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Why call it a diet?

B

Bill_Dundee

Member
Now living with T2D and medically controlled, I have had to wake up and start living in the real world. I have now changed to a low carb way of eating and I do admit that it has not been easy. I'm not the greatest eater of vegetables - or at least I wasn't - and like the majority of everyone else, I loved my larger portions, of bread and rice and curries etc. However, what I will NOT say is that I am now on a diet. I am now on a life changing exercise. To me, the word diet implies a temporary change in lifestyle to lose some pounds and feel a bit better. There are multi million pound diet companies that exist because of one simple fact - diets don't last! Yes, there will always will be a percentage of people on a diet who will lose weight and keep it off but let's be honest here, it's not many. For example, my last 'diet' treated baked beans as a 'free food' and advocated eating as much of them as I wanted between meals. There are 55g of carbs in a single tin of beans! (or 51g if you go for the low sugar version.)
The only person responsible for my diabetes is staring back at me in the mirror. I have spent 50+ years shovelling the wrong kinds of food down my throat and ignoring the threats of T2D that I read about. It was always 'Someone Else's Problem', not mine.
But not any more.
Like many with T2D, I now have a chance to change myself and hopefully come off the medication, but that's a long term outlook and not a quick fix. Will I miss the old ways? Being honest, I initially thought I would, but not now. My doctor summed it up perfectly to me. He said I could either "sort this out or face the possibility of dying young, but do not believe that being given medication will allow you to carry on as before."

For me, then, there are four phases of T2D:

1. Getting my blood sugars under control
2. Sorting out my food intake to keep no.1 ok
3. Dropping my weight to where it should be
4. Just keep looking in that mirror.
 
Don't be so hard on yourself, I started out medicated (T2 diabetic) and now I'm not on any medication.... my a1c is now better then it ever was and I've learn't to adjust over the years. You learn something about managing diabetes all the time, and you won't ever stop learning about it. The more you learn, the better life gets. The more you enjoy it.
 
I couldn't agree more. I've avoided a diagnosis by the skin of my teeth and looking back at the old Weight Watchers and Slimming World days, I cringe. Why aren't we given the proper advice - carbs turn into sugar in the blood (to put it most simply) - provoking an insulin response and laying down fat if we don't use it all up in energy? And diabetes T2 is a potential consequence, a consequence the food and pharmaceutical industries benefit from. Grrrrr.

I'll calm down now and go have a bit of cheese and walnuts.;)
 
I never thought of the LCHF way of eating as a weight loss diet ... the same as being a vegetarian is not just a fussy faze I am going through ..
Stick with it and I hope that you enjoy remission soon .. I have .. but I still rather eat low carb as I feel better eating this way
 
If you eat anything at all then that is your diet. It has nothing to do with a diet that you adopt for the purposes of slimming. In fact the diet which this site has been advocating for a few years now is for the purpose of controlling blood sugar levels and it wasn't until it was noticed that people often lost weight that a lot more people joined.

So if you have adopted a diet to lose weight then call it a slimming diet. If you have altered your diet in order to lower blood sugar levels then say so. They are all a diet and everybody is on one.
 
The point of my blog was to try and differentiate between dieting and wanting to live. Whenever I have let anyone know that I am now diabetic, one of the first questions I am asked is whether I am now on a diet, and if so, what have I had to give up.
The word 'diet' has been misused for so long now that it is almost synonymous with 'a desire to wear smaller clothes and not look like a beached walrus on holiday' rather than a serious desire to change things PERMANENTLY for good. I would genuinely like to say that it was a previous 'diet' (!) that made me fat, but the face in the mirror knows better...
 
I was going to post a photo of myself but the only ones I have make me look like the long- abandoned son of Jabba the Hut and the dark Emperor!

I'll leave it for now...
 
Yep for me its my new way of eating that gives me control over my diabetes and has made me so much more healthy after years of yoyo dieting. Can I stick to it forever.. yes I honestly believe I can. What I eat is tasty and nutritious and doesn't really involve any counting. Now I am fat adapted I eat until I'm full probably once a day. Fasting has also helped enormously with both weight loss and blood sugar control. Now I have lost the urge to eat 3 meals and various snacks each day I finally feel in control of my relationship with food. It has taken the Tye 2 diagnosis to achieve this, I'm almost quite pleased it happened.
 
I ditched 'diet' when I realised that most people automatically assume (as you so rightly say) that a 'diet' is short term and for weightloss.

Now I just call it a way of eating.

Actually, I generally even refer to things like Slimming World and Weight Watchers and Newcastle Diet as ways of eating too - because I have yet to encounter a single veteran of such things who doesn't have to maintain some kind of control over their food afterwards, due to yo-yoing, or slow re-gain. And some of them basically have to 'diet' as a lifestyle choice for decades. Of course, that control may just be sensible eating and avoiding the things that meant they had to start dieting in the first place, but it all boils down to consciously choosing a way of eating.
 
Yes, Diet is a word that has been "hijacked" and appears no longer to have its original meaning.

For me my "Diet" is followed totally to control my blood glucose and for no other reason.

The nearly 5 stone weight loss is a happy coincidence
 
bulkbiker said:
Yep for me its my new way of eating that gives me control over my diabetes and has made me so much more healthy after years of yoyo dieting. Can I stick to it forever.. yes I honestly believe I can. What I eat is tasty and nutritious and doesn't really involve any counting. Now I am fat adapted I eat until I'm full probably once a day. Fasting has also helped enormously with both weight loss and blood sugar control. Now I have lost the urge to eat 3 meals and various snacks each day I finally feel in control of my relationship with food. It has taken the Tye 2 diagnosis to achieve this, I'm almost quite pleased it happened.
Click to expand...

@bulkbiker I think what really resonates with me is your comment that you are in control of your relationship with food. After a 50-year battle with food, I finally feel at peace. I eat when I'm hungry, don't when I'm not, actually prefer a small snacky portion of something low or no carb. I'm really happy with this choice, glad you are too. :happy:
 
Bill_Dundee said:
The point of my blog was to try and differentiate between dieting and wanting to live. Whenever I have let anyone know that I am now diabetic, one of the first questions I am asked is whether I am now on a diet, and if so, what have I had to give up.
Click to expand...

Ironically, since starting this "diet" I have tried many more new foods so don't feel like I have given up anything on balance. Lots of weird and wonderful ingredients and gadgets for preparing them in my kitchen now. It's good fun. I agree though, the word "diet" has been hijacked by the weight loss industry. I just call it a way of eating. Started it for blood glucose control and the weight loss has been a bonus. All the best, Bill :)
 
I call my 'diet' as my eating regime. I has taken me a while to see myself as slim, I still looked in the mirror and saw a fat person but over the last few weeks it has now entered my brain. Went to Asda this morning and got a swimsuit for up-coming holidays in a size 10. I got a proper hula-hoop for Christmas and have now mastered it's use, haven't used one for over 50 years.
 
carol43 said:
I call my 'diet' as my eating regime. I has taken me a while to see myself as slim, I still looked in the mirror and saw a fat person but over the last few weeks it has now entered my brain. Went to Asda this morning and got a swimsuit for up-coming holidays in a size 10. I got a proper hula-hoop for Christmas and have now mastered it's use, haven't used one for over 50 years.
Click to expand...

Well done! You should be so proud of yourself. You have your bsl and your weight under control. Great job, hon.
 
I call it my lifestyle- sometimes people say can you have that on your diet? I say I don't know I'm not on a diet - can you have it on yours? Usually shuts them up.
 
Dont know how many times I've said, not to use "diet". It is a lifestyle change...a permanent way of changing food choices but also to increase ealking and activity.
 
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