[ThePunkHippie]

On November 17th, I went to my doctor for a routine checkup. When checking my blood sugar, it was 7.6. He explained it should be under 7.
I should have known this was coming, as my grandfather, grandmother, & mother all have diabetes (my mother has been saying that I'd have it by the time I was 25, so I'm happy that I made it almost to 30 without getting it)
My doctor didn't seem too worried though, he was more concerned with me losing weight. He told me if I cut down on rice, pasta, bread, & potatoes that it should help. I've been going for more walks as well, but the food limitation is killing me. Since about 1998, I've weighed 200 pounds. My max weight was at 220, when I was working at a call center, & eating hamburger helper or McDonalds every night, & had just moved out on my own. Since then, I've managed to get back around 200 - 205, but never under.
I've been learning about counting carbs, but I don't know if I can eat brown rice, or if I should just cut out all rice
(I used to eat rice at LEAST 5 times a week. I really love my carbs...)

Since then, I've been experimenting with other foods. I've tried Kasha in place of rice & I really enjoyed it. I also tried Quinoa & found it to be tasty. I've stopped eating potato chips, & I've started rationing out the snacks I do get (whole wheat pretzels with eggplant garlic dip, veggies & dip [I ration the dip, not the veggies], cereal mix, nuts, meat & cheese)
Food is a big part of my life. 'Starving Artist' doesn't exactly describe me *LOL*. But I always supplemented my expensive ingredients with cheap things (like potatoes, bread, pasta, or rice), & I'm still having a hard time finding cheap staples.
I'm eating a lot of oatmeal - I bought the large flake oats because I saw them recommended in a cookbook (& because I'm too lazy & hungry in the morning to cook Steel Cut oats... once I get a smaller crockpot though, I'll just do it overnight)

It's frustrating, as I'm not in charge of most of the groceries in the house. I buy my own stuff, but I've only got a mini fridge in my room, so I can't keep a lot in it. I've spent the last 7-ish years learning to cook, & learning to do it on a budget, so 90% of my recipes center around my forbidden foods. It's hard to make the transition.
In the new year, I plan on keeping track of what I eat every day. I've bought a day planner, & I have a recipe program called Living Cookbook that tells me the nutritional information for all the recipes I put into it (only because I took the time to put the nutritional information for all the ingredients into it ;D), so that should help

I blog on Livejournal, but there's not really a diabetes community there, which is a shame, so I did a google search & found this place. I'm hoping to learn more about how to control diabetes, so hopefully I can keep it at bay for a while longer (although my relatives all have diabetes, only my grandfather takes pills for it. My grandmother died a few years ago, but she didn't take pills or shots for it, as far as I know)


Sorry this got so long & rambly... This is all new to me, & I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

Welcome to the forum

i hope that you visit us regularly. This is by far, THE best place for us diabetics to talk freely and openly about whats going on with us.

Please feel free to ask any questions that you might have, as i feel that there are no "dumb" questions

You can do this, you can.

-Eric

 

[ThePunkHippie]

I plan on it! I might not have a lot of time during the day, but I plan on making the time to learn to live with Diabetes (or live while controlling Diabetes, I should say)

Thank you for the words of encouragement

 

[onaughmae]

I plan on it! I might not have a lot of time during the day, but I plan on making the time to learn to live with Diabetes (or live while controlling Diabetes, I should say)

Thank you for the words of encouragement

Welcome! I am assuming you are type 2? I ask because my advice is a little different depending on what type you are

You have the right idea....carbs are not your friend! Carbs increase your blood sugar. Protein and fat will not affect it much. All carbs, not just sweet stuff. Cut out white foods....white rice, white potatoes, white bread, etc. Substitute whole grain instead. The whole grain is still a carb...but it is a complex carb and will digest more slowly, preventing that quick blood glucose spike. Oatmeal is quite high in carbs, by the way.

If you do not have a meter to check your blood sugar, get one. The only way to know how many carbs is too much for you, it to test your blood sugar around meals. Your blood sugar be back down to pre-meal levels within 2 hours after eating....if it is not, then you ate too many carbs. Cut back more and keep trying. Get yourself a good carb counting book, or look online. I recommend calorieking.com I use it all the time.

Keep asking anything you need,,,we are all here to support each other!

 

[ThePunkHippie]

Yeah, I'm assuming I'm a type 2 (it's what runs in my family - my doctor really didn't give me any information on it)

I'm going to get a blood sugar tester, but I haven't had a chance to research them (I never buy anything without checking out what I'm going to need & what's best for me)... & I'm procrastinating a bit, as I'm afraid of needles, so really not looking forward to checking my own blood sugar *sheepish grin*

Do you have any suggestions instead of oatmeal for a quick & easy breakfast? I've been getting a lot of contradictory information, & I thought oatmeal wasn't that bad (I know it's high in carbs, but I read somewhere that it takes a while to break down)

 

[Joshua Shorter]

Oatmeal will raise you BG fast. It is better to make meals based around proteins and fats with maybe a yogurt or some milk thrown in there. Since I am not Type 2 I will let those with more experience there give you some direction but I just wanted to say WELCOME. We are glad you are here. Please visit often.

