Pre-diabetic: What's the best diet?

[Harriet Vane]

Someone I care about just learned he is pre-diabetic. This person is middle-aged, reasonably healthy, plays sports regularly (soccer, biking, jogging) but could stand to lose a few pounds. This person's family has struggled with diabetes for generations.

 

He intends to exercise more strictly, trying harder to do so daily. In the past, his winters have consisted of exercising once or twice a week, but then in warmer weather exercising quite a bit more. He is someone who likes to keep moving.

 

He is a little lost on dietary changes.

 

Obviously low sugar and low carb???

 

Lots of websites seem to push low fat also. However, this person has long rejected low fat notions in favor of eating whole foods. Is low fat the way to go also???

 

This person likes to eat a bowl of cereal (usually Cheerios or Raisin Bran?) with whole milk in the morning. He cannot function without his morning juice (100% juice, no sugar added). On weekends, it is this person's joy to make pancakes or waffles. Did I mention he cannot function without his juice?

 

For lunch, this person likes a PBJ on whole wheat bread, pretzels, and two fruit. Yes, every single day.

 

Dinners are awesome. The family is pretty good about eating whole foods and non-packaged products. A typical dinner for this family might be pork chops or roast beef, potatoes, green beans, and a salad. They also eat fish regularly and try to have some vegetarian meals as well (beans, lentils, veggie pizza, etc.).

 

This person's vices are pretzels and desserts. Weekends often find this person enjoying home-baked brownies or ice cream. Often in the evening he likes to pop some popcorn. (Not microwave popcorn--these are real kernels popped with canola oil and salted.)

 

This guy hardly ever drinks pop and only eats junk food on special occasions (Superbowl Sunday, for example).

 

He and his family are a little bewildered about making changes when they already eat a better diet than many of their friends. I said I would check here and see what the Hive says.

[Night Elf]

I lost weight with Weight Watchers, but you'll get lots of answers for that topic anyway. When my doctor told me I was pre-diabetic, she told me to avoid white foods and to go low carb, but she didn't define what that meant. Kaiser has a diabetic class but it only meets once every 4 months or so, which didn't help me at the time. My mom is diabetic and her nutritionist told her to eat 10 carbs a day, which is about 150 grams of carbs, so that's what I do. I could never go lower than that. I'd be depriving myself. I added in exercise. My A1C went down with weight loss and increased activity. I slowed way down on activity and started eating a little more carbs and my A1C went up again. So I'm back to the 10 carbs and walking 4 days a week. I'll have my A1C done again in April. I'm hoping it goes back down.

 

While I haven't done it myself, I think a nutritionist would help.

[PeachyDoodle]

I had gestational diabetes with ds and was pre-diabetic after that. What worked for me was a modified-carb diet. Basically, not eating any kind of carbs without pairing it with protein and/or fiber. These both help slow adsorption rates of the carbs and help keep blood sugar steady.

 

I, personally, had to be extremely careful in the mornings. I did (and still do) eat only protein for breakfast. I love my juice too, but that had to go. Otherwise my sugar would shoot up. This varies from person to person, however. Now that my sugar levels are normal, I occasionally eat a bowl of cereal, but always something high-fiber. I very rarely have juice as a treat. I don't buy it because I can't resist it. Whole fruit is much better because of the fiber content.

 

It looks as though his current choices for breakfast and lunch are pretty carb-heavy and light on the protein and fiber and veggies. If it were me, I'd rethink those. It was also important for me to eat smaller meals and snacks in between. Again, a carb/protein mix, like a small apple and a Babybel mini cheese. Fruits vary in terms of sugar levels. It's a good idea to check the glycemic index and choose those with lower values, if you love fruit. Pay close attention to portion sizes. A serving of carbs is usually around 1/2 cup. That's not much if you're used to slapping several serving-spoonfuls on your plate!

 

If he has a family history and is not significantly overweight, it might be harder to tame, I don't know. I was morbidly obese and my diet was HORRENDOUS. This is what worked for me. Good luck!

[Annie G]

I would suggest small changes rather than huge ones. Baby steps. 

There is a lot of sugar and starch in this diet, from the starchy and sugary breakfast (is there any sugar added to the cereal in the bowl?) to the starchy lunch, to the sugary snacks. 

