Diabetes Community

I think I should be doing no more than 60 carbs a meal and half that for snacks. Wow-I don't allow myself 70 in a whole day. My daily intake is one piece of rye toast at breakfast, 3 cups of mixed veggies at lunch, and two cups of mixed veggies at dinner. I mix it up a bit with a salad on most days. 3/4 cup of mixed veggies is 5 g carb 2 grams fiber, If I do the math right that is 20 carbs. Whoops subtract 8 grams total for fiber, seems like 12 grams of carb now. Now add to that a medium apple, and 1/2 cup of mixed nuts for the day. I guess you get the point. On occasion I do eat a 1/2 of a sweet potato, or 4 or 5 tortilla chips with salsa, but that is the extent of it. Drink? Water or coffee, sometimes iced tea. Sweets? One piece of 72%> each day. Sweeteners-none.

Each of us has to find our own way of living that we can live with. This works for me, and is easy for me, because in my head now is the thought that the white starches are poison for my body. At the same time though it probably won't work for many others. It is what it is-one way of living.

Bob, when I first started coming on here, people steered me in the right direction. I did see a dietician after a while, but frankly, what has helped me the most is counting carbs.

I would ask your doctor or dietician how many carbs you are to have in a meal. I would think 60 might be too much. I aim for 35-40 carbs for a meal and around 15 for a snack. Things such as ketchup have carbs. Change over to mustard. Look at salad dressings. I use Paul Newmann's Light Vinaigrette, or use oil and vinegar. There are some good ones out there now, that have lower carbs. I drink water and "Diet" Snapple. I have to stay away from Diet Coke because of my bones. I have it once in a while.

Start experimenting with what you're eating. Instead of two slices of whole grain bread, try one. Check the carb levels on those breads. Its high!

Certain fruits are very high in carbs. In fact, last night I had a peach, and my sugar shot up. I forgot to eat nuts with it,(some protein)to help stabilize the infusion of sugar from the peach to my system. Remember, I'm not on medicine. Eat smaller meals so your blood sugar doesn't rise.

Also, test two hours afterward, to see how you're doing with food choices.

A good dinner meal might be chicken breast(yes, KFC has a GRILLED chicken breast that tastes good), vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, etc., and a salad. I buy my chicken cooked whole at Costco. It costs less and there's more of it.
I also buy the Safeway cooked whole chickens, as my stove is not working right. They used to have $5.00 Fridays there for them. Salmon or other fish is a great choice. You can use seasonings on that. You can make some grilled vegetables in your oven with some olive oil, seasonings, and Parmesan. Just slice up a whole bunch and lightly grill those. Even watch what you put in your coffee, as far as carbs are concerned. They add up quickly. I bet you can bring your blood sugar down just doing this. If not, then you might need to be on medicine.

Also, be sure to start walking for at least 20 to 30 minutes every day. It will make you feel so much better.

In my opinion, eating 60 grams of carbs per meal and 30 grams per snack is about twice as much as you should have.

Also, it would be wise, as you said, to "purge" Dairy Queen, Little Debbie's, and KFC from your mind.

You should not be "shocked" by the nutritional content of things like large DQ chocolate malts. That info is readily available on Calorie King.

I guess you know by now that a large DQ malt has more than 1000 calories, 171 grams of carbs (147 which come from simple sugars), 105% of the RDA for saturated fat, etc.

DMH

Beta, it's good to find posters that eat as few (mass o menos) carbs as I do , not just cover their meds with more and more carbs. With my increased exercise and keeping to 15-20 carbs per meal, my fasting sugar was 82 yesterday and 85 today.

I do, however. always carry a snack with me if I am going to drive away from the house. I feel great. For me, I really need to keep to a tight program because even yesterday when I felt that I had eaten a little too much at Ryan's Buffet (not too many cabs, but just too muh food, my brain started feeling the effect while shopping afterwards. Not so bad, but enough to bother me, so I just walked fast around the store to burn up the extra sugar until it settled down. Looks like I have an internal monitor!

Thanks again phototaker. I think 45 carbs is probally a better goal than 60. I have been on 1000mg of Metformin twice a day for a little more than three weeks now and I have been biking at the rec centre 2 and a half miles every day of the last ten. I don't expect overnight results but since then my fasting count has went from a weekly average 131 ( when I was taking 500mg twice a day) to the current 150. Additionally I gained 12 pounds but that may be due to having quit a 45 year smoking habit after I was diagnosed this past Labor day. Everyone says I look slimmer but the scales don't lie. Anyway, I plan to continue my exercise and diet with more attention paid to those nasty carbs these next couple of weeks. I really don't want the doctor to put me on additional meds and particularily not if I havn't done all that I am supposed to. Thanks for the imput....Rocketbob.

I'm with you, rocketman...


"Everywhere is within 'walking distance'...if you have the time."
Stephen Wright

"I think the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it."
Frank Howard Clark

"If you can find humor in anything, even poverty (or diabetes), you can survive it."
Bill Cosby

"Alimony is like buying hay for a dead horse."
Groucho Marx



The funniest people I've encountered in my life are the ones with absolutely no sense of humor. This world would be a very unfunny place to live without them.

