Im having trouble with what I eat . .I was told only eat brown rice andpasta .No sugar , honey. A lot of the recipes I have come across are asking for brown or white sugar or honey, whole eggs(told only whites ) . I know we only are to worry about carbs My food intake for the day is usually the same. Start with homemade muffin Then maybe apple for snack. Lunch is cheese or mushroom on pita bread. Supper is chicken or turkey with salad .Night snack is Greek yogurt with walnutsand apples . I bought a diabetic chocolate bar and only have one piece a day I only drink skim milk as I'm afraid to drink juice I even feel guilty about coffee
I eat about the same every day, SCARED silly to eat anything even soup . Did anyone else have the same problem with food at the start of been diagnosed ?? I'm just scared to eat any thing in case my blood sugar goes up . I never was a big eater and weight between 130 to 135 5 ft 6 in and a women of 69
I think I'm afraid of food. Wondering if anyone else feels the same way THANK you again
I would be scared of a "diabetic chocolate bar" as a lot of those products have sugar alcohols that can have pronounced GI effects.
A lot of people will recommend "eating to your meter" and, if you can hit your BG targets (your BG targets may not be the same as your doctor's...) eating what you're eating, that's great! I am a bit of a slacker and have a pretty diverse diet as I will range from lowish carbs (e.g. 30 today...) to more like 150+ if I have some sort of debauchery going on. The important thing is to use feedback and see which things work. If it's a "hard" food like maybe rice or potatoes or bread, read labels. We have 13G of carb/ slice bread and 7G of carb/ slice bread and I work them in or, sometimes, just skip the bread. Watch what you eat. I don't get "scared" of it, as I've been T1 since 1984 and will just shoot some more insulin to fix it if I miss which can be very dangerous. The best way to avoid the hazards is to test a lot and keep track of what happens somehow.
I've found some useful tools, LoseIt and also Myfitnesspal, both phone apps that will count carbs. You can use either to scan in food labels. Paired with a scale, which may sound ridiculous or intrusive, you can nail carb counts which will help both control BG "tactically" and develop strategies, calculate ratios and rates, etc. to keep things smooth. Good luck!
Do not be scared of food!!!! Use this as an opportunity to learn, you'll appreciate the time you put in to learning about food. As a type 1 diabetic I have been told what to eat and what not to eat, and through 16 years of observation I have found the low carb diet works best! To give you perspective, low carb to me is under 60 carbs a day. I eat a diet high in protein and vegetables. Here is an example of an average day for me:
breakfast-3 eggs, 1 slice of whole grain toast and spinach(15 grams)
snack-20 almonds(5 grams)
lunch-1/4 lb of chicken on a salad, asparagus, broccoli, kale, dressed with balsamic vinegar & olive oil
snack-a low carb protein shake and a banana(20 grams-high in sugar/fructose)
dinner- steak stirfry with bell peppers and onions with hot peppers(5 grams)
dessert- 3/4 cup of plain greek yogurt with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon with a dash of agave hector(5-10 grams)
To understand why blood sugars spike after you eat carbs, look up how carbs are broken down into glucose.
Also if you are set on controlling your blood sugar I recommend transforming your eating habits and mindset intertwined with the process. instead of living to eat, you want to eat to live.
Don't become a victim of the disease, rather become an MVP in the diabetic league.
Are you Type 1 or 2? What medications are you using, if any, to control the D? Those are important things to know. For example, if you are on a pump you have great freedom, such as AR's example. If you are taking oral meds, it is different....
(OH, I agree with AR about the diabetic candy. If you read the labels, sometimes those are worse than the real thing...)
I will also add that rice and pasta are carb laden food that I avoid at all cost. Plus those carbs hang around longer, making BG harder to manage.
I will admit that sometimes food scares me to death--seems like I look at it and my BG rises. Have to get over that to be and stay healthy.
Some context about your confusion - the American Diabetes Association just release new nutritional guidelines. Many healthcare professionals and diabetes educators will be advising you based on the older standards. So just because they wear a white coat doesn't mean that they are right. The new guidelines are much more flexible and reflect the common sense you will find on this forum.
The cure to fear is knowledge which will give you control. Once you understand, you can safely eat ANYTHING! The anxiety you are feeling is very common in the newly diagnosed but you have taken the right step by coming here.
Why don't you tell us some of your favorite foods that you think are forbidden and we can help with strategies to cope.
The ADA has for the most part delegated nutritional guidelines to the organization formerly known as the American Dietetic Association. More recently, the ADA has taken a "softened" view towards nutritional guidelines and specifically to carb intake saying that things should be individualized. In the most recent guidelines which you mention they say:
Evidence exists that both the quantity and type of carbohydrate in a food influence blood glucose level, and total amount of carbohydrate eaten is the primary predictor of glycemic response.
So that is basically it, eat carbs, your blood sugar rises. But we are all different. Each of us has a diabetes that is unique and can tolerate different amounts/kinds of carbs. You need to figure out how best to manage things. In the end, many of us have found that our best indicator of how we are doing is our blood sugar levels as measured by our meters and our lab results. So I would encourage you to use that meter to see how well you tolerate foods. Find the things which lead to the largest swings in your blood sugar (likely meals/snacks with large amounts of carbs and containing simple carbs (sugars)). Limit those. If you still have trouble, then you can be more strict.
But eat to your meter. And given the numbers you have posted, you will probably find that avoiding the most egregious meals/snacks bring you well under control and that you don't have to go overboard and eat just soup.
