DASH diet and diabetes

lclarkewalker
lclarkewalker Posts: 37 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am at my wits end!

I joined two separate gyms offering to help with my weight loss efforts. As part of this, the first gym claimed to have a nutritional program. After three weeks of begging it finally arrived and I was simply astounded! Here I was, morbidly obese at 250 pounds and in my sixties and they wanted me to eat SIX EGGS every morning? High fat dieting didn't work for me. I went on this thing for two weeks and gained 6 pounds.

And then there was the "trainer". Nice guy, good intentions. Fairly clueless. Four sessions and six sprained body parts later, and I still had no idea what to do.

So, I changed gyms. This one is better but I am finding out these "trainers" really don't have a clue about the needs of some of us older overweight people. Especially those of us with diabetes, hypertension, etc. etc.

Well, this morning, after a tearful breakdown and another sleepless night, I began praying (yes, praying). And the word DASH came to mind. And I remembered someone telling me that they had to go on it for hypertension. So I thought maybe I should look into it.

It seems to me to be a slightly modified version of the diabetes diets I've seen. Does anyone else see this?

Does anyone know anything about it? It's highly recommended by medical doctors online and the Dept. of Health.

Thoughts and idea welcome. I feel like this is really my last hope.

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Does the DASH diet sound like a diet you can do happily for the rest of your life? Have you tried MFP's approach yet? Using your food diary, eating what you want, just weighing and logging it, and hitting your calorie goal every day?
  • Old_Cat_Lady
    Old_Cat_Lady Posts: 1,193 Member
    edited July 2017
    My dad was seriously hurt at a gym by a stupid trainer. Never trust anyone with your body. You could google exercises for seniors on youtube.
    PBS has a lady I love for this. Google: PBS Miranda Aging Backwards , then click on video.
    I love the DASH diet. Yes, it's hard to say no to fast food and to frozen foods such as frozen chimichangas. But worth it.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
    I'm in my sixties & mid- (recently upper-) 200s, too. I'm coming to the same ideas as the DASH diet from a different way of looking at it from trying to pay attention to Harvard's "Healthy Eating Plate" and other info from Harvard's School of Public Health but we are ending up at the same basic place -- which is the same place as the AHA, the ADA, etc.

    We are ready to eat healthy to prolong our health and our lives. We are ready to pay attention to types of fat, sodium, potassium, etc., as well as simply calories. We will end up knowing much more about nutrition than the trainers and coaches and, on occasion, more than our GPs.

    I know we are not alone on MFP. There are lots of us around.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    The DASH diet is very similar to the diabetic diet and you will do no harm being on it. You will only lose weight however if you watch your portions and stay within the calorie limits for the day.

    I was where you are and my gym assigned me a mature trainer who also happened to be a registered nurse. She got me active and I will be forever grateful.

    Her simple plan was to have me go on the treadmill for twenty minutes a day for one month. After all I was starting at completely sedentary.

    Back then all I could do was walk. So walk I did.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited July 2017
    DASH is a generally sensible healthy diet that is consistent with most mainstream healthy eating advice, so if it interests you, why not? (Someone else mentioned the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate, which I'm a big fan of, and agree the two are consistent, and likely similar to the ADA recommendations.) It's only inconsistent with what might work for someone who does better on higher fat/lower carb, and since you've said that's not you, seems like a reasonable approach.

    It's generally not a prescribe what you eat every day but more of a guidelines diet, which is what I think is good about it (I'm generally pretty down on diets that tell you specific menus to eat, as I don't think they really teach you to make the choices for yourself and understand nutrition).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Another thought is if you can get a referral to a registered dietitian through your doctor (vs. a gym), that might be useful.
  • lclarkewalker
    lclarkewalker Posts: 37 Member
    Thanks everyone. I did decide to make up my own program and it seems to be working but DASH is within the program to a degree.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    edited August 2017
    I started using the DASH protocol as a guideline (I'm in good health and already in maintenance, but wanted a plan to follow for a balanced diet). For me personally-I LOVE it :) I'm not super hard core about it, but it really clicked with how I already like eating, and I like the way it's set up vs straight calorie counting (I still do mental calorie math during the day, but have found that I stay within my calorie targets naturally by following the plan).

    I found a notebook that has graph paper and I use that to track-I'm a nerd and love checking off the category boxes as I eat lol.

    Here's some great links for more info on DASH-

    https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/dash/followdash

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/dash-the-proven-healthy-diet-that-just-hasnt-caught-on/2017/04/03/5da47e24-1558-11e7-9e4f-09aa75d3ec57_story.html?utm_term=.6d8f49583e60

    http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/dash-diet/reviews
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    TheWJordinWJordin wrote: »
    My dad was seriously hurt at a gym by a stupid trainer. Never trust anyone with your body. You could google exercises for seniors on youtube.
    PBS has a lady I love for this. Google: PBS Miranda Aging Backwards , then click on video.
    I love the DASH diet. Yes, it's hard to say no to fast food and to frozen foods such as frozen chimichangas. But worth it.

    You can still eat fast food and frozen foods, you just eat it less frequently. I'm actually eating a Lean Cuisine right now-it's the Vermont cheddar one, so 1 grain and 1 dairy. Then I added an entire bag of (steamer) California blend veggies to it, so 3 veggies. I also added 3 ounces of canned chicken, which is 3 protein, and then I mixed it together with a bit of sweet n' sour sauce, which falls into 1 serving of 'other'. Overall a very DASH friendly meal :)

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