Where my Type 2 Diabetes pals at??? Let's talk about food!

zmbrlla
zmbrlla Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes while I was going through some Kidney stones shenanigans and as you can imagine it threw my life upside down. My story starts with a combination of bad habits (only eating once a day and lots and lots of bread) and a family history of Diabetes so here we are. I immediately started seeing a nutritionist who guided me for the better part of two months but I moved back home so now I'm trying to be good and keep at it on my own. I went to the book store to get some literature on Diabetes and got a couple of cook books but they kind of seem to contradict every thing my nutritionist originally told me NOT to eat. On top of that because my kidney stones were mostly Calcium Oxalate I'm restricted some of my favorite foods (I LOVE almonds and tea!!!) :(.

I loooooooove to eat and I love to cook but I tend to fall into a rotation of only a handful of meals and I'm kind of getting tired of tuna salad. So do you have any resources for recipes? What do YOU eat? What do you ABSOLUTELY not allow yourself to eat? and can I ever eat pancakes again?

Replies

  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    I follow the low carb plan in Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - a great book. I eat meats, seafood, eggs, full fat dairy, nuts ( hard to lose nuts :( ), seeds, veggies and a bit of fruit. I basically eat under 30 g of carbs a day, often going much lower. I'm ketogenic. When I do this, my BG is normal and I tend towards easier weight loss because my appetite is blunted.

    If you like IF and skipping meals, Fung's Obesity Code or Diabetes Code might suit you. It's a low carb plan that uses fasting to help restrict calories and reverse insulin resistance.

    I do NOT follow advice from diabetes associations or my endocrinologist. Her advice was eat MORE veggies, fruits, whole grains and leaner meats.... More carbs - the stuff that converts to glucose in the blood! I gave it a try. Carbs stimulate my appetite and I ended up gaining 10 more pounds in under a year and fixing nothing. I did the opposite and started losing. ;)

    Dr Sarah Hallberg has a few YouTube videos on this. She says there are only three known ways to reverse type 2 diabetes:
    1. Get bariatric surgery
    2. Eat at a caloric deficit and lose weight
    3. Eat a LCHF diet, regardless of caloric intake.

    I went for #3. :)

    Good advice - Type 2 Diabetes is cause by too much processed sugar/ refined carbs over time - which leads to insulin resistance. A diet low in in that - higher fat & protein will help - possibly reverse the diabetes. Include fish oil, avocado nuts, etc. Eastcoast Jim
  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
    part 2 - I can't comment on the kidney stones - I don't know
  • sebastiao_teresa
    sebastiao_teresa Posts: 8 Member
    Hi go for a low carb diet . I deal with Diabetes in daily basis . Being diabetic myself ( LADA) and my daughter is diabetic as well ( Type 1). All the best
  • qweck3
    qweck3 Posts: 346 Member
    Sorry you have to deal with this but know that it is a VERY controllable disease. I've lived with Type II for over 5 years and one beneficial thing it forced me to learn was how to take care of myself. Started at 6.8 A1C and now I bounce between 5.3 and 5.6 for the past 3 years.

    Where are you at A1C wise? How is your average out of bed blood sugar doing? Doctors have a tendency to go: You have diabetes, lose weight and they send you out the door. Meet with a nutritionist as soon as you can.

    Low carb really is the way to go as others have mentioned. Learning what a serving is will help. A food scale and measuring cups/spoons are a must. Find an exercise you like and shoot for 4 days a week. It takes time as this is a big life event but once you find the balance you need life continues as normal as it can be. I haven't had a blood sugar reading over 180 in a year. I told a friend the other day that I don't know the last time I felt like a diabetic. (tired etc)

    Your questions:

    So do you have any resources for recipes? I eat exactly what I use to before except I swap out the unfriendly stuff. Pasta gets swapped out for zucchini noddles. Potato recipe are replaced with cauliflower or sweet potato.

    What do YOU eat?

    Protein, fats and low net carb foods. Net is the key word as fiber is your friend. Avocado is 15 carbs but 10 grams of fiber so only 5 of it counts. Currently, I'm doing keto but that isn't diabetes related but rather something I wanted to do.

    What do you ABSOLUTELY not allow yourself to eat? and can I ever eat pancakes again?

    I don't restrict ANYTHING but I've learned what moderation is how to read a serving. Enjoy your pancakes, again serving levels, but there are swaps out there instead of using the flour based stuff.

    Happy to help in any way.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    T2 here. Been to all the classes. Went in to remission for four years after significant weight loss.

    What a lot of people miss is the importance of regular small meals (eat on a schedule!).

    I never eat carbs alone, always pairing them with protein, fiber and fat. This gives me a steady supply of energy without highs or lows.

    Small snacks that are naturally balanced include Edamame, cheese and crackers, apple with peanut butter, Greek Yogurt, half a protein bar, an egg.

    You gotta learn your body’s signals and reactions. Diarize everything. Note how you feel two hours after eating. Recognize your lows and highs. You’ll quickly learn what works and what doesn’t.
  • fatcatfisch
    fatcatfisch Posts: 1 Member
    Another important thing that helps control your blood sugar level is exercise. Diet alone is not going to be enough. But even a relatively small amount of exercise per day will make a big difference. My doctor told me that walking for 30 minutes a day is recommended. And you can break it up and walk for 15 minutes twice a day. I found it pretty manageable and started to look forward to these 15 minutes breaks in my day.
  • JohnBarth
    JohnBarth Posts: 672 Member
    I was diagnosed T2 about 10 years ago. For the most part, I've been able to keep my numbers in check through diet and exercise. Recently, things have slipped a little, thus the main reason I'm back and active on MFP.

    Obviously, you've seen tons and tons of information about T2. It's hard to digest right and wrong, but I've always believed in finding out what works for YOU.

    Foods that trigger me and my body may be tolerated better by others, and vice versa. I know some of my trigger foods, and I just avoid them--maple syrup, white flour, white potatoes.

    I concur and support many of the mentions of exercise in this and other threads. It doesn't have to be fancy. Walking itself will get you headed back in the right direction. Good luck!
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    Hi and welcome.

    As for the Kidney Stones, because they are Calcium Oxilate, I agree that one thing that you can do to help them from re-occurring is limiting high oxilate foods like spinach and sadly, yes, nuts. But something else that you can do is to increase your Calcium. Calcium bonds to the Oxilates helping to move them through your GI tract without being absorbed. Lastly, you will want to work on your gut health. There is research showing that poor gut health contributes to Oxilate absorption. With a healthy gut biome, the Oxilates would better pass through your system.

    As for the T2 Diabetes, there is so much conflicting information out there and unfortunately our sickcare systems hasn't caught up with the latest research that T2 is best treated with a low carbohydrate diet. It doesn't even have to be as extreme as Keto (though following a Keto diet did lower my fasting BG from pre-diabetic levels to a 66 at my last checkup) but even lowering the amount of processed carbohydrates that you eat and increasing the complex carbs can help.

    Good luck.

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