Feeling very hungry

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barnesd

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Type 2
Hi, I am new to this forum (or any forum to be honest) so hopefully my question is in the right place and correct.

I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, so I am really new to all this. I think I am getting to grips with the jargon, the numbers, the diet (at least I am understanding it), and am learning many things everyday. Although, a lot of it is overwhelming, and to be honest makes me really scared.

I have been advised to eat a diet that keeps my carbohydrates below 140g per day. So this is proving extremely difficult. I am struggling to get there, but I am sure it will become easier in time. However...... my question.... I am feeling very hungry and feel my diet does not fill me up. I have yet to find a food that does not eat into my carbohydrates allowance, can anyone offer their opinion or advice on what I could eat as a filler or snack food, not necessarily the main meals.

I appreciate that my own struggle may be insignifcant to what other people are going through, but it is a real conern to me. I may be over reacting too soon and need to settle into routine. Any information would be appreciated. Thank You.
 
barnesd said:
Hi, I am new to this forum (or any forum to be honest) so hopefully my question is in the right place and correct.

I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, so I am really new to all this. I think I am getting to grips with the jargon, the numbers, the diet (at least I am understanding it), and am learning many things everyday. Although, a lot of it is overwhelming, and to be honest makes me really scared.

I have been advised to eat a diet that keeps my carbohydrates below 140g per day. So this is proving extremely difficult. I am struggling to get there, but I am sure it will become easier in time. However...... my question.... I am feeling very hungry and feel my diet does not fill me up. I have yet to find a food that does not eat into my carbohydrates allowance, can anyone offer their opinion or advice on what I could eat as a filler or snack food, not necessarily the main meals.

I appreciate that my own struggle may be insignifcant to what other people are going through, but it is a real conern to me. I may be over reacting too soon and need to settle into routine. Any information would be appreciated. Thank You.
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There is always something you can eat if you are low carbing - though it can be a bit more problematic if you don't eat meat or fish - but do eat substantial nourishing meals, as not doing that is perhaps why you are feeling hungry.
I have got into the habit of having a proper meal first thing, or rather when I first think about eating.
If I am going out for the day I might just grab some left over meat from the fridge and lake a salad with me to eat when I arrive, but such things as mushroom omelette, steak or a chop with mushrooms or stirfry, bacon and eggs with bubble and squeak made with mashed swede rather than potatoes.
I eat under 40gm of carbs a day but don't feel hungry thanks to the protein and fats in what I do eat.
 
Welcome to the forum
For many who are managing their Type 2 by diet then 130g is the suggested starting point for reducing carbs to and that is actually quite generous. Once you cut out the very high carb foods like cakes, biscuits, sugary drinks including fruit juice and looking to reduce portions of other big hitters like potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, pastry, breakfast cereals, tropical fruits and basing meals on meat, fish, eggs, cheese, nuts, dairy with lots of vegetables and salads and fruit like berries there are still options for filling tasty meals.
There is no need to have low fat versions of dairy as full fat is more filling and fats do not convert to glucose whereas carbohydrates do. So making sure you have plenty of protein and healthy fats will allow you to cut down on carbs without feeling hungry, in fact overloading with carbs actually can make people feel more hungry.
There are substitutes you can make for potatoes which are lower carb, butternut squash, celeriac, swede are popular alternatives, cauliflower rice and pasta from black beans or edamame beans are lower carb than wheat pastas.
Have a look at this link for some menu ideas and you will see there are lots of low carb meals that would keep you within the low carb approach suggested amount. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
HI @barnesd and welcome from someone who really missed their grub to start with. I cut out all starchy food (not recommended, a reduction is better to avoid problems with eyesight) and just kept focused one day at a time. After a couple of weeks I stopped missing the carbs, and my hunger pangs gradually stopped. I was eating (and still eat) a large cheese omelette for breakfast, something like cheese and coleslaw for lunch and whatever I was cooking for everyone at night, but without the carbs. I now enjoy chilli and curry with broccoli and green beans! Not something I could ever have envisaged eating, but which I really enjoy now. For a snack I might have strawberries, chopped almonds and some double cream. Or some nuts and a few cubes of cheese. The protein and fats keep me feeling full.
 
