Help with food choices - moving to vegetarian as a diabetic

lanajanewoolf

Hi Folks,

Looking for some advice.
I was recently diagnosed with diabetes T2 - unsurprisingly. I am/ was obese and inactive.

In the last 35+ days, I have started to turn my life around. Healthier foods, lower calories and active lifestyle. (re-living my teens, 20's and 30's lifestyle) In this time, I have lost about 7.5kg.

However, I found myself eating a large amount of animal proteins.
As a former vegetarian (in my 20's and 30's), I keep thinking about returning to that eating style. However... I am a little confused about the plant proteins, carbs and low GI etc.

MFP seems to be unable to distinguish between plant proteins and carbs. (i.e. beans, lentils etc when looking at macros)

Or am I reading it wrong and just not having enough protein?

As a diabetic, is it ok to be eating a comparatively large amount of plant proteins that are also carbs that are low GI?

Will this impact my losing weight (I still have about 25+ KG's to lose)

Will this impact being a long term healthier change to my diet? (Looking to be less of a diet that a regular type of eating)

Advice much appreciated.
L

Xellercin

As a newly diagnosed diabetic, have you not been offered diet counselling from a licensed professional?

lanajanewoolf

Hi Xellercin,

Thanks for responding.
Yes I have had a meeting with a registered dietician, however, at that point, I was not thinking about going vegetarian.

I can and will make an appointment again, however, it does cost some money and I have a limited amount of appointments under the Aust scheme I am on.

They were happy with the progress I was making however suggested that I up my low GI carbs e.g. a 1/2 cup of brown rice a day to help combat the fatigue, and up my calories slightly.

As I mentioned, at the last appt, I was not considering going vegetarian as I was just trying to go as low carb as possible. Generally info in Australia says, go low carb.

As I read further, and spoke to the dietician, it was more apparent that it more about low GI, but still with a low carb message.

I wanted to get other opinions, inspirations, experiences and tips before the appointment so I can then do some research to initiate the right conversations.
L

AnnPT77

lanajanewoolf wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Looking for some advice.
I was recently diagnosed with diabetes T2 - unsurprisingly. I am/ was obese and inactive.

In the last 35+ days, I have started to turn my life around. Healthier foods, lower calories and active lifestyle. (re-living my teens, 20's and 30's lifestyle) In this time, I have lost about 7.5kg.

However, I found myself eating a large amount of animal proteins.
As a former vegetarian (in my 20's and 30's), I keep thinking about returning to that eating style. However... I am a little confused about the plant proteins, carbs and low GI etc.

MFP seems to be unable to distinguish between plant proteins and carbs. (i.e. beans, lentils etc when looking at macros)

Or am I reading it wrong and just not having enough protein?

As a diabetic, is it ok to be eating a comparatively large amount of plant proteins that are also carbs that are low GI?

Will this impact my losing weight (I still have about 25+ KG's to lose)

Will this impact being a long term healthier change to my diet? (Looking to be less of a diet that a regular type of eating)

Advice much appreciated.
L

I can't comment on the diabetic side of this, as I'm not diabetic. I can comment on the vegetarian-protein-carb aspects, I think, because I've been vegetarian (ovo lacto in my case) for 47+ years.

The comment in your post that I bolded . . . I don't really understand.

Here's why: Any food has various attributes (characteristics). One is the number of calories, one is the glycemic index, several are the macronutrient composition of the food (the amounts of carbs, protein, fats in the food). MFP is quite clear about the macronutrient composition of foods, assuming we choose accurate entries from the database. (The database is crowd-sourced, i.e., entered by average users: Some are more accurate than others.) There are inter-relationships among those characteristics, but they can also be considered separately.

Many vegetarian protein sources come with some carbs. That is, the food contains both proteins and carbs (and sometimes fats as well). In many cases, those higher protein plant foods that also contain carbs foods are relatively low GI. Beans/legumes, for example, have both carbs and protein, but are relatively low GI foods (predominantly because their carbohydrates are primarily complex carbohydrates (starches), and they're also high fiber, which tends to slow absorption of the carbohydrates).

