Strictly Cheese Sandwiches

I answer to most things, Riverwalk .

I'm not 'on a diet' as such. I want to bring down and stabilise my sugar levels so that I stop being pre-diabetic, and yes, I would also like to lose some weight, which is difficult because I can't get much exercise and because I have a dodgy thyroid. It's a bit of a vicious circle.

Dinahmo

Doodledog You can now buy pasta made from lentils in the supermarkets. They're OK for diabetics - a friend who is pre diabetic and very strict with her diet uses them. They don't taste as good as actual pasta but acceptable.

I use pasta made from chick peas/garbanzo. Thus low carb and high protein. I use in dishes with semi-hidden pasta (pasta isn't the star). I time it carefully, wash carefully, think it's lovely.

I prefer to make lasagna and strozzapreti pasta from real bread flour.

Our daughter, getting married soon, limited her carbs to 80 a day to shift an extra 12 lbs. She's small (size 8), not as tall as her sisters, weight shows a bit more across her tummy. Shapewear is her friend.

Doodledog, I'll quote the internet.

"Daily's Porridge Oats 40g With 250ml Semi Skimmed Milk (1 serving) contains 39.7g total carbs, 36g net carbs, 7.9g fat, 14g protein, and 278 calories."

I feed our GC 20g of oats at breakfast (dry) with 5% fat Greek yogurt, some berries, 1T honey, 1/2 t vanilla - I believe their carbs are limited to around 30 at breakfast and protein is around 20. Good, I think.

I prefer they eat every 2-3 hours to avoid energy deficits, like me - many have ADHD and need protein to remain calm.

Doodledog, Given we won't eat animals, we cook meat and use all the assorted other products for our daughters and their families. I think chicken, with skin removed, is quite low fat and carb - high protein.

One of our GD eats eggs at breakfast and proclaims that low carb/high protein - turns my stomach but what's a GM to do? I cook eggs!

The cheese snacks I make for my brother, protein and no carbs.

Thanks everyone.

I was reckoning on about 450 calories all in with the protein powder and chia seeds, which spread over the day and added to one main meal (with no calories from drinks) should be ok for calories as well as carbs, but I thought that slow release carbs were A Good Thing.

My husband is joining me tomorrow for a week, and he is vegetarian, so I will be mostly eating veggie meals with him. I do have a small chicken in the freezer though, and could fall back on that if necessary. I usually save them for when I'm on my own though, as otherwise I struggle to get through a whole one without us eating entirely separate meals, which is tricky to do without a lot of planning and waste.

I find vegetarian low carb eating more difficult than when I am eating meat, but I'm sure I'll work something out. At least it's salad weather.

Doodledog Slow release carbs make no difference to diabetes. They're still carbs. The advantage is that they make you feel fuller for longer, but if you're eating them all in one go, you're going to have an absolutely massive sugar spike, will stimulate an equally massive insulin response, which your pancreas probably can't cope with.

T2 diabetics are advised to space their carb intake as equally as possible through the day.

You're right about low carb vegetarian diets. I've said the same a few times on GN, but get shouted down by those who think they know better.

BTW What do you mean by 450 calories? For a day? If you go that low, your body will go into shut down mode. A calorie-controlled diet should have 1000-1500 calories a day.

PS. Ignore the advice about "low carb" pasta - it's still quite a lot of carbs. Just avoid pasta altogether.

And ignore advice about "real" food - it's made from the same carbs (just costs you more).

Personally, if you're serious about avoiding diabetes, cut out the oats and have an egg or some Greek yoghurt with a few berries for breakfast.

Then, for the rest of the day, make a massive bowl of salad with every salad veg you can think of - add a few seeds and nuts and French dressing. Eat it with some protein - preferably meat, but if you're veggie, something else will have to do (just watch the carbs) - and I promise you that your blood sugar levels will come down and you'll probably lose weight too. Absolutely no potatoes, pasta, porridge, pastry, rice, couscous, quinoa.

Quoting myself: "Our daughter, getting married soon, limited her carbs to 80 a day to shift an extra 12 lbs. She's small (size 8), not as tall as her sisters, weight shows a bit more across her tummy. Shapewear is her friend."

She's not overweight, she just has a tummy and wishes to appear her best at nearing 60. She's been married and is a widow with GC - doesn't fancy the thought of herself naked.

We, her sisters and children tell her it will be fine- as it will, I suppose.

Doodledog You might find this useful:

res.cloudinary.com/grohealth/image/upload/v1664285482/David_Unwin_Diet_Sheet.pdf

It's increasingly being accepted by NHS dieticians for diabetes and pre-diabetes and is, more or less, what I've been eating for six years and has worked.

You can do an experiment on yourself. Get a diabetes monitor. Unfortunately, you'll have to buy the test strips yourself and they're quite expensive, but it's worth doing for a few weeks.

Do a finger prick test before eating and one two hours later. They should be the same mmol/L. If the figure two hours after eating is higher, you've eaten too many carbs and the body can't deal with them, so you need to cut them out. Ideally, you should have a reading no higher than 7-9 mmol/L after eating and 7 before eating.

When you've found food which suits you, you don't need to test that food again.

growstuff

BTW What do you mean by 450 calories? For a day? If you go that low, your body will go into shut down mode. A calorie-controlled diet should have 1000-1500 calories a day.

No. I meant the whole bowl would be about 450, and I would have half for breakfast and the rest spread out as snacks. The other meal (at about 6.00pm) would use up the rest of my intake.

