Do any members have experience with eating a High Fiber Diet to keep blood sugars more stabilized???
So many people here do low carb and therefore probably actually have a low fiber diet. I eat a vegan (no animal products at all) diet and so I eat a lot of very healthy carbs with lots of fiber (45-60 grams) everyday. I have very good control of my BGs. I think even better than when I ate fewer carbs. I think the secret is that all the carbs are healthy carbs. I still don’t eat bread, hardly any rice or pasta. Most of my carbs come from fruit, whole grains, legumes, and veggies like carrots, squash, and peas, but no potatoes except very small amounts of sweet potatoes. It works well for me but don’t know if it would work for others.
How do you get complete proteins in your diet??? (if you don’t mind me asking)??
I don’t mind at all. Whole grains and legumes, soy products such as tofu and tempeh all provide complete protien. Nuts also have a lot of protien. You don’ tnecessarily need to eat them all together but by eating a well rounded variety of foods throughout the day I get between 45-55 grams of protien everyday. I eat a very low fat diet and get no cholesterol.
Don’t you think nuts get a bad wrap as being “High Fat” ?? They are not saturated fats since they come from a plant source. I tried to become a vegetarian a few years back and found that it was very expensive. I am sure you know how to work around it. My husband and I are involved in animal welfare organizations and have considered giving up meat. We really need to educate ourselves on this issue. Do you recommend any books or magazines???
Nuts are wonderful but quite high calorie so except for gaining weight no problem. Vegetables in our corner of Siberia ( it is presently snowing) are very expensive. Cupful of boiled spinach about the same as a steak.
Even if you eat absolutely no cholesterol or saturated fats and your blood surgar is high the body will make tonnes of cholesterol and triglycerides so I am not sure that low fat diet is appropriate for diabetics.
I was just about to post on this topic and found your post here. Last week I found a copy of “Dr. Anderson’s Life-Saving Diet: The New High-Fiber, Low Cholesterol Way to Keep Slim & Stay Healthy.” Dr. Anderson was, or still is Director of the Diabetes Service at the Veternans Administration Medical Service, here in Lexington, Ky. The copy I have was published in 1986, but some of his research goes back to the seventies.
Below is a summary of one of his studies with diabetes and diet:
Researchers in Lexington Kentucky found that many diabetics on a low-fat, high complex carbohydrate diet (fruits, veggies, whole grains) containing generous amounts of roughage or fiber could eliminate the need for insulin injections and other drugs. James Anderson, MD, chief of the endocrine metabolism section at the Veterans Administration Hospital, over several years placed more than 1,000 adult diabetics on special diets containing foods rich in high-fiber fruits and vegetables like oranges, grapefruit and apples, and high fiber oat bran, oatmeal, beans, psyllium and soy fiber. All the patients benefited and 2/3 stop taking daily insulin injections. (–Post Graduate Medicine, Aug. 1990).
From my net searching, he is very well known for his research on fiber in the diet and especially for promoting oat bran. He teaches, or taught, medicine and clinical nutrition in the medical school at UK in addition to his research . He also wrote a book on the high fiber diet for diabetes. I found some used copies on the net and should be getting them. The diet looks very complete nutritionally. In his research in Lexington, the high fiber, high carbohydrate diet also lowered blood pressure. I’m looking for more of his research and am interested in what others think and have tried.
Here are a few links related to Dr. Anderson and the high fiber diet for diabetes.
A bio of Dr. Anderson
http://www.breakfastresearchinstitute.org/about/advisorycouncil/index.cfm
1989 article on nutritional management of diabetes.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0860/is_n12_v51/ai_8199631/?tag=content;col1
Hi Joyce,
I eat a low carb diet that’s high fiber. My meals contain a lot of low carb veggies, so that’s a good amount of fiber to start with. I also eat nuts (very good fats) & use almond meal, golden flaxseed meal & coconut flour for baking, additional fiber. I don’t eat grains because they send me soaring.
I don’t eat soy products because I have thyroid problems, like many diabetics. Soy is antagonistic to the thyroid gland.
As a Type 1, I haven’t found that high fiber particularly helps BG. It slows digestion & this would be more helpful for T2s & your diagnosis of pre-diabetes. On insulin you don’t necessarily want to slow digestion because of timing of insulin to digestion, though fiber is important & healthy.
There’s a lot of progressive research you can search that links bad lipid profiles & heart disease to high carb intake, not fat. High carb/low fat isn’t necessarily healthy at all. My lipids improved greatly when I cut the carbs & others have experienced the same. My diet is high fat–nuts, cheese, avocadoes. Of course, high BG (& thyroid disease) results in unhealthy lipids, too.
