What Type Of Eating Plan/Diet Do You Follow?

[Staceyy]

I'm curious as to how the majority of you eat since being diagnosed for diabetes? Do you follow eating plans/diets such as Atkins, The Zone, South Beach etc.? I started out with these plans but quickly found out they weren't for me. Atkins had too much fat for my body to digest properly and my cholesterol levels rose. The Zone seemed too complicated and by the time The South Beach Diet came out I was too disinterested to even attempt it. I have however gleaned tips from all of them.

I simply try to eat sensibly now. I don't want to become a fanatic about my food, I just want to enjoy it without a lot of fuss, measuring or counting carbs. What works for me is to eat a lot of protein, green vegetables, salads and whole grains. I've developed a baking plan that works to lower the carbs significantly while maintaining good taste and flavor.I don't like funny tasting desserts and baked goods. I bake with small amounts of sugar, and I drink diet sodas.I mainly use olive oil, canola oil and small amounts of butter. I eat whole eggs but only a few a week. All of this is now routine to me, and I don't have to really stop and think too much about it. I also supplement my meals with vitamins and minerals, alpha lipoic acid, cinnamon and I'm trying the apple cider vinegar recipe I found on this site. I think I'm allergic to the mold in the apple cider vinegar though. I'm curious how the rest of you are handling this (diabetes).

[Penny]

Hi Stacey and welcome to the forum. Then only thing that works for me is counting carbs. I try not to get too obsessive about it, but make an effort to stay in the limits I set for myself. I test often, to see what i can eat without too many problems. And once in awhile I just eat something I want. My numbers could be better, but life is hard enough without doing without everything I like.

[sparrow1]

I too have to count my carbs. I was on Atkins, but found it too restrictive. Now I only have 1 slice of stoned whole wheat bread per day, but never eat cereal, potatos, rice or pasta. When it comes to fruit, I also limit myself to an apple a day, or some strawberries. I can't eat bananas and can only have a very small amount of tomato. Counting carbs and recording foods has alerted me to foods that I have to avoid, like bananas, or limit, like tomatoes. I also find that certain foods are triggers that make me crave carbs, I keep extensive records, but sometimes you have to be obsessive with this disease. Every once in a while I have a carb blowout and then get right back on track - easy to do when you feel so physically lousy afterwards :) Your plan sounds perfect though and if it works for you that's great.

[owlyn]

I eat whatever I want, but count the carbs and take insulin/exercise and weight gain :) accordingly.

[Jill-O]

I try to limit my carbs but I have low carb dieted in the past (prior to knowing I had diabetes), and my limiting is not at all "low" carb. Maybe 120 or so carbs a day? But I do not as good on the weekends as I do during the week (which is a bad habit). I walk 30 minutes a day and am a "little" active working my show horses and doing some horse chores as well, but my "day job" is as a financial planner so basically sit upon my butt all day during the week.

[shabbie6247]

my diet is basically, and has been all my life, choosing well balanced meals. my body seems to ask for what it needs, so if i fancy a chinese i have one, i just bolus for the carbs i eat. i just have to think about the fat content of certain foods now because of the BG effects but really just eat well.

[Peggy]

The first few months after seeing the dietician I followed her reccommmendations pretty carefully. It didn't take long to be able to have a sense of what to eat when. Now I don't follow guidelines, but if I add up what I've eaten in a day the totals are usually pretty close to the recommended carbs and fats. I did South Beach years before having been diagnosed and I use what I learned there to pay attention to the glycemic index of foods so don't get nearly so many spikes.

[jerryn]

I try to do ultra low carbs. no more than 16 carbs per meal.
So I eat a lot of meat, fish, scallops, shrimp, chicken.
Absolutely no rice, bread, potatoes, baked beans, corn..etc.
It's tough, I had a major headache the first few weeks.
Sharon, I can't eat chinese or thai food. When I do 2hrs later I'm still over 210! I wish I could.

[bryan42]

Mainly fish and chicken..nothing white. LOTS of dark green veggies,bottled water...how exciting is that? Oh I may REALLY splurge and have a rice cake once in a while. I put myself on a 1100 calorie a day program, Im supposed to be on a 1600 per doc,and im lucky to hit 1100 on any given day. Good news is: never felt better,passed my 14lb doctor ordered weight loss goal,pounds ago. Not sure how much I lost now,but feeling great!