 

Even though he thinks he's eating a really healthy diet, the pancakes and waffles probably include syrup on them, the lunch is high in sugar and carbs, and the snacks are very junky.

 

 Maybe take one little area and work to improve that, then attack another area. For instance, breakfast can be changed to a high protein one and still keep the juice, if it's a moderate amount.  Or change lunch a little at a time to switch out the pretzels with some raw veggies, or make the fruit berries if he's usually eating a high sugar fruit like bananas.  

 

For snacks, perhaps try to brainstorm a list of alternate snacks, such as a handful of nuts,  a few pieces of microwaved pepperoni (it's like pepperoni cups, and very tasty!), or some raw veggies and a slice of cheddar.

 

Some people do well with a radical change in diet but others do better making small changes that don't leave them feeling deprived.

 

Good luck- it's difficult to change  dietary habits!! 

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Fathead is a fun movie to watch, and free on Netflix or Amazon prime, usually. If he could be inspired by Tom Naughton to start with two simple changes - keeping the diet under 100g carbs per day and taking a long walk six days per week - he could start making progress while learning more and finding resources/support.

[momacacia]

Primal, Paleo.

 

Marks Daily apple is a great blog/website on those diets. He (Mark Sisson) also has some nice cookbooks out.

[Harriet Vane]

Thanks for the feedback. I am copying/pasting everything for him to see. Keep the advice rolling.

[abacus2]

The book Blood Sugar 101 does a great job explaining how to find the diet that works best for you for blood sugar control. Cereal and 100% juice are truly terrible choices. For juice try a high powered blender and include some greens and some almonds to retain some fiber and add some protein. Pancakes and waffles can work, especially with higher protein recipes. Try Walden Farms Calorie Free Syrup or alternative toppings.

 

ETA: Definitely not low fat. Fat helps slow the digestion of carbs. Low Fat packaged food usually has significantly more carbs than the regular version. They typically replace the flavor lost by lowering fat with more flour and/or sugar.

[Miss Peregrine]

The book _Practical Paleo_ has lots of great info on blood sugar. Anything put out by the American Diabetes Association is rubbish. Avoid them.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Anything put out by the American Diabetes Association is rubbish. Avoid them.

 

Agreed.

 

When I had gestational diabetes with my fourth child (10 years ago) I felt as if I was stuffing myself with empty carbs. I hadn't been eating that much starch before the diagnosis! But I was afraid not to do everything the nutritionist said, because baby and I were having some serious complications, so I weighed, measured, and counted everything. Which is how I know for a fact that the ADA-approved diet caused my sugar to go up, up, up, up, up.

 

It was terrifying, but I felt so miserable from dramatic blood sugar drops when I tried to scale back on my own that I just sort of hung on for the ride and did what they said. It was only for a couple of months, on the diet and on insulin, until the baby was born. And I was in the hospital for a lot of that time, anyway.

[Shellydon]

Sounds like the current diet is really high in carbs thus not good at all for diabetics.   Juice = sugar. period.   Most fruit is also high in sugar.   I believe the recommendation is about 45 carbs per meal--  1 small piece of fruit = 15 carbs, 1 slice of WW bread = 15 carbs, 1 cup of apple juice = 28 carbs, 1 small serving of raisin bran = 48 carbs.  

So, he is eating a ton of carbs.  If he wants to change, he is going to have to seriously reduce the carbs.  Breakfast can be eggs with veggies.  Lunch can be peanut butter, very little jelly on a low carb bread with veggies on the side.  Juice is a treat.  Suck, but as someone who works in rehabs and nursing homes, WAY better than diabetes.

For example there is about 15 grams of carbohydrate in:

• 1 small piece of fresh fruit (4 oz)
• 1/2 cup of canned or frozen fruit
• 1 slice of bread (1 oz) or 1 (6 inch) tortilla
• 1/2 cup of oatmeal
• 1/3 cup of pasta or rice
• 4-6 crackers

- See more at: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/understanding-carbohydrates/carbohydrate-counting.html#sthash.D1s4Vhpj.dpuf

 

[milovany]

Intermittent fasting is showing promise in studies.  No special diet, although the doctors will talk about sugar intake, just eating 500-600 calories two or maybe three non-consecutive days a week and normally (not overeating) the other four-five days. 

