My Diet to deal with reversal of Type 2

[hotchop]

Hi choccy

My gp adviced the opposite.. reduce starchy carbs to virtually nil.... but maybe a slice of wholemeal bread maybe twice a day( with peanut butter mmmm )

My prescription of gliclazide has just been inreased for a week and if still no result, I have to go on insulin i had some basic lessons with the pen yesterday but i think he was introducing the idea in gently..like a brick! lol

[wallycorker]

........My gp adviced the opposite.. reduce starchy carbs to virtually nil.... but maybe a slice of wholemeal bread maybe twice a day( with peanut butter mmmm ).........

Wow- Hotchop! That's unusual! You do have a very sensible sounding GP!

Best wishes - John

[bal]

Hi

Ive just joined the site and wanted to say thanks for all the information that youve posted on this site, especially your diet. Its given me an insight on what i need to do.

Thanks again

Bal

I'm a non-insulin dependent Type 2 on metformin only. I was diagnosed over nine years ago in the very early stages with a fasting level just over 7 and HbA1c still in the 5s. My situation slowly progressed - i.e. deteriorated - for eight years by following the "do not test" and "eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate" advice usually given to Type 2s. Eventually, my GP prescribed metformin and the quickly doubled the dose. However, at that stage I started to test and change my diet and have reversed my situation. Today, all my numbers are all better than they were at diagnosis - in most of the cases by a massive amount. If I went to the doctors today then by the most-commonly-used diagnostic tests - fasting blood glucose levels or HbA1c - they would say that I did not have diabetes.

Basically, the main thing that I've done is to cut out almost all the starchy carbohydrates - e.g. cereals, bread , potatoes mainly but I'm also very careful with rice and pasta too. In my opinion this has been by far and away the main reason for my dramatic improvement in blood glucose levels.

My HbA1c has dropped from an high of 9.4% to in the 5s the last five tests - and a lowest ever of 5.1% last time. I'm hoping to take it below 5 very soon.

I have described below the diet that I've basically settled down to eating. This diet wasn't adopted overnight and isn't something that I've read about. My cuurent diet developed slowly by testing to see what effect different foods had on my blood glucose levels and then slowly adjusting my diet accordingly. My current typical eating and drinking patterns are as follows:

Breakfast

Usually grilled (but sometimes fried) bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms - sometimes an egg too.

Or, mushroom and bacon omlette

Or, if I ever eat cereals instead then it's always Lizi's granola these days - no other kind whatsoever even porridge.

Or, occasionally, low-fat natural yoghurt with berry fruits instead.

Never bread or any other cereals except Lizi's granola. Certainly no porridge.

Lunch

Almost always meat (usually ham or chicken) or fish or low-fat cottage cheese with a big salad (lettuce, spring onions, peppers, radishes, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, with a few grapes or chopped apple) - with a small amount of linseed/flax seeds added - plus a dressing made with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

Never any bread or potatoes

If I'm in a pub situation then I usually eat beef or gammon steak with vegetables - sometimes with a few chips.

Evening Meal

Meat (usually chicken) or fish with various vegetables - sometimes as a stew type meal.

Sometimes I eat low-GI type brown rice or spelt or pulse pasta or something similar.

Never any bread or potatoes - or anything like pizza, naan bread, chapatis or suchlike even if I'm in a restaurant.

Snacks

I eat fruit throughout the day and every day - loads of it - as well-spaced-out snacks - never as part of another meal apart from where shown above - I pick the smallest pieces of fruit that I can find and eat all the following every day usually sometimes more than one of each (but never at the same time) - apples, pears, satsumas, plums frequently - and occasionally, bananas, kiwis, peaches or grapes. I fill my pockets with fruit whenever I leave the house and eat it as I move about.

The rest of the time, I nibble at:

A small amount (around 20g) of mixed nuts and dried fruit - usually every day.

Low-fat yoghurts - most popular Muller Light but others too.

Low-fat cheese - with one or two oatcakes or Ryvita Thins.

Tesco Light cottage cheese with pineapple.

Oily fish - rich in omega-3 types - sardines, mackerels etc.

Pickles - beetroot, cucumber, onions, red cabbage etc.

Cherry tomatoes

Cold vegetables if there are any in the fridge.

Ice cream is just about my only weakness and very occasionally, I eat an ice cream cone. I stress very occasionally.

