for the Type 2 in your life

cmbneeley

hey all. my dad is coming to visit this weekend, and he has type 2 diabetes. it's not under control at all (i think his avg. blood sugar levels according to my mom are around 300-ish). anyways, i want to provide the best meals for him while here but have no clue how to cook for a diabetic since he was diagnosed shortly before i moved out to go to college.

our family's usual breakfasts are fruit, yogurt, toast, and/or cereal.
lunches are usually a sandwich-- lunch meat, cheese, and mustard; or PB sandwich.
dinners are usually different everyday.

are those good/bad for a diabetic? anyone have some great meal ideas and recipes that are diabetic friendly? ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner appreciated.

Pedal_Pusher

I'd just call and ask him..........

cmbneeley

i did call my parents... they eat terribly (like pizza and burgers from a fast food place every night terrible). i asked my mom and she said to replace sugar with splenda if i bake something...

...i'm pretty sure there's more to it than that...

my dad's attitude is "more carbs just means more pills... no worries!" i bug him a lot about eating better because i want him to be around a long time for his grandkids. which makes me feel obligated to cook good meals for him while here, because i don't want to be the reason (by providing bad options) he doesn't eat well while here. i realize i can only provide the food, he can choose to eat it or not, but i have to provide good options for him or i'd be a hypocrite.

Marll

Here you go, pretty much anything on this site is going to be diabetic friendly:

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/recipes.html


Normally for diabetics you want to avoid most of what was on your list of things that you eat daily: fruit, yogurt (unless plain greek), bread, cereal, peanut butter (if normal kind with sugar).

krizz5u6

actually they can eat fruit (just try to monitor how much) and avoid any sugary beverages such as juice or soda. they can still eat carbs, but not too many as they turn into sugar. i'd say the breakfast sounds good but try to tone down the carbs since you have toast and cereal for breakfast i'd say pick one or the other and for lunch have some chicken and vegetables with a cup of brown rice on the side. my dad has type 2 as well and he doesn't really keep it under control either, even though i've tried to get him to eat healthy for thepast year or two. you can still make him pizza but you can make it with a cauliflower crust which takes down the carbs a lot.

http://yourlighterside.com/recipe-the-original-cauliflower-pizza-dough-2/

there's a good recipe for the cauliflower crust pizza. i hope he can learn to eat healthier maybe you can help him? 300 is very high for blood pressure he shouldbe more around 100-150... normal blood sugar is 90. 300 is very dangerous if he gets much higher than that he can go into a diabetic coma and not wake up. just make sure he is more careful with how he eats.... a little bit of bad food is okay but not pizza everyday.

MrzBlessedLady

bump for later

BigGuy47

my dad's attitude is "more carbs just means more pills... no worries!" i bug him a lot about eating better because i want him to be around a long time for his grandkids.

This struck a chord with me. I'm a grandfather with Type 2 and improving my health is very important to me. I need to stay healthy for my grandchildren. They lost their father earlier this year and they need all the love and attention that my wife and I can provide. I'm not going to shorten my time with them because I made poor lifestyle choices. Those kids have been through enough already.

When I was diagnosed I was put on medication, changed my diet and started exercising. It's been about a year, I've dropped nearly 100 lbs. and my blood sugar is under control. According to my doctor this is the exception rather than the norm. Most patients just want to take a pill and not change their diet. I take plenty of pills for various ailments now (this happens with age). My long term goal is to reduce the number of daily medications.

I think it's great that you want to be a positive influence for your parents. As far as what to serve while they are visiting; remember that "If it's white it's not right". No white bread, rice, pasta, chips, potatoes. Alternatives; whole grain breads, whole grain rice, whole grain pasta, sweet potatoes. The products with whole grains take longer to digest which reduce the glucose spikes that are troublesome for diabetics. For breakfast consider some plain greek yogurt with a little crystal light mixed in for flavor (Yoplait is packed with sugar). Whole grain toast with some Polaner jam (tasty and sugar free). As the other poster mentioned, small amounts of fruit are OK.

If you can introduce your parents to some healthy alternatives that taste good you might open their eyes a bit. I think the immediate reaction for most people to the idea of eating healthy is - Yuck. The truth is it's not all tofu all the time (I never eat the stuff myself). Eating healthy can be quite delicious. Once I discovered this, the task of changing my eating habits became much less daunting.

blood sugar levels according to my mom are around 300-ish).

As mentioned by Krizz, a blood glucose level of 300 is very high. The level is supposed to be measured while fasting. If it is an accurate measurement he needs make some serious dietary changes. More pills is not the solution.