Hi John,
Diabetes management is a lot of work but it’s important to get started with eating healthy and learning to practice portion control if you really want to control your blood sugars and prevent complications. My suggestion is to get professional help.
Make a complete list of everything that you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Bring the list to a dietician / nutritionist who is also a CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator). Ask your doctor to recommend one.
Go over the list with the CDE/ nutritionist and find out what foods are ok to eat and what foods should be eaten sparingly or eliminated completely.
Ask the CDE to prepare a meal plan with portion sizes using the foods that are on your list.
5, Now comes the hard part. Follow the plan and test blood sugar before and after meals to see how the food eaten effects your blood sugar. Keep a written log and bring it with you to your next visit with your doctor and nutritionist who can make necessary modifications and adjustments to your food plan.
Stay with TuDiabetes and get some practical help from other people who are living with diabetes.
Good Luck and let us know how you are doing.
Hana, and all of you low carbers,
I have just started reading Dr B…I am extremely nervous. I love grilled meat and vegetables, but to not have pasta and tomato sauce at all? Fruit? Bean soups? I always joke that I starved to death in a past life…I tend to over eat but have tried to concentrate on “healthy” foods so I thought that was not such a concern. That turns out to be wrong! I also have the “party gene.” It’s hard to not get carried away with drinks and hors d’oeuvres. I have managed to control my weight but now that is not the issue. Allowing a few cheats here and there is probably what gets one through it, but my whole diet seems to be in need of a rehaul! So many no-no’s. And changes…I feel like I need to go to rehab. How did you come to peace with it all? I know it is all about making a choice, but I am worried that I will not have the determination. I am considering hypnosis…
I think Dr. B is wonderful and obviously right, or he wouldn’t still be practising. Nevertheless, I have chosen to ignore the fruit, pepper and carrot ban . I know I have to deal with those carbs, but I try to factor them in.
In fact to avoid being too indelicate, I need those things to keep my lower intestines working properly. I keep low on citrus fruits though and tend to eat berries or an apple or a pear. I eat the orchard fruits under-ripe, so they haven’t developed their full sugars.
Home made bean soup, with the carb content calculated and the portion controlled, could well be OK. ( but NO bread! :>t;))
I personally have no problems with drinks. I don’t like either fizzy stuff or alcohol. Hors d’oevres, I avoid unless they are raw vegetables. I have been known to eat just the garnish. Just keep checking your BS numbers and let them be your guide.
blindness, amputations, heart attacks. I thought it was easy. My mother-in-law said to my wife " I hope he doesn’t gain it back". My wife told her that if I did I would die. Now this is a little overboard but I figure when I get my BMI below 25 (at my height that is 167lbs - 110lbs) then I will be able to cheat once in a while. I am at 233lbs. I walk 5 to 6 miles a day during work week and 2 to 3 miles on Saturday and Sunday.
Monday thru Friday my BG’s run in the 80’s to 90’s. Weekends they go up a little because my times change for eating, taking meds.
I am on Byetta, glipizide, 2 blood pressure meds, crestor. In April at my next ENDO visit I want to be off my Byetta. I am 61
Do you think you can keep the blood sugars down withou the byetta? I’m the same age as you and manage with Metformin, but I’m having a real battle with weight… Having corresponded with David Mendosa, I know That Byetta is brilliant for weight loss. It’s still not commonly used here( England), so I’m low-carbing. That and the DR. Bernstein 6: 12: 12 pattern of carbs and the Metformin works for me. How is the blood pressure doing with the walking? I walk too, but less than you. Is walking part of your work? My blood pressure is improving all the time, but I still take the medication.
Welcome you are in the right place
you will need to rethink what and how you eat, and there are lots of people here with lots of experience and knowledge. I know this is hard, but Dont get frustrated and take it one day at a time.
Personally I have lowered my carbohydrates. I bake my own bread - I am cooking person in any case, and my glucose went from over 300 at diagnosis, with an A1C of 9.7, to an A1C of 6.3 and my sugars are much more in line now.
Hi John,
There is a lot of good information and suggestions from friends at TuDiabetes who are leaving with diabetes. If you can sort through it all and come up with a healthy eating plan that you can follow that would be good. But it might all be a bit overwhelming for someone who is starting out so I would suggest getting some professional help from a dietician / nutritionist recommended by your doctor. Good luck.
I think that the 1st 17 lbs was due to Byetta but I had already slowed down when I started LOW CARB. My blood pressure has dorpped to normal ranges 122/72 but I take HP meds. I sit at a desk all day. My work allows me to walk. They have seen such an improvement in my health they don’t mind. Also others at work are now walking.
I hope my next ENDO visit that he will take me off Byetta and shift to Metformin or another pill.
Perhaps you were meant to start a walking group at work. You could be the one who saves the health of co-workers. I’m retired, but I know that one large insurance company here now has a walking group that goes out every lunch time. Luckily there are 2 rivers in the town and that gives some nice places to go. Here in Britain the Walking for Health Initiative is BIG. There are groups everywhere. Well done!
I’m finding Metformin alone fine with low carbs after 4 years of Gliclazide, which makes weightloss impossible.
I’ve just opened a group called recipe exchange. I’ve only put in 2 recipes so far, but am hoping other people will join in.I specialise in low carb cooking
I don’t understand how you can eat like that??? I’m sorry…I’m just surprised that you can eat those things .and in those amount and have good BG readings being a diabetic. GOD BLESS YOU
Elizabeth
