart from berries, fruit should be avoided.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi,

My advice is to eat to your meter, and act on what it tells you. Your shake with a cup of milk, 5 strawberries, a banana, flax seeds, and chia seeds may have been the milk, the strawberries if they were very over-ripe, and/or the banana. Definitely the banana. They are the worst fruit to choose. I stick to berries (fresh not frozen and not over ripe) and can also manage half an apple, all eaten with either full fat yogurt or double cream. Never on their own. I limit my milk to a dash in tea. I use cream in coffee.

I would definitely cut out/replace those vitamin chews. You may as well eat a jelly baby.

Most people choose a few nuts for snacks, but if you can manage not to snack at all, that would be better. If I feel the need for a snack I have a decaf coffee with cream or I drink water.

How many carbs per meal? How long is a piece of string. We all have different tolerance levels to the number of carbs, and also to which carbs. You can only learn what your own tolerance is by eating to your meter. Personally I can manage a slice of heavily seeded bread with a meal, but not 2 slices. I can also manage a couple of new/roast potatoes, and also half a dozen chips, but no more than that. Some people can't manage any bread or potatoes.

Whatever you do, you need to find a diet that you personally can sustain for life, not just a few weeks. Use your meter to help you.

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

I think that this is too restrictive??? A small apple because it has a lot of fibre maybe acceptable?

Why would a person need fibre?

 

[Sirmione]

One Small Apple is ok, a Pear is better as are berries including Strawberries are the lowest.
Bannanas, Grapes Cherries & Citrus fruit are must avoids.
Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, Peanuts & Peanut Butter are good but don't eat huge amounts.
Eggs Bacon most types of Sausage are OK Scotch Eggs OK.
Salmon, Herring Haddock Cod, Tuna, Sea bass and other fish are good but avoid coated fish and chicken as some coatings can send your blood glucose sky high.

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi,

My advice is to eat to your meter, and act on what it tells you. Your shake with a cup of milk, 5 strawberries, a banana, flax seeds, and chia seeds may have been the milk, the strawberries if they were very over-ripe, and/or the banana. Definitely the banana. They are the worst fruit to choose. I stick to berries (fresh not frozen and not over ripe) and can also manage half an apple, all eaten with either full fat yogurt or double cream. Never on their own. I limit my milk to a dash in tea. I use cream in coffee.

I would definitely cut out/replace those vitamin chews. You may as well eat a jelly baby.

Most people choose a few nuts for snacks, but if you can manage not to snack at all, that would be better. If I feel the need for a snack I have a decaf coffee with cream or I drink water.

How many carbs per meal? How long is a piece of string. We all have different tolerance levels to the number of carbs, and also to which carbs. You can only learn what your own tolerance is by eating to your meter. Personally I can manage a slice of heavily seeded bread with a meal, but not 2 slices. I can also manage a couple of new/roast potatoes, and also half a dozen chips, but no more than that. Some people can't manage any bread or potatoes.

Whatever you do, you need to find a diet that you personally can sustain for life, not just a few weeks. Use your meter to help you.

Blue - Might I ask why you state fresh berries and not frozen?

 

[Brunneria]

One Small Apple is ok, a Pear is better as are berries including Strawberries are the lowest.
Bannanas, Grapes Cherries & Citrus fruit are must avoids.
Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, Peanuts & Peanut Butter are good but don't eat huge amounts.
Eggs Bacon most types of Sausage are OK Scotch Eggs OK.
Salmon, Herring Haddock Cod, Tuna, Sea bass and other fish are good but avoid coated fish and chicken as some coatings can send your blood glucose sky high.

Interesting.

I find cherries are ok, but not as good as berries. Scotch eggs are baaad (it is the rusk and breadcrumbs), and only 95%+ meat sausages work for me.

I suppose it just reinforces the idea that we are all different, and we should eat to our meters, rather than what works for other people.

Is there a reason you didn't mention any other meats and poultry?

 

[bobrobert]

Why would a person need fibre?

Bowel movements? It is well documented that having fibre rich foods slow down the possibility of spiking. IMO some of the things that you are recommending seem to on the extreme end of the advice range? Regarding vitamins it is perfectly reasonable to take them especially if someone likes a lot of red wine? Zero carbs isn't for everybody?

 

[Robbity]

I think that this is too restrictive??? A small apple because it has a lot of fibre maybe acceptable?

Restrictive is mostly a state of mind, ands some people seem to have an "it's too restrictive" attitude to low carb diets in general, mainly I think because they just think about what they can't/shouldn't eat rather what they can.

The general recommendation for the "safest" low carb fruit is berries, and in a very low carb diet you might not eat any fruit at all. But if you want to eat additional fruits, there's no law against it - it's up to you to test to see if your body finds them OK. I can manage about a quarter to a third of an apple if I eat that with other food including some fat, but I can eat occasional small portions of other fruit such as cherries, nectarines, greengages and plums.

Green vegetables are generally a good source of fibre and are very low in carbs, and nuts in moderation are also alternative sources.

Robbity

 

[Bluetit1802]

Blue - Might I ask why you state fresh berries and not frozen?

I find that frozen ones tend to go all squishy-squashy when defrosted, and they definitely spike me more than fresh ones. I do keep a supply of frozen for emergencies but have less of them to compensate. I do recall someone else agreeing with this a long time ago on the forum somewhere.

 

[AndBreathe]

I find that frozen ones tend to go all squishy-squashy when defrosted, and they definitely spike me more than fresh ones. I do keep a supply of frozen for emergencies but have less of them to compensate. I do recall someone else agreeing with this a long time ago on the forum somewhere.

Interesting. I don't find they do anything undesirable for me. I actually prefer frozen berries, but I don't defrost them, as I definitely don't usually want that texture. I actually like how cream poured over the frozen berries hardens, pretty much on contact. After a few moments, the concoction is perfect to eat, in my view.

 

[Jaskot]

Thanks a lot for all the responses and advice. I watched a lot of the videos from the diet doctor as well as read all the articles at http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/. Some of the articles there were kind of daunting, but it's good to have the information. It's also good to see that there's hope for becoming normal again.

I'm starting to understand a lot more about everything. There's one thing I'm really wondering about. Lemons are my favorite fruit, and according to google they have 5g carbs and 1.4g of sugar in an entire lemon. What do you guys think about that?

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

Lemons in moderation sound ok as they are low carb.