Read the labels: you should have some kind of a diet plan that lists carbs,
or at least "food exchanges" for fruit and starchy foods like popcorn. As
part of a meal, and counted as such, a bit of popcorn or fruit is fine.

*EVERYTHING* counts, despite the carb-counting people who say "only count
carbs". Carbs act faster, but proteins and fats will affect you later in the
day and need to be handled with your insulin.

Go hit the American Diabetes Association website for diet basics, as a
starting point.

I love popcorn too, but I spike when I try it, I seem to be able to do fine
wih most fruit, apples. oranges, strawberries etc, whole, fruit juices like
orange juice, I can.t handle.  It seems everybody is  different, so you
really have to try and test.  Kay

<snip>

Your blood sugar meter is the tool you use to answer this question for
yourself. Test your blood sugar 1 hour and 2 hours after eating the
popcorn and see how high your blood sugar goes. Many of us would agree
that if our blood sugar was over 140 mg/dl at 2 hours, the food is off
our list. Same goes if our blood sugar goes over 160 at one hour.

How high the popcorn will push your blood sugar also depends on what you
had for the meal before you eat the popcorn and how much that meal
pushed up your blood sugar. And how much popcorn you eat.

Read the excellent advice at:

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm

Test the way Jennifer recommends (another person, not me, BTW)and you'll
soon know exactly what you can and cannot eat.

--Jenny

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes  Diabetes Info

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm Get Your Blood
Sugar Under Control

It's difficult at first to sort out all the information.

You need to look at the three sides of your diabetic triangle:  Food /
Exercise / Meds.   Eventually you'll discover just how YOUR body and
this disease are getting along.  Which will not be the same as my body
and my diabetes.

Here's the advice I give all newbies:

Sounds like you're planning a move to take control of your diabetes... good
for you.

There is so much to absorb... you don't have to rush into anything.  Begin
by using your best weapon in this war, your meter.   You won't keel over
today, you have time to experiment, test, learn, test and figure out just
how your body and this disease are getting along.  The most important
thing you can do to learn about yourself and diabetes is test test  test.

More than most anything, what you eat will affect your diabetes and
your blood glucose numbers.

And more than anything you eat, carbs will affect your diabetes and
your blood glucose numbers.

So, the most important information you can begin to compile about
yourself, is how your body handles carbs.

This sounds like you would need a low carb food plan right?

You don't... what you need to uncover is YOUR   Personalized Carb Number.

Which actually works better for most everyone.  Because low to one
person is wildly high to another, but waaaaay too low for someone
else.

Is low carb less than 30g a day?   Is it anything less than the
Pyramid reccomendations?

Finding your Personalized Carb Number is easy.

Here's how you can figure out your own Personalized Carb Number.

The single biggest question a diabetic has to answer is:

What do I eat?

Unfortunately, the answer is pretty confusing.

What confounds us all is the fact that different diabetics can get great
results on wildly different food plans.  Some of us here achieve
great blood glucose control eating a high complex carbohydrate diet.
Others find that anything over 75 - 100g of carbs a day is too
much.  Still others are somewhere in between.

At the beginning all of us felt frustrated.  We wanted to be handed
THE way to eat, to ensure our continued health.  But we all
learned that there is no one way.  Each of us had to find our own path,
using the experience of those that went before, but still having
to discover for ourselves how OUR bodies and this disease were coexisting.

Ask questions, but remember each of us discovered on our own what works best
for us.  You can use our experiences as jumping off points, but eventually
you'll work up a successful plan that is yours alone.

What you are looking to discover is how different foods affect you.  As I'm
sure you've read, carbohydrates (sugars, wheat, rice... the things our
Grandmas called "starches") raise blood sugars the most rapidly.  Protein
and fat do raise them, but not as high and much more slowly... so if you're
a T2, generally the insulin your body still makes may take care of the rise.

You might want to try some  experiments.

First:  Eat whatever you've been
currently eating... but write it all down.
Test yourself at the following times:

Upon waking (fasting)
1 hour after each meal
2 hours after each meal
At bedtime

That means 8 x each day.  What you will discover by this is how long
after a meal your highest reading comes... and how fast you return to
"normal".  Also, you may see that a meal that included bread, fruit or
other carbs gives you a higher reading.

Then for the next few days, try to curb your carbs.  Eliminate breads,
cereals, rices, beans, any wheat products, potato, corn, fruit... get all
your carbs from veggies.  Test at the same schedule above.

If you try this for a few days, you may find some pretty damn good
readings.  It's worth a few days to discover.

Eventually you can slowly add back carbs until you see them affecting your
meter.

