jd0268

Here are the requirements my nutritionist placed on me based on . . . whatever they base it on. Firstly I am a newly diagnosed type 2 40-ish (HA!) male with family history of heart disease and diabetes.

Daily Caloric Intake: 1400-1600
Daily Carb Intake: 165 g
Daily Protein Intake: 70g
Daily Fat Intake: 48g

I have lost weight from my attempt to follow this, as well as the diabetes results and med's taking for diabetes, but . . . I am having a problem "balancing". I currently am intaking (consistently) the following:

Daily Avg Caloric Intake: 1300
Daily Avg Carb Intake: 180g
Daily Avg Protein Intake: 60g
Daily Avg Fat Intake: 50g

I am trying to understand how to increase the caloric intake, while reducing carb, prot and fat intake.

Any ideas?! LOL!

Thanks
Jason

Shanny

Well Jason, dietitians & nutritionists to the contrary, you don't need to reduce your fat intake to control your diabetes. Fat is not the enemy & you can increase fats in your diet in order to reduce carbs. Carbs are the REAL enemy. So feel free to increase you caloric intake by increasing fats - they won't budge your blood sugar.

While medical professionals are apparently obligated to follow the ADA party line (yes, that's the ADA which is funded by AgroBusiness - the grain [carbs incarnate!] growers of America), you'll find diabetes control much easier if you aim for fewer carbs. My doc advised me to stay under 100g, and when I finally found my sweet spot, it was 50g of carb per day. But I don't bother keeping track of fats - I just use normal full-fat products like butter & cream, mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese & other full fat cheese - and I use as anyone normally would - not piling on, but just ordinary consumption. If you're using low-fat or fat-free products, you're getting more carbs because the food industry removes the fat & replaces it with carbs, so steer clear of the lowfat/fatfree products. In fact, steer clear of any processed products as much as you can.

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moon

LOL! Er - no.

Btw, I was given the same advice you were re carbs, and the 'whatever they base it on' is the million dollar question. Maybe it's based on how many units of insulin the pharmaceutical industry hopes we'll take? Certainly, if they polled people here, the majority would give an answer not even close to those recommendations.

My CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator) went into another room to perform the magic, like the Wizard of Oz, and came back with 185 grams of carbs. I average < 50 , and I eat this way because I read a lot, and listened a lot, to real people having real success and they were eating very differently.

The best way to increase calories is via healthy fats. If you're concerned about heart attack prevention, you might want to read this page (there are cited studies): A1c and High Post-Meal Blood Sugars Predict Heart Attack

Welcome to the forum.

__________________
Dx'ed Feb '11 w/ BS >600
A1C:
2/13/11 .. 14.7
5/23/11 .. 6.2
9/8/11 .. 5.6
3/7/12 .. 5.8
Metformin ER = 1,000 mg/daily
Trig/HDL ratio .. 5.5 to 2.2 in 6 mo
Low-carb/high healthy-fat diet
No statin

fgummett

Easiest way to increase your calories is to favour real whole foods (rather than focus on "nutrition") that come already balanced from nature... chicken with the skin on, full-fat cheese, regular ground beef, cold-water fish, raw nuts, avocados, butter, cream, green leafy vegetables etc...

Ideally use the best sources for real whole food food that you can: farmer's markets for fresh green produce, grass-fed beef etc... avoiding processed and packaged "foods" which tend to come with too many refined/concentrated sugars and starches.

Prepare meals at home more often than not.

As above there is no need to avoid natural fats (even saturated -- which is the way we store fat on our own bodies) but I personally skip the man-made vegetable oils as these tend to be industrially processed and unbalanced with too many omega 6s... these are pro-inflammatory.

I (like every other animal on the planet) do not count calories, nor do I count carbs, fat or protein these days; as I have established through BG testing which foods are best to help me manage my BG levels.

__________________
Frank
52, Metabolic Syndrome (Type 2) Diagnosed March 2003 - MDI then Pump(ed) 5+ years
Real whole food diet, including natural fats; avoiding starches, grains and most fruit -- physically active -- 8u Levemir each night

jasonsandeman

Jason, I feel your pain!

Unfortunately, there is no real way to do what you are looking to do. The facts are this - when you reduce one macro nutrient, you MUST increase another. If you want to take carbs away from the picture, then you must either increase protein or fats. By doing so, you are looking at increasing caloric density, so you are blowing away your caloric restriction.

That was a mouthful, wasn't it? The long and short? Decide which direction you are going to take. Do you want to restrict your carbs, or your calories?

If it is the calories, then the dietitian's route is the way to go. Simply follow what they are saying, and you will be good to go.

If you are looking to cut the carbs, then forget about calories. They don't matter. A really good resource I can point you to is Mark's Daily Apple. They have a primal challenge starting tomorrow. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/annou...-september-12/

I am planning on embarking on that challenge, so you can check my site for recipes/etc.

Either way, I am available for questions if you like, just hit me up!

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Well Done, Chef! Real for For Your Life: http://welldonechef.com

jwags

Most CDE's want you to believe that if you follow some "magic" formula of 185 carbs or more than magically your diabetes disappears. Well, most of us have found it just doesn't work. The basic thing to understand is when you have diabetes your body doesn't deal well with carbs. If you eat more than your pancreas can process your bgs will go up. Some doctors will just keep upping or adding different meds to your daily regimen. Many of us have found by limiting our carbs and just eating foods in their original state our bgs go down. You find your own tolerance by experimenting with different carb levels at meals. For me it is around 10-15 per meal, others may need more or less. I never count my fat and proabably eat close to 100 grams a day mostly from nuts, cheese , avacados. I do try to limit protein at meals to no more than 25 grams. Protein can be turned into glucose at a much slower rate. Fat never raises bgs unless it is eaten with higher carb meals. I am a petite woman and tend to eat about 1600-2000 calories most days to keep my metabolism humming.

__________________
diagnosed Feb 2007
metformin-2550
low carb organic diet
3 T of Coconut Oil daily
moderate exercise- mostly walking 3-5 miles, tennis - 4 hours per week, weight training, hiking on weekends and vacations 7-10 miles

HbA1c 5.3 3/11
HbA1c 6.1 5/12

Age 61

jd0268

Does anyone else eat three meals and three small snacks a day? Thats what I was directed to do.

Patdart

How about testing yourself by eating the way we suggest for a couple of weeks and see how it works for you? It couldn't hurt and might show you what we are talking about? My fats (lipids) fell like a stone as my cardiologist predicted when I went on the Atkins diet and I was eating lots of fats, but low carb. I lost weight and am now under great control. I didn't use a nutritionist, but my meter was my guide.

In any case, good luck!

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No diagnosis because I caught it myself by asking for an A!C and by the time I saw the Dr. it was down below ADA level for diagnosis.
But, either pre or Type 2
A1C is now 5.3!
no meds yet

jwags

I basically eat whenever I am hungry. Somedays it may be 3 meals somedays it maybe 6 meals. I just try to avoid the foods that make me spike like cereal, bread, fruit, crackers and of course junk food. Basically everything else I can eat. Most of my meals or snacks include a protein source, a fat source and a vegetable.

__________________
diagnosed Feb 2007
metformin-2550
low carb organic diet
3 T of Coconut Oil daily
moderate exercise- mostly walking 3-5 miles, tennis - 4 hours per week, weight training, hiking on weekends and vacations 7-10 miles

HbA1c 5.3 3/11
HbA1c 6.1 5/12

Age 61

diabetes86

Aaaa... calories are made up of fat, carb, prot. there is no other source for calories.

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I am not a doctor this is what works for me
You results may differ