I look at the diabetic food pyramid, and "breads, grains, and other starches" are still at the bottom, indicating your diet should have a lot of this. Six or more servings a day!
More than vegetables, more than milk and meat, more than fat.
And fat is combined with sweets as a category.
I would have thought the diabetic food pyramid would be altered from the regular food pyramid.
Or I am merely confused on a much higher level than before.
Crazed, isn’t it? Forget the food pyramid if you want to control blood glucose. Now, wasn’t that easy? Protein, carbs from vegetables & from non-grain, non-starchy sources & healthy fats. See, even simpler.
Check http://www.bloodsugar101.com. Jenny’s site is a wonderful for straight answers, researched info & common sense.
Is it perhaps because the ‘general population’ might find it hard to go ‘low carb’ ?
We hear alot about those who successfully go low carb, but how many are there that actually struggle adopting a low carb approach?
So is this the reason why “breads, grains, and other starches” are still at the bottom of the pyramid and recommended, or is there perhaps a greater conspiracy at play?
I think the truth just might be that that it would really be hard to expect the greater population (who need to change their diet) to go ‘low carb’.
How many have tried and failed to go low carb ? Can anyone actually do it ?
YOU SHOULD AVOID THE BASE OF THE ADA FOOD PYRAMID…if you want to reduce drugs and insulin.
I did and I am drug and insulin FREE!!!
You are NOT confused…the ADA is selling drugs for Big Pharma and grains for Kellogs & Quaker Mills.
If that’s from the ADA, i’d suggest just staying away from it… i’ve come to hate them lately. They just seem to be out to sell more medicine and make more money for pharmacies and medicine companies.
For us, protein is good for keeping BG up over a long time, but not spiking it. So you want to have some meat, and a little bit of fats in your diet to keep your BG from crashing. Vegetables are mostly all free, so you can have as much of that as you want. Fruits are also good (not free though).
You’re not confused 
You’re actually pretty much dead on. Breads have a lot of carbs, which is what we want to try to avoid. Really, it’s not all that hard if you just look around… you can make some really good things with a pan and some vegetables (and eggs. Omelets are amazing :D)
Yeah… what he said.
The thing is, they just took the regular pyramid and renamed it the diabetes food pyramid. And this is the ADA. Am I wrong or are they hurting people by giving this kind of information?
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/diabetes-food-pyramid.html
I am going by the diet they made for me at the diabetes class. Its exchanges, which not everyone really likes, but I think I can do it. At least for now. When I become experienced at this I will look at this again.
Its hard enough for me when its clear what I have to do, but to have “authorities” giving me bad or conflicting advice, makes me want to give up. If they don’t know, why do I think I can figure it out.
I hate this. All I want to do is eat. I don’t want to do trigonometry every time I make breakfast. All I want to do is have a nice quiet meal, with my coffee, stare out the kitchen window, maybe listen to the radio or read the paper or talk with someone. I don’t want to get out all these charts, fill in logs, jab myself with sharp things and get out a calculator. All I want to do is eat. I hate this.
http://www.diabetes-book.com/index.shtml
This is a good source of info. Dr. Richard Bernstein as been type 1 since 1946. He is a little radical
Listen… if you dump the exchanges, the crappy ADA stuff, and eat mostly meats and non-starchy veggies, I know you will eventually drop at least ONE of those medicines, if not the needles… and then, no more math. But the longer you keep up with that diet, the more your pancreas struggles with its output of insulin, and the less likely it is to get off all those meds and needles…
I think there are number of factors for the way the food industry or ADA etc provide their recommendations. One factor i believe is that they see a trade off for quality of life type issues versus providing information that is a best case scenario. Particularly for T2’s, many still see it as primarily a lifestyle choice that caused the disease so they assume those same inactive sloppy porkers wont adopt a diet that is extreme on either side of the spectrum. I guess i am the type that says set the bar high and if it takes a while to hit the goal, that’s ok as long as you get where you need to be as opposed to setting it low knowing the majority will reach that goal. The problem is that low bar standard still poses significant risks.
That’s a really good way to put it…
(Oops, sorry, replied to the wrong person haha)
The ADA diet isn’t really going to help sadly. They’re just out to make money, and try to make people’s conditions worse.
A breakfast that works great for me is bacon, eggs, some milk, and a piece of toast. (One piece, not two) The eggs are just protein, so there’s not that much to worry about there. The bacon is fat, so that will help to keep your bg stable until lunch, and milk helps to give you a bit of a boost (orange juice or anything really works) to get your BG up a bit, but not overkill. And then the toast also does the same thing.
