Hi, my name is Patricia, I was just diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a week ago. I am scheduled to meet with a Nutrionist next week, but until then I’m really struggling with which foods to eat. I’m very, very familiar with the low carb diet, I lost 60 pounds on Atkins a few years ago, and I know the diabetic diet watches carbs, but it doesn’t allow all the fat and cheese and eggs that the Atkins diet allows. I’m struggling with how many carbs to have at each meal, and what should my nutrition percentages be, for instance what % carbs, what % protein, what % fat? As a result of being confused about this, I’m not eating very much at all, I don’t think I’m eating enough, when I do eat, it’s mostly fruit, or some rotisseried chicken. Any suggestions? BTW, I’m age 61. Thanks!
I’ve just started the diabetic diet myself in March. In the begining, I just stuck to mostly meat and veggies. I just didn’t do the carbs at all. I even cut out fruit. But NOW I eat maybe one slice of bread with breakfast and lunch and that’s it. No potatoes, rice…Dinner is always meat and veggies. I think we’re supposed to have 30 grams of carbs with each meal? I don’t go by that. I just eliminate them whenever I can. I eat alot of tomatoes and cucumbers and pickles when I can’t find a good lunch. My diet is kind of crazy too!LOL
hi Patricia, welcome here. You will find many discussions here on foods, dieting, and especially on “how many carbs do you eat?”. - here - is a discussion on that very subject. It had 803 replies!
Hi Patricia,
Welcome to TuD! Glad you’re here.
People who eat low carb for better BG control, don’t eat low fat & do eat cheese, eggs. Sorry someone gave you wrong info. Please do eat:) Get your carbs from non-starchy vegetables. If you can handle fruit without spikes, that’s great! The only way to know how different foods effect you, it’s unique to each person, is to eat & test 2 hours after eating.
A warning. Most nutritionists endorse the ADA dietary guidelines which are way too high–45-60 carbs per meal. The ADA is woefully behind the times & receives huge funding from the pharm industry. The less you tax your pancreas with carbs, the healthier you’ll be. Many discussions here about limiting carbs for control.
Everyone is different ( I’m Type 1), but I eat 6 carbs for breakfast (mostly protein), 12-15 for lunch & dinner. I keep protein portions pretty consistent from day to day. About 58% of protein does turn to glucose, though at a much slower rate than carbs. Dieticians tend to overlook this fact when they claim that low carb is risky. As to how much protein you need, that’s based on weight (or ideal weight), height, age, level of activity.
A wonderfully informative site is Jenny’s http://www.bloodsugar101.com. She also has book that’s great. I’m fortunate to have stumbled upon her site shortly after I was diagnosed & it helped me tremendously.
You DO NOT have to worry about eggs/cheese as long as you are low carb. I’m living proof - my cholesterol, for example, went way, way down on the lo-carb, high-fat diet - and so did my A1c. The best advice I can give you is to check out this web site as well as many of the resources she mentions. http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/ - I also got her book.
However, be prepared for the nutritionist to either (a) not support a low-carb diet (at least not truly low) and/or (b) tell you to avoid things like cheese and eggs. DON’T LISTEN!!!
By the way - HI PATRICIA - and I’m 57 (shhhhh!)
45 to 60 carbs per meal is NOT low carb. To maintain my #s, I never eat more than 15 at any one time and often less.
What meds did they put you on?
Cheri
I’m packing my bags! Know your son would love having another Jewish mommy hovering about.
No wonder Erez has to make so much insulin to handle so many carbs. why so many unless there is good evidence that fats (maybe some kinds do and they should de minimized) cause insulin resistance ? There is evidence that “High insulin” causes high insulin resistance read wiki " insulin oscillations" You would think that a low carb diet would be best to deal with insulin resistance.
That is so, low fat yogurts are full of starch i.e instant blood sugar.
The lucky guy with 2 jewish mommies he should be cure in a flash.
Hi and welcome Patricia…TuD is a great site and you’ll meet many wonderful people…I’m just learning and find all the answers below interesting. My 1st dietician said 45 - 60 my second one 45…now I’m hearing 45 is too much… Maybe that’s why my BS not coming down even though I’ve been on Metformin for almost 2 months. Hope you enjoy the site and good luck. and by the way I’m 61 too
Hi Anthony, I’m not Renee, but I don’t think Erez has to use insulin to control his bg. If I remember right, he’s just on metformin. I wish Gerri would cook for me too. I’ve seen some of her recipes and I think her hubby is one lucky man!
