PhyllisK Introduction
 

I am new to this forum and am glad I found it. I am in a suburb of St. Louis, Chesterfield. I have lived in St. Louis all my 70 years but in Chesterfield the last three. This is the last stop!

I am here to get help controlling my diabetes. I was diagnosed about a month ago, but to be truthful, I was not surprised. I always worked at keeping my weight under control, even though my diet was unhealthy. Fruits and vegetables were never my favorite foods. My husband was diagnosed with an aggressive leukemia in September 2011. He spent most of the following eleven months in the hospital and passed in August 2012. I spent most of my time, especially after he died, eating and trying to fill that void. We all know how well that works.

I am still trying to get a handle on what I can and cannot have, but I do know low carb is a staple of the diabetic world. Even though I have been following low carb faithfully for the past three weeks, my blood sugar readings are all over the place. I am in a senior independent living facility and am meeting with the dietitian here tomorrow morning, Hopefully, she will be able to shed more light. I did meet with a nutritionist but did not get much out of that meeting.

I know I will get lots of support here and look forward to getting to know you.

Welcome Phyllis :wave:

Glad you found us before the meeting with the facility nutritionist.

First read back through the threads in the Diabetes Forum. Much good information on how to control Diabetes through diet. https://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=45


Most facilities have to follow the USDA Dietary guidelines, but you should know that the ADA, only a few weeks ago, issued a Consensus Report that suggest a VERY Low Carb Diet as an option for Diabetes. This will likely be a surprise to the nutritionist, but you need to know and insist that you want to treat your diabetes with diet and lifestyle first, and VLC is now an option: https://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=482388

This is a good Introduction to the Diet for Diabetes: https://www.dietdoctor.com/diabetes

My own doctor from Duke explaining how he uses LCHF in the Clinic for Diabetes:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf-dia...dr-eric-westman

And his very simple, uncomplicated food list: https://www.dietdoctor.com/se/wp-co...starch_diet.pdf

All the best,

Welcome home, Phyllis. You've come to a great place for support, information, encouragement. Around here, we tend not to speak well of dietitians and nutritionists, because so many of them (for many reasons) must adhere to their traditional learning about how to eat, and are not low-carb friendly. Actually, I'm kind of surprised that you say low-carb is a "staple of the diabetic world," since many have experienced otherwise.

Look around for forums dealing specifically with diabetes, and come back often. There are many excellent helpers.

For now, if you're looking for a food list, there's a "sticky" at the top of the thread on Atkins that will show you basic low-carb choices.

Best wishes. From Kansas City.

Welcome to the group!

Welcome Phyllis! I'm also not crazy about fruits and vegetables. I've redone my thinking though and have come to believe that I never needed them as much as the experts were always saying I did.

With low carb, I eat guilt free! I always say I eat whatever I want as much as I want, I just don't eat bread or sugar. I still eat the burger - I just throw away the roll. I still eat pizza (toppings only) - I just throw away the crust. I've been eating low carb for more than 4 years. The hardest part came in the very beginning - giving up my beloved Diet Coke. But I needed to do that to get my blood sugar under control. Nutrasweet might as well be pure cane sugar to me. YMMV, but I am confident that you can find a way of low carb eating that will work for you.

It is not fruits and vegetables that we eat on a low carb diet. Almost all fruits except for berries are high in carbs and should be avoided and while berries are acceptable they should only be eaten in small quantities. Our carbs come primarily from leafy green over ground vegetables. Also some people eat low carb by eating a carnivore diet, so neither vegetable or fruits.

Thank you, all, for the welcoming words. I heard low fat from the nutritionist during her talk with me a couple of weeks ago about my diabetes, and I knew that was hooey. I had already made up my mind to do lifestyle change first and I think that is doable. And I already knew that my best source of information are from those that have been dealing with this. I have two weeks before my physical and unless something goes crazy really fast, I will not go on medication. Thank you for your suggestions on reading material. Looks like I'll be busy! Stay tuned for more questions.