[IsabelC]

The advice to reduce sugar and carbs in favor of protein and green veg and so on is probably good, but I believe that the best diet is the one he can stay on long term. Some people have a health wake up call and happily go from SAD straight to paleo or raw food or whatever, with nary a backward glance. However, most people find sudden, drastic changes all but impossible to maintain. Therefore I would encourage the person to make changes as gently as he needs to. It's better to spend 6 months changing the diet than to change everything at once and then give up after a few weeks. For example, if he finds the prospect of swapping juice for water too daunting, he could try pouring 3/4 glass of juice and topping it up with water. This will straightaway yield a 25% reduction in his intake of sugar from fruit juice, as well as giving him a self-efficacy boost. Once he gets used to that, he might feel that further reducing or even eliminating breakfast juice is possible after all. Same with the lunches; if pretzels are a highlight of his life, don't ban them, but suggest he enjoy them once a week instead of every day.

[melmichigan]

My best suggestion for a prediabetic/diabetic would be to learn to check his blood sugar and monitor how his body reacts to different foods, exercise, and stress.  Learn to take fasting glucose levels and those after meals and track them along with your diet and exercise until you know how things impact you.  

 

My morning breakfast is Cheerios with a very small amount of whole milk because morning is when I can tolerate the most carbs without spiking my blood sugar, and I need those carbs with all the iron supplementation I have to take. 

 

Loose the extra pounds if at all possible. Have some exercise daily if possible, even if it's just walking.

[Spryte]

Eat nothing white. :)

 

My mom was diagnosed diabetic, and this is what her doc and nutritionist both told her.

 

She isn't diabetic any longer.

 

So - obviously no sugar. No flour, no potatoes, nothing made from those things. Essentially she stopped sugar and stayed high fiber, low carb, protein was lean meats.

 

It's been a few years (4? 5?) and her numbers are still checked but she is no longer even pre-diabetic. I'm very proud of her. She made huge changes in her lifestyle.

 

For a view of the other side of the coin, my brother went into denial about his diabetes. He is not quite 50, and is losing his eyesight. Forever. It's real. The damage diabetes can cause is real. Take it seriously. He's on board with changes now, but it's too late for his eyes.

[AK_Mom4]

If he is even a bit tech-minded, it's very easy to set up a phone app like Sparks People and track what he is actually eating for a few days. It is a real eye opener to see the carbs in each meal broken down.

 

Once you know what you are actually eating, it's easier to make little changes to the diet that have a big impact.

 

And definitely don't cut the fat. You need something to slow down the carb digestion.

[hornblower]

forks over knives

 

http://www.forksoverknives.com/i-lost-180-pounds-in-a-year-along-with-high-cholesterol-pre-diabetes-and-sleep-apnea/

[Laurie4b]

A family member has Type 1 diabetes.  When his blood sugar plummets, the solution is to drink a serving of juice. One serving is often all it takes to raise the blood sugar 30-40 points in a very short period of time. That's the impact of that juice.

 

In general, you want to eat a protein, a fat and a carb together. Best to eat fruit or vege or whole grains as carbs. The others are treats and should be eaten only occasionally and only with a meal with protein, fat, and veges. The thing to really avoid is all carbs, which is what he eats for breakfast. Milk has some protein, but also carb.

 

So, the juice can stay only if he can bring himself to drink only 1-2 oz and eat a high protein breakfast. I would suggest another cold drink (water is best, or unsweetened tea) because he may sumply be dehydrated in the a.m. and it's the liquid not the actual juice that his body craves.  Many cereals spike the blood sugar as well. He can switch to things like eggs or omelettes for breakfast (omelettes are a good place to work in some veges, and he could have a *small* high fiber or oat-based cereal with that with no sugar or just a tsp of sugar added or French toast or bacon or another meat. (If made with whole wheat bread and 1 egg per slice or 2 of bread, plus milk, it should be  high enough protein. However, toppings would need to be a little bit of butter and cinnamon, or fruit, or a tsp. of syrup. ) If he can do without the toppings, so much the better.

 

Add beans every day. Their soluble fiber really helps control blood sugar. Oatmeal has soluble fiber as well. The fruit at lunch is okay to keep. Would he substitute a banana for the jelly  on the PB& J? The peanut butter has fat and protein which is okay, but again, the bread needs to be whole wheat for the fiber. Pretzels could be okay sometimes if he substitutes a protein for the PB& J. He could take a hard-boiled egg and have the pretzels and fruit. Or make one of the fruits something that's good with PB on it, like a banana or apple. Or take a piece of chicken or fish from the previous night's dinner instead of the PB& J.

