I am Diabetic and very overweight and unmotivated HELP!!!!

Hi there,
Can you increase your protein intake? Whey protein isolate is a great source of protein and you can keep it simple by using an unsweetened almond milk or something. That would be low fat, no sugar and high protein. You can definitely do this though in a good healthy way. start with baby steps though. Diet and exercise should help make you feel a bit better too. Hope this helps. Please feel free to friend me and I'll do my best to support you and help you in any way I can.

Because of being diabetic, you need to eat moderate amounts of all of the macronutrients. I typically recommend 45% carbohydrate for my diabetic patients because you still need carbs you just have to make sure you are choosing complex carbs and combining them with protein and fat to keep from spiking the blood sugar. Diabetes also increases your risk of heart disease and stroke (70% of diabetics have high blood pressure) so you need to watch your fat intake. I'm not saying go low fat, but keep it to about 25% of your diet and stick with mostly unsaturated fats. Diabetes also increases your risk of kidney issues so you have to watch your protein because removing the nitrogen from protein is hard on already at risk kidneys. I recommend no more then 30% protein. Also, while checking your blood sugar, also check for ketones. When exercising, don't workout with a blood sugar over 300 or a blood sugar over 250 if you have ketones present. If your blood sugar is below 80, have a quick snack (juice works great here) and make sure it is coming up before you workout. Exercise will lower blood sugar, so if your sugar is low then exercise can take it too low and cause problems. With a high blood sugar, exercise can make the symptoms of hyperglycemia (dizziness specifically) worse.

---

16 years Certified Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor
9 years Certified Sports Nutritionist
Bachelors in Exercise Physiology with a Minor in Nutritional Science
ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist
NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

They add sugar into low fat products so they taste good enough to consume. That is the catch. Low fat doesn't mean it is better for you. You are in a tough situation and with dedication and determination I know you can do it. There are people out there that help you. Talk to you family doctor and see who they recommend you talk to.

Hi everyone, I am diabetic and very overweight but want to lose it ..... not what food to eat because of the sugar content.... Low fat always has a high sugar content so I am very very confused. Any advice/help would be so much appreciated. Thank you.

Coraleen

Welcome to MFP!

Lots of high protein foods, lots of vegetables. I don't bother with low fat foods - I just use moderation on full fat foods.

Try to limit processed foods, stay away from fruit juice, soda ( even artificially sweetened soda ), and added sugar. Fruit sugar is usually okay in moderation, as are moderate amounts of carbs.

My dad is diabetic. My mom was pre-diabetic until she got her diet under control, and now she is in the clear.

i am also diabetic (Type 2) and very overweight (started with 172 pounds to lose). I am NOT new to losing weight - I've lost 100 pounds twice before and 25-50 pounds several times as well, but a diabetes diagnosis certainly threw me for a loop. Two particular websites helped me decide how i was going to act as a diabetic

1. www.diabetes.org - go to the forums and read/post under "Recently diagnosed and New Members" and "Adults Living with Type 2" Two veteran posters in particular are very helpful and have easy to understand blogs - Alan_S (http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/) and lizzylou (http://lizzysdlounge.com/). Both have blogs which are easy to understand.

2. http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/ - Jenny is a Type 1.5 diabetic who has done a tremendous amount of research and writes in a clear, easy to understand fashion. The emphasis is on teaching you how to bring your blood sugars down to the level that peer reviewed research has shown will prevent complications.

Based on the suggestions I received from Alan and Jenny, I decided to strictly count carbs. Testing my BG regularly (before and 1&2 hours after meals) helped me decide what foods i absolutely needed to avoid and where to set my macros to avoid spikes. I want to be as close to normal as possible in order to avoid the complications of diabetes. I also have some food intolerances which make a low-carb lifestyle a little easier. From testing, I learned that I cannot have more than 10 carbs for breakfast, 20-30 for lunch and dinner and 5-10 for snacks. I try to avoid processed foods and starches.
I get most of my carbs from vegetables (7-10 servings per day) - no fruit juice, no grains. I also get some carbs from dairy products - Greek yogurt and cheese - and nuts/seeds (almonds and sunflower seeds). i concentrate on lean protein (turkey, chicken, fish, venison/bison) I eat very little fruit, except for berries (limit myself to 1/4 c) and very little legumes (again, my limit is 1/4 c - just enough to add interest to a salad).

You're welcome to take a look at my diary - just ignore today's as for some inexplicable reason, I thought food was a
band-aid and decided to throw caution to the wind. ;-(

Good luck!

Hi there! My husband has T1D and boy am I EVER confused! Maybe we can help each other