eating shouldn't be boring

[silexelis]

hi all
i am a type II who has high cholesterol. so i basically have to cut sugar and protein.

okay i know i can eat fish and other foods in moderation. but sometimes it gets soooo boring! my nutritionist said we tend to overeat b/c we're not paying attn to what we eat. i'm so guilty of that and so i've started to pay attn and it's boring.

have any creative tips? it seems like the yummy foods [heavy cream based sauces/dressings, fried, etc...] are always the bad ones. i find myself eating "half" of a donut or "half" of my usual portion of foods but of course the weight isn't decreasing. and seriously all the celery and all the carrots in all the world will never replace a slice of chocolate cake.

i'm not sure if i just ranted/vented or asked for advice. sorry but i figure someone would understand me.

thanks :bebored:

[Cyborg]

What I found works for me is to make a lifestyle change rather than go on a diet. I also try to keep track of the amount of calories I take in on a daily basis. Along with a little exercise, this seems to be the key for me. With regards to the cholesterol, try to watch the bad fats and substitute good fats. Bad fats being saturated fats, trans fats, etc. Good fats come in olives, olive oils, avocados, etc. Fat in either form does have more calories than carbs or protein, so if trying to lose weight you'll need to be careful even with the good fats. Not sure why your doc suggested to lay off the protein. :hmmmm:

Don't kick yourself if you fail. Just get back up on your horse and try again. Two steps forward, one step back, is acceptable as long as you continue your forward momentum. Ultimately it is up to you and shear will power. You and you alone control what you put in your mouth. It can be tough, but it is worth it. Good luck!

[poodlebone]

hi all
i am a type II who has high cholesterol. so i basically have to cut sugar and protein.

okay i know i can eat fish and other foods in moderation. but sometimes it gets soooo boring! my nutritionist said we tend to overeat b/c we're not paying attn to what we eat. i'm so guilty of that and so i've started to pay attn and it's boring.

have any creative tips? it seems like the yummy foods [heavy cream based sauces/dressings, fried, etc...] are always the bad ones. i find myself eating "half" of a donut or "half" of my usual portion of foods but of course the weight isn't decreasing. and seriously all the celery and all the carrots in all the world will never replace a slice of chocolate cake.

i'm not sure if i just ranted/vented or asked for advice. sorry but i figure someone would understand me.

thanks :bebored:


Hi,
I'm a Type 1 who gained a lot of weight from about 1997-2005. Last year my CDE put me on Lipitor because my cholesterol numbers were starting to go out of range. I decided to make a lot of changes. I started walking (even though the endo diagnosed me with intermittent claudication, and walking was painful at first) and completely cut out fast food, fatty meats, sugary cereals and anything with too much fat. It's been a little more than a year since I decided to make changes and I've lost 115 pounds and am in the healthy weight range for my height. A few weeks ago my CDE told me I could stop taking the Lipitor.

When I eat meat it's now basically just chicken/turkey breast and sometimes fish. I was never a big fan of red meat and don't miss it much. I eat veggie burgers (many of them really are very good/tasty) and other fake "meat" products instead of the real thing. I eat a lot more veggies and beans. I still have junk food but in moderation and not in the portions I used to have. If I want chocolate I'll have an individually wrapped piece, or some chocolate chips, not an entire chocolate bar. If I want cookies I check labels before buying them (no trans fats!!) and stick to one serving. I always have a big bowl of sugar free Jello in the fridge, which I eat as much as I want of when I want something sweet but don't want to worry about the calories/carbs.

I also loved creamy pasta sauces but now have mostly tomato based, or just a little garlic & olive oil (which is a good fat).

I never did pay much attention to what I was eating or how much. Now I'm an avid label reader and I keep track of my calories and carb/protein/fat intake. I don't miss my old way of eating although every so often I do get a serious craving for something bad. Sometimes I'll have it, sometimes I'll just wait and the craving will pass.

[sydneya]

I have an extreme amount of weight I should lose. Thanks to Liz, silexelis, and Cyborg. I know I didn't ask the question, but I sure needed your answers. Things are going better for me in blood sugar and attitude; but the weight lose is a real problem. I think Cyborg really has it together. Changing a life style is what is needed. I'm writing down everything I eat and all my BG levels. I'm sure hat will work because it will make me accountable. Smaller portions will help too.
Wow, Liz. 115 lbs lost, never to be found again. What a feat. One peice of chocolate does not work for me. One two pound bag would probably. But, good idea to keep individual wrapped ones around. And the jello, too!!

Thanks again, everyone that posted a silexelis for starting the thread.

[labob]

After I was diagnosed in December 2005, I wasn't specifically trying to lose weight, but I was trying hard to keep my glucose levels within the targets my doctor had set. I had to change what I ate to do it, but it had the added benefit of causing me to drop pounds, all without my feeling deprived. This is what worked for me.