The thing about this disease... though we share much in common and we
need to
follow certain guidelines... in the end, each of our bodies dictate our
treatment and our success.

The closer we get to non-diabetic numbers, the greater chance we have of
avoiding horrible complications.  The key here is AIM... I know that
everyone is at a different point in their disease... and it is progressive.
But, if we aim for the best numbers and do our best, we give ourselves the
best shot at heath we've got.
That's all we can do.

Here's my opinion on what numbers to aim for, they are non-diabetic numbers.

FBG                          under 100
One hour after meals       under 140
Two hours after meals     under 120

or for those in the mmol parts of the world:

Fasting                              Under 6
One hour after meals         Under 8
Two hours after meals       Under 6.5

Recent studies have indicated that the most important numbers are your
"after meal" numbers. They may be the most indicative of future
complications, especially heart problems.

Listen to your doctor, but you are the leader of your diabetic
care team.  While his /her advice is learned, it is not absolute.   You
will end up knowing much more about your body and how it's handling
diabetes than your doctor will.   Your meter is your best weapon.

Just remember, we're not in a race or a competition with anyone but
ourselves... Play around with your food plan... TEST TEST TEST.  Learn what
foods cause spikes, what foods cause cravings... Use your body as a science
experiment.

You'll read about a lot of different ways people use to control their
diabetes... Many are diametrically opposed. After awhile you'll learn that
there is no one size fits all around here.  Take some time to experiment
and you'll soon discover the plan that works for you.

Best of luck!

Jennifer

What does your meter say?

I commend to you the following link:  
http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm

Priscilla, type 2

You sound like I did when I was first diagnosed.  I thought if a diabetic
ate certain foods they would blow up, as in explode or something.  I
remember asking a dietician what would happen to me if I ate a Tic Tac.  And
I was serious!

There are no good or bad foods.  Unless you consider junk type foods and
transfats which I think are just plain bad for everybody!  What are the
ingredients of your popcorn?  I'll bet you'll find transfats in it and those
aren't good.

I make my popcorn in a pan and pop it with olive oil.  I used to put butter
on it too until I discovered that I am allergic to dairy.  It's still very
good with just olive oil.  You can also make it with a hot air popper, but I
find it's kind of dry when done that way.  It's okay eaten as is.  But if
you want salt on it, the salt won't stick.  So I just prefer popping it in
oil.

I presume you have a meter so you can test your blood?  Are you testing when
you get up in the morning?  At two hours after eating?  This is when you
should be testing.

Keep in mind that it is carbohydrates that raise BG (blood glucose) the
most.  These are the things you'll need to pay the most attention to.  There
are carbs in popcorn, apples, oranges, bread, pasta, cereal, milk, potatoes,
peas, corn, and all sorts of other foods.  Some vegetables are lower in carb
than others.  Like cucumbers, lettuce, celery, broccoli, green beans, etc.
So you'll want to fill up on this stuff and have less of the other stuff.

Protein raises BG but to a lesser extent.  Fat doesn't raise BG.  But it
delays the absorption of carbs.  For this reason, a little fat in a meal is
good.  A lot of fat is bad.  It can cause you to have a hypo or a delayed
spike in BG.  And you'll want to eat good fats like olive oil and avocado.

I pay no mind to the GI.  Doesn't seem to help me one bit.  If you find that
it helps you, then by all means use it.

Have you seen a dietician?  If not, you should.  But keep in mind that this
is merely a starting point.  The diet you are given by the dietician may or
may not work for you.  Many people find that the diet they are given has too
many carbs in it for them.  The only way to know is to use your meter.  Many
of us aim for <110 fasting, <120 at two hours after eating.

I'm not a popcorn lover - no further comment on that one.

Yes.

Yes again. They are a good food - in moderation. How much
moderation will be made clear by testing after you eat them.
I eat my fruit in halves, as snacks between meals.

Depends. Are you trying to lose weight? I eat meat(lean,
well-trimmed) or fish two or three times daily - but in very
small serves compared to my pre-diagnosis meals.

Stop saying that. The only stupid question is the one you
should have asked - but didn't:-)

Do some googling using groups search on asd on the subject
"What I ate today".

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 2x500mg

Not if you choke on it.

G'day G'day JJ,

People crave absolute safety.  There is no such thing.
Failing that people crave permission from others to continue doing
what they want to do.  I won't give it to you.  Others might.
The reason is we're adults in an adult world and have ultimately to
assess risks for ourselves.  Let's have a bit of look at the risks
associated with eating popcorn.  