The thing about GI is that the GI of an individual food may not matter as much, when you eat it as part of a multi-food dish or meal. If I eat a small amount of a high GI food with a larger amount of a very low GI food, the overall GI of that meal can still be pretty low.

From reading posts by other diabetics here, there are some indications that there's individual variation in which foods or combinations will spike a particular person's blood sugar, and which don't. It isn't always obvious or intuitive. Much can be learned by testing your blood sugar after foods/meals, but I'll defer to diabetics here to tell you the ins and outs of that. You may also find that timing exercise around your eating may moderate blood sugar spikes, even with fairly small/mild doses of exercise - again, that's individual.

There are plant protein sources that are relatively low in carbs, such as some traditional soy foods (tofu, tempeh, etc.), seitan (which is gluten), and others. Looking at good entries in the MFP database, you can see what the proportion of carbs vs. protein is, in any given food choice, and prioritize those that are higher in protein. To the extent that the food contains some carbs, choosing foods with higher fiber, and carbs that are starches (rather than sugars) will tend to identify lower GI foods, but you can look up a food's GI online separately, too.

If you want to minimize carbohydrates in your diet, but also want to be vegetarian - or at least reduce the meat/fish in your eating routine - you may want to prioritize the plant protein sources that are relatively higher in protein (vs. carbs), whose carbs are more starch than sugar, and that are higher in fiber. Combining those foods in a dish/meal with other, lower-GI foods, should also reduce the effective GI.

I hope that makes sense?

christineja

I had gestational diabetes with two pregnancies and am now considered pre-diabetic/insulin resistant. I had it under control for a long time but gained a lot of weight and am having to go back to low-carb to control my glucose levels. I can only hit my protein goals by eating animal protein. Looking at a 14.5 oz can of black beans, it's supposedly 3.5 servings with each serving only giving you 7 grams of protein, but 15 grams of net carbs. A 4 oz serving of animal protein is at least triple the protein with zero carbs. Being insulin resistant, my body produces insulin but is unable to use it, so even a healthy carb like beans will end up being converted to glucose that hangs around and ends up as belly fat, while causing me hunger and cravings because my body isn't able to use the food it's consuming.

You need to get a testing meter and check your blood after meals. Because I test I know I can't eat rice in any amount without a big spike. When I was thinner I could eat chickpeas with oil and lemon without spikes, but gaining weight leads to insulin resistance, and now I can't. I only know that because I test.

Was it your doc who suggested upping your carbs for energy? That's good advice for someone with normal glucose levels lol. For me, carbs=tiredness and brain fog, because, again, my body can't process them. If I ate a .5 cup of rice I'd need a nap. YMMV, but for me increasing my calories through healthy fats and increasing my protein intake ups my energy levels, upping my carbs does the exact opposite.

You just have to experiment and find out what your body can handle. I do best eating <20 carbs a meal, which is basically just eating carbs as nuts/veg/dairy, no/very limited fruit, grains or legumes. Adding oil/fats and acids like lemon juice or vinegar also helps slow the insulin response, but of course with fats you have to watch your calories.

I don't mean to be negative, because I think the planet would be much healthier if everyone was vegetarian or at least cut way, way back on animal protein. I hope people chime in with their experiences of controlling blood sugars while avoiding meat. I plan to if my weight loss improves my insulin response, but since I want to avoid medication I'm stuck with eating meat for now.

Sorry for the book, I'm obsessed with glucose levels Congrats on your weight loss!

korimak0

I have a friend who is vegetarian and does keto (ultra low carb). So, diabetes aside, going low carb as a vegetarian is possible. Whether it is advisable in your situation, though, is a totally different question. Your diet ends up being super restrictive and you risk not getting all the good nutrients you need, although you can use protein shakes to help add more protein (there are some good vegan powders out there too). Then of course there are all those individual factors as christineja mentions.

