Not diabetes but....
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Not diabetes but....
Jen saw the Dr. yesterday after having fasting bloodwork and a glucose tolerance test last week. Her fasting blood sugar is within normal range, but her glucose tolerance blood draws were way up there.
The Dr. said that her body does not metabolize sugar in her diet. Each blood draw after drinking the glucose stuff was over 200, which is high. Her fasting was 90.
The Dr. just told her she had to drastically change her diet and avoid sugars and have very little carbs. Only the doctor didn't tell her exactly what she COULD eat. The Dr. did tell her that if she didn't do this, she will end up as a diabetic.
She has to go back in 3 months, and also have more blood work done 2 hours after eating, before she goes, to compare to last week's tests.
Does anyone here have, or have a family member or child who is diabetic or has a sugar metabolism issue??? Any advice or suggestions?? Is fruit allowed - is the sugar in fruit OK??
Karen, here a a few links we had bookmarked when my mom was having this problem. Hope you can find them useful. With watching what she does eat will make her feel so much better.
http://www.thepaleodiet.com/sugars.htm
http://www.pamf.org/diabetes/diet.html#Use%20fruit%20for%20snacks
http://www.laplaza.org/health/dwc/nadp/mtg3.htm
Check out Sugar Busters for Kids or even the main book, Sugar Busters.
Whole fruits are better than juices, whole wheat pastas/breads are better than white. Eat foods in there most natural state rather than processed.
Thanks - keep the ideas coming! LOL
We don't buy white bread, only whole wheat, and I've recently begun buying Bosmatti rice and whole wheat pasta also, though all of those are still carbs.
Yes, they are still carbs, but they are processed more slowly so that helps with the surges in blood sugar.
check out this site, David Mendosa has become quite the self educated expert
http://www.mendosa.com/
There are tons of cook books out there for Diabetics, I don't have diabetes but I buy them all the time, very healthy eating.
You can also try the GI Diet, tells you all about good and bad carbs and sugars and what foods to avoid.
How's her weight? Did the doctor mention that she had to lose weight? If so the GI Diet is excellent and very healthy.
Check out the Diabetes Association on-line and in your local community - great resources. Good luck and let us know how her next tests are.
I know this sounds like you might have received bad news, but it is good news, you caught it in time and you can prevent it from going any further.
No, in fact, she just recently had a weight loss of about 20 lbs., so she is underweight. She has never been heavy in her life, so that's not a problem. Part of her nutrition problem is that she does not eat meat at all, but she does eat a lot of cheese and has been eating a lot of carbs.
Cheese is low in carbs and good for her to eat. I had Gestational Diabetes and am high risk for developing it again so I have to watch my carbs. Sweets and sodas are obviously very high in carbs so I don't have them often. Breads and pasta are limited because they're high, too. Teach her how to read labels to note how many carbs per serving size. She can have carbs but just needs to limit them. John posted a web site awhile back that listed carb counts for common foods. I don't think I have it bookmarked any longer. When I was pregnant I had to seriously count my carb intake. No more than 60 grams of carbs each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I was allowed one snack (30 grams carbs) between each meal. I'm certainly not that strict with my diet now but do keep an eye on my general intake. A slice of bread is usually about 15 g carbs. Rambling here... LOL! Overwhelming at first but after awhile it's not hard and becomes a way of life. Did they recommend she check her glucose levels periodically?
Karen, if she's not eating meat have her vitiam B checked. I was a vegan for awhile and had to had vitiam B shots as I did not pay enough attention to my diet.
and her iron if you haven't already. If she is low in Vit. B and iron she may feel tired a lot of the time.
Her iron was checked. She has been chronically anemic most of her life, as am I. She has to start taking a B supplement also.
Karen, she needs, I think, to seriously study how to be a vegetarian and to eat healthy. Scott is mostly vegetarian, and stays very healthy. But I know he watches his protein intake pretty carefully, does the tofu and soy thing fairly seriously. None of which does a whole lot for iron, but there are lots of vegetables that are fairly high in iron.
Scott is gone from this morning until Sunday evening, but I will ask him for some good cookbook and/or website recommendations for vegetarians who need low sugar, low carb, high iron diets.
As if you didn't have enough to worry about!
I have PCOS, which sounds pretty similar. I also have insulin resistance. I have to watch my carbs. I was so good this last time, that my cholesterol was too high. I swear, I can't win! There are tons of cookbooks out there.
Can the doctor tell her how many carbs she can have per meal?
That would help her.
Laura, I am not familiar with PCOS - I will have to look into that.
Feona, the doc was not very helpful, or so Jen says. I go to the same doc and I love her - she is always on top of everything. I just wonder if Jen was so upset she either didn't ask, didn't hear or forgot. At any rate, she doesn't have a printed list of what to eat and what not to eat.
We are trying to get as much information as we can. I have included all the links and stuff in an email to Jen and told her to check them out.
She also has a friend who is big into health stuff and she is checking some things out for her.
Karen, it's very possible that she has PCOS. The symptoms can be very similiar.
Ways to cut carbs...
Avoid anything made with grains (wheat, rice, rye, etc.) that includes Bread, Pasta, etc.
UP the fiber intake (this slows sugar absorption and helps keep blood sugar under control)
UP the green vegetables especially leafy kind
GOOD veggie choices include brocolli, califlower, brocolli rabi, etc.
AVOID starchy veggies like Corn and Peas
Fructose (the form of sugar in fruit) has the LARGEST effect on blood sugar, even more than sucrose(table sugar).
Therefore if she is going to eat fruit stick to the
low glycemic index fruits like strawberries raspberries and blueberries. In general you can eat almost every "berry"
Avoid high carb fruits like bananas and choose lower carb alternatives like apples, peaches, etc. In any case, fruit should not be a staple of her diet (eat only 2-3 servings a day).
When you drastically cut carbs like this, you're only left with Protein and Fats for most of your calories.
Of the two, Fats have the least effect on Blood sugar, so foods such as these can be eaten without restriction:
Butter, cheese(avoid low fat versions with have added sugar), cream (unsweetened), Avocados (good source of potassium).
Nuts like walnuts and macadamias are very low in carbs and a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids.
You should avoid Cashews and peanuts (which are really legumes).
Avoid skim milk (very high in milk sugar) and drink either diluted( 8:1 with water) heavy cream which has very few carbs or small amounts of whole milk (each cup contains 3 tsp of sugar).
Does she intend to remain a vegetarian? I can't even imagine staying low carb without some animal products (eggs, milk, cheese, etc.)
The Atkins induction food list is probably the best single source of low carb and high fiber food sources:
http://atkins.com/Archive/2001/12/15-464579.html
Karen,
I also bumped up a couple messages on the Let's get Fit board for you:
A nutrition calculator (for checking carb content)
An article on Diabetes
Thanks John! And yes, she will NOT eat meat. She adores sushi and seafood, but she stopped eating meat about 4 or 5 years ago.
Does she eat chicken?
She eats fish I see...
I just think it is hard to do low carb with just fish... how many times can you eat fish in a week... Like twice.
No, no chicken, no beef, no pork, no turkey.... she will eat salmon and tuna and any seafood or sushi, she eats dairy, but no meat.
What about eggs? They are an excellent source of complete protein.
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