Confused.com

[inthemix69]

It strikes me that we have two very conflicting schools of thought for dealing with Type 2 : 1) Low carb, generally high fat and protein diets versus ; 2) Plant based high carb, little fat.
I went plant based a couple of months ago and I've been struggling with my eyesight in particular, as much of my diets is made up of root veg ( yam, cassava, sweet potatoes, etc ), pulses and lots of green veg/other veg. I do eat pasta and rice, but watch portion sizes with these in particular. My fats come from coconut oil, olive oil and butter ( generally real butter as I do not eat margarines )... and I know that butter doesn't fit the remit of pure plant-based eating either.
However, I am struggling with high blood sugar and my eyesight gets quite blurry at times, so I'm trying to find a better way of eating. I've looked at the low carb diets knocking around a lot on typical diabetes websites and forums, but they all go back to meat and eggs - which I don't consume ...
My blood sugars have been up around 20mmol to 24mmol at times of late, generally an hour or two after eating. I sometimes wake up in the morning with blood sugars running at around 14mmol too.
Any helpful advice or pointers would be appreciated ...

 

[ColinUK]

Lacto-ovo vegetarian would allow you to make lots of low carb veggie meals. As you already include butter why not go down that route?

Yes the moral issue about eating animal products is valid but so is doing what’s necessary for your own health.

I’ve also got a number of vegetarian low carb cookbooks and there’s plenty of recipes on BBC’s website as well as on diet doctor.

I’d ditch the rice and pasta and I’d switch out all of the root veg for above ground growing ones personally but most importantly I’d keep a food diary and be logging the impact of everything on BG levels.

Are you on any meds?

 

[inthemix69]

Hi Colin
Vegetarian is not an option for me, butter to one side.
I am taking Metformin X 4 ( 500mg ) and Jardiance ( 25 mg ) vdaily.

 

[ColinUK]

A quick Google has thrown up lots of vegan keto cookbooks and websites.

Have you looked online for inspiration?

 

[inthemix69]

Yes, I'm looking online atm.
I'm still not finding any real clarification on the debate between the two schools of thought as regards the best way to reverse Type 2 ... Dr Jason Fung seems to be very persuasive with his approach, yet Dr Bernard Neal is equally having a good degree of success with his approach, which flies in the face of low carb thinking.

 

[Leadinglights]

I would think you could adapt many of the vegetarian recipes to fit your vegan approach, but just looking at vegan cheese which unlike ordinary cheese which is zero carbs vegan cheese has approx 20g carb per 100g so you would need to take that into account.
There are quite a few substitutions you can make like edamame bean or black bean pasta which are low carb as are some curry sauces I use Punjaban, they have on Amazon less than 20g carb for a jar which serves 4 people and make good cauliflower, butternut squash and chick pea curry.
As you say there is a lot of debate about schools of thought but as everybody is different people have to find an approach which works for them and is sustainable.
I must admit I am a fan of Jason Fung as I think his explanation is plausible but I know a few people do dismiss his view as being quackery.

 

[Windy]

I'm a firmly in the lower carb diet team and am a lacto-ovo vegetarian, so not plant based, but I eat a lot of vegan food including: curries, veggie ones with chickpeas or lentils, and have cauliflower rice with it, TVP (textured vegetable protein, ie soya) and aubergine bolognaise with courgette spaghetti, TVP chilli with red kidney beans and roasted vegetables, hummus and vegetable dips like cucumber, or oven baked cauliflower which have had a bit of curry powder and some oil on them. Also, do you eat tofu, as that's versatile and lower carb? Also, quorn do vegan versions of their mince and sausages and are lower carb - 6.6g of carbs per 100g.
I'm lower carb because when I've tried to reintroduce carbs to my diet, it's made my BG go up, and I'm trying to keep it low and steady. If my pancreas can cope with more carbs, I would eat them, but I'm having about 60g of carbs a day.
I wasn't convinced by Dr Fung when I read his book. Some of his arguments didn't pursuade me, but I went with low carb as it works for me at the moment.
The Direct trial have a diet plan which is higher in carbs and gives wholemeal bread, porridge and bananas in their suggested menu. I think the focus of it is reversing the diabetes through weight loss, and the restricted calorie aspect of their diet plan is the important thing, though it's nutritionally balanced.
Not heard of Dr Neal, so no idea about his approach.
Overall, the key to remission, from what I read in the DIRECT paper, is that you lose 10-15% of your weight. There's more information on the Newcastle university website.