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portion control - why so limiting?

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caffeine_demon

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
the portion control thing is one of the areas I'm struggling with - I do have a huge appetite!!

the amounts shown at the desmond course today where REALLY small - the "large" bread roll was about a mouthful! and they said just 2 portions of fruit a day, and only 3 of veg. so - what does this leave to eat when your hungry?

I just know if I ate those amounts, I'd be starving again in about 20 minutes!

ultimately - if your BG is well controlled, and your weight is reducing at a healthy rate (or remaining steady if it's ok) - should portion size really be that important?
 
caffeine_demon said:
the portion control thing is one of the areas I'm struggling with - I do have a huge appetite!!

the amounts shown at the desmond course today where REALLY small - the "large" bread roll was about a mouthful! and they said just 2 portions of fruit a day, and only 3 of veg. so - what does this leave to eat when your hungry?

I just know if I ate those amounts, I'd be starving again in about 20 minutes!

ultimately - if your BG is well controlled, and your weight is reducing at a healthy rate (or remaining steady if it's ok) - should portion size really be that important?
Click to expand...
Your meter, about an hour after you eat, will answer your last question.

As to what's left when you're hungry, try these: Snacks. Those are just ideas. Basically, anything you like as long as the carb count is low. But, like many others, I found that the less carbs I ate the less carbs I craved.
 
caffeine_demon said:
the portion control thing is one of the areas I'm struggling with - I do have a huge appetite!!

the amounts shown at the desmond course today where REALLY small - the "large" bread roll was about a mouthful! and they said just 2 portions of fruit a day, and only 3 of veg. so - what does this leave to eat when your hungry?

I just know if I ate those amounts, I'd be starving again in about 20 minutes!

ultimately - if your BG is well controlled, and your weight is reducing at a healthy rate (or remaining steady if it's ok) - should portion size really be that important?
Click to expand...

Dear caffeine_demon,

The advice you received regarding portion control is the standard info' given to us to help lose weight. Their hypothesis is that to lose weight you must cut calories and exercise. They believe that we become obese because we overeat and are sedentary, some call it gluttony and sloth with all the attendent moral judgements. Alan's advice offers a solution to this problem, without the attendant feelings of hunger, i.e. a low carb snack. In fact a low carb diet largely does away with feelings of hunger, at least for most people, and you don't count calories. It turns out you do normally eat less calories because you are naturally satiated.

Warmest Regards Dodger
 
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Hi

I think it might be that you have got used to eating large portions over time without realising so your body has got used to expecting large portions. You can now retrain your appetite.

I changed to low carb and be careful on my portion size- I tend to find if I go over now its on protein rather than carb - but thats just me.

For my first week it didn't feel that I was eating enough, but by week 2 I didn't get the hunger pangs I used to get and felt much better.

So maybe give it a go for a month and see if you feel a lot better afterwards. I felt before I was feeling tired and falling asleep as the large carb portion was increasing my bs, low carb works for me to get better control and I feel like I have lots of energy.
I still notice when I have a cheat that I will feel tired, but that is now making me think before I have the cheat.

So I would give it a go, and then ask yourself in a month if the portions still seem small - or do the portions you used to eat now feel too large!

Its a good exercise and you should defintiely drop a few pounds which is always nice!
 
I was the large portion king before diagnosis. A 500g pack of beef mince usually went into two meals. Occassionally, it did me for only for one.

Now I can easily manage to make it last four.

My approach is to bulk up my meals with vegetables (although there is carb there, it is usually not that high). Consequently, I often eat much more than the recommended 5 a day. It is often 7 or 8!

Apparently another good food to help keep the hunger pangs at bay between meals is soup.

Andy 🙂
 
hi Caff...... oooh you went on Desmond.... I'm still waiting ... hope you enjoyed it and found it useful

I, too, had a huge apetite.... my family and friends remarked on it 😱

but since I cut out obvious sugar from my diet I have been able to cut my portions down and lose 11lbs in a month without being hungry 😱 (I have exercised every day too)

last night I cooked the recommended amount (on the packet) of brown rice to go with my salmon fillet.... and ate only 1/4 of it!!! I didn't even dish it out onto my plate. even after a month it seemed such a large amount (the rest of my plate was a lovely salad)

I tend to eat fruit... mainly berries.... and celery or carrot sticks if I'm hungry... but that is quite rare these days
 
3 portions of veg and 2 of fruit? That's outrageous! Are they mad? 5 portions is the absolute MINIMUM you should be eating, not the maximum.