I am avoiding the other things you mentioned, but can't/don't want to do that forever. I figured if I get my weight down, that in itself will cut the risk of tipping into diabetes. I am only just into the pre-diabetic range, so it's more of a warning than anything, but I will take it seriously, as I have enough health problems without that. I don't drink alcohol, but have been in the habit of drinking Nosecco-type drinks most evenings, and they are very high in sugar. I have cut that out completely, so am losing a lot of calories that way, although the scales don't seem to have noticed.

Thanks again for the tips (and you too, Norah). I will cut down on the oats and go for scrambled egg. I bought 4 avocados in my last shop to go with scrambled eggs, supposedly ripe and ready, but they are still like bullets.

Doodledog

growstuff

BTW What do you mean by 450 calories? For a day? If you go that low, your body will go into shut down mode. A calorie-controlled diet should have 1000-1500 calories a day.

No. I meant the whole bowl would be about 450, and I would have half for breakfast and the rest spread out as snacks. The other meal (at about 6.00pm) would use up the rest of my intake.

I am avoiding the other things you mentioned, but can't/don't want to do that forever. I figured if I get my weight down, that in itself will cut the risk of tipping into diabetes. I am only just into the pre-diabetic range, so it's more of a warning than anything, but I will take it seriously, as I have enough health problems without that. I don't drink alcohol, but have been in the habit of drinking Nosecco-type drinks most evenings, and they are very high in sugar. I have cut that out completely, so am losing a lot of calories that way, although the scales don't seem to have noticed.

Thanks again for the tips (and you too, Norah). I will cut down on the oats and go for scrambled egg. I bought 4 avocados in my last shop to go with scrambled eggs, supposedly ripe and ready, but they are still like bullets.

You're quite welcome.

Our daughter didn't see weight shift for 2-3 weeks, keep on!

She eventually, over 8 weeks, shifted the 12 lbs. Better tummy tone as he also did easy in-home exercises (and bought shapewear). She's obviously taking her upcoming wedding seriously.

The rest of our family are ready to move along.

Doodledog I hate to tell you this, but you are going to have to make lifetime changes, if you don't want to be overweight or pre-diabetic again.

However, if you can knock it on the head now with some really radical changes, you might avoid damage to your pancreas.

It's too late for me. I was diagnosed with diabetes over 30 years ago, but it wasn't really explained what damage it does and knowledge about diets wasn't very good. The thinking then was that fat was the bad guy, so I avoided saturated fat (in fact, most fat) for years.

The advice then (as it is now to an extent) was to base meals on starchy carbs such as wholemeal pasta and brown rice, which I did. I was never overweight, so I didn't need to restrict calories and filled up on pasta and rice with small amounts of low fat sauce or a sprinkling of cheese. I never was a big meat eater nor had a sweet tooth. With hindsight, it's probable that it was all those carbs which pushed my blood sugar levels up to dangerous levels and did irreversible damage to my pancreas and other organs.

I've been taking medication for over 30 years, but it's the change in diet to low carb (and exercise) which has been the real gamechanger for me. The damage can't be reversed, but it can be controlled and hasn't got any worse in six years.

Professor Roy Taylor at Newcastle University is currently researching diet for people who have put their diabetes into remission after following his 800 calorie a day diet.

PS. I know what you mean about avocados. I love them, but probably end up throwing half away because they ripen the moment my back is turned and go black.

PPS. Hopefully, you have another HbA1c booked for six months. If not, ask for one and say you want to know whether your dietary changes are working. While you're at it, as for a lipid profile. If the changes really are working, you should see a decrease in your triglycerides, which will reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

doodledog my DH has on a couple of occasions tipped into pre-diabetic territory, and each time I follow Michael Mosley 800 diet (I think). So cutting out carbs. It is hard going but works like a dream!

Once we are back on track we can the reintroduce a normal diet - not daft- but everything in moderation.

growstuff

PS. I know what you mean about avocados. I love them, but probably end up throwing half away because they ripen the moment my back is turned and go black.

Don't keep them in the fridge.
You can buy avocado savers, I have a couple

The picture won't post, sorry.

Michael Mosley ripped off Roy Taylor's 800 calorie diet. It was Taylor and the team from Newcastle who did the original research.

Callistemon21

growstuff

PS. I know what you mean about avocados. I love them, but probably end up throwing half away because they ripen the moment my back is turned and go black.

Don't keep them in the fridge.
You can buy avocado savers, I have a couple

The picture won't post, sorry.

We eat many avocados, never refrigerate.

We speed ripening with other fruit in a bag.

We've 1 tree, yields a few a yr. Compared to Hawaii yields of 100s.

Is that in this country, Norah?

I'm impressed!

Callistemon21

Is that in this country, Norah?

I'm impressed!

Yes, started from the center bit, many years ago grew it indoors until it was too tall. Then moved 10' strong tree to sheltered area.

Norah

Callistemon21

growstuff

PS. I know what you mean about avocados. I love them, but probably end up throwing half away because they ripen the moment my back is turned and go black.

Don't keep them in the fridge.
You can buy avocado savers, I have a couple

The picture won't post, sorry.

We eat many avocados, never refrigerate.

We speed ripening with other fruit in a bag.

We've 1 tree, yields a few a yr. Compared to Hawaii yields of 100s.

Not Hawaii! They don't produce many avocados, none for export.
Don't they produce pineapples?