Still Confused - Contradictory Advice

[SkinnyLiz]

Been trying to make sense of it all. Lot of reading and online research. Almost seems the more I know the less I understand. Some examples:

On the low GI diet, Anthony Wirral-Thompson advice is " eat as many pulses as you like "
The diabetic specialist nurse tells me to " be very wary, or avoid altogether, beans, peas and sweetcorn as they are high in carbs"
The Carbs and Cals book, suggests "eat more pulses", although this is tempered by suggested portion size.
The leaflet from the pharmacist says try a Mediterranean diet: including "plenty of starchy foods, such as bread and pasta"

Maybe this is the definitive answer:
NHS updated guidelines. Normal moderately active woman needs 1600 calories a day. Usually this should contain around 200 grammes of carbs.
For low carb this can be anywhere between 50 and 150 grammes a day. So am going to aim for 100 grammes and see how it goes.

Counting and weighing, checking everything. Arrgh.

Guess this is normal for a lot of peeps. Having never dieted in my life - it feels very restricting. Oh and the weight, lost another pound, so not stabilised yet.

may add more later

 

[mikeyB]

The NHS guidelines are for normal people, not those with diabetes.

I agree, it’s confusing, but the internet is. But low carb is the way to go, so see how you get on, and let us know🙂

 

[missclb]

It is all a bit of a minefield, for sure. But one thing to bear in mind that low carb and low Glycemic Index (GI) are different things.

This article might explain it better that I could... LINK 🙂

 

[DaveB]

Hi. A few points. The pharmacy leaflet is rubbish and sounds like it's based on PHE guidance. Pulses, beans etc are excellent sources of fibre and hence are low-GI carbs but still carbs. Have a sensible amount but include in your daily carb total. Forget calories as they are irrelevant; just have enough fats and proteins to keep you feeling full together with your planned 100gm/day of carbs

 

[trophywench]

Ignore all printed material and even some of what you read on here - be guided by your BG meter !

 

[Eddy Edson]

Ignore all printed material and even some of what you read on here - be guided by your BG meter !

Yea!

 

[Ljc]

Must say I agree with Jenny. Be guided by your meter ! You see we are all different in what carbohydrates our bodies tolerate well. TBH I feel that the Eatwell plate it may also be called the healthy eating plate is not only not suitable for us but may not be suitable for non diabetics, only time will tell, as far as I know all printed matter from Gp chemists etc will be based on this plate.
With testing you will find foods that you tolerate well that I may need huge doses of insulin to cope with and it would be a shame to cut something you like out when you don’t need to.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Must say I agree with Jenny. Be guided by your meter !

Not sure someone "at risk of diabetes" should be testing much (if at all)! (Not yet, anyway.)

If I had to guess, I'd guess eating a healthy diet would make sense, and by "healthy" I'd suggest a bit lower carbohydrate than is recommended, and worrying a bit less about fat (so full fat milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.), but mostly because I suspect that's where the advice will be going anyway.

So what Antony Worrall Thompson suggests is likely sensible, even if it disagrees in some details with the more official advice. Doesn't sound like there's that much disagreement; just some details. And probably they don't matter that much, since (presumably) nobody's planning on eating huge quantities of pulses.

 

[trophywench]

Well unless we know which foods send us into the stratosphere BG wise, which do we cut down on?

Easiest way is to test, surely, Bruce?

Bananas are healthy for most people - but not all of us. Ditto porridge. Other people have trouble with beans and peas. I have a massive spike when I drink Pepsi Max which is utterly batty.

There again I've never been able to eat 200g of carbs in a day, as an adult and certainly didn't as a child - there wasn't all that much stodge on offer in our house. Never allowed to eat more than X amount of anything baked for the simple reason it had to last Y number of days. Sometimes my dad got away with having an extra one by joking he wasn't quite sure if he enjoyed that thing or not, so he'd better have another to be decide. My older sister tried saying that a few times - but funnily enough it didn't work!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Well unless we know which foods send us into the stratosphere BG wise, which do we cut down on?

True, but testing is annoying (and potentially expensive).

