Hi Jeanette..

Just wanted to welcome you more so... I probably wont be much help
since I'm a T1.. but I was mis-diagnosed a T2 for the first 7mons -- so
what I learned about being a T2... didn't fit me at all, which is what lead
me to a real doctor .. another story..

Anyhoo... eating is eating for all of us.  I personally find buffets to be
the
best for a diabetic.  Some think "Oh no!" simply because you can eat all
you want.  Well, that's where portion control comes into play.  But at a
buffet you have much more to pick from and the ability to eat or reject
certain foods.

When I go out to eat.. even though I use insulin.. I still try to eat better
so that I don't have to use a combo wave to cover so much fat in my meal.

I usually will order a grilled skinless chicken breast or turkey.  I ask
them
to sub the fries or potato with an extra order of veggie or a soup instead..
and most always have a garden salad.  If rolls come with the meal, I might
have a half of one... otherwise hubby usually eats them or I'll ask them
just
not to bring them.. to save them for someone else.

For desert... rarely do I eat it, because i'm too stuffed from dinner, but
if we
do.. hubby, me and the kid will usually get one desert we all enjoy and
share
it.  I usually get 2-3 small forks from it.. --

Be sure to test your glucose before you eat.. and NEVER be afraid to whip
out your meter infront of anyone... then try to eyeball what you've eaten
and
figure out the guestimated carb count for them... good place for reference
is
http://www.calorieking.com --- then test again at 90mins AFTER your first
bite.. then again at 2 or 2.5hrs as well.  usually at 90mins is when you'll
see
your spike ... over time, you'll soon learn to adjust and figure out when
your
spike happens.  Mine happens at 70mins after my first bite.

Best of luck... and enjoy dinner..

RK, t1 Animas IR1250 pumper

With diabetes of either type it is highly recommended by any doctor
that I know of to see an ophthalmologist at least once a year.

How often do you see your primary physician for diabetes checkups? The
usual number is at least once every six months.

I have no idea what your national health care system pays for, but I
would think they would want you to do your best to control your
diabetes. It costs a lot less than treating the effects of
uncontrolled diabetes.

I limit my potato intake, but can't tolerate white rice at all. It
spikes me way too high.

Remember that some fruits such as bananas are very high in carbs. Best
to check that out before buying the fruit and then do the postprandial
thing when you try each fruit. Test at one hour, two hours and if the
number is still on the rise check again at three.

We eat a our favorite Mexican restaurant at least once or twice a
week. For some reason refried beans do not send my numbers high so
long as I eat them with corn tortillas rather than the white wheat
flower ones. At family style or buffet restaurants I fill up with the
healthy things on the salad bar so I am not tempted to eat all of that
baked potato they may bring with the steak.

Good luck. Once you get on to this it will be second nature.

Lots of places have salads.  There are other things you can do like ask for
substitutions, remove the bread from the table, sauces and dressings served
on the side instead of the dish or salad.  The local Mexican restaurant has
a taco-fajita salad that I like, I just don't eat all of the shell.  I also
like to go to the buffet kind of place in another town, I can make a big
salad and go back for some meat and other veggies, then have a little
portion of dessert, the one I go to most often has some that are
'sugar-free.'  I don't eat out very often so that's my splurge.  I don't
limit fat, I limit starches.  The diet I was given kept me hungry all the
time and didn't do much for lowering BGs.
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm
Now I don't eat any more calories than when I was trying to stick to the ADA
diet but I'm not hungry all the time,  I have lost 81 lbs, and my A1c went
from 12.3% to 5.4%, it was 5.2% but then I stopped the ß stimulator
completely.

Do you test, Jeanette?

Protein and veggies. Seafood or steak for preference; salad is good in the
summer, but I prefer mixed veggies in the winter! I'll probably also steal a
teaspoonful of one of the kids' deserts. Wine to drink. This approach will
guarantee me a sub-7 reading at 1hr after the meal.

Nicky.

Jeannette,

Eating 3 tbs of fat a day would make me crazy very quickly. You were
given outdated dietary advice which was based on the idea that eating
fat would worsen heart disease.

More recent research shows that if you cut your carbohydrate intake down
under 100 grams a day, you can eat a lot more fat and still see your
cholesterol ratios improve.  It is the combination of fat and
carbohydrate (sugar and starch) that is damaging to your heart. The less
starch and sugar you eat, the more fat you can eat without danger.

The only fats you want to avoid are the "trans fats," fats with the word
"hydrogenated" in their names,  which are very bad for you. To avoid
them you have to avoid most packaged foods.

You might have a look at Gretchen Becker's excellent book, The First
Year Type 2 Diabetes. It will explain a lot to you that will make it
possible to craft a much more liveable way of eating.

The book "Protein Power" is also a very good place to learn about
why low carbohydrate diets are good for your health. That's a very good
book for showing you what you can eat and especially what to eat in
restaurants.
--Jenny

http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/  Type 2 Diabetes info
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/  Low Carb info

This post not CC'd by email
On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 13:37:33 -0400, "pverburgh" <pverburgh@rogers.com>
wrote:

G'day G'day Jeannette,

Welcome to asd.  You'll meet many different folks here.  Some have
accepted that diabetes is now part of their life for ever but not
something all consuming.  Others haven't.  Put simply if you hang
around you'll observe a lot of human nature and its variations in the
raw.  

Hopefully you'll be scheduled for more eye tests.  Excess blood sugar
spills over into the eye and can slowly do damage.  

That happens.  Of course it shouldn't.  My guess is that some part of
forgetting is fear.  We would all like the diabetes to go away. It
doesn't.

