Diabetic food in Supermarkets

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Jenni49

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Type 2
I would like to know if Diabetes UK has ever seriously put pressure on supermarkets to provide food low in carbs and calories at a reasonable price. The only way to get bread, various snacks, cooking sauce, pasta etc etc is to pay exorbitant prices on line. Surely with the increasing numbers of diabetics it would be of financial benefit for supermarkets to provide us with a wide range of foods. Gluten free food is well supplied but nothing for diabetics except Hilo bread which although lower than normal bread is not that low in calories, could be lower in carbs and not available in every supermarket. Surely this is a campaign you should be headlining and leading but I am not aware of anything.
 
Jenni49 said:
I would like to know if Diabetes UK has ever seriously put pressure on supermarkets to provide food low in carbs and calories at a reasonable price. The only way to get bread, various snacks, cooking sauce, pasta etc etc is to pay exorbitant prices on line. Surely with the increasing numbers of diabetics it would be of financial benefit for supermarkets to provide us with a wide range of foods. Gluten free food is well supplied but nothing for diabetics except Hilo bread which although lower than normal bread is not that low in calories, could be lower in carbs and not available in every supermarket. Surely this is a campaign you should be headlining and leading but I am not aware of anything.
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Whilst there may be an increasing range of gluten-free goods in supermarkets, they are rarely comparably priced, versus their gluten bearing equivalents. I am gluten-free.

I am also low carb, and frankly don't want any Frankenfood. I prefer to stick to simple foods, which are naturally gluten-free, and not all of those bear eye watering costs.

To be honest, in terms of by population, and even by population of those living with diabetes, those going low carb and in a minority.
 
Jenni49 said:
I would like to know if Diabetes UK has ever seriously put pressure on supermarkets to provide food low in carbs and calories at a reasonable price.
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Making things like bread low-carb is a bit tricky, I suspect, so if you do it you end up needing to make something that's probably not great food. Probably better overall to change your diet so you eat less bread.

My guess is that's the thinking, anyway. There used to be "diabetic chocolate" and things, but they weren't particularly helpful and there was a campaign to stop using terms like that, ultimately successful.
 
They already do, it’s called the fresh veg aisle. And the fresh meat aisle.

The other thing is, if you are on insulin you can pretty much eat anything as long as you adjust your dose correctly. If you are diet controlled only you can’t, but what one person can get away with another can’t, it’s very individual. So producing “diabetic” foods that suit everyone is pretty much impossible. Foods which used to be labelled suitable for diabetics aren’t allowed to be labelled as such any more, because although lower in sugar, still had carbs in so weren’t actually any better for you.
 
I'd protest that they do - or at least I never have any trouble in getting food to eat for a week or so at a time from the ones I visit.
I don't need to buy snacks, pasta sauces or bread, so having them in diabetic friendly versions would not be of any advantage to the supermarkets.
 
Jenni49 said:
I would like to know if Diabetes UK has ever seriously put pressure on supermarkets to provide food low in carbs and calories at a reasonable price. The only way to get bread, various snacks, cooking sauce, pasta etc etc is to pay exorbitant prices on line. Surely with the increasing numbers of diabetics it would be of financial benefit for supermarkets to provide us with a wide range of foods. Gluten free food is well supplied but nothing for diabetics except Hilo bread which although lower than normal bread is not that low in calories, could be lower in carbs and not available in every supermarket. Surely this is a campaign you should be headlining and leading but I am not aware of anything.
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There is plenty of low carb foods in supermarkets, as to reasonable price try looking at gluten free or free from foods.
The price of these products are unrealistic to many peoples pockets.
 
This is a much more complex issue than you imagine. Industrially produced low carb foods will often have all sorts of additives which I personally would no longer want.
Carbs are cheap. If you make food with more expensive ingredients, then it will be more expensive. If you expect it to be the same price then that has to be funded by someone. Is it right that the government funds it. I don't think so. I eat low carb but I make choices within what I can afford. I very rarely eat out and I haven't been on holiday for almost 20 years, so the money I have saved there goes towards affording other things. It is about what you choose to spend your money on and it isn't simply about health because I very much doubt that the low carb processed foods you are talking about including bread, are actually healthier in the long run. A fresh cabbage and some onions and herbs and spices and a tin of tomatoes is the healthy option and not overly expensive and can be made into something tasty and healthy and low carb.