Can you clarify “high fiber”. Healthy amount of fiber is like 25-35 grams min for females. I decided to start eating enough fiber, and I realized I was already eating over 25 grams a day without thinking about it. I just didn’t know it.
In his book, he gives 45 gram of fiber in the 1500-Calorie diet. He taught clinical nutrition and says the diet is nutritionally balanced. He’s one of the world’s major researchers who recognized the importance of fiber in the diet to health. He’s done much research and written hundreds of articles which I’m now looking into because the book I found by him looked like a healthier guide in developing a diet plan for diabetes than some of the other diets. Given that 2/3 of the participants in the study mentioned above were able to get off the insulin, his approach seems pretty sound.
I did come across a very strong criticism by him of the Atkins diet and will be checking that out further too.
Zoe,
Is Dr. Anderson’s research with Type 2s on insulin? I’m assuming T2s.
Imagine that he would be critical of the Atkins diet since it’s the opposite of his approach.
First let me say that I am a non-insulin using t2 taking 500 mg metformin/2x day.
I’m afraid this outdated diet might kill me…well maybe not kill me…it would be ugly though. Oatmeal is good for you right…I used to eat it every morning even after dx (old fashioned round blue box cook on the stove top). Until I started testing everything that I ate and discovered that, for me (I can only speak for my experience), oatmeal made my bs soar and because it is high fiber, my bs stayed high for an extended amount of time.
My testing also revealed that (FOR ME) most high fiber (whole grains, bran, legumes, beans etc.) makes my bs soar and because of the high-fiber beneficial side to slowing down digestion, it keeps my bs high for a long time. So high-fiber is good for most…just not for this T2 diabetic. I do take a 500 mg psyllium capsule every day since this is an insoluble fiber and will not affect bs.
Fruit…ahh…I love fruit…unfortunately it is basically sugar…I can’t even eat 1/2 of a banana without bad results. I can eat a small amount of some fruits (half of a small apple, half of a small clementine or a handful of blueberries) several times a day without negative consequences. And what about those vegetables…there are a lot of vegis that are high carb…and some that are not…most that work for me are raw (like salads). I do eat plenty of nuts (all kinds).
…the bottom line is this…there is no bottom line because it is complicated.
You have to find what works for you…foods that cause problems for me may not be a problem for you…so experiment and test your bs often. Just remember that high-fiber does slow digestion and IF a high fiber food causes your bs to soar…it may stay high for a long time unless you take insulin and can adjust.
For me, I consume about 30 g of carb at a maximum, per meal, and 15 g maximum per snack. I do benefit extremely well form high fiber carbohydrates, so I try to have a high amount of dietary fiber in most of the carbs I consume. It works for me, right now… But no, there is no way I could do the amounts of carbs many vegans or vegetarians do for their diets, without a serious spike. I also have Hypothyroidism, so I cannot consume soy that is not fermented. Products like tofu, which are not fermented, can cause goiters in the Thyroid, and a negative autoimmune response. It is far from being an ideal health food, and should not be consumed by anyone having an Endocrine disorder of any kind, including Diabetes. Things like miso, or tempe, are okay… but not products which are not fermented. There’s just so much food that is pushed on us like it’s healthy… including agave syrup. sigh
Lizmari,
What’s wrong with Agave syrup? I was planning to try it…
Gerriann
Here’s a well written blog post by Gerri on the subject. 
Agave Syrup Alert
Thanks, Lizmari.
I’m with you on foods being promoted as healthy that are not. I want to scream every time I see a Glucerna commercial. Wish I could find the research I did on soy, the not miracle food. It’s in everything now & I bet there will be more thyroid problems as a result.
The real tragedy is that they use it as baby formula! That stuff should be banned by the FDA!
Agree! Many people are also allergic to soy & don’t realize it.
I have to tell you my little red antenna just come right out of my head on this sort of thing. I am sure for the time, Dr. Anderson’s advice was considered consistent with the thinking put forward by the ADA and others for diabetics, but not anymore. And the most alarming thing, you linked to an institute funded by Quaker and Tropicana led by good ol Dr. A. Personally, I would immediately question diabetic dietary advice supported by food companies.
Personally, I don’t believe in the whole fiber thing, but I consider it a pretty harmless thing to try. If it helps you that is great. But I would caution you from thinking that a high carb breakfast is not going to lead right to undesirable rises in your blood sugar and the consequences of that.