Yes.  Though it seems like a horrible way to think of food.  Sort of
like rationing in war time.  What the dietician is advocating is a low
fat diet.  I'd like you to think of diet in another way. Start to
think of foods that will improve your health.  Think about the love
and care that can go into preparing them.  Sure getting rid of foods
with fats hidden in carbs is a good strategy. Some of those fats are
unhealthy.  IMHO, (In My Humble Opinion) it makes more sense to focus
on what you want to do rather than on what you want to avoid.  What
I'd like you to do is to think of lean meat, fish, vegetables that you
enjoy.  For a start you might think "Well, actually I don't much go
for those things."  That's OK.  Part of what got many of us here is
the choices that were made for us by family and society.  We grew up
becoming accustomed to certain foods and haven't had the opportunity
to develop the taste for other healthier foods.

OK, how about adopting several strategies that many of us have found
helpful?   Eat bread that is whole grain.  That is quite different
from whole meal.  Wholemeal is finely ground. Whole grain is less
finely ground.  In New Zealand the various bread turned out by Burgen
are excellent choices.  They don't push up blood glucose in the same
way.  Personally I seldom eat bread.  My choice is Ryvita rye
crackers.  They keep me regular and the slices give 10 grams of carbs.
Put simply I know what I'm doing with them but a slice of bread can be
a very variable quantity.

Many people have found it so much easier if they eat cauliflower or
squash instead of potato.  Potato is high in starch which is all
glucose by the time it reaches the small intestine.  Cauliflower has a
safety factor of five and squash of three, meaning 5 cups of cauli = 1
of potato etc.

Some people find the portion control approach works for them.
Personally I follow the literature on "keeping it off" which strongly
suggests eating foods with a low calorie density. What this means in
practice is eating vegetables with a high water content. Berries are
another excellent option.  It will probably surprise you to find that
strawberries hardly make one's blood sugar go up at all.
In Canada with Winter coming on, you might like to try frozen
blueberries.

That's a good strategy.  We can give you a lot of support in finding
T2 friendly fruit and vegetables.  Kate lives up your way.  She has an
excellent list of low carb/high water content vegetables.  The high
water content is more important than it first seems.  Water content
improves satiety making it easier not to over eat.

Oh.  Be happy.  How about a steak with salad?  Stir fried carrots,
broccoli etc works well for me. Skip fried or baked potatoes.  If they
do a salmon steak that would be excellent. Prawns are often expensive
but have the advantage that one is satisfied with less.  

Best wishes,

Jeanette, according to weight watchers, it is one tablespoon of fat.

What works for me is portion control.  I do not deprive myself but if I
have a potato it is only three or four ounces,  a third of a cup of
rice, brown not white.  If you eat in a family style restaurant there
must be plenty of good choices like fish, chicken, beef with vegetables
and a small potato, or a half cup cooked pasta.

You need to find a plan that works for you.  I suggest you return to the
dietician and work up a plan that you can live with and that you can
live with.

Loretta

--
In tribute to the United States of America and the State
of Israel, two bastions of strength in a world filled with strife and
terrorism.

Jeannette,

Firstly welcome.  I've not been around for a while but its good to see
all the really valuable posters are still here.

Couple of thoughts to add though...

Eye exams are essential since high BGs cause damage to the eye so get
checked as soon as possible.  However as others have already said, if
you have an eye prescription, don't get it changed until your BG is
under control if possible.

Regarding fats, bear in mind that unsaturated fats have some benefits
particularly fish oils.  I recall being shocked at the fat content in
salmon when first diagnosed.  However, the fat content in most fish is
nearly all good fats/oils so do not be put off.  You need to avoid
saturated fats and particularly transfats (hydrogenated).  Putting a
limit on fat overall can be counterproductive.  A limit on saturated
fats is better.

Eating out can be a real pain at first.  Over here it is very difficult
to order anything without getting a big pile of white starches - rice,
bread, potatoes or pasta.  The first thing you have to bear in mind is
portion size.  You will be able to handle some of them but not a lot.
In fact after a while you may find yourself in the same position as
myself where you have , say some fries for the first time in ages and
after tasting them think "why did I bother?".  To my mind it turns out
that the only thing I ever tasted on them was what I put on them such as
sauces.  Turns out they are mostly tasteless padding for the ketchup!

I've been at this two years now and have worked out that the portions I
can get away with of white starches are so small that it is not really
worth the effort.  They just do not taste that good - if of anything at all.

Brown, wholegrain or wholemeal are always better than white starches.
Rye is fantastic.  Burgen rye bread is a standard for me.  The likes of
Ryvita etc make regular appearances.  Gram for gram, they hit your blood
sugar much slower.  No doubt you'll get into looking at the glycemic
index at some point if you have not already.   www.mendosa.com is a good
place to start.

When eating out, most places will substitute salad for a potato choice.
 Just be careful of the dressings since a lot of these will shoot your
BG  up.  If possible, get dressing separately so that you can keep it
minimal.  I find a lot of the time that when eating out salads are so
smothered in dressings that you cannot taste anything else.  Maybe
that's just the UK though.

The amount you have to learn may seem a little daunting at the moment,
but you will pick it all up and in a few months you'll be replying to
posts like yours here, relaying your experiences.

Finally, go see your nurse.  I think I annoyed mine a bit early on with
requests for frequent blood tests to make sure that I was getting things
right with regards to cholesterol etc.  I was in for other reasons as
well but it was getting a bit "and how are you this week?".  Have an A1c
test and preferably all the other tests every three months for your
first year and keep the results.  I compare all of mine every time and
watch for trends.  It was good to see them all moving towards the "good"
end of the ranges.

Cheers,
VBH
T2/UK/Metformin 1500mg/A1c 5.7