Am I heading towards diabetes with this diet?
My dad died from untreated diabetes last year (stroke/thrombosis), and it really frightened me because I know I am also at risk. I used to live on takeaways, get ZERO excersize and guzzle sugary drinks and snacks non stop. My dad never took the risk of diabetes seriously, so neither did I.
When he died I made a big effort to turn my life around, I lost two stone just by cutting out the take aways and walking a bit. I still had the occasional chocolate bars, take aways and alcohol however up until a couple of months ago.
In the last couple of months, in an effort to lose another two stone I’ve started a fairly strict 1,000 calroie per day diet. I initially tried to cut out all sugars from my diet (including fruit) but found this too difficult so I gave in and reintroduced fruit and honey.
At the moment my everyday diet is as follows:
Breakfast – either no added sugar museli with skimmed milk OR fruit with yoghurt and 1 tablespoon of honey
Snacks – One or two plums or pears
Lunch – Small portion of meat and salad, or maybe something like beans on toast
Dinner – Small portion of meat and salad or vegetables, and for desert a zero fat zero sugar yoghurt with 1-2 teaspoon of honey.
I drink either water or green tea (sometimes coffee – no sugar), and very occasionally naturally cloudy apple juice. I have 1-2 glasses of wine every friday evening, other than that no alcohol. I don’t have any fizzy drinks and certainly no diet drinks (because of the aspartame).
So I do still have sugar but its either from fruit or honey – I know both fruit and honey are high in sugar, it’s just not refined sugar. So does this still put me at risk of developing diabetes? And if I keep this diet up, will I be safe from diabetes?
Your father presumably had type 2 diabetes which comes on in later life? In case you don’t know the difference I will explain – In the pancreas are the islets of langerhans which produce insulin to process the sugar you eat – its a supply and demand system – when working properly the islets of langerhans produce exactly the right amount of insulin to deal with however much sugar you have eaten quickly. With type one diabetes this system does not work at all and the person will need insulin injections and a carefully worked out amount of sugar. With type 2 diabetes the supply and demand mechanism wears out. You may well have inherited the tendency to wear out the mechanism early but you have done the right thing to protect it. If you were eating loads of sugar and then none and then loads again your insulin production would veer all over the place and wear out more quickly – by stabilising sugar and losing weight you are not putting it under too much stress.
If you do develop diabetes however type 2 diabetes is much less serious and is usually controlled by diet – a similar diet to the one you have set out. You do need sugar and cutting it out completely will not help you – I am not sure if you realise there is sugar in all carbohydrates? The thing to do now is to eat healthily generally and avoid big intakes of sugar in food or alcohol – we should all do this. Have the occasional treat but in moderation. If you start to develop diabetes you will know by becoming very thirsty and sweaty after meals and feeling groggy and tired before them. You will smell a sweet smell on your skin and a smell of pear drops in your urine. (This smell is also produced by losing weight so don’t panic if you smell that now)
Here is a good link – follow it now but also allow yourself the odd treat.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Diabetes-type2/Pages/Diet.aspx
admin on August 18th 2010 in Diabetes Fruits and Vegetables
spiders responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 2:26 pm #
your diet sounds fine. many people have the misconception that diabetes is alone caused by too many sweets..actually two people may eat a heavy sugar diet and one will get it and one wont not because of what they ate but because there is something wrong with their pancreas making insulin.
diabetes is cause by low or insuffcient insulin not necessarily the diet
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Bashfulflirt responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 2:55 pm #
You cant possibly cut all sugar out of your diet, because food has natural sugars in it. Doctors recommend you have 5 portions of fruit or veg a day, so youre fine with the fruit. and also, honey is perfectly fine to have in a diet.
I’d say this diet puts you at lower risk of getting diabetes, but youre not guaranteed to be safe from diabetes, My gran is 81, and the only sugar she’s had since the war is the natural sugars in food, but she still got diabetes.
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Dr. Prophetess Diana DarnleyGibson responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 3:01 pm #
my greatest advise is to go take a blood test. For the blood lab would be able to measure your sugar level and let you know whether you are in danger or not? find a good internist doctor and explain your concern.
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experience
BoviAlways responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 3:15 pm #
This diet would be better for someone with diabetes and may help you prevent it a little, however it will never fully put you out of risk. If it’s in your genetics then there still is a chance.
While you are young i would really not worry about it as much, i know it’s hard after everything that’s happened and your scared but the fear of developing it shouldn’t control you and your life, at the minute you are healthy and you may be healthy for the rest of your life and never develop it but it is still wise to take precautions but just don’t let it take you over.
Diabetes is only dangerous and a problem when not looked after properly, if you get it this is when you really need to start looking out but for now enjoy life.
