starting a low sugar diet, any advise?

katismiles

I need help! I eat a TON of sugar everyday, and today I found out that my blood sugar is high, and my grand mother is diabetic so I've decided to cut my sugar intake in half, and eat only 1 bar of ice cream a day, but other than fruit I want low sugar foods.
Does anyone know how I can go about doing this? Any advice (besides the obvious)?
I'm not sure how clear that is, basically, I'm wondering what to substitute for carbs, I eat a lot of them. At my house there are mainly carb based foods and for me it's hard to avoid. I live at my mom's so throwing them all out will get me kicked out, how do I avoid craving them?

mrmanmeat

I need help! I eat a TON of sugar everyday, and today I found out that my blood sugar is high, and my grand mother is diabetic so I've decided to cut my sugar intake in half, and eat only 1 bar of ice cream a day, but other than fruit I want low sugar foods.
Does anyone know how I can go about doing this? Any advice?

How about you don't eat ice cream bars at all.

Cathleenr

I need help! I eat a TON of sugar everyday, and today I found out that my blood sugar is high, and my grand mother is diabetic so I've decided to cut my sugar intake in half, and eat only 1 bar of ice cream a day, but other than fruit I want low sugar foods.
Does anyone know how I can go about doing this? Any advice?

"only" 1 bar of ice cream?
:0

ok thats not advice. sry.

um...read the labels?

russellma

I try to keep my carbs at around 150 g per day or less. I would recommend adding more protein and good fat to make you feel full and help balance your glucose in your blood.

I like peanut butter and cottage cheese and yogurt. You can add fruit to the cottage cheese or yogurt to give yourself something sweet without a ton of carbs.

I also use sandwich thins (whole wheat) to replace most of the breads that I used to eat.

My family loves homemade ice cream, so if I'm careful through the day, I still have calories and carbs left for a small bowl of ice cream a few evenings a week. Good luck!

katismiles

cause I feel like cutting back cold turkey will make me very frustrated, I figure at least limiting myself at first will make it easier, eventually yes, I will quit eating them. And thank you!

lawtechie

Go for NATURAL sugars, fruits/veggies are the top choices. As for refined sugar, limit the whites. White bread, white pasta, white rice, Candy, soda, ICE CREAM, and other 'junk' type foods.

Go to your local library and see if they have a copy of "Sugar Busters". It is good reading for eating low sugar. Read up on the glycemic as well. http://www.glycemicindex.com and try to watch your intake of high glycemic foods which will cause your blood sugar to spike (and then drop) quick.

trelm249

You need to learn to read labels and understand what a sugar is. Sucrose, fructose, lactose, Dextrose, Maltodextrose and other *oses are all basically some form of sugar. Sugar substitutes such as sucralose, aspartame, and others can also mess with your insulin levels some as well. Fructose corn syrup in any form is also something to be careful of.
I am not saying don't eat any of this. I am saying educate yourself on what they are and what they are in so you actually monitor your consumption.

Starchy carbs will also jack your blood sugar up as well. White potatoes, processed flour based products like bread and pasta, rice, corn and other grains are all converted to blood sugar rather easily and their consumption should be monitored if you have blood sugar issues. Again, I am not saying don't eat them at all, but be aware of how much you are and you may need to limit it.

My doctor lectured me about my high blood sugar over a year ago. I cut back on my starches a lot, raised my protein intake, watched my sugar intake and got my @$$ of the couch and got active (exercise helps regulate blood sugar). In the process I have lost a lot of weight (excess fat raises insulin resistance, this is a bad thing). 8 months later my blood sugar levels were well into the normal range.

H_Factor

processed, pre-packaged foods = no good
flour = no good

someone in your house will need to start cooking more often (and I don't mean the microwave). cook lean proteins with veggies. I have some things I like to cook that are very low in sugar on my blog that you can check out.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/hmalin1/view/my-favorite-foods-to-cook-161286

TheBraveryLover

Yes, you're gonna have to cut out cereal, snack bars, eat plain yogurt (and put fruit in it instead), and try to do 1 ice cream bar every *other* day for a couple weeks and then cut it down to once a week. I generally eat within my sugar goal and my food staples are green veggie's (I rarely eat corn or carrots), nuts, meat, cheese, plain Greek yogurt, eggs, etc. I eat a lower carb diet so I don't really have pasta, potatoes, and bread often, but it's not for health reasons so I'm not sure if limiting those would help you or not. If you have a sweet tooth there are sugar free candy (delicious, might I add) that you could have on occasion.

Jo2926

I need help! I eat a TON of sugar everyday, and today I found out that my blood sugar is high, and my grand mother is diabetic so I've decided to cut my sugar intake in half, and eat only 1 bar of ice cream a day, but other than fruit I want low sugar foods.
Does anyone know how I can go about doing this? Any advice (besides the obvious)?

I did this some time ago and its really hard - but it gets easier. The few couple of weeks are worse, but keep telling yourself its for health and it keeps you on track. I found cold turkey easier in the end, but its hell for a day or so, but then its gone.

I'm not sure how clear that is, basically, I'm wondering what to substitute for carbs, I eat a lot of them.

Quinoa - a bit like cous cous, but full of protein, I use lentils instead of rice which is nice and filing. Fill up on veg - you soon get use to no potatoes when you have a nice piece of meat or fish with a shed load of stir fry veg. 80% chocolate is a massive treat and hardly any sugar compared to normal stuff. I've also seen recipes for sugar free ice cream, but its high in fat so not so good for weight loss.

There are lots of low carb products on the market too which might help, but I've never tried them.

And I agree with reading labels - I cannot believe how much stuff has sugar added. I cannot count the number of times I have ranted in asda because they add sugar to cooked chicken pieces!

Good luck
jodye