Has your ethnicity affected your diabetes treatment?

I married into a korean family and besides the rice I think it's great - the spicy pork, kalbi,the fish, all the veggies in the panchon, heck even kimchi. but I get grief all the time from the agima about not eating my rice.

Interestingly enough, Jews and other people of East European descent have a higher rate of Type 2 diabetes also. Elliot P, Joslin specifically mentioned Jews in a paper in 1950 (which was before anyone in the medical profession even knew that blacks, Latinos and Asians even existed!)

When I went to Poland, Romania and Hungary, I saw SO many women who carried their fat in their bellies -- East Europeans are genetically different from West Europeans, who seem to be the only ones who have escaped having a high proportion of the Type 2 diabetes genes.

People say derogatory things about fat people around me, because I don't look fat, but emotionally I FEEL like a fat person, and those comments are very hurtful. Plus I know fat people who try very hard to exercise and eat a healthy diet, and remain obese. Thin people think they're virtuous because they're thin, but actually, they are just lucky. And there is so much about obesity that remains unknown; it isn't just junk food and sedentary habits.

We need our fellow humans to learn so much more about acceptance of diversity -- it should be the joy of our lives to learn something about a different ethnic group, religion, culture, lifestyle, language, sexual orientation, etc. I have been lucky enough to travel throughout the world, and I never met a culture I didn't like! The people I visited were so friendly, so sharing, so generous, so loving, and I believe the essence of good people is the same all over the world.

So don't let the bigots get you down, PLEASE remember that there are more of us who aren't bigots, and would love to learn more about your culture!

And just to let you know, I was a welfare mother for 5 years, and it was rough, but I got an education, and a teaching job, and have been able to support myself, if not in luxurious style, at least doing the things I have really wanted to do. This was before I was diagnosed with diabetes, so that helped, but at least I want you to know there can be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Natalie ._c-

I have the opposite take on this! Lots of my fat is in my belly thus giving me the whole horrible elevated insulin and resistance vicious cycle, but what doesn't go into my belly goes to my face. So when I was overweight I looked obese. Even when I reached a 'normal' weight, I still looked fat despite fitting into size 8-10 (US) jeans. And of course none of this prevented me from developing diabetes. So looking back I realize that all of these are just numbers and ultimately not very meaningful since I was not officially fat, but looked it, and still got all the 'classic' 'fat person' diseases. The only numbers I care about now are those that my meter gives me, and thanks to the collective wisdom I have found online, most of the time these are not too shocking.

Nevertheless I agree 100% with all the positive, empathetic and empowering things you said in your post!

Thanks. I have a degree, and had a good job in Human Resources for a few years before I lost my job due to illness, and downturn in the economy. I've been unemployed, or with temp jobs, for 3 years... This moniker was given by someone... who sort of looks down on those of us who have had to use food stamps or any other form of welfare to get by, and survive... In the current state of things.

I am amazed and awestruck at how you're managing on food stamps + diet + exercise.

I can't wait for winter to be over so I can start planting my own food again. It will be my first growing season since diagnosis. Pity as I used to be quite good at growing my own potatoes. I shall look on the bright side - I've also had very good success with courgettes/zucchini, radishes and tomatoes (red, orange and yellow) so bring 'em on!!!

one side of my family is italian and it is pasta galore! While sometimes its tempting to overdo it carb wise, I allow a little bit of pasta, but fill up on veggies. My dads side is irish, so its really meat, taters, stews, etc. I think the best thing to do is allow yourself a little bit of the carby stuff but make sure you balance it out

Well, if I cooked like my Irish mother, her carb consumption would be drastically lower, because most food was extremely bland, and nobody ever asked for seconds, LOL. Most nights it is still meat and potatoes, rice. I do spice it up a bit. I make Italian dishes and use a lot of Spanish and Italian spices. Everybody will eat those meals. I do make spicy chili and spicy black beans, which the adults will eat and a lot of soups, stews, hummus, etc. which, unfortunately, my niece will not eat.

I cut out honkey food completely. Pirogies and bread are lethal.

I don't think my ethnicity (Latina) has affected my treatment mostly because people aren't aware of it. My surname can be taken for Spanish, Portuguese or Philipino. I speak standard English and am college-educated.