Vonny said:
HI @barnesd and welcome from someone who really missed their grub to start with. I cut out all starchy food (not recommended, a reduction is better to avoid problems with eyesight) and just kept focused one day at a time. After a couple of weeks I stopped missing the carbs, and my hunger pangs gradually stopped. I was eating (and still eat) a large cheese omelette for breakfast, something like cheese and coleslaw for lunch and whatever I was cooking for everyone at night, but without the carbs. I now enjoy chilli and curry with broccoli and green beans! Not something I could ever have envisaged eating, but which I really enjoy now. For a snack I might have strawberries, chopped almonds and some double cream. Or some nuts and a few cubes of cheese. The protein and fats keep me feeling full.
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So you don't eat carbs at all? Is that an ok thing to do. I'm not criticising just fascinated.
 
snowball12 said:
So you don't eat carbs at all? Is that an ok thing to do. I'm not criticising just fascinated.
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Well there are carbs in everything, but I rarely eat things like spuds, bread rice, pasta. I've just got used to it.
 
@barnesd If it is any help, I chose foods with 10% carb content or less for my everyday meals.
I do eat some high cocoa chocolate which is higher, but I only eat it in small amounts and not frequently.
I don't eat grain, or potatoes and other starchy veges, or fruit other than berries or drupes - that's my BSc degree kicking in -
 
Drummer said:
@barnesd If it is any help, I chose foods with 10% carb content or less for my everyday meals.
I do eat some high cocoa chocolate which is higher, but I only eat it in small amounts and not frequently.
I don't eat grain, or potatoes and other starchy veges, or fruit other than berries or drupes - that's my BSc degree kicking in -
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Plant scientist then.
 
snowball12 said:
So you don't eat carbs at all? Is that an ok thing to do. I'm not criticising just fascinated.
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There are carbs in most vegetables like tomatoes and peppers and onions and cabbage and broccoli, just quite small amounts and even lettuce contains a trace of carbs. Eating low carb is about reducing or avoiding the carb rich foods with the starches and sugars and "spending" your carb allowance on larger portions of the lower carb foods to fill yourself up, like a few berries and some creamy natural yoghurt for breakfast and vegetables with protein and fat. You can go pretty much carb free in the extreme and survive if you are a carnivore by eating just meat/fish/eggs but that would be pretty boring as veggies provide flavour and texture and fibre and micronutrients.

@barnesd When I was first diagnosed I would boil 8-10 eggs a week (I have my own chickens) and when I felt hungry I would get a boiled egg out of the fridge and have it with a spoon of mayonnaise, or a slice of ham/beef/pork with some coleslaw made into a roll. No bread, just a roll of meat filled with coleslaw. Sometimes I open a jar of pickled beetroot and eat as much as I fancy, or a few pickled onions with some cheese. Sometimes I zap some broccoli in the microwave for 3 mins and have it with some sour cream and chive dip ( deli counter stuff, not the Dorritos style stuff in a jar, which is heavily processed). Gradually once your body gets used to eating low carb, the hunger stops, particularly if you increase your fat intake which is an important source of slow release energy that you need when you are not having many carbs, The fat also stops the hunger because it doesn't spike your BG levels like carbs do, so you don't get the rise and then drop which makes you feel hungry 2 hours later and want more carbs. Not talking about eating blocks of lard or butter by the spoonful, but eating full fat products instead of low fat, so full fat milk and yoghurt and mayonnaise and coleslaw and cheese and of course eggs are a great mix of protein and fat. Cooking your veg with a knob of butter makes them taste great and helps reduce hunger. I felt really guilty at first as we have been bombarded with "fat is bad" propaganda for most of our lives and my nurse had recommended I follow a low fat, low salt, low sugar, no alcohol way of eating and after a couple of months of whittling my carbs down to the bare minimum as well, I was pretty fed up, so it was not sustainable, but I could see the benefit of low carb, so then I started to increase the fat and for me, that has made it sustainable and enjoyable and despite eating lots of saturated fat and far more fat than I ever did before, my cholesterol levels have reduced. I am 5 years down the line now and it definitely gets easier after the first few months, and I see no reason why I would not continue with this way of eating for the rest of my life and indeed there have been significant other health benefits for me, like no longer getting acute migraines which caused me to vomit and pass out on occasion as well as losing a day in a darkened room in agony.
Anyway, I hope you are able to find some snacks which appeal to you.... Oh, I forgot to mention pepperoni crisps.... thin slices of pepperoni, placed between 2 sheets of kitchen paper on a plate and nuked in the microwave for a minute till they go crisp. Yum!.... Oh and olives and cheese (usually feta or manchego) is another of my go to low carb snacks.
 