Your dietician will probably urge you to eat a pretty high-carb, but otherwise fairly healthy, diet. Many of us don’t know why dieticians and the ADA are still pushing high-carbs and low-fat, when it’s been found that for diabetics, carbs are THE PROBLEM, and eating fats as part of a low-carb diet are not as harmful as was thought, in fact are better for cholesterol etc. than the high-carb low-fat diet. So listen to your dietician, then read about some of the low-carb alternatives you will learn about from many TuDiabetes folks. And make your own decision, and don’t be afraid to modify it as you learn more. There is no one “diabetic diet,” any more. Your Atkins-type diet might be a good place to start.
Hi Patricia,
You’ve come to the right place. There’s lots of good info here plus people will point you in the right direction. Please check out Blood Sugar 101 as Cheri suggested - there’s a lot to read, but it’ll really help you to understand how to control this disease. I was pretty disappointed with my diabetes educator as she just parroted the ADA. Unfortunately, the ADA hasn’t kept up with the science.
Here’s an example of my dinner tonight. I’m eating a lot of carbs from veggies, but I know from experience that my bg will be about 120ish mg/dl at 1 hour postprandial. Tonight I’m having a lazy dinner. I’m broiling some thin pork chops with a light rub (not kosher - sorry Renee and Gerri), and I’ll steam some broccoli and add a little lemon juice and a tsp or 2 of real butter. I’m also planning to saute some yellow squash with dill.
I won’t have any rice, bread, corn, grains, etc. because I can’t properly control the blood glucose spike. Your mileage may vary.
Erez is producing too much of his own insulin if you believe the tests. And this can lead to similar problems as if you have to inject oo much external insulin.
High blood sugars will cause bad cholesterol in all diabetics whereas cheese and eggs with low blood sugar will not in many people.
My endo like the low carb idea. He is not that keen on atkins because of the high level of saturated fats.
Yvonne,
Sounds yummy!
I notice you say “a tsp or 2 of real butter.” You use real butter, not the diet stuff? Also, I’m new to this so don’t know all the lingo yet, I assume bg is blood glucose? And I guess mg/dl is the reading we get when we test with the monitor? Also, I can’t believe you call that a lazy dinner…sounds pretty good to me! I’m so green, can you believe that at age 61, I bought my first zucchini in the grocery store yesterday?? Had to confirm with another shopper that I actually had the right thing!
Thanks everyone for all the information you’ve given me. I love these support boards on-line, they are much more informative than the doctors sometimes. It’s surprising to me that doctors say 45-60 carbs per meal is “low”. When I did a true low carb diet before, I probably didn’t eat that many in a week!
Patricia
Hi Patricia -
Yes! That’s real butter!
Glad you’ve been introduced to zucchini - it is a good friend of mine - I love to shred it, mix with egg and saute a zucchini patty in olive oil. Try all kinds of veggies on the “good veggie” list. I also love eggplant.
Lots of “lingo” but you’re getting the hang of it!! Good luck and stay in touch.
Hi Patricia,
There’s a great past discussion here about fats that I started. So many people were mentioning using canola oil that I wanted to get info out about how unhealthy it is. Search “canola” to find it. Real butter, real cream, real cheese are better than all the chemicals in their low fat counterparts.
Oh yes, ADA, dieticians, CDEs & many endos push the 45-60 carb diet, with 15-20 gram carb snacks. I was told that eating low carb would starve my brain:) You’re so far ahead from already having done a low carb diet.
Yep, BG is blood glucose & you’re also right about the meter.
Hope you liked your first zucchini!
Zucchini is good on the grill too. I like to take a bunch of vegetables and marinate them in olive oil and dill. Then on put them on a bunch of skewars and cook them up on the grill. Yummy! I eat cheese pretty much every day as a snack. Nuts make a great snack too. There’s a book out by the Calorie King that counts fats, carbs and calories. I use the book every day and it’s very helpful. I found mine at Wal-Mart for about 7 bucks.