 

[jojeti]

Oatmeal will spike me the worst of any carbs I could possible eat, Dorito's run a close second. For breakfast, I will eat a slice of low carb bread toasted with a fried egg and cheese on it, or if in a hurry, natural peanut butter on the buttered toast. On a day when I have time, nothing like bacon and eggs, an omelete with meat, cheese and my favorite, bell pepper, or a crustless quiche made with real cream. If there is a reason that I have to eat fast food in the morning, I choose Burger King's Breakfast Bowl. It has 15 gms of carbs and is scrambled eggs, sausage, a few chuncks of potatoes, sauteed peppers and onions with melted cheese over the top. I like to keep in the under 10 gms of carbs range for breakfast, but there are times when I "need" to do the BK breakfast bowl. Another thing is to make hardboiled eggs and have them on hand in the fridge for a fast breakfast. I find I need a little more than a hardboiled egg to keep me going so I may pair it with a piece of toast or have two with a slice of low carb toast with butter, of course. Actually, I find breakfast now to be the easiest meal to low carb. Another thing, any cereal or cereal treats will most likely spike you also.

 

[Shanny]

Hello and welcome, TPH! You're getting all kinds of good information from your doc and others here, so I won't repeat too much . . . just enough to say get a meter as soon as possible, and the ReliOn meter/strips from Walmart is as accurate and easy as any, and a darn sight cheaper than most. I hope they're available in Canada.

Jojeti has already outlined much of my own regimen . . . the hard-cooked eggs, etc. I sometimes make them up deviled, and that's a real treat. I also make hot wings (no breading - just wings with skin on, cooked crisp & doused with hot sauce) to keep in the fridge. The trick for me is to have zero-carb foods that I really like, and keep them handy. Beef sticks are portable & have a long shelf life - cheese sticks are portable but they need refrigeration.

My kitchen is devoid of fast-acting carbs now - yes, even my beloved brown rice - but I've found some excellent substitutes like the thin buns marketed by Arnold, Earthgrains, etc. (half a multi-grain thin bun is safe for me - the whole wheat ones spike me). High-fiber low-carb tortilla wraps like Olé Extreme Wellness - one a day is safe for me. And my new favorite, light rye WASA crispbread . . . some may say they'd rather eat cardboard, but I find these little crackers very tasty with a little butter or cream cheese spread.

As you can see, I get to rambling too, and can get really "windy"! That's not a bad thing, so don't apologize for your long posts! We love 'em!

Do please visit often . . . looking forward to getting acquainted!

:welcome:

 

[amfox1]

Jojeti has already outlined much of my own regimen . . . the hard-cooked eggs, etc. I sometimes make them up deviled, and that's a real treat. I also make hot wings (no breading - just wings with skin on, cooked crisp & doused with hot sauce) to keep in the fridge. The trick for me is to have zero-carb foods that I really like, and keep them handy. Beef sticks are portable & have a long shelf life - cheese sticks are portable but they need refrigeration.

My kitchen is devoid of fast-acting carbs now - yes, even my beloved brown rice - but I've found some excellent substitutes like the thin buns marketed by Arnold, Earthgrains, etc. (half a multi-grain thin bun is safe for me - the whole wheat ones spike me). High-fiber low-carb tortilla wraps like Olé Extreme Wellness - one a day is safe for me. And my new favorite, light rye WASA crispbread . . . some may say they'd rather eat cardboard, but I find these little crackers very tasty with a little butter or cream cheese spread.

I have gone from a high-carb to a low-carb diet over the last month. Here's how:

Breakfast:

FAGE yogurt with berries
Scrambled eggs (with or without cheese)

Lunch:

Chef salad or grilled chicken salad (apple vinegar dressing) or fish/vegetables or 2-3 WASA crispbreads w/cheese (sometimes also with tuna fish/chicken salad)

Afternoon snacks:

Apple
Pear

Dinner:

Chicken, fish or meat w/green vegetables

After-dinner snacks:

Lightly salted/unsalted nuts
Low carb dessert (I'm partial to Carb smart frozen dessert with Walden Farms chocolate sauce)

No rice, no potatoes, no breads (other than the WASAs - I swear by them), no sugary foods. Eat meats, eggs and cheeses, fruits (other than melons or pineapple) and vegetables (other than potatoes, pumpkin and certain squashes). Make yourself a good veggie dip - my guess is that there are recipes on this site. Stay away from processed foods, including rice and grain products. Drink diet soda, tea or water. I know this may be tough with a mini-fridge, but you can definitely keep a carton of eggs, a package of sliced turkey breast and some cheese in your mini-fridge for snacks. Make these foods, and fruits and vegetables, your new staples.

Try it for four weeks. Keep a journal of everything you eat and drink. If you stay on this, I'll wager that you will notice the difference.

 

[ThePunkHippie]

There's a main fridge downstairs that I can use for things like eggs - I use the mini fridge mainly for quick snacks (like my cut up veggies, or my bottles of water)

I've been drinking more tea - I have a hard time getting a full 8 cups of water, but if I drink 5 of them as tea, I find it a bit easier (& I don't always put sugar in my tea)

I have a journal for next year that I plan on keeping track of everything I eat, & I have a recipe program on my computer that lets me keep nutritional information for all the ingredients (& it calculates the nutritional information for the recipes I put into it)

It's hard to believe it's already been almost a month since I got my diagnosis. I've slipped up a few times (mainly because I didn't know what to eat, got frustrated, & just cooked up some rice or pasta), but I'm still proud of how far I've come in such a short amount of time. I can count on both hands the number of times I've 'slipped up'.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

Tight Control is the key to "winning" this whole thing.

i've only been at it for 10 and a half months, but fortunately i havnt had any slip ups yet