I personally gave up on being vegetarian because for me, with my other dietary restrictions, it was just making me tired all the time and I was eating more high GI carbs, and less protein than my body really wanted. But I still often eat vegetarian meals! And I don't eat mammals, just poultry/fish.

So it's not an all or nothing thing! I can't really give you diabetes advice, but you could try out adding some low GI vegetarian meals and see how you go? And what the nutritionist thinks?

rheddmobile

My personal experience testing blood (and there are studies which agree, although the science is divided) is that low GI is baloney. Carbs will hit your blood sugar eventually, and different diabetics react differently to the same foods. Test and if you tolerate legumes well this may work for you. I have to limit them, myself. There are some supposedly slow carbs which just spike the bejeezus out of me, such as quinoa. On the other hand I can eat sweet potatoes all day. I have friends who are the opposite. If you don’t test, you’re just guessing.

Are you wanting to be vegetarian for ethical reasons? Would eating more fish be a helpful compromise?

I know diabetics who are well controlled on vegan diets, and carnivore diets. Anything is possible. But it doesn’t mean everything is equally easy.

kshama2001

lanajanewoolf wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Looking for some advice.
I was recently diagnosed with diabetes T2 - unsurprisingly. I am/ was obese and inactive.

In the last 35+ days, I have started to turn my life around. Healthier foods, lower calories and active lifestyle. (re-living my teens, 20's and 30's lifestyle) In this time, I have lost about 7.5kg.

However, I found myself eating a large amount of animal proteins.
As a former vegetarian (in my 20's and 30's), I keep thinking about returning to that eating style. However... I am a little confused about the plant proteins, carbs and low GI etc.

MFP seems to be unable to distinguish between plant proteins and carbs. (i.e. beans, lentils etc when looking at macros)

Or am I reading it wrong and just not having enough protein?

As a diabetic, is it ok to be eating a comparatively large amount of plant proteins that are also carbs that are low GI?

Will this impact my losing weight (I still have about 25+ KG's to lose)

Will this impact being a long term healthier change to my diet? (Looking to be less of a diet that a regular type of eating)

Advice much appreciated.
L

Assuming you are using accurate entries from the database, you're just not having enough protein. Here's my canned response for finding accurate entries:

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

Re your other question:

Will this impact my losing weight (I still have about 25+ KG's to lose)

No, macro/GI does not affect weight loss directly. Eating macros you find filling helps weight loss indirectly as this makes adhering to a calorie deficit easier.

cwolfman13

lanajanewoolf wrote: »

Hi Folks,

Looking for some advice.
I was recently diagnosed with diabetes T2 - unsurprisingly. I am/ was obese and inactive.

In the last 35+ days, I have started to turn my life around. Healthier foods, lower calories and active lifestyle. (re-living my teens, 20's and 30's lifestyle) In this time, I have lost about 7.5kg.

However, I found myself eating a large amount of animal proteins.
As a former vegetarian (in my 20's and 30's), I keep thinking about returning to that eating style. However... I am a little confused about the plant proteins, carbs and low GI etc.

MFP seems to be unable to distinguish between plant proteins and carbs. (i.e. beans, lentils etc when looking at macros)

Or am I reading it wrong and just not having enough protein?

As a diabetic, is it ok to be eating a comparatively large amount of plant proteins that are also carbs that are low GI?

Will this impact my losing weight (I still have about 25+ KG's to lose)

Will this impact being a long term healthier change to my diet? (Looking to be less of a diet that a regular type of eating)

Advice much appreciated.
L

Provided your entries are accurate, MFP is going to display whatever protein is in the food as well as other macros in that food. Things like beans and lentils do have protein and are good sources of vegetarian protein, but they are largely comprised of carbohydrates.

Rhumax67

If you google "vegan for t2d" you'll get lots of info & research for vegetarian & vegan diets. Good Luck!