Fat, 41, Fed up & Hungry

[Drummer]

I feel like I'm sounding incredibly pessimistic - I don't mean to. I have tried the soup/shakes/bars diets. I can't stick to them.

Eating more protein feels strange to me as every diet I've ever been on has told me to limit it! But I'll give that a go!

It's awful but I'm longing for some Jam on toast!

And that is, I suspect, why almost every diet fails.
We need the basic building blocks of life - protein and fats, to maintain ourselves in food order, and a lot of people find that eating meat, fish, eggs, cheese, full fat dairy, can make huge changes for the better.
I have lost a lot of weight and wasn't even trying to do so, I just ate low carb and the weight was gone without effort.
I was probably unable to deal with the carbs in my diet for many years, and even got a test flagged - but it was never revealed. It was dealt with by removing the test from the list of those requested.
These days I eat twice a day, unless I eat only once. If I drink coffee it is percolated, with cream. I stick to under 40 gm of carbs a day.

 

[Inka]

Most people eat more than enough protein @Drummer Moreover, there’s no need to eat meat, cheese and dairy to get adequate protein.

 

[Maz2]

The key problem with a diet is that it starts, and it ends, after it ends people go back to 'normal eating' and this is why the weight returns.

The solution to this is to make changes to food choices which you can live with as a sustainable way of eating.
Focusing on weight loss is fine as a starting point, the key thing is not to revert to the old way of eating after the focus on weight loss ends.
So that is your real challenge here, settling into a more healthy way of eating that you can live with moving forward.

Absolutely. This is why when I went pre-diabetic (I didn't need to lose weight) I cut the carbs and did lose weight. I knew cutting high glycaemic carbs would hopefully help me and it did. I have kept to that as much as possible and found that my weight is fairly stable. Most people I know who "diet" just put it back on again. I had a colleague at work who did one diet after another but could not keep the weight off. It was difficult for her anyway as she has thyroid problems. I did suggest cutting carbs but she said she couldn't. As she has no blood sugar issues I decided not to push it.

 

[Nell83]

I'm really aware how my previous beige high carb and high sugar diet is the cause. I'm really trying to cut them completely. Despite being diagnosed in 2018 I continued to eat very poorly, family size packets of chocolates, sweets, crisps takeaways every couple of days, high sugar cereal for breakfast and tea when I couldn't be bothered to cook for one. I live alone so I could hide a lot of this from family and friends.

I can't continue to beat myself up over it and I don't want to be so restrictive that I end up swinging back to my bad ways again.

I tried avocado and gherkins last night and I can confirm I still hate both!

 

[Maz2]

I'm really aware how my previous beige high carb and high sugar diet is the cause. I'm really trying to cut them completely. Despite being diagnosed in 2018 I continued to eat very poorly, family size packets of chocolates, sweets, crisps takeaways every couple of days, high sugar cereal for breakfast and tea when I couldn't be bothered to cook for one. I live alone so I could hide a lot of this from family and friends.

I can't continue to beat myself up over it and I don't want to be so restrictive that I end up swinging back to my bad ways again.

I tried avocado and gherkins last night and I can confirm I still hate both!

Maybe your tastes will change over time. If someone had told me in my younger days I could manage a meal out without a dessert I would laughed at them. However , when I went pre-diabetic and cut them right down I found I could manage without them The trouble is with really high carb foods is they make you more and more hungry.

Just a funny story here about one of my former colleagues when I was at work. She wanted to lose weight and was trying to cut down (no blood sugar issues) and she came in one day and said she had eaten a whole tray of Ferro Rocher the previous evening. Needless to say, she didn't lose any weight that week!!

 

[Maz2]

I'm really aware how my previous beige high carb and high sugar diet is the cause. I'm really trying to cut them completely. Despite being diagnosed in 2018 I continued to eat very poorly, family size packets of chocolates, sweets, crisps takeaways every couple of days, high sugar cereal for breakfast and tea when I couldn't be bothered to cook for one. I live alone so I could hide a lot of this from family and friends.

I can't continue to beat myself up over it and I don't want to be so restrictive that I end up swinging back to my bad ways again.

I tried avocado and gherkins last night and I can confirm I still hate both!

I love avocado but one of my friends hates them. We all have different tastes.

 

[Nell83]

I have bought some cauliflower as my friend suggested I try it roasted with some chicken or beef instead of chips or roast potatoes.....I'm already dreading it but I will try it, as it can't be as bad as the soggy boiled stuff I remember from school can it?

 

[Maz2]

I have bought some cauliflower as my friend suggested I try it roasted with some chicken or beef instead of chips or roast potatoes.....I'm already dreading it but I will try it, as it can't be as bad as the soggy boiled stuff I remember from school can it?