If you don't have diabetes (yet), I'd have thought you could get a long way without doing testing (just improving your diet by trying to eat low GI, eating more fresh vegetables, eating fruit rather than fruit juice (if you drink fruit juice), and that kind of thing).

Testing gives short-term feedback, obviously, and there are presumably cases where it would make sense (if you know you're significantly at risk of diabetes for some reason). Without such reasons I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

(As to the 200g of carbs, I've just come back from a holiday in Florence (and a couple of weeks ago I was near Sorrento). Traditional Italian food can be really tricky. I really wish that pizzas were about a quarter the size; I suspect half a pizza is about 100g.)

 

[Ljc]

I have to be very careful with most fruit, though I can get away with a small apple lunchtime . I can have a small amount of mashed potato. Without testing I wouldn’t have discovered this.
Imo for pre and T2 s not on meds that can cause hypo’s, it’s a good idea to do some in-depth testing for a while to find out the goodies and baddies then switch to occasional testing just to keep an eye on things.
Their was a long time when my test strips were withdrawn , told it wasn’t necessary anymore etc etc at that time test strips were over £20 which I bought for a while , I found Without testing was like driving a car in the dark without lights .

 

[Ljc]

Bruce I’d rather have the slight inconvenience of testing than the complications I now have.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

Ignore all printed material and even some of what you read on here - be guided by your BG meter !

Sorry Jenny, but because its only prediabetic, as yet, have no meter. Testing every six months feels too infrequent though.

 

[Ljc]

Sorry Jenny, but because its only prediabetic, as yet, have no meter. Testing every six monthsfeels too infrequent though.

@SkinnyLiz . I am sorry to say that it’s more than likely they won’t give you a glucose meter, but if you would like to test to find out how the various carbohydrates affect you so you can make informed choices .
Have a read of
test-review-adjust by Alan S
If you can afford to self fund your own then the SD Codefree meter is one of the cheapest ones to self fund the ongoing cost of the test strips around £8 for 50.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codefree-G...fm-21&linkId=f39210144fdc26c27738e45b6d957003

 

[SkinnyLiz]

The NHS guidelines are for normal people, not those with diabetes.

I agree, it’s confusing, but the internet is. But low carb is the way to go, so see how you get on, and let us know🙂

Hi MikeyB, for now am assuming that prediabetic is close to normal: for calories at least. However today discovered am probably nowhere near 1600 calories - and so far am at 102 grammes of carb, (had cereal for breakfast) this is at 9pm without taking into account tea and coffee throughout the day. Will continue to monitor.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

Not sure someone "at risk of diabetes" should be testing much (if at all)! (Not yet, anyway.)

If I had to guess, I'd guess eating a healthy diet would make sense, and by "healthy" I'd suggest a bit lower carbohydrate than is recommended, and worrying a bit less about fat (so full fat milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.), but mostly because I suspect that's where the advice will be going anyway.

So what Antony Worrall Thompson suggests is likely sensible, even if it disagrees in some details with the more official advice. Doesn't sound like there's that much disagreement; just some details. And probably they don't matter that much, since (presumably) nobody's planning on eating huge quantities of pulses.

Hi Bruce, cant go with his advice, it seems to suggest that adding cream, butter or nuts will slow down absorbtion of carbs. But as there is also a need for low fat diet, cant go with it at all. Like you said, though, not planning on being antisociable enough to eat huge quantities of pulses.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

It is all a bit of a minefield, for sure. But one thing to bear in mind that low carb and low Glycemic Index (GI) are different things.

This article might explain it better that I could... LINK 🙂

Thanks Caroline for the informative link

 

[KARNAK]

Ignore all printed material and even some of what you read on here - be guided by your BG meter !

Excellent advise, well said.

 

[trophywench]

Well depends why you need a low fat diet Liz. Certainly not for diabetes sake and you haven't mentioned any other medical problems. Is it in the blurb you've picked up along the way or something blurb has led you to believe is healthy?

 

[DaveB]

Hi Bruce, cant go with his advice, it seems to suggest that adding cream, butter or nuts will slow down absorbtion of carbs. But as there is also a need for low fat diet, cant go with it at all. Like you said, though, not planning on being antisociable enough to eat huge quantities of pulses.

Why do you need a low-fat diet?