rebrascora said:
There are carbs in most vegetables like tomatoes and peppers and onions and cabbage and broccoli, just quite small amounts and even lettuce contains a trace of carbs. Eating low carb is about reducing or avoiding the carb rich foods with the starches and sugars and "spending" your carb allowance on larger portions of the lower carb foods to fill yourself up, like a few berries and some creamy natural yoghurt for breakfast and vegetables with protein and fat. You can go pretty much carb free in the extreme and survive if you are a carnivore by eating just meat/fish/eggs but that would be pretty boring as veggies provide flavour and texture and fibre and micronutrients.

@barnesd When I was first diagnosed I would boil 8-10 eggs a week (I have my own chickens) and when I felt hungry I would get a boiled egg out of the fridge and have it with a spoon of mayonnaise, or a slice of ham/beef/pork with some coleslaw made into a roll. No bread, just a roll of meat filled with coleslaw. Sometimes I open a jar of pickled beetroot and eat as much as I fancy, or a few pickled onions with some cheese. Sometimes I zap some broccoli in the microwave for 3 mins and have it with some sour cream and chive dip ( deli counter stuff, not the Dorritos style stuff in a jar, which is heavily processed). Gradually once your body gets used to eating low carb, the hunger stops, particularly if you increase your fat intake which is an important source of slow release energy that you need when you are not having many carbs, The fat also stops the hunger because it doesn't spike your BG levels like carbs do, so you don't get the rise and then drop which makes you feel hungry 2 hours later and want more carbs. Not talking about eating blocks of lard or butter by the spoonful, but eating full fat products instead of low fat, so full fat milk and yoghurt and mayonnaise and coleslaw and cheese and of course eggs are a great mix of protein and fat. Cooking your veg with a knob of butter makes them taste great and helps reduce hunger. I felt really guilty at first as we have been bombarded with "fat is bad" propaganda for most of our lives and my nurse had recommended I follow a low fat, low salt, low sugar, no alcohol way of eating and after a couple of months of whittling my carbs down to the bare minimum as well, I was pretty fed up, so it was not sustainable, but I could see the benefit of low carb, so then I started to increase the fat and for me, that has made it sustainable and enjoyable and despite eating lots of saturated fat and far more fat than I ever did before, my cholesterol levels have reduced. I am 5 years down the line now and it definitely gets easier after the first few months, and I see no reason why I would not continue with this way of eating for the rest of my life and indeed there have been significant other health benefits for me, like no longer getting acute migraines which caused me to vomit and pass out on occasion as well as losing a day in a darkened room in agony.
Anyway, I hope you are able to find some snacks which appeal to you.... Oh, I forgot to mention pepperoni crisps.... thin slices of pepperoni, placed between 2 sheets of kitchen paper on a plate and nuked in the microwave for a minute till they go crisp. Yum!.... Oh and olives and cheese (usually feta or manchego) is another of my go to low carb snacks.
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I must admit after 40 years of eating low fat ( lost 4 stone ) and have kept it off, eating full fat has been a struggle. So basically you eat a version of the Atkins diet???
 
