Do you feel constantly on a 'diet'?

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Steff

Steff

Little Miss Chatterbox
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I was asked a very interesting question lately and i struggled to come up with an answer to be honest, How do you cope with constently being on a diet? but is it really about being on a diet ALL of the time or is some of the time enough, how does one cope with being so strict and sticking to it , how do we prevent that dreaded spike ? is it unavoidable? are we always going to spike however strict we are on our diet it is all going around in my head on how i can keep going with dieting and not slipping back into a "bad" diet, any help would be appreicated i'd like to know what some of you guys think x
 
steff09 said:
I was asked a very interesting question lately and i struggled to come up with an answer to be honest, How do you cope with constently being on a diet? but is it really about being on a diet ALL of the time or is some of the time enough, how does one cope with being so strict and sticking to it , how do we prevent that dreaded spike ? is it unavoidable? are we always going to spike however strict we are on our diet it is all going around in my head on how i can keep going with dieting and not slipping back into a "bad" diet, any help would be appreicated i'd like to know what some of you guys think x
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Hi Steff - this is one of those questions that I get asked quite a lot too. I'm gradually turning it round in my mind to "this isn't a diet, simply how I eat the vast majority of the time" as that is the only way I can stop feeling deprived. I also make sure I treat myself to something nice so today I've just had some lovely fresh cherries and really enjoyed them. Still have very tough days - yesterday just succumbed to some biscuits and boy were they good! Gradually finding my tastes are changing too - somethings just taste too sweet now. Personally work broadly to the 80:20 rule - if I'm sticking to it rigidly 80% of the time then there is room for special treats that I take time to really enjoy
 
steff09 said:
I was asked a very interesting question lately and i struggled to come up with an answer to be honest, How do you cope with constently being on a diet? but is it really about being on a diet ALL of the time or is some of the time enough, how does one cope with being so strict and sticking to it , how do we prevent that dreaded spike ? is it unavoidable? are we always going to spike however strict we are on our diet it is all going around in my head on how i can keep going with dieting and not slipping back into a "bad" diet, any help would be appreicated i'd like to know what some of you guys think x
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Hi I really think this depends on what regime you are on as to how flexible you can be. I hate the word 'diet' as to me that means a diet to lose weight when infact the word diet really means just what people eat in general ie we all have a diet as we all eat ie an eating plan of any kind.

If you are type 2 and control through eating I think you have to be more strict which must be very hard. If you are a type 1 (or 2) on insulin you can eat 'normally'. This means a normal healthy diet that everyone should have. However on insulin and especially on a pump it is far easier to have the odd take away or piece of cake as you can bolus for it as you go along and on a pump you can do it in different ways.

Last night for example we had inpromptu fish and chips or in Jessica's case battered sausage and chips (we always share a portion of small chips). For the first time ever I got the bolus right and we didn't have a spike. But I had to do a dual wave ie a percentage of the bolus up front and the rest spread out over 2 hours dribbling in.

A person who is type 2 cannot possibly do this. It is obviously healthier to no have the fish and chips but this is real life and we all have things we shouldn't every now and again.

So in real life it is not about being on a strict diet but by have a healthy way of eating, that is your answer to that question. You are not on a strict diet but eat healthily. It might seem like a strict diet but that is probably because you may not have eaten like this before becoming diabetic, if you see what I mean.

My diet is rubbish but my daughter's is good.
 
Vanessa said:
Hi Steff - this is one of those questions that I get asked quite a lot too. I'm gradually turning it round in my mind to "this isn't a diet, simply how I eat the vast majority of the time" as that is the only way I can stop feeling deprived. I also make sure I treat myself to something nice so today I've just had some lovely fresh cherries and really enjoyed them. Still have very tough days - yesterday just succumbed to some biscuits and boy were they good! Gradually finding my tastes are changing too - somethings just taste too sweet now. Personally work broadly to the 80:20 rule - if I'm sticking to it rigidly 80% of the time then there is room for special treats that I take time to really enjoy
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thanks vanessa that really helps, the 80/20 rule i have never used before , i guess my pre-concieved ideas have come from what i hear on the tv etc etc , i think if i drastically changed what i ate it would do me no good so i will take the slower gradual route i think , it seems to be doing me fine so far x
 
Can I suggest a thread split, mods? This thread was started by a T2 not on insulin and the topic has wandered off into a completely different (but still interesting) direction, most of which is not relevant to the original question.
 
VBH said:
Can I suggest a thread split, mods? This thread was started by a T2 not on insulin and the topic has wandered off into a completely different (but still interesting) direction, most of which is not relevant to the original question.
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Good idea VBH, consider it done! I don't consider myself 'on a diet' - I do associate that with losing weight, which I've never had to do. I do, however, think much more carefully about what I eat and the quantities in which I eat it, so it has gone from being hardly a thought to a little bit of a pre-occupation. I expect that will change over time - as I say, I never had to really think about food at all, as I was always healthy whatever I ate. Now I am changing the habits of the past 50 years!
 
erm thanks Northerner, but I was actually referring to the original post in the other thread "Are spikes inevitable" which was asked by a T2 not on insulin. This rapidly turned into a discussion entirely related to insulin and no use to the original poster. There's a big difference between approaching spikes as an insulin user and a non-user.

Not that this thread should not have been split off as well though.
 
and now to answer the question....

steff09 said:
Do you feel constantly on a 'diet'?
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No.

Put it this way....I can find something to eat on any takeaway menu or any restaurant menu which does not spike me, or at least does not spike me TOO badly.

The trick is that when you are "naughty" to find ways of being naughty which do not have too much of an effect on the BG.

