The right food for pre diabetics

[JMyrtle]

Sorry but I agree with Dodo here.
I cannot tolerate refined carbs like white bread, white flour, rice or pasta.
I can " get away with" have a slice of wholemeal toast at breakfast, whole grain pasta provided I cook it , allow it to go completely cold and then reheat it, six chips provided they are made from real potato and triple cooked ( no frozen) and three small new potatoes straight from the garden.
I cannot tolerate old potatoes in any form, rice however it's cooked, anything using wheat, rice or potato flour or potato crisps.
I know all this because I test and keep a food diary so it's my choice if I eat them or not.

 

[Drummer]

Well the story so far

Hi Drummer, are we talking white bread type carbs or the complex high fibre carbs of whole foods? Diabetics daily states that "Some people with diabetes on a low-carb diet eat as few as 15 grams of carbohydrates per day while others may eat many times that," so there is a very fairly broad range. In a nutshell everyone is different to their tolerance to carbs but a pre diabetic improves their diet by eating them. I have not any recipes as yet down to 15g but have some as low as 35g a main course meal as in my Chicken and vegetable stir fry. I will be listing the amount of carbs in each recipe and have completed some but they are all relatively low carb meals and perfectly safe and good for the pre diabetic and some but not all obviously diabetics. Your feedback to me is essential for understanding the complexities of food in conjunction with the disease, thanks.

Well - if it is fibre, we do not digest it - we can't as we are not ruminants.
All the other naturally occurring carbs are easily digested - and so there is not much benefit to anyone wishing to eat a lower carb diet to eating wholegrain or wholemeal rather than the white form - if they eat X amounts of carbs in a meal, that is how many they digest.
It is really good that you will be listing the carb content of your meals - though do be aware that there can be differences which are quite significant in the reported amounts. I do not know how to resolve that. Personally I tried out various meals which seemed quite low carb and then tested how they affected me. I seem to react more to legumes than would be thought from the amount of carbs they contain.

 

[Cornelia49]

You are quite right Martin, refined carbs are the pits, as is anything food wise that has been “Refined”, it usually spells disaster for everyone and most of all, those of us who have to be very wary, so we should only eat Carbs that are high in fibre like whole foods.

Hi Kevin, great idea to publish your recipes, I'll take a look. I've just been diagnosed as prediabetic, but also have the problem of being underweight! BMI 17.5 Virtually everything I have read so far is about cutting down on carbs, when I intuitively feel I need to increase them! I know "empty" carbs are bad, but I certainly don't need to lose more weight 😱 so have to find a balance. And I'm really confused about fats! 😳

HbA1c 42

You are quite right Martin, refined carbs are the pits, as is anything food wise that has been “Refined”, it usually spells disaster for everyone and most of all, those of us who have to be very wary, so we should only eat Carbs that are high in fibre like whole foods.

 

[CathyB]

Great feedback on what for me is turning out to be a very variable and complex subject with everyone being so different.
It makes writing recipes almost imposible but not imposible. Maybe I should write recipes for healthy fats say on one day then maybe a recipe for low carbs on another or just to keep writing recipes for pre diabetics which after all is what my site is about but I still care enough about T1 and T2 , so if anyone has any requests I will do my best to cater for them as individuals.

Kevin I would br really interested in ideas for casseroles, I work long hours so as the colder weather comes in, I rely a lot on my slow cooker, I’m struggling to thing what veg to use that won’t turn to mush, at the moment I mainly eat cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and lots of asparagus....not the best casserole veg! I try to stick to veg growing above the ground but I can tolerate swede. Any ideas you have would be fantastic?

 

[SkinnyLiz]

Hi, my name is Kevin and I am diagnosed pre diabetic.
My passion in life has been amongst other thing eating and cooking food so it came as a great shock to be told I must give up all things sugar and maintain a low carb diet.
So, after I got over the shock I started to rewrite and sometimes scrap the recipes that I had painstakingly put together over the years and rethink them and come up with alternatives.
Well, I think I have at least started to understand this complex subject and proceeded to re-write them. A friend of mine liked what I was doing and suggested I make a website of my recipes, so that is exactly what I did, I used recipes that were sugar free but balanced with low carbs and high in the right kind of vegetables which were high in fibre. I must point out that these recipes are aimed at pre diabetics but I am sure there will be those that will be suitable for full blown diabetics but if you have the slightest doubt please consult your doctor before trying them, thanks. I not sure if I should divulge the name at this juncture but if I am allowed and you fancy taking a look the name of the site is cookwithkev.net

 

[SkinnyLiz]

hello Kevin,
as a newly diagnosed prediabetic, with slightly raised cholesterol levels am going to need a low fat, low carb diet. Will be checking out your site. Have had a whole lot of conflicting advice so far and still very confused.
There is familial hypercholesterol in my family, but not sure if i have inherited that bogeyman.
Also excercise, which seems to be very important, in some places am reading to excercise before meals and in others its after ???
Liz

 

[Drummer]

hello Kevin,
as a newly diagnosed prediabetic, with slightly raised cholesterol levels am going to need a low fat, low carb diet. Will be checking out your site. Have had a whole lot of conflicting advice so far and still very confused.
Liz

I was eating low fat high carb for almost two years and then was diagnosed as a full blown diabetic. A few months on low carb high fat sorted out the diabetes and also lowered my cholesterol, improved my ratios - and the food is so much more palatable.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I was eating low fat high carb for almost two years and then was diagnosed as a full blown diabetic. A few months on low carb high fat sorted out the diabetes and also lowered my cholesterol, improved my ratios - and the food is so much more palatable.

Many of us react badly to saturated fats, my cholesterol goes through the roof.

 

[Drummer]

Many of us react badly to saturated fats, my cholesterol goes through the roof.

Oh you are unlucky then - is it familial hypercholesterol - thingy - these thing usually run in families.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Oh you are unlucky then - is it familial hypercholesterol - thingy - these thing usually run in families.

No, it's simply saturated fat.
No issues otherwise.

It's not uncommon.

 

[Kevin Hart]

Here is a great casserole recipe for most of you, it is extremely low carb but is full of different types of beans and lean lamb, tell me what you think:
https://cookwithkev.net/marrakech-hot-and-spicy-lamb-and-vegetable-soup/

 

[Kevin Hart]

I think this is my best diabetic friendly (Mostly) recipe for a dessert to date, see what you think of this Recipe for a sugarless granola.