 

Dinner sounds fine.

 

Cinnamon helps control blood sugar, so finding a way to put that in each day is helpful. Cinnamon on oatmeal or on French toast or a baked sweet potato, etc is good and you can learn to like it as a topping alone.

 

Exercise is critical. Exercise helps sensitize the body to insulin. It will also help him lose weight. The weight loss will help with the blood sugar as well.

 

Whether he takes baby steps or makes the changes at once kind of depends on temperment. The changes need to happen pretty fast, so he can either take one step at a time, but with the next step following pretty shortly after the first, or he can dig in and make the changes he needs to make. They tend to be synergistic, so increased exercise and increase of veges (he is only eating a vege at dinner) plus ditching the juice will be interactive.

 

You might have him try MyFitnesspal and let him type in his typical menu It will compute calories, carbs, and sugars for him so he can see the impact of his diet.

[melmichigan]

I'm hesitant to add this but he may also want to consider how high his hgA1c was, and if this was a first time thing or not.  If the level is 5.7 the variance of 0.5 could put him in the normal range, so there is a difference between 5.7 and 6.4.  People also don't realize that A1c is a weighted test.  So if he went out and had a large slurpee from 7-11 the day before it could impact his results, or if he had his blood drawn after a week of once a year holiday meals.  It's weighted to the most recent blood sugars.  This is not to say that he shouldn't make changes, but that small changes can go a long way depending on what the actual level was and how long it's been there.  

[Robin M]

I was diagnosed pre diabetic and my numbers have remained consistent that couple years so managing with my diet. Lots of avocados, salad, hard boiled eggs, cutting back on the white bread and rice. The cereal has to go or find one that is low on the glycemic chart. I don't do so well with wheat and brown rice so just limit what I do have with white bread or potatoes. Just don't have starchy or high carb stuff every single day such as rotating pasta, rice, potato. Discovered I don't need to have that as a side and go for veggies and salad most of the time. Lots of protein. Cut the juice with water. I have glass of half Orange juice with half water and still tastes great. The pancakes and waffles every weekend thing, probably should space that out more. Drink lots of water versus the energy drinks.

 

And Melissa has a point, what you have the night or so before can really affect the test.

[TechWife]

This is my husband's story. He spoke about diabetes, weight loss and technology at a technical conference.

 

 

 

 

 

[sunflowerlady]

Ok, I will be the one to say it. In some ways it seems like nobody wants to say it but here it is- Atkins.

 

Yes, the Atkins diet.

 

He was an expert on heart health and diabetes and was ahead of the game decades ago. I suggest the person and his loved ones read "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution". I think the 2002 version is most recommended. I do not recommend the "Atkins" book published after his death. They are not the same at all. 

 

The first two weeks are the strictest and most difficult. People often judge the diet on the first two weeks. However, the diet is much more than that. Foods are gradually added back in as a person can tolerate. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Half a plate of veggies, 1/4 plate protein 1/4 plate carbs is an easy visual.

 

Low carb diet--South Beach or Atkins with berries are both good "diets".

 

Exercise after meals is good.

[ktgrok]

Juice IS junkfood. So are waffles and pancakes. And cheerios. All those foods will spike his blood sugar just as if he ate a donut. 

 

Have him watch some of the videos on the web by Lustig. 

[ktgrok]

Here is one of Lustig's videos. There is a longer one, called "The Bitter Truth" but that one is FULL of biochemistry. This one is very easy to understand. 

[thessa516]

TechWife, that was great. Reminds me of my DH - tech guy, everything must be charted, analyzed, etc. :) Congrats to your DH!

[Guest]

Diet changes aren't fun but they aren't hard either. We have 100% control over every bite we eat. Get educated and then take control over what you put in your body!!

 

I've been low-carb for years. A lot of people have told me "oh, I could never do that". Um, actually you could. I have no magical skills that make it easy to not eat pasta. I just know better and don't do it.

[SpecialClassical]

Someone I care about just learned he is pre-diabetic. This person is middle-aged, reasonably healthy, plays sports regularly (soccer, biking, jogging) but could stand to lose a few pounds. This person's family has struggled with diabetes for generations.

