We started our diabetic education classes

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licia

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Last night we started our classes to learn about diabetes, nutrition and lots of information on caring for a diabetic person. DH has been diagnosed after having been watched for a couple of years. It was quite informative and the meal plan is interesting. He is allowed 55 grams of carbohydrate a meal and 2 15 gram snacks. This sounded like a lot to me until I started checking the items in the pantry and fridge. Since my own blood sugar has been up a bit, I'm going to follow his plan but with fewer carbs. He must journal all his intake and tha will really be interesting. This is very new to us and perhaps a lot different than even we had thought. If someone can suggest a really good cookbook of diabetic recipes, I would appreciate it. I want basic items for each meal. Thanks.
 
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Patti LaBelle's Lite Cuisine

I have not picked up this book to give an opinion but, here's what I remember...It's the only cookbook that was given approval by the American Diabetic ***. AND the American Dietetic ***. I saw it promoted on QVC and the Oprah Show. There are 5 of her recipes from this book on the Oprah web site:

Luther's Italian Chicken Soup
Out-of-This-World Watercress Salad
Marvelous Minted Snap Peas
Oven (Tastes Like Southern) Fried Chicken
Decadently Delicious Chocolate Mousse

I hope you have fun with new ways to play in the kitchen. Some of our favorite recipes have come from diet cookbooks! Never would have guessed that to be true in the beginning.
 
Well, I don't know if I would call it fun, but it is very interesting to look up everything you are eating - some of it individually. Dh is taking it very well. I told him beforehand I was not going to police any of this, he would have to track it himself and he is really doing well. The only time he as gone over was my fault. I mixed up the number of carbs with the number of servings and that threw a monkey wrench into that morning's meal. It certainly makes you think about anything that goes in the food.
 
How is DH adding up his food intake? Try Fitday.com It is free (just sign-up) and it is easy to see what you ate two weeks ago and understand how changes might be affecting him.

I used to work for a company that treats diabetics. The key is not so much how many carbs but the quality of the carbs. Highly processed foods tend to digest quickly which can result in an insulin spike. The sooner you can graduate to less processed foods (whole grains, fresh fruits, fresh veggies) and lean proteins the better his blood sugars will be.
 
Being a diabetic for many years, the best advice I can give is to prepare everything yourself. Read the labels and be prepared for a shock at the high carbs prepared foods have. When a label says FAT FREE, you can depend that it compensates by having a much higher sugar carb content i.e. cakes and cookies. I do not think you need any special cookbook just pick and choose your recipes carefully. Forget pasta! I'm glad that I do not like it other than homemade noodles and a 1/2 cup ain't nuttin'!! Homemade bread has fewer carbs too... much less added sugar and I use water and little fat like French bread i.e. 1Tbs sugar, 2Tbs butter/oil for 4 loaves of bread.
 
licia,
lot's of good advice here, I'd like to add to. Carbs are important to watch..I have found each cab reacts differently with me. Potato will run my bg up faster than lets say rice, pasta more than beans...That's why I learned to for the first time I tried let's say a baked potato, I tested, ate and then re-checked at 2 hours..that told me if the potato was to big or was about right. Fresh fruit and veggies are great, but here to you have to be picky about size..small apple not large, sm. orange, small banana, especially til you learn what size is right for you..All this is overwhelming and I was fine at first, after about 2 weeks, the realization set in and it threw me..But, I dug in my heels kicked out the diatition and started to read...Just forget the cookbooks, cook as usual, measure out portions, fill in with veggies low in carbs and take it one day at a time.. One of the most important things to do besides writing down your foods is to test,test,test..I do a fasting every single day, plus at least 5 more tests during the day. This allows me to see where I am before and after meals..normal bg 70-120 after meals at 2 hours it should be no higher than 140, if it is you've had to much carb..Exercise, even just a two block walk will help lower your bg...Good luck, let me know if I can help at all.
kadesma:)
 
Everything is working ok so far. The biggest problem is adding carbs to the meals that he doesn't have enough. Breakfast food is almost all high in carbs, and he isn't much for bread, not nearly as much as I am. Tonight we had tilapia, parsley potato (he had 1/2 cup) mixed green salad with 1 TBsp dressing - not enough carbs, so we had a 1/2 cup ice cream. It will be interesting to see how all this adds up. I wish the dietician had given us a min/max number on the carbs. I know it shouldn't be too low, but she didn't give us a minimum. We are learning but have a ways to go!
 