In fact we'd all be healthier eating more, and if you eat the veg/salad first, the lack of potato/pasta etc carbohydrate becomes less of an issue. In France they are told 10 portions, in Japan 13. I eat about 9 a day and have only been ill once, the Christmas before last, in the last 10 years. No sickness, no colds, nothing. And our guidelines have been recently changed anyway, to 8 portions to help prevent heart disease.

All these bodies in our country should get their information up to date and give the SAME advice.
 
Liz! said:
3 portions of veg and 2 of fruit? That's outrageous! Are they mad? 5 portions is the absolute MINIMUM you should be eating, not the maximum..
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The advice is for T2s not on insulin, who have no means of covering a lot of fruit.
 
But veg and salad is fine, apart from carrots and tomatoes...!
 
It's all very confusing. I am a veggie and my dietician said eat as many as I want, she hasn't restricted which ones either. I have a large plate of veggies for my evening meal with cottage cheese and chickpeas, now adding a veg sausage sometimes.
My HbA1c went down to 7.6 after 14.9 4 months ago and I now weigh less than I have ever done.. just over 10 stones.

I also eat lots of fruit, including bananas which I have now gathered I have to be careful with.

Apart from this bug I have at the moment I am always pretty healthy even though I have an almost lifelong asthma condition too !

I saw my brother recently and he was amazed at how well I look.

So, I guess I will still carry on as I have , lots of veg , lots of fruit. Am I going to suffer for this?
 
Sounds like you are doing great Ann.

The only way to tell whether or not some/a bit/lots of fruit (of any variety) is causing your BGs to spike up to high levels is to get hold of a BG meter and test 1 and 2 hours after eating some.

M
 
AnnW said:
It's all very confusing. I am a veggie I saw my brother recently and he was amazed at how well I look.

So, I guess I will still carry on as I have , lots of veg , lots of fruit. Am I going to suffer for this?
Click to expand...

Hi Ann,

you might like to consider Dr. Neal Barnard's ideas on how to manage diabetes as a Vegetarian. Wallycorker on this group took Barnard's ideas and adapted them to successful control. I think Wally's diet is outlined in the food threads
Barnard links....forget the overblown titles of his books btw ...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...x=aps&hvadid=4795561399&ref=pd_sl_iia3geaqn_e
 
I've always thought that variety of fruit and veg is a good thing but you don't need to eat a plateful of each. A small amount of 3 or 4 types of veg with your meal and/or a small selection of berries or slices of apple, etc with variations on the theme through the week and you should get the full benefit without overdoing it carb-wise. The lower GI ones should slow down the higher ones.🙂

Obviously, you don;t have to do what I do and have the veg with half a steak & kidney pie or the fruit with full fat cream, but nobody's perfect 😱

Rob
 
well - I tried tonight with the left over prawns in passata with chilli from a couple of nights ago. - I had the recommended 3 tablespoons of rice (brown basmati), with the prawns on top - and also had a good chunk of braised celery, and some runner beans.

and I dont' think I was any more hungry than after a big wodge of rice....

thye idea of having over half your meal as veg seems quite similar to the "success express" variant on the slimming world diet.
 
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fruit makes me spike and i was such a fruit bat pre dx...i also have to watch my root veg intake ... 😡 but just had my latest late night snack of celery and yoghurt ...ummmm 🙂
 
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mcdonagh47 said:
Hi Ann,

you might like to consider Dr. Neal Barnard's ideas on how to manage diabetes as a Vegetarian. Wallycorker on this group took Barnard's ideas and adapted them to successful control. I think Wally's diet is outlined in the food threads
Barnard links....forget the overblown titles of his books btw ...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&...x=aps&hvadid=4795561399&ref=pd_sl_iia3geaqn_e
Click to expand...
I have to admire such a dry wit. Wallycorker following Barnard?

Unless there are two Johns using the nick Wallycorker on different diabetes forums I've known John for some years on a different forum. We discussed diet, testing and similar subjects when we first encountered each other. Note the second-last comment here: http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/d-day.html

I noticed a couple of threads on John's wonderful progress and his diet running at the moment so I read them in full. Read his wise menu and advice here: http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=6435

Note these foods mentioned:

bacon, cheese, ham, chicken, fish, beef or gammon steak...

John has done a marvellous job of gaining control of his diabetes, but not as a modification of Barnard's extreme vegan ideas.
 
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Just read that second link and yes, that approximates what i eat type 2 or type 1, it's the best diet. Also for normal people! I couldn't eat that much fruit though especially grapes and orange and banana etc. But part from that. that's the sort of diet that can really help type 1 diabetics to remain healthy with blood fats and all, and type 2s (without the fruit normally) to even reverse their problem.
 
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