 

He intends to exercise more strictly, trying harder to do so daily. In the past, his winters have consisted of exercising once or twice a week, but then in warmer weather exercising quite a bit more. He is someone who likes to keep moving.

 

He is a little lost on dietary changes.

 

Obviously low sugar and low carb???

 

Lots of websites seem to push low fat also. However, this person has long rejected low fat notions in favor of eating whole foods. Is low fat the way to go also???

 

This person likes to eat a bowl of cereal (usually Cheerios or Raisin Bran?) with whole milk in the morning. He cannot function without his morning juice (100% juice, no sugar added). On weekends, it is this person's joy to make pancakes or waffles. Did I mention he cannot function without his juice?

 

For lunch, this person likes a PBJ on whole wheat bread, pretzels, and two fruit. Yes, every single day.

 

Dinners are awesome. The family is pretty good about eating whole foods and non-packaged products. A typical dinner for this family might be pork chops or roast beef, potatoes, green beans, and a salad. They also eat fish regularly and try to have some vegetarian meals as well (beans, lentils, veggie pizza, etc.).

 

This person's vices are pretzels and desserts. Weekends often find this person enjoying home-baked brownies or ice cream. Often in the evening he likes to pop some popcorn. (Not microwave popcorn--these are real kernels popped with canola oil and salted.)

 

This guy hardly ever drinks pop and only eats junk food on special occasions (Superbowl Sunday, for example).

 

He and his family are a little bewildered about making changes when they already eat a better diet than many of their friends. I said I would check here and see what the Hive says.[/quote

 

Deleted- inaccurate

[ktgrok]

Remember, there is just as much sugar in juice as soda!

[Greta]

.

 

Have the person you love read this book:

http://www.diabetes-book.com

This was going to be my recommendation as well. It is a truly excellent book.

 

His diet might be better than the average person's, but that doesn't make it a good diet. There are many of us who simply cannot tolerate the amount of sugar and carbohydrate he is eating every day. And he himself is obviously one of them (as am I).

 

He should not attempt to go both low-carb and low-fat! The human body was not designed to live on protein alone, or even primarily protein. A very low-carb, moderate protein, high fat diet is the way to go.

 

I know that many are advocating gradual changes, and that's absolutely fine if that's what will work best for him. But I'm going to make an argument for sudden dietary change: appetite control. When you drastically reduce your intake of carbs, your hunger and cravings for those foods (somewhat paradoxically) also drastically decreases. Not everyone is this way, I realize, but for me, if I eat something sweet or starchy, it actually makes me hungrier! It makes me crave those foods even more. If I eat fat and protein, my body recognizes that as real, nourishing foods, and it shuts off my hunger. For that reason, it is FAR easier for me to maintain a very-low-carb diet than it is a moderate-carb diet. When you reduce your carb intake low enough, you initiate a dramatic change in your metabolism, and your body becomes very efficient at burning fat for fuel. So you have lots of energy and you feel great. But if you reduce your carb intake only moderately, you can end up in this yucky "no man's land" where you don't have enough energy from the carbs, but you also don't have enough energy from fat.

 

The Blood Sugar 101 website is also good. And I agree with sunflowerlady that Atkins is a much better program that people give it credit for. I'm a fan of the "New Atkins" book by Phinney, Westman, and Volek, but I think any of the books are good.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Get a blood glucose meter and keep a log of foods eaten. Test 30 and 60 minutes after eating. Avoid any foods that raise glucose above 140. Now, official advice is keep glucose below 140 two hours after eating, but from what I've read, glucose above 140 at peak causes damage. Beta cells, which produce insulin, are very sensitive to glucose levels and get damaged easily. If he doesn't start avoiding all the foods causing glucose spikes, he'll probably damage his pancreas enough that he'll become diabetic, at which point he'd need to eat a much stricter diet that he would now to keep glucose under control.

 

He has to pick between dumping juice, flour, and cereal now or dumping all of them later, plus having to strictly limit or avoid fruit, potatoes, maybe even carrots. The other choice is eating what he likes and then having all the complications of diabetes.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Dr. Bernstein does a fabulous job explaining how to use a glucose meter to figure out which foods you can have. He was an engineer who became type 1 diabetic and used early glucose meters to see which foods affected him, (This was in the 1970s, I think.) He tried to publish his results in the medical journals, but nobody wanted to hear from an engineer. He decided he needed to go to medical school so people would listen. Since he was in his 40s at the time, he knew it would be hard to find a med school willing to take him. He ended up applying to every single one in the entire country!

