diet for diabetics

[Guest guest]

Someone wrote me off-list today asking about what sort of diet I use

for my diabetes these days. After writing the letter, I thought maybe the

letter might be of interest to others. So I am posting it here. After I

wrote the original letter, I thought of a few more things, so I added them

in.

 

I have no read the Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type books, but from what I

have heard about them, they are not something I would want to read or

follow. Carrots, for instance, have a lot of sugar in them. Carrots are

fine for someone with no blood sugar problems, but not good for someone with

high blood sugars -- so any book which says they are OK for someone with

diabetes is something I would avoid.

 

Personally, I will not take any of the diabetic meds the doctors

push -- with one exception. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I

had a huge non-healing hole in my foot, was eating a bad diet, and had very

high fasting blood sugar levels (~360). So for 6 months, I took the meds

(which made me feel like I was poisoning myself) while I got my diet on

track, found out what supplements to take, and cut out all the bad foods.

Once my foot healed, I experimented with diet w/o meds & found I could

control my sugar just fine.

 

While on meds, I was able to " cheat " and still keep my sugars on

control. Once I got off the meds, I was no longer able to cheat. I do

not feel it is good long-term to take meds which encourage people to cheat

on their diets.

 

Milk is a no-no, but heavy cream and butter are not. I can't

handle fermented milk, so I never checked to see what cheeses or other

fermented products might be OK.

 

I eat no breads, no potatoes, no rice (except for sushi one every

month or two). I eat no flour or grains. I eat no beans. I hardly ever

eat out because sauces are likely to have either sugars or other forbidden

things in them. No pasta. It took me a while, but I finally realized I

had to give up fruits. I now allow myself one 1/2 " slice of an orange once

a week. I eat two large salads each day. I make up one huge salad (6

cups) & then divide it in two. One 3/8 " slice of red onion seems to be OK.

Eat lots of garlic. Eat it raw. No capsules & not cooked. I am up to 4

large cloves a day now crushed in my salad dressing. I stay away from

" elephant garlic " and other garlics billed as " mild tasting " because the

good stuff is in the *bite* of a strong garlic. I eat meat twice a day. I

allow myself small amounts of prepared sauces which may contain some carbs.

But I limit it to 1 gram of carbs per serving in condiments. I eat about 8

ounces of cooked veggies per day. I eat 4 meals/day, instead of 3. 4

smaller meals do not spike the blood sugar as much as 3 larger meals.

 

I also take a lot of supplements. Vitamin C is a must. Not just

one tablet a day. Take it often all throughout the day. Do you know

about taking C to bowel tolerance?

 

There is a great supplement especially for diabetics. I just found

out about it because my previous supplement is no longer available in the

US. It is called Diabecon. See research papers here:

http://www.himalayahealthcare.com/researchpaper/diabecon.htm

I buy Diabecon here:

http://www.indousplaza.com/data/shopping/search.asp?srchText=Diabecon & x=0 & y=0

 

I also find MSM, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Acetyl L-Carnitine, and

Benfotiamine to be very helpful. I take 400 units of vitamin E, twice a

day, a good quality liquid multi-vitamin with minerals, 2000 micrograms of

sub-lingual B-12, extra folic acid.

 

Avoid beta-carotene, but take vitamin A. Avoid Niacin, but take

Niacinamide. I supplement with Potassium & Magnesium. I take 400-800

mg/day. One side-effect of Magnesium is that I now sleep like a rock. My

body seems to want 10 hours of sleep a night, so I had to adjust my life

around the need to get more than 8 hours of sleep.

 

 

 

Here is a book you might want to look into

http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/readit.shtml I have not yet bought

the book, but have read the parts available on-line. I agree with most

everything he says -- except the part where he says aspartame is OK.

 

Alobar

[Guest guest]

Alobar wrote:

 

>I supplement with Potassium &

> Magnesium.   I take 400-800 mg/day.  

> One side-effect of Magnesium is that I

> now sleep like a rock. My body seems

> to want 10 hours of sleep a night, so I

> had to adjust my life around the need to

> get more than 8 hours of sleep.

 

Hi, Alobar,

 

What form of magnesium are you using that makes you sleep like a rock?

 

Cathy B., who needs more sleep