With some experimentation (and after more than a little denial), I realized that for me the answer to glucose control was that my 50% of my plate for lunch and dinner really did have to consist of non-starchy vegetables. I eat some starches at every meal, as well as some protein, but the focus is on those darned veggies. Often I eat them raw. I'm not a huge fan of iceberg lettuce (really, how boring can a food get?), so when I eat raw veggies, it's usually a mix of some selection of chopped carrots, celery, peppers (all different colors), mushrooms (different types), cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, radishes, califlower, olives, avocados, spinach, cabbage, endives, zuchinni, snow or snap peas, bean sprouts, brussels sprouts, onions, green beans, and whatever else I can find. I don't eat all of these things every day, of course, but I find it helps to keep ziplock bags of a few different kinds of pre-chopped veggies in the fridge to keep me from making excuses not to eat them. I just grab two or three different bags each night, grab a handful of whatever is in them, and half my evening meal is already prepared. (Sweet peas, corn, beans and potatoes are starches and must be accounted for separately. They fall into the same category as pasta, rice, bread, or other grains in my book.)

When I get a little tired of raw veggies, I steam them or, with sturdier veggies, bake them, which is turning out to be one of my favorite ways to have them. Sprinkle them with olive oil, bake them at 375 for 30 minutes, and there you go. You can also prepare mashes. Whatever you do, you will almost certainly lose weight and gain better control over your blood sugars if you are religious about making sure that half of your plate is loaded with veggies.

The rest, I found, flowed from there. I can't eat fast food, not because I don't like it (heck, I worked in several fast food restaurants when I was younger and never grew tired of it), but because I can't handle the carbs in the buns and the fries. After my diagnosis, I checked out what the nutrional content of most fast food meals is, and I thought it was pretty shocking. See for yourself at http://www.nutritiondata.com/index.html. My cholesterol is on target (well under target, in fact), so I don't get freaked out by the occasional high fat meal. But when you get used to eating lower fat, low sodium, lower carbohydrate meals, looking at what even the smallest meal at a fast food restaurant offers is almost like looking at an accident on the highway.

Sugar-free Jello is good as a dessert, but another idea is to end a meal with a few nuts. For some reason, 4-6 almonds signal to me that my meal is over. Almonds have some fat (but it's the "good" fat), but they do curb my appetite for other foods. I think it's probably a good idea to wean yourself from sweets as much as possible, but that may be easy for me to say because dessert was never much part of my diet anyway.

That, by the way, might be a big revelation -- at least it was for me. Not the dessert part (lots of people like them), but the idea of looking at what other people eat for lunch or dinner. Since I was diagnosed, I've been pretty aware of what everyone around me eats. It's been surprising to me sometimes how small the portions are that many folks naturally select, and how nutritious the foods are. It can be done, though I honestly didn't notice this before.

[Ritehsedad]

What I found works for me is to make a lifestyle change rather than go on a diet...

Don't kick yourself if you fail. Just get back up on your horse and try again. Two steps forward, one step back, is acceptable as long as you continue your forward momentum. Ultimately it is up to you and shear will power. You and you alone control what you put in your mouth. It can be tough, but it is worth it. Good luck!

Give that man a prize!!!!!

That's my attitude also, does ANYONE not equate "diet" with "temporary change in eating pattern in order to lose weight"? So, like Cyborg, I decided to go on a lifestyle. Don't give up...its not always easy, but always worth while.

[DesertDiabetic]

Give that man a prize!!!!!

That's my attitude also, does ANYONE not equate "diet" with "temporary change in eating pattern in order to lose weight"? So, like Cyborg, I decided to go on a lifestyle. Don't give up...its not always easy, but always worth while.

Diet is one of the most misused words we have. Hero is probably overworked as much as diet. I agree with the lifestle approach because it is what is needed. That puts what we eat and what we do(exercise,etc) in just one area. Sometimes you have to talk about what we eat seperate from the other parts of our life.

[Lynne1]

hi all
i am a type II who has high cholesterol. so i basically have to cut sugar and protein.

okay i know i can eat fish and other foods in moderation. but sometimes it gets soooo boring! my nutritionist said we tend to overeat b/c we're not paying attn to what we eat. i'm so guilty of that and so i've started to pay attn and it's boring.

have any creative tips? it seems like the yummy foods [heavy cream based sauces/dressings, fried, etc...] are always the bad ones. i find myself eating "half" of a donut or "half" of my usual portion of foods but of course the weight isn't decreasing. and seriously all the celery and all the carrots in all the world will never replace a slice of chocolate cake.

i'm not sure if i just ranted/vented or asked for advice. sorry but i figure someone would understand me.

thanks :bebored:
Check out the Sonoma Diet...it's a healthy "diet" that includes lots of veggies made in tasty ways and some "good" fat...all in the proportions needed to loose weight.

[silexelis]

thanks to all who replied. it is basically common sense - exercise more and eat less but of course that's the easiest part. i will definitely try to change my eating habits. and yes no more "diets" but instead "lifestyle changes" i really need to start writing down what i eat! thanks again!