[Kiara.I]

Pretty sure he's gotten great advice about foods.

 

So, about exercise:  Maybe have him take a look at T-Tapp.  In general, but also specifically using Hoe-Downs after meals seems to be effective for a number of people.

[Callie]

Ok, I will be the one to say it. In some ways it seems like nobody wants to say it but here it is- Atkins.

 

Yes, the Atkins diet.

 

He was an expert on heart health and diabetes and was ahead of the game decades ago. I suggest the person and his loved ones read "Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution". I think the 2002 version is most recommended. I do not recommend the "Atkins" book published after his death. They are not the same at all. 

 

The first two weeks are the strictest and most difficult. People often judge the diet on the first two weeks. However, the diet is much more than that. Foods are gradually added back in as a person can tolerate. 

I use Atkins 1972 as my way of eating it was the only way to get my blood sugar under control.  No fake Atkins products just real food.

 

Your person will not be able to eat the way they are eating if diabetic they are going to need to change now.  No juice or white foods (flour rice potatoes etc).  Imo it is best to go cold turkey no gradual changing because once you eliminate the sugar/carbs you stop craving them.

 

It was very hard/emotional for me to change my eating habits quite frankly I was pissed.  I had spent a lifetime (up until 43) being very thin, active & healthy.  I didn't drink, smoke or use drugs so I was pissed when I suddenly begin to gain weight/became pre-diabetic eating a healthy whole grain veggie heavy diet.  Here I was living on a farm growing my own fruits and vegetables and now I couldn't eat a lot of them and those I could still eat I had to weigh and measure out.

 

I'll continue in another post.

[cottonmama]

I would personally prioritize the diabetes diet over whole foods.  So if he needs juice, at least get him to drink sugar-free.  Diabetes is serious stuff.  My BIL lost his father very suddenly a year ago, and the coroners said that the diabetes was a contributing factor.  BIL's dad was not very strict about eating like a diabetic.

 

When my dad found out he was pre-diabetic, his doctor advised a relaxed "no white foods" diet.  So no white potatoes, rice, flour, pasta, sugar.  Sweet potatoes, brown rice, whole grain flour, whole grain pasta, and apparently brown sugar were all okay.  (Although I thought brown sugar was high on the glycemic index, so that one I wouldn't go crazy on.  My dad switched to splenda-sweetened things, even baked goods at home.)  Even though he didn't have to, my dad went on that diet 100%, because he's an all-or-nothing kind of guy.  :P  

 

After some time on that diet, he got his numbers checked again, and his doctor was floored.  The blood sugar was great, and his cholesterol had gone down so much his medicine doseage could be reduced.

 

So... I'm a big fan of the "no white foods" diet.  :D  Others have told you, I'm sure, that fat is a diabetic's friend... it lowers the overall glycemic index of foods that it is served with.  So I would actually *add* fat to balance out foods that may be pushing it.

[butterflymommy]

I am prediabetic (perhaps even diabetic type II... waiting on blood tests) probably due to GD. I am BMI 19 so can't really lose much weight from where I am. I don't exercise but I'm active and walk a lot.

 

I've read quite a bit about diets for diabetics and it's really strange how high carb these diets are. I've followed them to a "T" (whole grains, no sugar, lots of produce) and still get very high readings.

 

The only way I've been able to control my blood sugar through diet is with a low carb diet. Even pairing carbs with proteins doesn't help. This has been tough for me as I'm a former vegan and never much liked meat. But if I follow a low to lowish carb diet (~50 grams carbs) with lots of non-starchy veggies my numbers are great.

 

I've read the official diabetic dietary guidelines are so high in carbs because most people simply won't follow them otherwise.

 

HTH

[butterflymommy]

I use Atkins 1972 as my way of eating it was the only way to get my blood sugar under control.  No fake Atkins products just real food.

 

Yes me too, I use the atkins 1972 food list but add more non-starchy veggies and some nuts. It isn't so bad once you get used to it. I faithfully tried the "no white" diet but my body seems to react to whole grains no different than refined grains.

