Reply
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,512
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

151, whew-Five snacks a day??? I can understand needing to eat every 2 1/2- 3 hours, but quite honestly, I don't always have a mid-morning snack, and I don't always have a bed-time snack either. That, however, is because of frequent testing and log-keeping. For example, Oatmeal keeps me satiated: there have not been too many times that I have needed a mid-morning snack.  If, on the other hand, I have cheerios(same calorie count), I am ravenous and my sugar plummets. So, I think it's not just a matter of what your glucose is, it's also about how you feel. I have a friend who was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and he was given no information at all, so we googled 1200 and 1600 calorie diabetic diets and came up with quite a few sites that clearly spelled out carbs, fats and proteins. Perhaps that would be a good idea. Is there any way you could get an appointment with the RD? It seems as though they are so hard to find these days....

Poodlepet2

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

[ Edited ]

Poodlepet - because I take the prednisone for my asthma, and it elevates blood sugars , mine is never very high - my highest all time one was 152 and that was only once - but they just don't go any lower than low 120s. My A1c is 6.4. I think, considering the prednisone , this should be acceptable but both this nurse educator and my doctor disagree with me.

I think, and I could be wrong but I doubt it, that if I was not taking prednisone I would have normal blood sugars.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,226
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

@151949I think you're on the right track - diet and exercise work until your body tells you they're not working.  All I can say to those who think otherwise is that I hope you never have to find out how wrong and how fast the diet and exercise regime can go when it stops being all you need.  Sometimes it's just too late then to add meds.

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,512
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

151, I do understand.  Those steroids are so wonderful, but can be oh, so, bad.I totally understand.  I am on Breoelipta, but somehow, everything has worked out.Give it time -and I still weigh and measure....we can get through this and enjoy life! It has been a long haul, but I do feel embolden to just embrace life....To all of those newly diagnosed, you can do it!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,095
Registered: ‎03-17-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

I can only RARELY eat potatoes!!  They spike my BS and I know this for a fact.  The problem with Sidsmom's theories is that she has no personal reference point.  Without having the disease she can only go on what the doctors that she professes knows it all have prescribed through their books (remember, selling books is a strong motive for what they do)....  and THOSE doctors do not personally have diabetes either.

 

There was a post here quite a while back about a very impatient doctor who was also scornful of his patients for not making their AIC goals.... then the doctor contracted Diabetes himself and was his own patient.... and learned very quickly that each of us has to walk our own tightrope!  I'm guessing his scorn and impatience was tempered very quickly.

 

Please don't get me wrong, I DON'T WISH THIS DISEASE ON ANYONE, EVER!  But those that actually have it and are fighting it daily (sometimes hourly) have a depth of understanding that someone (even a doctor) will never have unless and until they contract it themselves..... unfortunate but true.

*~"Never eat more than you can lift......" Miss Piggy~*
Highlighted
Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,512
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

Q4U, you are so right, and there were quite a few who underscored the little factoid that we are all individuals and respond differently to different foods, medications, etc.

I hope we can continue this conversation: I think it's important for newly diagnosed Diabetic to hear about Joe/Jane Q. Public and their experiences. Before I sign off, I would like for anyone reading this to know it was a process over time and weeks before my numbers were under control.....and I experienced a whole array of emotions including the feelings of isolation and anger. Oh yes: this is a major life change! And, there is an upside...... I thought I would never lose the fifty pounds I had gained, but I  losing weight and having normal labs after chasing every diet except a sane one....portion control..limits on fats, carbs and proteins....in the end, I eat better than I ever did before, and it's great fresh, whole food..I wish I would have learned years ago, but oh well......as a Lay person without a title, I would love to pass on some understanding and support. As I said please let us continue this conversation: it is an important one. Hugs to all-new can do this-

Poodlepet2

Honored Contributor
Posts: 25,929
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

[ Edited ]

My DH was just saying , and I agree with him, that the real issue with the diet we were given in class today is that the portions are so tiny - so that you can eat 8 times a day - that you will be hungry 24 hours a day. And even though you are almost constantly eating - you will never be satisfied. If you actually follow this diet to the letter - you will never feel full ever again. That is almost a guarantee to fail IMO.