My advice would be for you to rethink your approach to food. I loved bread, but I have learned to live without it and I now wonder how good for us, mass produced bread is with all it's additives and I just don't miss it anymore. I don't need to buy jars of sauces and ready meals. I do buy pots of olives and lots of cheese, but I used to spend money on chocolate and sweets and crisps so I am just spending it on something healthier.
 
I attended the local weight management scheme for bariatric surgery and they advised stay away from diabetic and manufactured specialist foods as they often have other additives to make them taste better. So like advice given I make my own meals and batch cook, I stick as close to low GI as my other medical gastrointestinal conditions allow, it’s more work but it’s worked a lot weight loss wise and cravings are much better, not perfect but I no longer crave carbs or sugar unless I have a bad run with pmt.
 
What would be much more use is for food to labeled with diabetic countable carbs and not total carbs. Who other than a diabetic is going to be checking the cabs on the label.
 
GLB said:
What would be much more use is for food to labeled with diabetic countable carbs and not total carbs. Who other than a diabetic is going to be checking the cabs on the label.
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Can you explain what you mean by this? Total carbs are the countable carbs as far as I am aware here in the UK. Different matter in the US where you have to deduct FIBER but our food labelling makes it quite clear although it would be nice if it was in larger font and on the front of the packages with or instead of the traffic light system, so that it was easier to see. Don't they know that a long term complication of diabetes is poor sight, so having that info in tiny lettering and often not even black print on white but another colour like green on white or worse still, white print on a green background which is much harder to see.
 
rebrascora said:
Can you explain what you mean by this? Total carbs are the countable carbs as far as I am aware here in the UK. Different matter in the US where you have to deduct FIBER but our food labelling makes it quite clear although it would be nice if it was in larger font and on the front of the packages with or instead of the traffic light system, so that it was easier to see. Don't they know that a long term complication of diabetes is poor sight, so having that info in tiny lettering and often not even black print on white but another colour like green on white or worse still, white print on a green background which is much harder to see.
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After recently completing the DAFNE course I was shocked to find just how many carbs shown on packets don't apply one that stands out is baked beans you only count 50% of those shown which is the sauce as the beans are not counted. The food is reduced in such a way that they get a total carb value at the end which includes all vegetables etc not just potatoes the only ones to matter.
 
GLB said:
After recently completing the DAFNE course I was shocked to find just how many carbs shown on packets don't apply one that stands out is baked beans you only count 50% of those shown which is the sauce as the beans are not counted. The food is reduced in such a way that they get a total carb value at the end which includes all vegetables etc not just potatoes the only ones to matter.
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The fact of the matter is that all carbs on our UK labels are countable certainly for people on insulin pumps and have to be more precise, but DAFNE simplifies it a bit because there is usually a bit of surplus basal insulin which will mop up those carbs that are "overlooked".or ignored. It certainly isn't the case that they don't count, just that for a small portion DAFNE suggests it isn't necessary to do so.
Baked beans would be a prime example of something which I absolutely could not underestimate because I am one of those people whose body manages to extract more glucose from them that the actual carb total they quote, rather than less. Beans and lentils and peanuts generate more carbs for some of us than others in the same way as they are slow release for some people (which is again why surplus basal can mop them up) but rocket fuel for others. Porridge being a prime example of that.
I really loved my DAFNE course and it was incredibly helpful in giving me a basic understanding and confidence at adjusting my basal doses, but I didn't find the carb counting all that helpful or appropriate for me, but then I follow a low carb way of eating rather than "Normal Eating" as per the course title. I would still highly recommend it, but I think you have misunderstood in that they are saying that these things don't need to be counted (because carb counting on MDI doesn't need to be that precise, rather than that those carbs don't count. These are very different things.

A type 2 diabetic who is managing their condition through lowering their daily carb intake and therefore need to know how many carbs they are having in a day, need to know the total carb content of foods, not a simplified version of carb counting that DAFNE came up with, so again, this idea is not as simple and straight forward as you might expect.
 
GLB said:
Many more than you think once you know what carbs are countable many soups are effectively carb free but not according to the label.
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I believe you are misunderstanding DAFNE. Those soups are not carb free, just that DAFNE suggests that they are not sufficiently carb rich to warrant counting them. Personally, I always have to inject for half a can of soup even ones with no potato, pasta or rice. Usually 2 units (20g carbs) and that is without any bread. Same with homemade soups. 2 units is pretty standard for a bowl of soup.