[Callie]

www.lowcarbfriends.com has an Atkins '72 forum that someone years ago copied the eating guidelines word for word from the book.  It is a great source of info IF you ignore the extremist that post there.  You will recognize them because they insist that A '72 only allows one to eat meat, eggs, cheese and fat.  They are wrong but will bully, shame and otherwise ruin any good info there if you don't ignore.

 

I had to learn to like eggs, fat and meat.  I was the person who went to a steakhouse and ordered a baked potato and salad.  I never ate butter on anything.  

 

I can now occasionally have a sweet potato or even a white potato, winter squash or other carby vegetables.  I don't have these every week or even every month but every now and then.   I can eat 100% sourdough rye bread that I make myself.  It is very dense, but I have learned to like it o.k.

 

I limit my fruit to what we grow here and have a small portion when it is in season.  We have 6 apple trees but I only eat about 4 apples a year.  Same with berries and cherries we grow here.  I don't eat the peaches, plums or pears. I never have oranges, tangerines etc.  I can eat canned pumpkin and have learned to like it a lot.

 

I eat full fat, no low fat anything.  I do eat yogurt that I make myself with heavy whipping cream & milk but cannot drink a glass of milk.  

 

Basically I started the A'72 way of eating by the book and gradually added food back in the way Atkins said to and was able to determine what I can and cannot eat.  The book can be found online and I have seen it in used bookstores almost every time we go.  I think I paid .25 cents for a hardback in excellent condition.

[Soror]

I use Atkins 1972 as my way of eating it was the only way to get my blood sugar under control.  No fake Atkins products just real food.

 

Your person will not be able to eat the way they are eating if diabetic they are going to need to change now.  No juice or white foods (flour rice potatoes etc).  Imo it is best to go cold turkey no gradual changing because once you eliminate the sugar/carbs you stop craving them.

 

It was very hard/emotional for me to change my eating habits quite frankly I was pissed.  I had spent a lifetime (up until 43) being very thin, active & healthy.  I didn't drink, smoke or use drugs so I was pissed when I suddenly begin to gain weight/became pre-diabetic eating a healthy whole grain veggie heavy diet.  Here I was living on a farm growing my own fruits and vegetables and now I couldn't eat a lot of them and those I could still eat I had to weigh and measure out.

 

I'll continue in another post.

How fabulous that you've found out what works for you. I can well understand being pissed about it though. My body seems rather particular right now as well. I keep hoping it will change but until then I'm trying to find a long term solution that I can live with and keeps me from gaining weight.

[Soror]

This is my husband's story. He spoke about diabetes, weight loss and technology at a technical conference.

 

 

Great video, kudos to your husband !

[JoJosMom]

The best diet for him?  The one that doesn't cause his blood sugar to swing.  How does he figure this out?  By following much of advice given already about controlling carbohydrate intake and by testing his blood sugar frequently. Human animals are not all the same; there is a remarkable varience in how our bodies process food. Some foods will trigger a strong blood sugar reaction in certain people but not others. The best advice I could give him is to begin to learn how his body reacts and tailor his diet accordingly.

 

(Oh, and perhaps try cinnamon! Cinnamom taken supplementally is a big help for me.)

[Soror]

The best diet for him?  The one that doesn't cause his blood sugar to swing.  How does he figure this out?  By following much of advice given already about controlling carbohydrate intake and by testing his blood sugar frequently. Human animals are not all the same; there is a remarkable varience in how our bodies process food. Some foods will trigger a strong blood sugar reaction in certain people but not others. The best advice I could give him is to begin to learn how his body reacts and tailor his diet accordingly.

 

(Oh, and perhaps try cinnamon! Cinnamom taken supplementally is a big help for me.)

Here, here! Anytime you read about blood sugar control you will read that one food causes issues for one person and not another. He is really going to have to do a lot of testing to find his sweet spot, I'd drop any obvious offenders (juice, sodas, white carbohydrates), work on balancing carbs/proteins/fats to start off with to hopefully start towards healing but then I'd be testing. Not everyone has to be as restricted and some foods that are horrible for others work great for others.

[Joanne]

Purely anecdotal: I had to have my biometrics done today. I have been doing low carb for a month (but I also have an intermittent history of it which I believe has a contributing impact.) my glucose I one hour after eating was 91. My other numbers were good, too.

 

Diabetes and heart disease run in my family and I am not young.