Take a McBreakfast for example. A double sausage and egg muffin is fine.....so long as you throw away the muffin. And of course the muffin is virtually tasteless and makes a good holder for the meat, cheese and egg to stop your fingers getting greasy 😉

Chinese? Yum. I'll have salt & pepper ribs and some mixed vegetables (drain the veg before shoving the veg on the plate).

Indian? Keema bhuna with a couple of onion bhajis works for me. No rice of course or any form of bread. I don't miss that at all though.

The rest of the time when I'm not being "naughty"? Well as it turns out I seem to eat a fair bit healthier than most non-diabetics in the first place. There they are panicking about fat content and cholesterol, probably having higher trigs and worse LDL than me thanks to their overdose of tasteless padding foods such as pasta, potatoes and rice.

I run into various people who are constantly on a diet and have been for years. I seem to be in far better shape than them and you don't hear me saying "ooh I shouldn't" or panicking about how many hours on an exercise bike it would take to burn off a snickers.
 
steff09 said:
thanks vanessa that really helps, the 80/20 rule i have never used before , i guess my pre-concieved ideas have come from what i hear on the tv etc etc , i think if i drastically changed what i ate it would do me no good so i will take the slower gradual route i think , it seems to be doing me fine so far x
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To paraphrase the old saying "our diet is for life not just for Christmas" - Christmas is definitely one of the 20% times instead. Taken me years to learn all my existing food habits so think you've hit it spot on for you with the gradual slower route - especially given the family's food is affected too
 
Not sure if this is helpful or not (being a T1 :D) but I do find I get a bit (ok, a lot) obsessed with food! 😱

After 30 years of watching everything i eat not surprising perhaps! I also find that whilst other people have varied associations with memories, (tunes, smells etc) mine are all food!!.. eg 'do you remember that holiday in X'..."oh yes, where we ate the xyz?!" to bemused looks all round! 😱 One of the amusing side affects of diabetes I guess!

I also find because I have been "trained" to have rigid meal times & regular snacks on the 2 jabs a day approach for years, if I don't eat regular starchy carbs at frequent intervals I get a really acidy (not to mention noisy!) stomach...so I can sympathise with anyone who's trying to avoid/reduce starchy carbs! Somehow carrot sticks just don't fool it...
 
I always think of being on a diet as a means of slimming, we all follow a diet of some kind or another.

I don't think of my self as being on a diet as such, I try to eat food that wont push the sugars too high and will keep me healthy. I do get very fed up (am I allowed to say 'pissed off'?) with people asking me if I should be eating whatever it is I am eating, but that is another thread.
 
I never feel as if I am on a permanent diet , I know I am Type 1 so can always Bolus for any food but Ive always tended to have quite a healthy well balanced diet anyway , with the odd treat thrown in 😉 I actually love fruit , vegetables and salads so never see it as a problem. What does (can I say piss me off too?) is the odd time I do decide to have a treat the looks and comments that I get ... basically , hmmm and you wonder why you got Diabetes type looks Grrrrrrr 😡
 
Hi All....

Even though I'm not either Type 1 or 2 diabetic...I can see exactly where you are all coming from...I too feel as if I'm on a permanent diet..

At my heaviest I weighed a pound short of 14 stone..and I'm only 5ft...dieted, and become obsessed with weight developed a few problems with it...at my lowest weight I was around the 6 stone mark....I now weigh between 8 and a half and 9 stone..but still watch what I eat constantly..and would like to lose a little...

I understand how hard it is to either lose weight..and maintain the loss..and also keep a health diet in place...its about keeping a healthy balance...

One thing I used to do was to eat off smaller plates...chew everything many times...as if you bolt your food down..you will still feel hungry with in minutes of finishing your meal..as receptors from your stomach to brain have'nt registered that you have eaten and are full.

One other thing regardless of being diabetic or not...never deny yourself a treat...once a week...

Heidi
xx🙂
 
I am going to sit down and go through the long list of foods to not cut out but just to cut down on , things have slipped abit lately as the family staying has made me slip a little in to my old ways , the odd take away and choccie bar may have crossed my lips but i have always gone out the next day and worked it off.makes the guilt a little less i guess
 
Having watched the truckers enjoy their big breakfasts and the school kids eating burgers and chips, I am going to follow the advice given us that we can eat the same as others but in moderation.....So ..Tomorrow I think I will visit the transport cafe and order (in moderation) a small breakfast, 1 sausage, egg, bacon, rossti, beans, mushrooms and black pudding. Then lunchtime a visit to McDonalds for a quarter pounder (note the moderation, I did not order a half pounder) and instead of chips a healthy salad..mmmmmmm I'm drooling as I write. Please excuse me while I dry off my keyboard :D
 
ukjohn said:
Tomorrow I think I will visit the transport cafe and order (in moderation) a small breakfast, 1 sausage, egg, bacon, rossti, beans, mushrooms and black pudding.
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Lose the beans and rosti, add more of everything else. Would raise my BG by about 1 mmol/l. Sorted. (bit of carb in the black pudding and sausage, but not enough to cause problems)

ukjohn said:
Then lunchtime a visit to McDonalds for a quarter pounder (note the moderation, I did not order a half pounder) and instead of chips a healthy salad..mmmmmmm I'm drooling as I write.
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Have the half pounder and throw away the bun. No problem.
 
How comes we get bored with everything that is supposed to be healthy? OK I know boiled cabbage is not exciting, but if you have it in moderation and with other things it is not too bad...
 
yea caroline i get looks off my o/h when he sees the same old vedge coming out the fridge but i say hay if it good for me then tough lol, i love my greens and fruit and salads if he turns his nose up so be it x
 
Hey Caroline and Steff........Have you tried shredding cabbage and leek as a mixture, I steam it, but suppose it could also be boiled. I love it and now hooked on it with cheesy mash potato and pork loin done on the rottisere..

John
 
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