I do think that it is more difficult to get reliable nutritional information for ethnic food. Just try to find a carb count for posole! And I do think that some nutritionists have limited knowledge when it comes to ethnic cuisine.

The weirdest ethnic experience I had was when I was pregnant. I was working with a nutritionist who was from India and she didn't understand what an ovo-lacto vegetarian was!. She kept suggesting that I add fish to my diet.

Cheers,

Corinna

I wouldn't say my ethicity (American but Polish, Dutch and Swedish) because my mom rarely made any of the ethnic foods when I was growing up - it was all American foods like Hamburger helper and Steakums hehe - but my already being a vegan at Dx made it harder since vegan staple foods are all carbs. My fave ethnic foods are/were Mexican, Italian and anything with potatoes (I would make a good Irish chick!) and some Southern foods (biscuits and gravy are my all time fave and I haven't had them since dx)

Most of my diet was all vegan staples that often replace meat and dairy which were pasta, potatoes, bread and sometimes rice. I could never cook rice without it turning out all sticky anyhow so I gave up on that eons ago! haha! But the bread, potoates and pasta are killer as they normally make up a hug chunk of my vegan diet. Bread was my bane. I can have little bits of pasta but it will make me go up higher so I tend to avoid it. I have a low carb bread I can eat (yah! Even comes in rye!) - the potatoes are a hard one. So far, I have avoided whole potatoes since Dx in Feb and haven't craved them (I have avoided pubs). I am sure if I have small amount I will probably be fine. I have made some subs for my creamy potatoe soup I used to make for winter and have been satisfied for the most part. Would love to have some English "chips" again with some dark ale or piergoies or real sourdough bread everyonce and a while though - that would be nice! I am sure will have some nibbles of these again someday but right now it is nice to have a diet that is working for me. Although, D sure makes it hard to experiement esp. when a new recipe or vegan product comes out I want to try - I often get all excited and than remember "wait girl, you can't eat that any more" but than I try to figure out a way to sneak in a little even if it a small stick of candy cane! haha! Have to have some treats everyone and a while or one could go crazy!

Good thing I can still have Mexican (no rice or Margaritas though. :( ) and I don't have much of a sweet tooth to get in the way. I love beans esp. refrieds. I found a low carb blue corn taco shell so I do my one portion of veg beans with tomatoes, green onions, black olives, vegan cheese and spices and it is very filling. I am grateful I can still eat this. Good thing I always hated Indian food (although most of my vegan friends are shock by this) - all those potatoes and flours!

There is an upside though - I am eating lots more veggies than I did prior - it is very easy to have a bad vegan diet with too many carbs - I eat a almost every day now - broccoli or spinach or other. And lots more nuts/peanut butter (and dark chocolate!). Less processed foods and more whole foods. So I cant really complain for the most part. :)

I was thin when I was DXd 130 lbs at 5’4" with Type 2 so I can totallly dispel that “fat” person disease myth.:slight_smile: (I should be a case study! LOL!) Mine is totally genetic. Now, I weight 100lbs because I dumped the carbs. I seriously believe that carbs cause that tummy fat on many people not fat per se in food. The fat I have is in my tummy too - I noticed that doing some weigh and resistance exercises help and it is slowly decreasing (why is it so damn hard to get of? hehe) and my numbers are good because of that. I think it is key to try to get that tum-tum fat down - takes a while I know but I am really seeing that in my experience. I really don’t think it is about “weight” (meaning how much you weigh) but where you carry that fat and, for Type 2, where you are genetically predisposed. I see lots of fat people with no diabetes (and older too - past the so called “prime” age). If it was about weight, I should have never have gotten it.

Welcome to the "Type Weird" club. For people who just don't fit into the standard boxes. Type 2 is so much more complex than the media make it out to be, and primary care doctors don't know much more than that about it.

I suspect that in coming years, researchers will find out that the term "Type 2" is unsatisfactory, because it's an umbrella term for several different conditions. Then doctors will have to figure out what type of Type 2 you are!

In the meantime, you just have to be your own advocate, and do what you know is best for yourself, because you aren't going to get much help elsewhere!