[volleyball]

I try to stay on a low glycemic diet. I think that best describes not just what you eat but how and when. It can be confusing but the difference in my health seems astounding to me. I lost weight, lost the bloatiness that I had. My knee pain disappeared. My acid reflux disappeared. I have a acceptable Blood sugar and am not on meds. I only took meds for 45 days to get my 13 A1C to below 7

[shabbie6247]

I try to do ultra low carbs. no more than 16 carbs per meal.
So I eat a lot of meat, fish, scallops, shrimp, chicken.
Absolutely no rice, bread, potatoes, baked beans, corn..etc.
It's tough, I had a major headache the first few weeks.
Sharon, I can't eat chinese or thai food. When I do 2hrs later I'm still over 210! I wish I could.

i cheat a little and make my own so i know exactly whats in my stirfries etc.
i know from my visits to thailand that the thais and chinese use loads of sugar in the meals they prepare, it helps to counteract the sour and (very) spicy in each dish.
if i need sweet then i use splenda in my cooking.

[sweetcheeks]

Well my diet is somewhat relaxed..... At first, I counted all carbs, no more than 230 a day, but when I did that I was over on calories. So for me trying to lose weight wasnt so good. I hit the plataeu eventually. Then I started realizing, count the calories and my carbs would be less. Good heh?

So now I try to get as low as 1000 sometimes not everyday. If I eat 1000 today, ill eat about 1600 tomarrow, so my body doesnt feel like its totally starving but yet still under my 1700 calories that my dietician says I need to eat. So I basically use the zig zag calorie method. 1000, 1500, 1200, 1700, etc... and then on the weekends I eat whatever the heck I want I try to be sensible, but If hubby wants pizza, I tend to go overboard lol 3 and 4 pieces... lol 4 if its thin, and maybe 3 if its not. But if I eat pizza and get full, I tend to only nibble the rest of the night on fruits or peanut butter etc. So I can at least try to stay under calories. And I do try to make sure the pizza has got some veggies on it. Other than that.... not much to it.

[kgm0612]

I basically follow a low carb diet, and I do not count fat or calories.

Karen

[Cyborg]

I eat what is close to a cross between the Mediterranean diet and the South Beach diet. Generally low carb...

[moorejames]

Eggs, lean meats, veggies, salads, cheese and nuts.

Boring, but it's what my meter tells me I can eat.

I tried the whole grain thing for awhile, but quickly came to the conclusion that breads, pastas, potatoes, rice and whole grains just weren't worth it.

I figure eating "normal" is part of what got me here. I'm not normal anymore, I can't eat like I am.

[princesslinda]

I follow a low carb diet, avoiding rice, pasta, breads, potatoes...basically anything white. I eat lots of chicken, tuna, salads, green veggies, s/f jello and pudding. I also have bunless burgers, bunless hotdogs on occasion. I cook with olive oil or butter. I pretty much eat according to my meter...if I go high with a meal, I avoid it for the most part.

[murphysl]

Since diagnosis I have tried many different types of diets. Currently, I am on a raw-vegan diet. My diet is not in the majority, but I thought I'd add it to the list for variety. I can eat coconuts, lemons, limes, and any nonstarchy vegetables. Sunchokes are permitted because their carbohydrates are in the form of inulin, which prevents them from turning into sugar right away like potatoes do. I also get to have nuts, seeds, flax oil, hemp oil, sesame oil, almond oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil, and olive oil, although I have to get olive oil from a source I trust because my doctor told me that companies can legally add canola oil to olive oil without saying so on the label. This diet was difficult to follow when I first started, but it got easier with time, and it is what has worked the best for me so far.

[HelenM]

(I hope this doesn't get posted twice but I think I pressed the wrong button and lost my original answer)
I don't have an eating plan. I just try to eat healthily and to avoid manufactured, synthetic foods.
I eat a lot of vegetables, fruit (lots of berries) fair amount of starches (I do take insulin) small amounts of meat, mostly white but don't avoid red entirely and fish. I eat three meals a day and rarely snack except to avoid lows after exercise. (I eat enough at main meals to avoid feeling hungry) Cook with olive oil. Take into account the glycemic index and avoid very high GI foods. Use lots of fresh herbs and spices in my cooking. Drink red wine (because I like it not as a medicine)

I've just found these 9 points by Michael Pallon which I think are a very good basis for a healthy diet for anyone. The rest of the site has recipes and info using the glycemic index with some bits particularly useful for people with diabetes.
GI News (http://ginews.blogspot.com/)

[trailrunner]

I follow a moderate carb diet. Some whole grains, lots of lean meat, eggs nuts, very big salads, low fat cheeses. When I splurge, it's usaully booze or icecream. If I had to count the total carbs I would say maybe, 100-120. That seems to be enough to sustain me on my daily runs. If I find my self dropping during a workout, I take a gel. On the weekends when I am putting in major miles I pretty much eat what ever. This seems to work for me. I do take insulin, but with my I/C ratio is still 1:30 so many times I don't even bolus for a meal. :D