Hi
I’m beginning to struggle now, 6 months ago I was diagnosed with type two diabetes with a score of 53 and a weighs of 19 stone 6 months later I now have a score of 41 and weight of 16.7 stone I have now been told that my cholesterol levels are borderline, I feel like I’m caught in between I want to keep my blood sugar levels down but I’m also now having to watch my cholesterol and I don’t know what to eat, l feel hungry and tired and I want to snack all the time, I don’t snack but I’m very tempted, if I eat carbs that will raise my blood sugar levels and my weight, and if I eat fatty food that will raise my cholesterol and my weight, I have stopped eating red meats and processed foods, I struggling and don’t know which way to turn
Today’s menu
Breakfast
Oats made with oat milk with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries
Evening meal
Chicken with salad ( lettuce, tomato, cucumber, shredded carrots, peppers, 1 hard boiled egg and beetroot )
Snack
Handful of nuts
☹️
 
Sambaza said:
Hi
I’m beginning to struggle now, 6 months ago I was diagnosed with type two diabetes with a score of 53 and a weighs of 19 stone 6 months later I now have a score of 41 and weight of 16.7 stone I have now been told that my cholesterol levels are borderline, I feel like I’m caught in between I want to keep my blood sugar levels down but I’m also now having to watch my cholesterol and I don’t know what to eat, l feel hungry and tired and I want to snack all the time, I don’t snack but I’m very tempted, if I eat carbs that will raise my blood sugar levels and my weight, and if I eat fatty food that will raise my cholesterol and my weight, I have stopped eating red meats and processed foods, I struggling and don’t know which way to turn
Today’s menu
Breakfast
Oats made with oat milk with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries
Evening meal
Chicken with salad ( lettuce, tomato, cucumber, shredded carrots, peppers, 1 hard boiled egg and beetroot )
Snack
Handful of nuts
☹️
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Your menu looks to be rather low on protein and healthy fats which could explain why you are hungry. Your cholesterol may well sort itself out if you keep with the low carb but increase healthy fats, there are some fats which will improve your ratios so no need to avoid all fats. There are some low carb low fat high protein yoghurts or Kvarg deserts which you could have with berries and seeds and nuts.
If you are only having 2 meals a day that could be why you are feeling hungry, home made soups are a good option, omelettes with veg fillings, It does not look as if you are eating enough.
Your breakfast is high carb with oats, High carb, oat milk high carb so having normal milk or yoghurt full fat with your berries would be low carb.
 
Sambaza said:
I eat fatty food that will raise my cholesterol and my weight
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Make sure your main meals and any snacks you do have contain a reasonable amount of unsaturated fats as it will help you feel fuller and less likely to snack. Remember our bodies need a certain amount of fats every day.
 
Welcome Barnesd. I went pre-diabetic, normal for a few years, now pre-diabetic again.

I gave up the high glycaemic carbs and only had sweet stuff on occasions (I only did the latter anyway, my downfall was bread, pasta, breakfast cereal, rice and potatoes together with too much sugar fruits). I found making my own low carb bread and low carb oatmeal breakfasts from recipes on here or other low carb websites, plus eating lots of salads, meat, fish, dairy and vegetables meant I was rarely hungry. When I was having a high glycaemic diet I was hungry all the time.

I realise if anyone is vegetarian or vegan it is perhaps more difficult.

The other day I made a leek and cauliflower soup a la Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall which I have been having for lunch and found that extremely filling.
 
I have found that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, I was told to cut my carbs so that’s what I did I went on the Keto diet yeah it worked it brought my blood sugar levels down to normal, but my cholesterol levels went up to borderline now I’m not trying to keep my blood sugar in check I am now trying to lower my cholesterol, do you know I felt great when I was told that my blood sugar level was normal in fact I was chuffed to know that I had achieved it, but then I was told that my cholesterol level had gone up and was borderline I just felt like someone had ~~~~ on my bonfire
 
Sambaza said:
I have found that there is a lot of conflicting information out there, I was told to cut my carbs so that’s what I did I went on the Keto diet yeah it worked it brought my blood sugar levels down to normal, but my cholesterol levels went up to borderline now I’m not trying to keep my blood sugar in check I am now trying to lower my cholesterol, do you know I felt great when I was told that my blood sugar level was normal in fact I was chuffed to know that I had achieved it, but then I was told that my cholesterol level had gone up and was borderline I just felt like someone had ~~~~ on my bonfire
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Were you given the actual results of your cholesterol as the ratios of good and bad cholesterol and triglycerides are just as important as the total.
Keto is quite an extreme way rather than low carb which is usually sufficient and is a regime which is sustainable which many find that keto isn't. Many have found that low carb improves their cholesterol and the healthy fats help with those ratios.
 
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