It certainly cannot. If you like curries have you thought of having cauliflower rice with it? You can buy it in supermarkets. I mean the curries you would make yourself though, in a restaurant they would give out ordinary rice.

 

[Leadinglights]

I have bought some cauliflower as my friend suggested I try it roasted with some chicken or beef instead of chips or roast potatoes.....I'm already dreading it but I will try it, as it can't be as bad as the soggy boiled stuff I remember from school can it?

It is worth trying things you haven't had before but do try cooking in different way before rejecting completely.
It can all depend on how you have something that can make all the difference e.g avocados need a dressing of some sort, balsamic vinegar or lemon juice with pepper and salt or smashed up with a bit of mayo or Philadelphia and seasoning. The also need to be ripe but not over ripe. If they are hard they are vile.

 

[Inka]

I have bought some cauliflower as my friend suggested I try it roasted with some chicken or beef instead of chips or roast potatoes.....I'm already dreading it but I will try it, as it can't be as bad as the soggy boiled stuff I remember from school can it?

Ah, now that’s the thing! Don’t let your memories of school dinners or other people’s scary cooking put you off veg! Remember, you’ll be cooking your veg and we’ve moved way past boiled cabbage now 🙂 You can roast cauliflower ‘steaks’ covered with spices and they’re really tasty and not at all watery. You can also have the florets raw, which have a completely different taste.

 

[Lozza123]

I have tried celeriac mash and its very tasty. I used it to top fish pie so the taste of the fish and sauce blend into the mash. Its a really fresh taste. Also have cauliflower rice with my own made curry and its a great substitute for rice. My other change is spiralized courgette instead of pasta with bolognaise sauce again a good substitute. A few changes can help and maybe spur you on to try other stuff. Good luck

 

[snowball12]

I have bought some cauliflower as my friend suggested I try it roasted with some chicken or beef instead of chips or roast potatoes.....I'm already dreading it but I will try it, as it can't be as bad as the soggy boiled stuff I remember from school can it?

I hate veg, my tastes haven't changed. Still hate all leafy green veg but do like root veg which is not wonderful in the carb department. It's awful having cravings. It took me two years to stop chocolate and crisps. Take it slowly and try not to beat yourself up too much as stress raises blood sugar, good luck

 

[Drummer]

I steam cauliflower, or stick it into the pressure cooker up above the water level, or rather reheated stuff to become curry level. Herbs and spices go really strange if pressure cooked. It cooks really quickly and it then rough chopped. I mash swede, pressure cooked in the water, to get it soft enough.
My low carb meals are a world away from school dinners.

 

[snowball12]

Occasionally there are some people who don't like veg however it's cooked. I eat very plainly, no mayo, no spicy food. I do love Italian food, just my luck

 

[Drummer]

Occasionally there are some people who don't like veg however it's cooked. I eat very plainly, no mayo, no spicy food. I do love Italian food, just my luck

Have you tried the Lidl frozen Italian style stirfry?
I've been buying minced beef recently, cooking it and then adding the stirfry and keeping it on a gentle heat until it is all cooked - its quite tasty. I like both the Italian and Asian style stirfy done the same way.

 

[Dragonheart]

My sugars are between 8-9 in the morning before breakfast - around the same before lunch and again before dinner. But they seem to spike up to 15+ after dinner. I'm trying to take daily walks - but I work a desk job so I'm sat a lot of the time.

I'm trying really hard to stick to high protein and low carb, I haven't had anything I enjoy since I started the insulin - No chocolate, cookies, cakes, pastries. I'm hungry all the time - I'm not eating pasta, noodles, rice, potato or white bread - all the things I used to use to fill me up as I'm a very picky eater.

What are your readings 2 hrs after those same meals? Testing is best done in pairs when trying to establish how particular good/meals affect you. If helps identify which ones to keep and which to change. A non diabetic would be back close to the pre meal reading after most meals. So if you can aim to be within a couple of mmol that would be great. Leaving the next test to just before the next meal means you don’t get to see what’s happening. It doesn’t have to be forever. Just long enough to learn the main points.

You mention white bread. Wholemeal/brown/whole grain versions of any carb usually have just as many carbs as the white versions and cause almost as big a rise, sometime over a slightly longer time period instead.

What are you eating when you stick to low carb? You shouldn’t need to be hungry. We usually fill up on proteins and naturally occurring fats instead of carbs and that fill typically lasts longer than a carb one does too. Are you increasing those to make up for the lack of carbs? Try it and see what happens. It might seem counterintuitive but it helps a lot of us lose weight and control glucose. Other than the high starch/sugar options what do you actually like to eat?

 

[Dragonheart]

Most people eat more than enough protein @Drummer Moreover, there’s no need to eat meat, cheese and dairy to get adequate protein.