I think the big lesson that I have learned from this forum is that there are no set of rules that apply to everyone and the only way to be really successful is to experiment on yourself and see what works for you as an individual. DAFNE gives you a framework, but it shouldn't be set in stone or taken as gospel because diabetes doesn't work like that.
 
rebrascora said:
The fact of the matter is that all carbs on our UK labels are countable certainly for people on insulin pumps and have to be more precise, but DAFNE simplifies it a bit because there is usually a bit of surplus basal insulin which will mop up those carbs that are "overlooked".or ignored. It certainly isn't the case that they don't count, just that for a small portion DAFNE suggests it isn't necessary to do so.
Baked beans would be a prime example of something which I absolutely could not underestimate because I am one of those people whose body manages to extract more glucose from them that the actual carb total they quote, rather than less. Beans and lentils and peanuts generate more carbs for some of us than others in the same way as they are slow release for some people (which is again why surplus basal can mop them up) but rocket fuel for others. Porridge being a prime example of that.
I really loved my DAFNE course and it was incredibly helpful in giving me a basic understanding and confidence at adjusting my basal doses, but I didn't find the carb counting all that helpful or appropriate for me, but then I follow a low carb way of eating rather than "Normal Eating" as per the course title. I would still highly recommend it, but I think you have misunderstood in that they are saying that these things don't need to be counted (because carb counting on MDI doesn't need to be that precise, rather than that those carbs don't count. These are very different things.

A type 2 diabetic who is managing their condition through lowering their daily carb intake and therefore need to know how many carbs they are having in a day, need to know the total carb content of foods, not a simplified version of carb counting that DAFNE came up with, so again, this idea is not as simple and straight forward as you might expect.
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Well I have actioned all they had to teach and found it to be correct and it has answered many mysteries and oddities I have noticed over the last 46 years with type 1. I'm too convinced type 1 and 2 should even be in the same forum such a different condition.
 
rebrascora said:
Usually 2 units (20g carbs) and that is without any bread. Same with homemade soups. 2 units is pretty standard for a bowl of soup.
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Yup I have to allow at least 20g for a bowl
of soup.

Homemade from fresh ingredients, so I know exactly what’s in it - but soup catches me out time and again if I under estimate it!
 
I was on injections when I did my DAFNE course and I would agree that the carb counting was simplified and I was encouraged to estimate to the nearest 10 g of carbs In order to calculate my insulin with a lot of rounding of values going on to make the calculations simple. A great foundation for then finding what works for each of us.

My frustration with labels is the variation in how they give it. This is at its worst with things likes pasta, beans and lentils where they give you the carbs for the weight once cooked. I tend to weigh my ingredients before I cook them. I work to a set target of carb content for each meal so want to know how much to cook, rather than cook some and then see what the carbs are. Also if it is in a sauce weighing it later is impossible. By fiddling around with the number of portions in a pack, or the small print about a portion size I worked out how much of each gives me 25 g of carbs, and now have a little list for foods we cook regularly.

With regard to ‘countable carbs’ they will all become glucose once inside, but they will do this at different rates and on injections I knew that for pulses and beans I needed to split my dose as these released more slowly (but all too often then forgot to do the second jab). On a pump all these things are easier to deal with, and we are able to make finer adjustments, such as extended boluses or multi wave (a dose up front and the rest over the next ….. hours).

Every day with Diabetes is a Maths day.
 
GLB said:
Well I have actioned all they had to teach and found it to be correct and it has answered many mysteries and oddities I have noticed over the last 46 years with type 1. I'm too convinced type 1 and 2 should even be in the same forum such a different condition.
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I think you and other are just demonstrating the challenges with diet and condition management. Put simply one size does not fit all.

They'd never please everyone.

As you have found, education is the key.

(Edited to add apologies for tablet typing. Never my finest work. 🙂 )
 
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GLB said:
After recently completing the DAFNE course I was shocked to find just how many carbs shown on packets don't apply one that stands out is baked beans you only count 50% of those shown which is the sauce as the beans are not counted. The food is reduced in such a way that they get a total carb value at the end which includes all vegetables etc not just potatoes the only ones to matter.
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Yeah, well that doesn’t hold true for lots of people so count what you need to. I thought you meant that ready meals contain all carbs including ones we don’t count like some vegetables. That is true and usually knock a few grams off if the meal has ‘free’ carbs because I know the pack will have counted them.

But I don’t want the labels changed. It would be inaccurate. I particularly don’t want people messing with the carbs on beans and legumes.
 
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