Dietary advice: Diabetic diet
 

Hey folks,

I've recently been ordered by my doctor to follow a fairly strict diabetic diet as there is a long family history with diabetes both on my mother's and father's side and due to the fact that I am apparently showing signs as well.

I had an appointment with a dietician who was everything except helpful. Every sentence ended with fiber. Now, without getting into to much detail, I hardly need fiber.

Anyways, the sample diet she gave me is simply ridiculous and absolutly the most boring mix of flavourless cardboard foods in existance. I call upon the members of TFP who have experience with this sort of thing to help me out with suggestions that are not only *not* boring, but something that can be enjoyed by the rest of the family, as my wife has decided that it would do the entire family good to eat a bit healthier.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer me. The town I live in is extremely small and has no support group to speak of, and the nearest one is far enough away that I don't forsee myself going on a regular basis.

fiber is our friend :D

there are lots of things you can add to get more fiber

la tortilla factory makes these wonderful low carb tortilla/wraps - in all sorts of flavors and whole grains - the minimum amount of fiber in most of hem is 8 grams.

Vegetables also add in fiber to your diet - and not boring iceberg lettuce - roasted broccoli with just a bit of olive oil and garlic will give yu a big fiber bang.

What's the layout she's given youo?

a certain percentage protein/carbs/fat? or less scientific

I don't beleive in bland cooking - I like lots of flavor - lots of herbs and spices and garlic and lemon juice and zest and lime juice will give you a lot of flavor bang.

you can take a basic chicken breast and marinate it in some non-fat plain yogurt, lemon juice, and curry (or cumin and coriander) and grill it and voila you've got mal's fake tandoori - and it's delicious - also good with boneless chicken thighs.

tofu i find kind of eh -- but in a curry sauce made with light coconut milk it's got some good flavor.

explore the produce department - squash, eggplant, mushrooms will give you lots of fibe and tons of flavor

Thanks for the help!

Looking at your suggestions, I'm close to the right track already. The dietician's guidelines consisted of a single page consisting of a single days suggested meals. There was a tonne of bran muffins and other bran things on it. Ugh.

Now, what about red meat or, and this is the big thing, snacks? I find myself needing a couple snacks just to keep things going. I can only take so many apples etc before I start hitting the snack machine for a chocolate bar.

i'm not real clear on what is or isn't allowed to a diabetic - but i'd be willing to go with some things - (like one of my personal favorites) whole grain gold fish crackers -or wheat thin- or some other whole grain cracker - portioned out (ziplock snack size baggies are my friend) or almonds - again portioned out - kashi makes some decent granola bars

maybe with some cheese on top- laughing cow makes a pretty ok cheese that requires no refridgeration (ok it's no aged cheddar or camembert but it's got a creaminess)

even some whole grain cereals (I personally can't stand the kashi cereals but others do like them) portioned out in snack size baggies.

cocovia makes a chocolate bar thats supposed to be pretty healthy -it's dark chocolate and fruit - the drawback to it is t has trace amounts of high fructose corn syrup.

If you don't have a refridgeration issue - hummus (either home made or commercial) w/ celery or carrot sticks is a nice snack -and hummus (made from chic peas is super high in fiber)

bran muffins don't do much for me -but if you check out the bread aisle in the super market - and pick ouot the highest fiber bread you can find - (read labels - make sure whole grain is a primary ingredient and that HFCS or high fructose corn syrup is not listed as aningredient

Ugh, that's been one sticking point so far, the bread. I love PB&J sammiches and I just can't handle them on any whole-grain bread I've tried so far. It's fine for all the other sammiches, but not PB&J (no sugar added jam, of course).

The gold fish crackers, now that I can get behind.

i cannot stand whole wheat bread because it's too sweet - and once i started reading labels it's the hfcs that was doing it -

Rye bread and pumpernickel also have higher fiber than plain old white bread.

We eat Milton's:

http://www.miltonsbaking.com/

It's high in fiber, low in sugar, and all-natural (no HCFS). Very hearty and perfect for a PBJ, in my opinion.

Excellent, I will try out more of these suggestions. Thanks again folks!

Some other high fiber recommendations:

Nature's Path cereals: http://www.naturespath.com/products/cold_cereals

Nature's Path oatmeal: http://www.naturespath.com/products/hot_cereals

Kashi waffles: http://store.kashi.com/hearttoheart_waffles.aspx

We eat all of these around here, as well as a diet high in black beans, red beans, and other legumes. We usually eat upwards of 25g of fiber a day.

Again I'm not sure what the diabetic diet consists of - and i'm really too lazy to google it - I am pretty sure that you're only allowed a percentage of your meal as carbs and another percentage has to be protein.... but along the bean route snowy suggested - Lentils are really tasty and make a nice substitute for meat as amain dish - you can make lentil loaf out of it and it's l ike a meatloaf -- really tasty.

We usually use lentils or other beans with vegetables--lentil soup, curried lentils (served with couscous or rice), red beans and rice, black beans and rice, green chili with red beans, vegetarian chili (black beans, kidney beans).

My suggestion: research, learn and live a diet based on the Glycemic Index (http://www.glycemicindex.com).

It's mostly about eating "whole" foods rather than packaged and refined foods, but there's a lot more great information at that site. Your food doesn't have to be flavorless - it just needs to be actual food...

This is the "take home message" directly from the site:
* Choose slow carbs, not low carbs
* Use the GI to identify your best carbohydrate choices.
* Take care with portion size with carb-rich foods such as rice or pasta or noodles to limit the overall GL of your diet.

...adding to Just's recommendations, find another way to satisfy a sweet tooth, if you have one. Mine is honey, because it is a natural vs. refined source of sweetness. I seem better able to process natural sugars.

Remove refined foods as much as you can, and like every diet we all have heard of but wish to ignore...EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES! There are books and websites with diabetic receipes and meal planners. You have no excuse about taking control of your healthful eating. Fiber truly is your friend, but there are sources that you might find more palitable.

Have you been advised to exercise? Do it, do it, do it! Even if you have no more time than a few butt squeezes as you sit in your chair; DO IT! There are books and websites that promote everyday, healthy exercise. Some are directed toward diabetics. At the minimum, walk, walk, walk as much as you are able.

You MUST take responsibility for being aware of your blood sugar. You can either be in ER or dead...your choice, if this small moment of responsibility seems too tough or annoying to you.

I am so frickin' serious, tinfoil. I am watching my brother-in-law die from all of the above, because he chose not pay attention to what he was told, and could have confirmed on his own.

My dad has been a diabetic since he was 21 and a few years ago started seeing a diabetic specalist... I can't tell you what kind of a difference it's made in his life. He's totally changed his diet- and the difference is incredible! He says he has more energy (which he does), he's got a totally clean bill of health, lost 30 lbs... just amazing.

I don't know the details of what he eats (I can get them for you if you'd like), but I do know it's a lot of chicken and veggies. Just because someone is a nutritionist, or even an MD, DOES NOT mean they know anything about diabeties or how to deal with it.

If you're really serious about making sure you don't get diabeties, seek out a diabeties doctor in your area and talk to them. They're the ONLY ones that really know the best way to treat and prevent the disease.

My father died as a result of diabetes, among other things relating to alcohol abuse. You can be certain I am not going to let myself go down the same road ;>

The sweet tooth thing isn't normally a problem as I rarely go for sugary things. However, the rare time I do, I like to go all-in. That has been tough, but I've been limiting myself to more natural sweets and dropped sugar from my coffee, which was my most notable intake of sugar.