It may not be necessary as you say but it’s certainly the easiest way to get all the essential amino acids a body requires. Doing so without meat and animal products is an option but it takes more work to cover all the bases for this and also for all the vitamins and minerals. Long term the evidence for plant based isn’t convincing to me and many others for managing T2 if that’s the sole reason for doing it. It seems more suited to a lifestyle choice instead.

If you are type 2 reducing carbs to lower glucose and reduce insulin resistance, avoiding excess protein the way you seem to suggest and also listening to the mainstream avoid fat guidance you’d be living on fresh air - and hungry which leads to failure or blowouts. You have to get sustenance somewhere. Carbs, fats and proteins are your only choices.

 

[Inka]

I’m not Type 2 @HSSS so obviously can’t experiment to see how each diet works, only with my Type 1. That’s why I linked to the Forks Over Knives example, which is one of many where Type 2s have used a plant-based diet to improve things and lose weight. Google gives lots more information. For myself, a low fat plant based diet improved my insulin sensitivity, which was already good.

I don’t favour any one diet or live on a strict diet, but I do note that a WFPB diet appears to improve health in other ways apart from insulin resistance, eg risk of heart disease, reduces blood pressure and cholesterol, etc. Personally, I think most people eat too many animal products and not enough veg.

It’s not too hard to get enough protein on a plant-based diet as most people are eating more than they need anyway:

The No-B.S. Guide to Vegan Protein

If you’re considering a plant-based diet, you may be curious about how to get enough vegan protein. Read on for everything you need to know.

www.forksoverknives.com

Moreover, a plant-based diet is just that - a diet based on plants. If someone, for whatever reasons, wants to supplement that with a little animal protein, they can. The OP mentioned hunger. A plant-based diet allows you to eat plenty without adding excess calories. The food is filling and satisfying.

I’m not vegan. I eat cheese occasionally and very occasionally I’ll have some fish, but eating more plants is a good thing IMO, not just for diabetes but for health.

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants” is the famous quote.

 

[Nell83]

What are your readings 2 hrs after those same meals? Testing is best done in pairs when trying to establish how particular good/meals affect you. If helps identify which ones to keep and which to change. A non diabetic would be back close to the pre meal reading after most meals. So if you can aim to be within a couple of mmol that would be great. Leaving the next test to just before the next meal means you don’t get to see what’s happening. It doesn’t have to be forever. Just long enough to learn the main points.

You mention white bread. Wholemeal/brown/whole grain versions of any carb usually have just as many carbs as the white versions and cause almost as big a rise, sometime over a slightly longer time period instead.

What are you eating when you stick to low carb? You shouldn’t need to be hungry. We usually fill up on proteins and naturally occurring fats instead of carbs and that fill typically lasts longer than a carb one does too. Are you increasing those to make up for the lack of carbs? Try it and see what happens. It might seem counterintuitive but it helps a lot of us lose weight and control glucose. Other than the high starch/sugar options what do you actually like to eat?

At the moment a typical day is Greek yoghurt with berries or Porridge for Breakfast - usually after 2 hours my blood sugars have gone up 2-3 with this meal. For the first few weeks I was able to eat shredded wheat and stay within a couple of points then suddenly that started to jump to 7-8 points so I've stopped eating that.

Lunch I'm trying to have a wholemeal sandwich of tuna and salad or cheese and ham or a big bowl of salad topped with chicken or cheese. Again two hours after this they go up between 2 and 4 points. But if I eat this around 12/1 I'm starving again by 3/4 so end up having an apple or banana or some melon.

Dinners I've been trying to do better with but I'm really struggling I've done spaghetti bolognese - bad idea my sugars went from 9 before dinner to 16 two hours later. Grilled chicken wraps went up by 5. I did bacon, sausage, egg and baked beans one night and it only went up by 3 - but in my head this is a bad meal unhealthy in so many ways even though I grilled the meat and scrambled the eggs my old diet head says this is too much fat. I did cheese burgers with no buns just a big bowl of salad and some sweet potatoes - again this was a bad move and I ended up over 16 that night starting at around 10.
I'm still increasing the insulin as per instructions from the nurse - if I'm over 8 in the mornings every 3 days add two more units. I'm also injecting slightly earlier before eating instead of the instructed 10-15 minutes I'm allowing more time around 20-25 minutes - this seems to be helping a bit. I'm also trying to walk after meals even for a few minutes and that seems to be helping too.

 

[Leadinglights]

As the OP is taking insulin it may not be the food as such but the insulin regime not being in balance with the food.
We are all suggesting low carb options but I just spotted the bit about the insulin so the criteria about expectation of blood glucose levels may need to taken into account.