There's the bait, Bob. Somebody will bite...

First of all, Bob, JUST QUITTING SMOKING is a HUGE SUCCESS! GOOD FOR YOU! Just eating smaller after quitting smoking is harder.

I like how you're taking it all in, getting exercise, lowering your carbs, etc. You'll do EVEN better now that you've quit smoking.
Your mind is the biggest thing in changing habits and ways we ate before. You'll get those carbs down. Just keep doing the exercise routine, it will make you feel SO GOOD.

Start lowering those carbs. As David and others have said, stay away from the harmful foods you've been having at the fast food places. You might have to stay away from them totally. I sometimes(if I'm out, pick up the grilled chicken breast at KFC), but I do it as a take-out. If you are tempted to get other stuff there, DON'T go! Stay away from the bakery aisle at supermarkets, etc. Our old habits got us in trouble. Make new routines! I have found snacks that keep me from eating other things. I feel I have a food addiction...so make plans for myself to not bring home anything unhealthy from the market. I even have to watch fruit, as it sends up my bs levels. You'll learn ways to help yourself. I went cold turkey when I started, and lost 38 lbs. I've introduced other foods in my diet now, and gained back a few lbs. Now, I'm reducing my food consumption again, lost, 2 lbs., and am maintaining.
I still need to lose a little more weight. I'm very solid, work out at the gym, dance, do zumba, swim aerobics, etc. It all helps keep my levels lower. My A1C DID go up, so I'm interested to see what my next one will be. I HAVE been eating out in restaurants a lot from late Sept. on...birthday lunches and dinners. I know I have to start cutting back again, too, to get that A1C lower this time. One of the things I'm going back to eating is more fish. I was doing salmon, at least once a week before. I do eat tuna fish once a week, now....

This will be for the rest of your life. It works much better when you're stricter with what you eat. I can vouch for that one. It's been over four years now that I've had diabetes.

Internal monitors we usually have, but over the years we lose the ability to read them, or we learn to ignore them! I too feel a little reinforcement whenever I read your posts, as I have had several nay sayers about the strictness of my diet/lifestyle. I have learned to feel/listen more to my body needs. At the same time I do not test on a normal basis. Only when I feel poorly or am curious. Last time I tested myself was early 2010. However, I get 6 month regular FBG and last one was an 82 with a 5.8 A1C.

I, too, stick to a minimal ingestion of carbs. That is the only way I have gotten my A1C to 5.8. Alas, I do still have to take my two insulins, but one has to do what one has to do. My FBS in the a.m. is generally in the 80's, too.

Sounds like you are doing as much as you can. There is no set to whether one can go without or not when it comes to medication. I will admit that even though now I don't have to take meds, the day may come.

Even though I think I would waste away to nothing if I engested no more carbs than you I enjoy your imput. A dietician sent me a bunch of recipies that were all 70 to 85 carbs which I am sure would eventually beach me like a whale so their is no really bad advise but always some that doesn't fit right. So on this keyboard of life we are all looking for the right note to add to our own song no mater how far from perfect pitch I more than sometimes are... Still a little flat on takeoff...Rocketbob.

Yes, I will have to admit my direction moved me to 150lbs from 168. However, much of that 150 is now muscle, and as compared to the 168 healthier. I have a waist now of 30, and a chest size of 40. This translates to a small to medium shirt where I was wearing a large. All of this is not really relative to the fact that now my FBS is as low as it is, my long term-A1C is in the normal range, and I am still without medication for the T2.

In research of popular "diabetic friendly" recipes I found that they were mostly a pile of balderdash. Their formula for nutrients included high carb, sugars, and other things that I stay away from. Finally, in the last year our own ADA has become more carb conscious with their new plate guidelines. Up until last year much of what was out there was much higher carb than the leading edge Dr.s specializing in diabetes would follow. Today you will find many of the dieticians are more in line with the lower carb intake, with many of them recommending low glycemic index and load.

I donated most of my cookbooks, including "diabetic friendly" cookies, cakes, and casseroles to Friends of the Library. Most of our cooking involves broiling meats with no sauces, steaming or eating the vegetables raw, and eating fresh fruits - not as a part of a pie, e.g.

I also use the glycemic index, or rather the glycemic LOAD, which compares numbers based on the average serving size rather than how quickly 100 grams (?or some such constant amount ) extracted from the food leaving behind the water and fiber content) in how it affect your blood sugar. There is a big difference between the two (index and load) in things such as carrots and beans and lentils, which both contain a lot of water and fiber.

I use those foods which may have a higher amount of SLOW ACTING sugars to sustain me just before a walk or exercise session that may last an hour or more. That way, I begin using up the sugars right away because I am active, so don't go high -- but don't go low either during the exercise period because there are more sugars getting digested slowly.

Again, it sounds like we are on the same page.