Never - packets of crisps, buns, biscuits, sweets, chocolate, cake and suchlike on a regular basis. Except I might eat one biscuit or one small piece of chocolate on very rare occasions indeed. I might have a few crisps or small piece of cake or bun in a buffet situation.

Alcohol

I used to drink a lot but these days drink very little (about five units a week) - mainly the odd glass of red wine or sometimes a small whisky. Very rarely, I will have a little more red wine on a special occasion when out for the evening and I'm not driving. These days, I rarely ever drink alcohol in the house even though my wife and family do. I must say, it wasn't always like that!

Other Drinks

Various teas (spiced, earl gray, redbush etc, etc) and coffee (mainly decaffeinated but not always) all black with a sweetner - I try to vary the drinks depending on the time of day.

If I ever do use milk - e.g. with Lizi's granola or in drinks - it is always the 0.75% OR 1% fat milk types.

Sparkling spring water or just plain old simple tap water by the pint with my evening meal.

Very, very occasionally these days I might drink a Tango Zero.

Never fruit juice or non-Zero drinks. Very rarely any beer or lager these days

Supplements

One multivitamin tablet one per day
One omega-3 one capsule once per day
One apple cider vinegar tablet last thing at night

By the way, I'm still calorie counting because I still want to lose more than the 5 stone that I've lost already. I'm intent to take my BMI to below 25 - i.e. into the normal weight band - I'm almost at that stage with a BMI of around 28 - down from BMI 40. I might take it as low as a BMI of 22.5 - i.e my supposed "ideal weight" as defined by the health people. These days I'm eating around 1,300 to 1,500 calories per day most days and occasionally (about once a week just a little more). Despite that, I never feel hungry!

I don't put very much of my improvement - if any at all - down to my loss in weight quite simply because the lowering of blood glucose levels came about immediately that I started to change my diet - i.e. in days or weeks. I say this because I didn't have to wait until I'd lost a lot of weight before I got my improvement. In my opinion and in my case, I consider that it was the the dietary change that was most important - i.e. mainly the cutting back dramatically on my starchy carbohydrate intake that led to my improvement.

By the way, I do very little exercise and when I do it's nothing other than just ordinary walking - just a very occasional two to three mile easy walk. I really ought to try to do much more for my general health and well-being.

I think that covers just about everything. I hope that other people with non-insulin dependent Type 2 diabetes might find this detailed summary of my current eating habits useful and that my experience might be helpful to them in dealing with getting control of their own Type 2 situations.

If anyone has any further questions then just ask away.

Best wishes - John

[wallycorker]

Hi

Ive just joined the site and wanted to say thanks for all the information that youve posted on this site, especially your diet. Its given me an insight on what i need to do.

Thanks again

Bal

Thanks Bal - I'm grateful for those kind words!

I hope that you will benefit from my experiences and that others will too. If it does help please come back and let us know how you are progressing.

Very best wishes - John

[thrifty]

Thanks John. I have been following your posts on the other site and have signed your petition. Your advice is excellent and a big help

Debbie

[Sharpe]

I read all this with interest as it does sound very much like it is all based on an Atkin's type diet. Now I tried that years ago and it made me feel dreadfully ill and gave it up after a few months.

I now just eat what I want in much smaller portions and am able to eat breads, potato, cereals, pasta without raising my glucose levels, keeping the weight off. I actually have lost over 6 stone using this method in around 18 months. I feel much healthier and certainly my wife finds it difficult to keep up with me when on our regular walks.

I am a firm believer in testing often, sometimes 1,2, 3 and 4 hrs as it reveals all those hidden spikes which those who test only 1 and 2 hrs often miss. It is surprising how different our choice of foods can be if we test at the right times.

Dave

[wallycorker]

I read all this with interest as it does sound very much like it is all based on an Atkin's type diet. Now I tried that years ago and it made me feel dreadfully ill and gave it up after a few months.

I now just eat what I want in much smaller portions and am able to eat breads, potato, cereals, pasta without raising my glucose levels, keeping the weight off. I actually have lost over 6 stone using this method in around 18 months. I feel much healthier and certainly my wife finds it difficult to keep up with me when on our regular walks.

I am a firm believer in testing often, sometimes 1,2, 3 and 4 hrs as it reveals all those hidden spikes which those who test only 1 and 2 hrs often miss. It is surprising how different our choice of foods can be if we test at the right times.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I certainly don't "feel dreadfully ill" - in fact, I feel just great!