Yep! We need a group on here called "Type Weird" (I like that). I am one of those small percentages of Type 2 Thins that are out there. At least for now, this is my first years, so who knows what will happen with me down the line.

I agree Natalie -I read a book that said there are probably hundreds of thousands of "types" of diabetes but doctors are too lazy to label them all because it is so complex which is why everyone gets lumped into the Type 1 or 2 and some Type 1.5 (or Type Weird hahah). This is why I don't really take the "types" to seriously. It is nicer to say "I am a diabetic that needs 'such and such' treatment" I really believe that it isn't so cut and dry as they want it to be with just two major Types and if they would just let go of that idea maybe they would make some progreesion on figuring out the true roots of the problem and people would get better treatment (or *gulp*, even a cure?)

Or is it just two much of everything?

I would think most people have some issues with foods associated with their ethnic backgrounds. I don't imagine any particular ethnicity has a 100% diabetic healthy meal plan, My own background being Jewish of Russian and Polish decent draws me to certain foods such as:

Bagels (ok, bagels were mostly an ethnic food back in the 60's and early 70's)

Bialys, similar to a bagel. . . sort of, but carb bombs just the same

Matzoh, almost pure carb at 22gr per 28 grams of total weight

Potato pancakes

Kugels made of noodles or potato

Perogies, little pillows of pure carb stuffed with guess what . . .potato

Knish, flakey little pillows of carb stuffed with guess again . . . potato

Not to mention the different teacakes, mandel breads, maccaroons

The list goes on . . ..

Yup, you got the idea, :-) I don't think it's doctors' laziness, though, I just think that there is more that scientists DON'T know about diabetes than what they do. They know a lot more about Type 1, but, even there, they don't know everything.

The other thing is that so many people DO fit in the boxes, that we Type Weirds are actually unusual, and doctors don't know what to do with us. So we endure a lot of trial and error, and a lot of things just don't work.

I am glad that my doc has me down as Type 1 -- I get better insurance coverage that way, but in no way am I a classic Type 1. I have characteristics of both, and am interested in both. And I do have to say I've been lucky, because I didn't have to fight to get on insulin, although there was a lot of trial and error there, too.

It breaks my heart when people struggle so, and don't get the help they need!

Funny, Im Mediterranean and British, I eat almost none of those foods. I do however eat Mexican, Japanese, German and French cuisine. What funny is I just make it all low carb. Take Mexican, Cauliflower Spanish rice with grilled meats, low carb tortilla, lettuce cheese, guacamole, etc. Same with Japanese food. Sticky rice would just about kill my BGs so I use shredded Cauliflower to make rice, cucumber, burdock, lettuce, avocado, and BAM! Ive got sushi rolls.

So in my thinking, it doesnt much matter what your ethnicity is, but rather what you can do to make mild adjustments so you can keep a friendly D diet.

I had thought this thread would be like the research showing African American, Hispanic and female patients to be underserved pain meds vs. white males? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_management citations in the under treatment section...).

It's interesting and makes me hungry to hear the food experiences. I am Irish/German/ Welsh and am certainly compulsively fond of potatoes (:-() but MrsAcidRock is Korean and we are both pretty adventurous and will pretty much eat whatever isn't nailed down.

My endo will second that! At my last visit he made the interesting point that a hundred years from now, people will look back and realize how little was known about diabetes. He reckons lots of different types of diabetes will have been identified, and people will wonder how it was ever possible that only two types were recognized.

I was also given my official diagnosis of Type Weird, or, in his words 'an as yet undefined genetic syndrome of severe insulin resistance'. Bits of me have already been photographed for the edification of medical students and the medical fraternity and I'm going to be investigated in the clinical research lab, which I am quite looking forward to!

My family doctor has me down as T1, according to the ADA I'm T1b, and at the hospital I'm KPD (ketosis-prone T2). Luckily this has absolutely no bearing on the help I get because for the important box-ticking, the health system here in the UK only differentiates between 'diabetes treated by diet and exercise only' and 'diabetes treated by insulin or oral meds'. People in the second group get their diabetic kit for free. Personally I quite like this typology as I find it more meaningful than a number, which as we know does not encompass the diversity of D. Everybody on insulin therapy has more in common with each other than with those not on insulin therapy, no matter what 'Type' box is ticked!