If i want to have pasta - I can - but only a 1/2 cup. Same with beans - 1/2 cup. You know the old rule of a piece of meat the size of a deck of cards - nope - half that. why bother? 1/2 a small apple, 1/2 a potatoe but, of course all the veggies I want but not with any butter,salt or anything on them and if roasted - no oil or salt. I made some bean soup for dinner and when I measured out my portion it fit in a custard cup and didn't even fill it. I said to my DH - i am not doing this. I will find another way, this one is not it. Instead I had a kale salad and , I acually put about a tsp of dressing on it. She actually said if you want a hard boiled egg you should cut it in half and eat only half of it. There are no carbs in eggs! But they are also teaching about lowering cholesterol - however I don't have any issues with cholesterol, but this diet is not at all individualized. I have to eat the same as a person who has a cholesterol of 300. 

However, this diet does allow for women to have a 4 oz glass of wine - or a 12 oz light beer and men to have 2 12oz beers a day and puts no restriction on whiskey at all. So I guess the point is to just get drunk so you don't care about how hungry you are. And she suggested that when your blood sugar is low beer is a great way to bring it up quickly.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,415
Registered: ‎11-25-2011

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.


@151949 wrote:

 

And she suggested that when your blood sugar is low beer is a great way to bring it up quickly.


Oh. 

My.

God.

There are so many levels of wrong up to this point, but this last sentence pushed it into the stratosphere of disbelief.  And it's amazing my protocol of a clean, plant diet is shut down....but yet we listen to this misinformation.  SMH. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,583
Registered: ‎06-25-2012

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.


@sidsmom wrote:

@151949 wrote:

 

And she suggested that when your blood sugar is low beer is a great way to bring it up quickly.


Oh. 

My.

God.

There are so many levels of wrong up to this point, but this last sentence pushed it into the stratosphere of disbelief.  And it's amazing my protocol of a clean, plant diet is shut down....but yet we listen to this misinformation.  SMH. 


 

Oh sidsmom I get nervous seeing your many posts on your opinion on how to control type 2 diabetes. You don't have this disease. You are just quoting what you've read in someones book. I am a type 1 diabetic, have been for over 35 years. I welcome hearing about what they teach in classes now. Yes, I get nervous that those looking to discuss this disease will listen and believe what you say. JMO  Woman Happy

"Pure Michigan"
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,935
Registered: ‎07-02-2015

Re: Some interesting diabetes facts I learned today.

[ Edited ]

Many things have been posted here lately that look profoundly both true and false to me, based on things I saw published MANY years ago (no "New Age" food  fads here!)

 

Advising a diabetic to occasionally drink beer or wine makes some sense, if one reads up on the nutrients and value of brewer's yeast, which I suppose is used to brew beer.  Wine has long been known to "deaden" a voracious appetite, and grapes from which wine is made contain their own nutrients that our bodies can use.

 

Recommending that a diabetic eat many small meals per day has been around forever, too.  The "three-meal-per-day" tradition  is a modern idea that evolved to suit the busy schedules of modern people--not to mention the easy availability of large food quantities.  Ancient humans nibbled or grazed on whatever food they could hunt or forage for, all day long.

 

Insisting on a "plant-based diet" ignores what might be present or totally absent from  soil in which all this plant food is grown.  Soil conditions and contents vary not only regionally in the U.S. but around the world.  Too many known and unknown nutrients exist that support human health, metabolism, and most importantly, insulin production and control.  Where are we going to get them all in adequate amounts?  Certainly not by shutting out entire food groups from our diets. 

 

 DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FOOD IS GROWN...AND IN EXACTLY WHAT AND HOW?  Of course, you don't.

 

That's why I support tuning out the shrill voices of opinionated people who write, sell  (and buy) the "best-selling" books that come out about nutrition and health. NOBODY knows EVERYTHING  about how EVERYONE-- EVERYWHERE-- should eat for every occasion.

 

I  firmly believe that the safest thing a person can do is eat from all food groups in moderation.  A diet plan prohibiting just four ounces of lean meat, fish or fowl per day could cost a person's body some very important vitamins and minerals that  interact with one another and other foods to maintain life. 

 

To get the same amount of complete protein, iron, zinc, selenium, chromium, etc,., from that little serving of meat by eating the incomplete proteins contained in  plants, one would have to pile a plate very high with starchy grains, beans,  greens and other foods that might help but are no more a complete and healthful diet than anything else we can consume. 

 

Humans are born  omnivores who have survived all this time eating both plant and animal foods.  I'd like to see a vegetarian try to convince a carnivorous lion or tiger that he should convert to eating  only plants.  I suspect the vegetarian would be devoured on  the spot.

 

I am willing to provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope to any plant-food fanatic and have them mail it to my grave when they prove they outlived me.  My diet might not be any more complete than theirs, but I'm hedging my bets by eating some of EVERY type of food.  And I wouldn't totally discount advice from a credentialed  professional who is supposed to be helping me combat a diagnosed disease.