LisaQ said something similar regarding Atkins further up the thread and this is what I said to her in my reply:

"I don't really know what Atkins is because I've never read about that diet or any other diet of that type for that matter. When I talk about diet, I don't mean diet in that sense - I mean changing my diet to cut down on the foods that send my blood glucose levels high. The separate diet that I use to lose weight is quite straightforward old-fashioned calorie counting.

However, what I do know is that Atkins is a low-carbohydrate diet and I don't really fit into that category. I still eat quite a lot of carbohydrate every day - between 100g and 200g - but almost all of it as fruit and vegetables with very little as starchy carbohydrate - i.e. about 40 to 50% of my calories as carbohydrates which is quite normal as I understand things. Many people that have taken excellent control of their blood glucose levels would tell me that I still eat too much carbohydrate."

I too have lost a lot of weight - over 5 stones in the last eighteen months and I'm still taking it lower until I reach a BMI of around 22.5.

Moreover, I agree entirely with what you say about testing. Extensive testing at all sorts of different times between 15 minutes and 5 hours - has been a very big part of my improvement programme. I am aware that spikes can occur, in some people and with certain foods, later than one hour. However, no matter what I eat almost, I find that my peak is almost always around the one hour mark and that, in my particular case, it is very rare indeed for any two hour test to be higher than my one hour test. In fact, again in my particular case, I can't remember any reading after the two hour mark ever being higher than the one or two hour test.

Best wishes - John

[wallycorker]

Thanks John. I have been following your posts on the other site and have signed your petition. Your advice is excellent and a big help

Debbie

Thanks Debbie!

Glad to read that you think my post might help people in a similar situation.

Very best wishes - John

[Knapweed]

I have to praise John and others who help new diabetics with the excellent advice provided.
I found another forum and some excellent advice posted about a low carb approach to helping maintain good BS levels (not Bull ). That led me to reading Dr Bernstein's book & Blood Sugar 101 (check the web site out) and I have a restricted carb intake. Probably under 100g on a normal day.

BUT... I found it easy to stop the rice,pasta, potatoes, bread, sweeties, etc (still do 90% cocoa chocolate - always loved it) however I know that will not suit everyone. My wife tries to eat the same even although she is not diabetic and lost weight too. (I lost 3 stone without exercise).

I'm convinced that traditional medical opinion is wrong in respect of diabetics diets and if they get that so wrong what else is wrong? It has led me to question every aspect of my medical advice more and do more research for myself rather than rely on my very good GP (she's open to suggestions from other sources and prescribes me strips).

Best of luck to everyone who tries this approach.

Ken

[wallycorker]

Thanks Ken!

It's great to learn that you find the stuff useful. That's what makes spreading the messages worthwhile as far as I am concerned.

By the way, I keep trying new stuff all the time and keep making adjustments to my diet accordingly. I've only just tried replacing potatoes with cauliflower - my wife made a cauli-mash cottage pie at the weekend. It was just great and my wife liked it too. I've eaten it three times already and I've had great results from my meter every time:

Sunday
Cauli-mash cottage pie, peas and gravy (including second helpings!)
5.7 - one hour after finishing eating
5.4 - two hours after finishing eating

Monday
Cauli-mash cottage pie, peas and gravy
5.5 - one hour after finishing eating

Tuesday
Cauli-mash cottage pie, peas with pickled beetroot and red cabbage
5.6 - one hour after finishing eating

In addition, I've often heard it said that cauli-rice is great to eat too - as a substitute for normal rice. I've not tried that yet but certainly will be doing so before very long.

Just like your wife, mine also enjoys all the alternative things that I've tested out - e.g. cauli-mash, spelt pasta, pulse pasta etc.

In fact, I'm considering starting to learn to do some cooking for the first time in my life. I'm very keen to test out some flax seed bread - or cake - that I've read about elsewhere.

It's good to hear that there is at least one other "no exercise" person. However, I'm not proud of it! I'm trying to increase the amount of walking that I do and to test out the effect that it might be having on my blood glucose levels. However, these days, they are so low that I'm running out of how much further I can go - I'm expecting my next HbA1c which is due fairly soon to be quite possibly be in the 4s. From your signature, it looks as though you are nearly there too. Well done on your achievements in a very short time indeed. You look to be well on track!

Best wishes - John