1. Around this house it largely having to ignore two sets of beady
canine eyes looking up and hoping I will drop some accidentally for
them.  They should be thinking about exercise, going walkies and
swimswims not feeding their faces.  Hey, dogs are dogs and they would
willing put off exercise if food is in the offing.

2.  Information. Information is only as good as it is accurate and
complete.  Low GI is a popular marketing tool these days.  Is the low
pop corn you are eating really going to have little effect on your
blood glucose?   Some popcorn might well be low GI if it is made from
specially selected corn contains a high percentage of amylose, the
unbranched form of starch that forms nice helical spirals.  Have you
looked at that corn reeaaal closely, closely enough to see the spiral
instead of the criss-cross branched starch of amylopectin.  Relax I'm
pulling you leg but only slightly.  Just enough for you to shed some
of the innocence and realise that you have to find out what is true
for you AND your popcorn.  What that means is doing one and two hour
blood tests to find out just how much popcorn is OK for you.

3. When something is taken out, something OFTEN gets in to take its
place.  It doesn't always happen, so CHECK and find out.

If it is low in butter was that bought at the expense of added high
fructose corn syrup?  Perhaps instead of butter which is pretty stable
they used a vegetable fat that needed to be stabilised by partial
hydrogenation.  Check the label of saturated fats and more importantly
trans fat content.  Trans fats are worse then saturated fats.

This post not CC'd by email
On 8 Mar 2006 05:58:28 -0800, "JJ Jones"
<jamesjonathanjones@yahoo.com> wrote:

Ignorance is cool.  
What is dangerous is ignorance that isn't recognised.

T2 diabetics who eat oranges tend to have better blood glucose control
than those who don't.  Of course it could be that those with better
blood glucose control are freer to eat oranges.  Correlation isn't the
same as cause and effect.  FWIIW, I happen to think that it is good
for diabetics to eat say half and orange a day IF they test and find
their blood glucose stays with guidelines.  For me the American
Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the AACE set the most
sensible guidelines.  Jennifer's advice to newbies is really helpful
in making this simple to follow.

Apples and pear are good choices from fruit.  Even better are berries.
Think strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries,
bilberries.  They are all good.

It you need to make simple choices which you intend to test with your
blood glucose meter then a good place to start is with fruit that grow
in areas outside the tropics.  I eat prunes daily.  The reasons are
long and involved but put simply they are cheaper than the
antioxidants people buy as supplements. They will recycle the vitamin
C and Vit E you get from fresh fruit and might find you can eat only a
limited amount of because they affect your blood glucose or your
wallet.

Fruit is something to learn about by testing.  It is a very individual
thing.  There is a class of vegetables that you can and most likely
should eat in fairly unrestricted amounts.  These are the high water
content vegetables.  Mineral dissolve in water, so high water content
vegetables mean you get your minerals.  Diabetics need stuff like
potassium and magnesium from natural sources.  Greens do it.  Now some
people can eat steamed vegetables.  Some of them even taste nice.  The
reality is that many of them taste better when cooked or served with a
little olive oil.  The success of the Mediterranean diet isn't so much
that people eat vegetables but they make them palatable enough to be
enjoyable to eat.  Take a hint from a bloke.  Buy some lemon pepper
mix. It makes most vegetables more enjoyable.

No food is absolutely safe.  IMHO, lean meats are a good choice if one
is looking for relative safety.  Notice the thinking here.  Lean meat
but olive oil with vegetables.  Olive oil contains a high proportion
of what is called mono-unsaturated fats.  The expert opinion of the
American Diabetic Association is that one remove some carbs from the
diet and replace it with this specific type of fat.

They are not in the least stupid.  Stupid is not asking the questions
or not being very, very selective about which answers you accept at
face value.  The reality is as usual that we are adults living adult
lives and must test what we believe with whatever tools we have at our
disposal.

Sure.  If you have understood what has been said by me and others on
this thread you will already have made much progress.  

Think simple unprocessed foods THAT AGREE WITH YOU as staples.

1. High water content vegetables.

2. Lean meat, fish, shellfish.

3. Some whole grain foods eg Ryvita, or Kavli crisps.

4. Plenty of berries, some carefully selected fruit.
  Avoid fruit juice.

5. Some nuts eg almonds or walnuts you keep in the deep freeze.

6. Some low fat YOUNG cheese such as cottage cheese or feta.  

Choose quality over quantity.  Avoid the 10% more gimmicks.

Think of this as a starting place.  

It could be that you have medical conditions that mean you need
professional dietary advice. You be the judge of that.  Even if you
decide you don't need and perhaps can't afford such guidance, it pays
to be well informed about what is happening to you in terms of blood
glucose, liver function, blood lipids etc.  Forewarned is forearmed.

Best wishes,