Also, remember that your nutrition at meals is not an "all or nothing" event. Every one of us gets occasional surprises when we test our blood glucose. The number could be higher or lower than expected and we sometimes cannot explain why.
You are not doing this to make your doctor happy, getting to know how to deal with your diet will result in you feeling better. The people here have been helped by the other people here and are generally eager to help. We all remember our diagnosis and how we felt.
I am type 2.. I was just told to just watch what I eat for 3 months then check back with Dr (some Drs are not helpful) I went to heath care nurse who gave me the tester to try.. I don't think its mine to keep .After the 3 months Im sure they will test again and see if need one .
NOT on any meds .Thank goodness . I really crave sweets and miss my choc .Got a recipe for chocolates cookies from the diabetic site so will try that . I had to cheat last night and eat a cookie from my old cookie tin . It didn't raise my blood sugar much . QUESTION should I check my blood 1 hour after or 2 hours after eating my snack
Where can I find the new guidelines ?. The foods I'm afraid to eat are mostly desserts .I just printed one from this web site and it says 1 cup brown sugar WOW .
I thought we couldn't eat white or brown or honey. I just don't understand some of recipes on a diabetic site using ingredients I was told not to eat .
Another question I think its 30 to 50 carbs a meal .Hard to do with some foods when you combine them Like how many is in say a carrot or cup of coffee I use sugar sub and skim milk in hot drinks
I personally find diabetic cookbooks pretty useless; they are way higher carb than I would eat and instead focus on low fat which is not important for control of blood sugar. We really all vary in how many carbs we eat and in what foods we choose to eliminate altogether or only eat rarely. The phrase "eat to your meter" is how many of us come up with these food choices, rather than something told to us by a white coat. What that means is try eating something you like and then test your blood sugar two hours later. Do it a few times. If you are continuously higher than target than either try smaller quantities or save that food for "special occasions" or eliminate it altogether. Some people just say you can adjust insulin for any food. I have not found that to be true for me. Some foods are very unpredictable for me, and my regular I:C ratio just isn't adequate. For me those foods are just not worth the trouble.
As for knowing how many carbs are in a particular food, you need to find a good carb list. I'm not an app person but I'm sure others can recommend good apps. I sometimes use calorieking.com. But some things I know from experience. I used to add about 5 carbs for milk in my morning cappuccino and a bit in my eggs.(it's about 12 grams a cup) But I switched to unsweetened almond milk; it took some time to get used to but now I like it and don't have to count any carbs at all when I make a cappuccino at home. For vegies I count it as 1/2 cup of cooked vegies = 5 grams, and 1 cup raw. Everyone has a different list, but find one that works for you.
FWIW tyher are a lot of apps that help with food. My favorite is at MyFitnessPal.com because it has a friendly interface and lists every food that I can buy by brand and make. It gives carbs, fiber, protein and fat. I like it even though I am allergic to exercise and fitness :-)
I have to say, I would not personally look to the ADA for advice on what to eat. I would really recommend a low carb diet. Good books that describe low carb diets include Blood Sugar 101 and Diet 101 by Jenny Ruhl, Diabetes Solution by Richard Bernstein and Diabetes Miracle by Diane Kress.
Chocolate and sweets are two different things. I learned to eat unsweetened baking chocolate and that totally satisfies my need for chocolate. It takes a while to break the sugar addiction, but once you do eating will be easier.
I remember being afraid of food when I was first diagnosed. It is common and you will get over it as you understand your D more.
MyFitnessPal is a great app for watching your macros. The starred database entries are entered by users and are not always complete and accurate. Unstarred they got from some official info and is accurate. For best results, get a food scale and measuring tools. Weigh and measure everything until you get to the point you can be pretty accurate without doing so. You can also track your exercise. Logging is good because you can also match it with your BG to see what affected you. I know a lot of people who set up a custom item in their database and use it to track BG so they have all their info in one place. You can print it out to take to your CDE too.
Visit bloodsugar101.com. Lots of good info and an explanation of how to test and eat to your meter. All of us are different and so we each need our own diet.
Coffee really doesn't contain carbs if you drink it black. With fake sugar and heavy cream you won't have a lot of carbs either.
I treat myself with very dark chocolate. The 86% that I have now says 30 carbs for the whole bar which is just over 3 oz. I usually only eat one square at a time so about 4 carbs.
I call juice liquid sugar and never drink regular juice. Once in a while I'll have some sugar free cranberry since it is about the only juice that doesn't have much carbs.
I don't use diabetic cookbooks because they are very high in carbs. When I'm not being a slacker I generally eat little starchy stuff. If I'm working out I need more carbs. Most days I have a slice of toast with cheese because I seem to need a dose of carbs in the morning. I usually have a piece of fruit mid morning, melon or berries seem to be a little lower in carbs, bananas higher. I find I need a banana if I do heavy lifting. Lunch is usually lots of non-starchy veggies with lots of protein. Snack is often almonds. Dinner is another pile of non-starchy veggies and protein. Bedtime snack is popcorn and cheese or crackers and cheese. I seem to need a little carbs before bed or I'm really high in the morning. Last night I had some strawberries and did good with those too.
When I was first diagnosed,like you, I was also scared to eat anything. I did a lot of research about what foods are appropriate for my diet & what foods should I avoid. My everyday meal consists of a cup or 1/2 cup of brown rice(though I sometimes eat the white variety), cooked or raw veggies, fish or chicken & fruits. I usually stick to the same meal plan, though I experiment every once in a while. I also reward myself with occasional treats. Eating is one of the pleasures in life, and you shouldn't let your condition affect your eating habits.