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Ping Surkamer responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 3:30 pm #
about it you can get information from here http://canmdh7.notlong.com/AAXEFT9
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Pam responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 3:58 pm #
The following cookbooks are really nice to use and to inspire you to eat healthy low-Gi and still very tasteful.
Cookbooks from Rose Elliot – Lo-Gi vegetarian cookbook.
Another book to read, really inspiring you to take things into your own hands is. Dr. Gillian Mc Keith’s – You are what you eat.
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d responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 4:17 pm #
You are very ambitious and strong to take on such a life change, congratulations
Without a complete family history and your own specific blood work up, nobody can tell you if you will be "safe" from Diabetes. But if you continue your present diet, even if you DO get Diabetes, you will not only be managing it very well, but also preventing the complications that come from Diabetes, such as heart, liver and kidney disease.
When you lose weight, (even if it is only 10 pounds!) your body uses insulin so much more efficiently, that often prolongs the onset of Diabetes. If you are predisposed to Diabetes, you will likely get it no matter what you do. The key is to put it off as long as you can by taking care of yourself, and if you ARE diagnosed, don’t let it get you down!
Diabetes is a very controllable disease, compared to cancer and other diseases in which you have no choice or control over your own treatment. Being diagnosed with it is not a death sentence.
And there is good news. You CAN eat more than you are eating now, especially more veggies so that you are not hungry and don’t feel deprived. I’m not a dietitian, but I think it would be a great idea for you to consult with one, so that you get a full array of ideas on what you CAN eat. There really is so much that is good for you and satisfying as well!!
The cost of a dietitian is well worth it, and I would say that 1 or 2 appointments would get you all the info you need.
Good luck to you!
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Helena responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 4:45 pm #
Your father presumably had type 2 diabetes which comes on in later life? In case you don’t know the difference I will explain – In the pancreas are the islets of langerhans which produce insulin to process the sugar you eat – its a supply and demand system – when working properly the islets of langerhans produce exactly the right amount of insulin to deal with however much sugar you have eaten quickly. With type one diabetes this system does not work at all and the person will need insulin injections and a carefully worked out amount of sugar. With type 2 diabetes the supply and demand mechanism wears out. You may well have inherited the tendency to wear out the mechanism early but you have done the right thing to protect it. If you were eating loads of sugar and then none and then loads again your insulin production would veer all over the place and wear out more quickly – by stabilising sugar and losing weight you are not putting it under too much stress.
If you do develop diabetes however type 2 diabetes is much less serious and is usually controlled by diet – a similar diet to the one you have set out. You do need sugar and cutting it out completely will not help you – I am not sure if you realise there is sugar in all carbohydrates? The thing to do now is to eat healthily generally and avoid big intakes of sugar in food or alcohol – we should all do this. Have the occasional treat but in moderation. If you start to develop diabetes you will know by becoming very thirsty and sweaty after meals and feeling groggy and tired before them. You will smell a sweet smell on your skin and a smell of pear drops in your urine. (This smell is also produced by losing weight so don’t panic if you smell that now)
Here is a good link – follow it now but also allow yourself the odd treat.
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Diabetes-type2/Pages/Diet.aspx
References :
Miz Lamb responded on 18 Aug 2010 at 4:54 pm #
sugar is sugar is sugar is sugar ad infinitum!!!
It does not matter what source the sugar is from it is still very damaging to a diabetic!
sugar foods do not only iinclude sweets!! they also include all grain and cereal products, most milk products, soft sweet fruits and their juices, root veggies.
Refined sugar is not as damaging to my glucose level as is yogurts and other milk products!
I have a spoon of real white highly refined sugar in my teas and coffees! I also have real cream rather than the make believe high carb coffee creamers. FATS do not count! In fact they satisfy hunger much better than anything else.
Every "diet guru" says to strictly limit meats, fats and dark green leafy salads. These are what I live on! I use real salad dressings not the diet junk, I have about 6 ounces of beef with fat on edges or 2 medium lamb chops with a creative salad 3 times a day.
for snacks I have cheese and apples, the granny smith variety! less sugar than plums and pears.
Find a copy of one of the South Beach Living diet books. Look over the phase 2 food plan. This is what I use for menus and recipes that fit within a 100 grams of carbohydrate per day food plan. I do not count calories as that measurement is totally meaningless. It is only how much carbohydrate is consumed in a certain period of time if one is active.
Also walk as fast as you can for an hour every day! Clock it! Don’t bother with measuring the milage as you may only be able to go a couple times around the block right now, but in a year will be making about 2 to 3 miles in that hour. Malls, Big Box Stores, Museums, Libraries, etc are all good places to walk in bad weather.
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