Since you’re on MDI right now, you need something to help absorb the insulin when it peaks in the morning, that’s what the milk and toast does. Then the protein and fat in the rest of the food helps to keep your bg stable until the next meal. It doesn’t really put your BG up, but just keeps it from falling, and has no real spike in it.
Then for lunch, have some sort of meat and veggies (Like a ham sandwich with some lettuce and tomatoes on it). And for dinner, meat (chicken, steak, ect), a veggie side, and a small serving of carbs to get you through the night. I’m not going to say to completely drop the logs just yet, but once you get your head wrapped around it, and get on your feet again, you can just pick out a breakfast, give yourself your morning shot, and then eat and have your coffee and watch the birds fly by your window
I cant say i hate the ADA per se, but have come to see them in a very short period as just another industry lobby group that has their own viability as its first priority and those of the patients second.
I wonder though, do you think the ADA gets pressure from the food industry to set the standards of the ADA pyramid? The industry has enough power to move standards within the US government, pressuring the ADA would be easy. Since i have gone low carb, almost all processed foods have been eliminated from my food intake. Great for my local farmers (and thankfully i have some great farmers markets in my area), but my change in eating habits has taken a huge chunk of money away from the big food company’s. With all the D’s in the world, a significant change in eating habits could impact their bottom lines drastically and I’m sure they are aware of that fact. Not to mention, if the general public noticed all these low carb healthy D’s, it might change their habits?
That would be a whole lot easier actually. Can one lose weight by doing that?
Oh yeah. I’ve lost 70 lbs! Check me out… 
http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/weightlossteam/forum/topics/today-i…
My blood pressure used to be 144. It was 116, the last time I was at the doctor, last Thursday. Made my A1C go from 10.5% to 5.5%, too… And normal Cholesterol, and Triglycerides, which were also high when I was diagnosed.
Yep. Just try to avoid starches and carbs, and the weight will just naturally come off.
I haven’t been sitting at the same weight for 3 years for no reason ya know 
If you keep your bg under control, then chances are your weight will naturally fall into range.
One must understand, the “food pyramid” is primarily a recommendation drawn up with the interests of agriculture and industry in mind and the patient health considerations are a secondary concern.
The new 2010 so-called “Dietary Recommendations” have now been released for comment (http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/DGAs2010-DGACReport.htm) and let me tell you, the story has not gotten any better. Here are some highlights
Despite even optimistic suggestions (from the IOM) that the RDA for carbs is at most 130 g, it is still recommended that you consume 45-65% of calories from carbs, perhaps 300g?
It is ok to get 25% of calories from sugar. Are you serious? Well, remember, the US refused to agree to the WHO recommendation to “reduce sugar intake.” Some things are bad for business.
There is now a term Solid Fats and Added Sugars (SoFAS), lumping Saturated Fatty Acids, transfats and sugars into a “bad” category, despite the vast accumulated evidence that there is no harm in SFA.
And still despite clear evidence, dietary cholesterol is somehow something you should still avoid.
Bottom line, if you want to know what to eat, don’t ask Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland or Monsanto, they won’t give you an answer you can trust.
ps. If you feel strongly about this whole “Dietary Guideline” travesty, give them a piece of your mind by giving the comments the new guideline at www.dietaryguidelines.gov.
That is outstanding. I have lose something along those lines. Dr said about 100 lbs, but 70 lbs would be something I would be ecstatic to accomplish.
remember everything eventually affects BG, thats the way your metabolism works. Just takes longer for the BG rise from fats and protein. You get most of the fiber, vitamins, and minerals from the carb group and thats why it’s large on the food pyramid. I know some folks push a high protein/fat low carb diet for T1’s and T2’s, but I was on Atkins many years before I went T1 and would not like to deal with the ketosis issue that results from that diet now - having gone DKA at diagnosis. I agree that simple sugars should be kept to a minimum and in a separete catagory from complex carbs but carbs are valuble and just because thats the BG rise we are taught to monitor does not mean you can “cure” yourself of T1 or T2 by cutting those out. As for chocolate, I’ve actually participated in one of those Harvard med. studies on the value of flavinoids for diabetics. If you cut out the simple sugar and have a small portion of dark cocoa without sugar daily, you will be doing your kidney’s a favor. I also am on symulin therapy which slows the livers’ response to glucose and allows me to reduce my insulin intake by at least a third. That’s also the effect of high fiber in your diet. check out the tag groups’s spreadsheet if you are working with meal content and tight control.
I lost 40 pounds in 10 weeks going low carb ( high protien = meat, fiber= green leafy vegies, broc, asperigus, etc, and good fats). it’s much easier to manage bg on this diet and a significant amout of weigr should naturally fall. Of course the more exercise you can do will also help both bg and weight