licia said:
Everything is working ok so far. The biggest problem is adding carbs to the meals that he doesn't have enough. Breakfast food is almost all high in carbs, and he isn't much for bread, not nearly as much as I am. Tonight we had tilapia, parsley potato (he had 1/2 cup) mixed green salad with 1 TBsp dressing - not enough carbs, so we had a 1/2 cup ice cream. It will be interesting to see how all this adds up. I wish the dietician had given us a min/max number on the carbs. I know it shouldn't be too low, but she didn't give us a minimum. We are learning but have a ways to go!
licia,
that might be because they want to see how he does over a period of time. I go every 3 months and they check my HBAic to see what I'm averaging each day, I'm always at 4 or 5 most diabetics hit 7-9 which is to high..In other words I am running at about 90 the norm being 70-120..If his b/g level is high after taking the test which will be a fasting test, they will give him an idea of the amount of carbs he can use each meal..I've also found that wheat toast does almost nothing to my b/g where as white, sour dough , biscuits, english muffins up they go...Breakfast for me has become a crumpet 80 cal, and about 14 gr. of carb, and aslice or two of canadian bacon..your husband of course needs a lot more than that..The good thing tho is he can probably handle a little more carbs in the morning as he will be more active than lets say after supper.. So after all this gabbing, if your dietitian does not give you an amount, don't leave til you pin her down..That's her job and she can help you or give you the name of someone or a book that can.

kadesma:)
 
Hi licia. While I can't recommend a diabetic cookbook I would like to recommend a sweetener that I use because I too am diabetic. For a sweetener I use Splenda. I don't know how familiar you are with this but I can't tell much difference between this and sugar. It can be used for cooking and baking. One tsp. contains less than 1 gram of total carbs.

Good luck!
Brandi
 
I think I will forego the idea of a cookbook for now. I already have some that have diet sections and a few diet cookbooks that perhaps I can use or adjust the recipes some. We go tonight for another session and will hear the results of a week trying to follow orders. Thanks for all the help. This is an entirely new era for us, but find that as we get a bit older almost everything changes.
 
If you decide you need a cookbook try Betty Crocker's Diabetes Cookbook; ISBN: 0-7645-6704-7

It has some great basic information about controling blood sugars and eating. It even gives a week of menus/meals (eating 6x per day).
 
The best thing you can do for your (type 2) diabetes is gaining muscle mass. The musculature plays a big role for taking up sugar from the blood and when you have little muscle mass, your pancreas tries to compensate by flooding the blood with insulin. This doesn't work long term, and ultimately two things happen, the insulin has a lower effect on the muscle, and the production of insulin itself is lowered cuz your beta-cells of the langerhans islets are "exhausted"

Reducing calories, and rapidly absorbable carbs is beneficial, but it is kinda different to reduce the intake when you ain't moving your bum. Reason: the stomach ain't even distended enough to give you the feeling of fullness before you have exceeded your diet plans if you don't start excercising.

I am talking bout type 2 diabetics here, which means the most of you, the poor chaps with the type 1 needs exogenous insulin, period. But you guys can actually do something about your disease, and guess what: it's free. Second fact, it takes more than 5 min a day. Lose weight with endurance training and gain muscle by lifting weights. Then afterwards, start bi**hing about the diet.
 
The best way to add a few carbs is a piece of fruit. Good for you to boot! A glass of oj can take you over the top but a whole orange, apple, cantaloupe (low in carbs), grapefruit, berries.... and the list goes on! Add berries to your cereal too or dried fruit which have a far amt of carbs.
 
Licia, we've been going through the same thing. Hubby is allowed 30 for breakfast, 30 for lunch, 60 for supper, and 15-30 for three snacks. I told him when we started that I wouldn't be the food police, and I hate math, so if he turned meals into math problems for me I'd just buy frozen meals and say screw it. I was proud and pleased to learn that I was already buying and cooking very healthy (I thought I was, thank you Mom and 6 years of Home Ec classes!), he just had to control how much he ate of what I was making. He now uses a 1/2 and full cup measuring cup to serve himself. he eats a lot more fruit for snacks. His doctor said he's very proud of him ... that his numbers are such that he wouldn't even know he'd diagnosed him as diabetic. I've always joked with the doc that we eat healthy, good, food.... unfortunately we eat enough to support a small third person. Hubby now has to watch beer and wine, count them as part of the meal or snack. I think what is hardest is that we'd cut back on meat and dairy because of the cholesterol thing. After awhile you learn that you cannot follow every diet for every condition that might befall you. We both agree that diabetes is the most important. My life won't be worth living the day shots come into the picture, so we're working hard on the diabetes things.
 
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