Help for Diabetics

I work on controlling my carbs for each meal. My goal is to not go over 50 for each meal or snack.

Hi I'm fairly new to using the board, so far I have found this site great. Mainly joined because my husband is diabetic (wanted him to have some extra support. Anyway as for having a diabetic husband I also am a nurse and work with diabetics in a specialized clinic, unfortunately I see a lot of nasty complications coming from poor sugars controls. My husbands motivating factor was seeing some nasty foot ulcers. So I would just like to say kudos to you for making a healthy change. Some of my advice to you would be to increase your fiber, that will help stabilize your sugars throughout the day. My own experience from my husband who has a huge appetite and some issues with comfort eating is the small snacks throughout the day, but we also start the day with a vegan protein powder, with some extra flax and hemp and frozen fruit, coconut milk in it blended into a smoothie, that will help boost your protein levels and give you a good shot of fibre for the day, fills you up. For snacks we always try for a fresh fruit or veg, cheese and crackers, nuts are good to. you may want to try to stay away from peanut butter unless its fresh ground(most loaded with sugar) that one alway makes my husband sugars skyrocket. If you can aim for your sugars to get under 10 2hours after eating you should be good. To tight of control of your sugars can be just as damaging. One of the best things I found for my husband is to weigh everything, you would really be surprised at how we all misjudge our portions. Me included(i always thought I was a good judge of portion sizes) I personally think 60 grams of carbs is to low, if you go over stick to unrefined carbs. Weight loss and diet are your best solutions to controlling your diabetes, even a small loss of 5% -10% of your body weight can make a huge difference. Once your meds are sorted out, thing s will look clearer and fall into place.

Don't loose hope, not easy making drastic changes. My husbands biggest vice was pop, once you have things under control you can have the things you love in moderation, but over time you will start to develop new tastes, you will find new healthy things that you will absolutely love, takes a lot of experimenting, its a huge learning process. I have even found my grocery bill has started to go down, not buying any processed foods. Being a new diabetic this is the time to make the changes if you wait to long complications can be irreversible, statistically most diabetics have been so for 5 - 7 years before diagnosis. You mentioned neuropathy that may have been one of you earlier signs, but was just not picked up on, for my husband in his mid 20's doctor noticed sugar was a bit high at times and not others was not officially diagnosed until 10 years later, but that was essentially where it started for him. Been a long road. One bit of advice is try not to fall into some of the fad diets, when your diabetic on insulin you need all of your major food groups in order to function properly and not feel deprived.

Is there any type of Diabetic Association where you live? 70 carbs a day seems way too low, and it might be worth seeing if there is someone who specializes in it that can help. Doctors have a lot of high level information about a lot of things, but can sometimes give incorrect information.

My doctor had me on 90 per day and the local association, who specialize in these types of things, told me that was way too low. I know according to the Canadian guidelines, it is 130 grams per day. The doctor also listed off a laundry list of foods I could never eat again, including most fruits. The association has taught me that you can still eat almost anything, but you have to be careful, and it needs to be in moderation.

I tried changing everything at once and I made myself crazy. I tried eating 6 times a day and testing my blood 4 times a day and keeping under 90g per day of carbs and trying to be more active. It was overwhelming.

I am lucky that my province has a program with a lot of certified diabetes educators, and they have made it a lot easier. I also found some great cookbooks. And there are some local grocery stores that have dieticians that give free classes on reading labels and eating healthier.

I wish you the best of luck. It is very overwhelming at first, and I had days where I didn't want to eat at all because I felt like everything I picked was wrong, but I am getting better with it.

Another excellent site http://www.diabetesforum.com/ and bloodsugar101.com

I don't agree with the advice to increase carbs. Your doctor has the right idea. Diabetics need fewer carbs, not more and keeping carbs consistently low will even out your readings.

You said you were experiencing lows. Do you just feel low or is your meter indicating an actual hypoglycemic event (below 60?) What medications are you taking? Insulin and insulin stimulating drugs will often result in lows, so if it's common, check with your doctor about lowering medications

Also read up on reactive hyperoglycemia. You may be experiencing a roller coaster because you are eating too many carbs, not too few.