Greetings friends, it seems I am always asking questions that should have an easy answer. I went to the CDE and nutritionist yesterday. They wanted my month of meals, and month of daily numbers. Since they are at my clinic, or hospital, they have access to the other information, I have type two diabetes, using amaryl and Janumet for meds; exercise and diet to control my diabetes. My last A1C in October was 6.2; acceptable for me. I have lost 80+ lbs and am headed to at least the 100 mark. I exercise everyday either weights (strengthening) or swimming. In my area, I am called an "undercontrol diabetic" Okay, so they look at my mealsm, and I eat about approximately 3 - 4 oz of meat at each meal; and maybe 2 - 3 at snacks, especially the one before bedtime, so I don't go low at night, This is what I was taught and have found out what works for me. To my shock and surprise they told me that was WAY TOO MUCH protein, I shouls be eating only 3.5 oz a day????? HUH? That's not even a quarter pounder.......as I remember. My protein comes in many forms, fish, chicken, turkey, pork and one meal of beef a week, cottage cheese, beans,legumes, etc. BUt does this sound right to you? This is the nutritionist, NOT the CDE speaking. I am totally confused now. What do you do?
I eat TONS of protein and lots of fat and go to great lengths to avoid carbs. With any substantial carbohydrates my bg is unmanageable… I have never had weight issues
My understanding is that 20 oz of protein is a good goal. I suppose they want you to eat carbs instead? My question would be, if you've been so successful...and it certainly seems that you have...why are they even questioning your diet?
Exactly my question - who is the nutritionist/CDE working for - the ADA?
I watch my beef as it has a higher carb rating; but chicken, fish, no big deal.
Way to go SDKATE!
Others have covered this well, Kate.
Just wanted to chime in and assure you there are no dumb questions here. Many many of us get a lot of personal satisfaction out of helping fellow diabetics. Please ask anything you like, without a scintilla of guilt or embarrassment.
Up until I met these two, I didn't have any problem with Proteins....this has only proven more clearly to me that my own best instincts and education beats the "experts" hands down
You have had to live with this issue every day. Those other 2 ;
I assume are trained on-lookers.
So what do they recommend you eat if you can't eat much protein?
I don't blame you for being confused. Do you have some kind of kidney problem? That sometimes requires reduced protein.
If you don't eat more protein and fat how can you keep your carbs down? I usually shoot for about 70-100 grams of protein and about 75-150 grams of carbs. I know that my carb level is really high compared to others but I have found that I don't feel good and can't adapts to 25 or 30 grams. The key to control for me (at least right now) is I take 1 mg of amaryl with breakfast and one with lunch. If I don't do this then I have no control by late afternoon and dinner. If I take both mg of amaryl at breakfast then I spend all morning fighting lows and then still don't do well at dinner even with minimal carbs.
I honestly don't feel that many people in the medical fields really understand diabetes.I personally feel that we all need to find what works for us and stick to that. I have found that different foods cause different bg for people and what works for me may not work for you.
Great thought about the amaryl. As long as we are going to keep in on board, I might try that method for a couple of weeks/month and see how that helps. I did call several other cde's and asked about the protein amount, and they thought it very odd. I don't have any complications with my diabetes at all yet, thank goodness, so don't know where that number came from. I am going to keep with the 3.5 - 4 gms a meal as it has served me well in the past. I agree with you about medical people and diabetes. We have one doc in town who has diabetes, newly diagnosed, and won't even discuss it with his patients except to send them to one of the better cde's in town, because he is just learning himself. We are hoping that he will have access to better information as he progresses and share that with all of us. Thanks for your help...appreciate your sharing
I totally disagree w/ that little protein for a requirement, barring some sort of kidney or other issue that might preclude it. On one hand, it eliminates the "fudge factor" but if you are losing weight and are exercising a lot (and swimming is great exercise!), I don't see any problem whatsoever.
Non-D but some of my buddies are extremely into P90X/ Beachbody products (I'm not a "dealer", so I figure it's ok to mention...) and are very scrupulous about tracking their macronutrient ratios (Carb/ Protein/ Fat) and aiming to eat 30/50/20 as a %age of calories and have had great results and are workout monsters. I'm not quite as disciplined, and usually end up closer to 35/30/35ish (+/-) and have had decent results and good energy. I think that a lot of it is timing carbs to put some on board to fuel your workouts although a lot of times, I "cheat" in the AM and "eat" my DP to fuel and then chase the workout w/ something as BG smooths out. Unless the doc can explain a medical reason to cut your protein, I think that it's pretty important to eat enough calories and, if you don't get them from carbs, protein is the obvious choice.
Speaking from personal experience, take what the nutritionist says with a grain of salt. Many of them are stuck on the old ADA principles of low fat, high carb diets. I saw one upon diagnosis, was told to eat 300+ carbs a day, and never saw her again(or the CDE for that matter). That is definitely not too much protein for anyone, and especially not someone as active as you. You need protein for muscle recovery and maintaining lean body mass, and 3.5 oz would just plain not cut it.
did they say why you should only eat that much protein? the only reason I can think of to limit protein to that extent would be if you already have kidney disease. if not, a high protein diet will not hurt healthy kidneys as long as your bgs are good
FANTASTIC word, Dave: scintilla!!!
Shawn I believe part of the problem,at least in my area, is that we have 8 pa's and few MD's. Those people have to know so much, that they don't have time to center on one specific disease or problem. They depend on drug reps, maybe cont' education, and what they can read in their off hours (if that) to bring them up to speed. So....they aren't up to speed they are far behind. They are very capable, but as far as the new trends in treating diabetes, not so much. They go on what has worked for them in the past, and unless they have patients who are on the ball and very proactive with their own health --- which isn't always met with thanks --- that's it. I have several other problems that are unrelated to my diabetes that I have had to advocate for myself, find my own specialist, or solutions, and ask/tell them this is what I want to do.....so sites like t his one and others are very important to know about and use as a source of information and new treatments. I've fired several docs in one clinic, simply because they weren't willing to even listen to what I was proposing, I was a civilian, forget I was the patient. Thankfully, I have a great team, of listeners and people who work together. But what do you do with information that is just plain WRONG, and they don't listen....I fight back, it's my life, my health, my body and my future....I hate to be witchy, but some days I feel that's the only way I get through to them.
Sdkate:
Great work and wonderful staying steady on target. Love it dearly. Glad its not only me as well.
Best wishes and cheers Kate!