Control with Diet

[bulldawgdan]

hello. I am posting for my mother that has diabetes type 2. Her levels have went up recently and she is wondering if she will be able to continue controlling it with diet.

Her waking blood sugar today was 138 and after two hours of eating it was 235. After supper tonight it was 149 about 1 1/2 hours after.

She was wanting to know:

What to eat to continue to control the levels?

SHe has been able to control her blood sugar through diet for more than 10 years. Does it get to a point where you can not control it with diet?

Thank you for any information
Dany

[pdxdennisj]

Diabetes is progressive. If she has controlled for ten years by diet she is very fortunate. Medication is likely necessary at this point. She should see her doctor anyway - for evaluation.

[wiseguy]

After controlling her diabetes for more than 10 years your mother almost certainly knows what kind of diet she must follow. Starving herself is not an option. From all I have read it appears that most type 2 diabetics progress to the point where medication, or even insulin, is needed to maintain good control. I'm no fan of prescription medications but if you need them, you need them.

[bulldawgdan]

thank you guys for responding. It seems her levels are going up and down alot lately. Tonight before bed it was at 108. Her typical breakfast has always been corn flakes with 2 percent milk and two pieces of toast. The rest of the day it can vary. She has tried to cut down on breakfast but I told her also she can't starve. She has to eat.

She doesn't want to start medication. The last time she went to the doctor he told her it was alittle high and might need to consider medicine. When she first found out that she had diabetes they put her on medication first instead of diet. It made her very weak and seem to make her blood sugar too low. She then found out she could control it with diet. She has done very well with it. I think she is just afraid that the medicine will make it even harder to control. Make it go to low.

Thank you again for responding.

[wiseguy]

thank you guys for responding. It seems her levels are going up and down alot lately. Tonight before bed it was at 108. Her typical breakfast has always been corn flakes with 2 percent milk and two pieces of toast. The rest of the day it can vary. She has tried to cut down on breakfast but I told her also she can't starve. She has to eat.

She doesn't want to start medication. The last time she went to the doctor he told her it was alittle high and might need to consider medicine. When she first found out that she had diabetes they put her on medication first instead of diet. It made her very weak and seem to make her blood sugar too low. She then found out she could control it with diet. She has done very well with it. I think she is just afraid that the medicine will make it even harder to control. Make it go to low.

Thank you again for responding.
Maybe I was a little off track with that "certainly knows what kind of diet she must follow" statement. Corn flakes are terribly high carb, and if that toast is white bread, then that breakfast would send my BG levels through the roof. We're talking about 24 carbs for the cereal and another 28 or so carbs for the toast. So what you have here is over 50 high GI rated carbs at one setting. Way too much for most type 2 diabetics not on meds or insulin. She can have a very nutritious breakfast without this kind of carb intake.

If she wants to avoid medication at this point she should try to avoid foods with a high carb content and a high (over 55) Glycemic Index (http://www.glycemicindex.com/) rating. Also the basics like nothing that contains processed sugar or white flour, no rice, no white potatoes, and no pasta except for Dreamfields brand.

I certainly can't blame your mother for wanting to avoid the prescription meds if at all possible. But if it is not possible there are several types of medications available and some of them do not cause lows. I'm sure she would be able to find one that works well for her.

[bulldawgdan]

Wiseguy thank you so much for posting.

Well wow we didn't know that carbs played a part in it being high. That is until reading through this forum. So she is eating to many carbs at one sitting. Probably accounts for the fact that it can be high later. We have never heard of Glycemic Index either. Just always made sure that what she ate was low in sugar or no sugar.

WiseGuy is there a good website and/or book that can help her in going towards a low carb diet?

Thank you again.

[princesslinda]

Many of us eat a lower carb diet to help stabilize out blood sugars. Basically, avoiding breads, pastas, rice, potatoes is a good place to start. I eat a lot of green veggies, salads, lean proteins, chicken and seafood. I rarely have cereal, if I do, I eat the Kashi, Go-Lean protein as it has a lot of fiber and causes negligible rise in my blood sugar.

Everyone is different in their carb tolerances. My advice to your mom would be that she test her blood sugar 2 hrs after the first bite of her meal...if it goes high at that point, she will know it's something she should eat rarely. My doctor set a 2 hr post meal goal of 140 or less for me, fasting 110 or less. She will be amazed at how different foods affect levels.

dietfacts.com is a website that lists the nutritional values of name brand foods and various restaurants, including carbs. Also, Calorie King has a good book on this as well.