Fried Eggs or Poached Eggs

[ianbilly]

I've always been a cereal man for breakfast, now i have to change. Not a fan of scrambled eggs but if i did a fried egg without oil or butter or fat would that be ok? Poached eggs are another i could try. I'm newly diagnosed T2 and trying to find my way diet wise. Thanks all

 

[grovesy]

I use a none stick frying pan, a couple of sprays of the spray oil to do mine.

 

[ianbilly]

I use a none stick frying pan, a couple of sprays of the spray oil to do mine.

Great, thats fine thanks grovesy. Gives me a couple of options there.

 

[Stitch147]

I'm the same, use a good non stick pan and spray oil.

 

[DeusXM]

Why would you be cutting down on fat? You have diabetes, so the difficulty is carb intake, not fat intake.

 

[ianbilly]

Why would you be cutting down on fat? You have diabetes, so the difficulty is carb intake, not fat intake.

I was told by someone not to cook eggs in butter or fat, this is my problem getting conflicting advice from everywhere. In my introduction in the newbie section i said how confused i am sorting whats good and not. I'm newly diagnosed and still finding my way, its a bit bewildering after 56 years of eating & drinking whatever i wanted!

 

[grovesy]

I was told by someone not to cook eggs in butter or fat, this is my problem getting conflicting advice from everywhere. In my introduction in the newbie section i said how confused i am sorting whats good and not. I'm newly diagnosed and still finding my way, its a bit bewildering after 56 years of eating & drinking whatever i wanted!

The evidence for eating or reducing fat has recently become questioned, and some even say the evidence that lead to recommendations being introduced many years, does not live up to current scrutiny.
Do what ever your comfortably with, and suits your tastes.

 

[Ljc]

Hi Ianbilly. Yes it is confusing their are two schools of thought re fats their is also a lot of conflicting info out there re what we diabetics should -should not eat. Personally I do not do LCHF (low carb high fat) I have never been afraid of fat nor will I buy things that are not naturally low fat, I prefer the full fat versions. I have cut down a lot on carbs.
As Grovesy says , " do whatever you're comfy with and what suits your taste" .
After all, we have diabetes for life so we should do what is sustainable for us to manage our condition.
If you have a glucose meter, you will soon learn what carbs your body tolerates well, because another confusing thing about Diabetes is we are all different in what our bodies can tolerate, for instance my body likes porridge others have to steer well clear of it because they shoot up into double figures.

 

[Lilian]

I have found that whatever you do, the combination of high carbs and high fat is the killer, which unfortunately some of the tastiest meals are. So really it would be poached egg on toast, or a fried egg in butter, but not a fried egg on toast

 

[Lilian]

PS low carb and low fat is also not practical as it will just end up as low calorie. OK in itself but not sustainable because you get hungry more. At least with low carb higher good fats you don't get so hungry. Remember fat does not need insulin and diabetes is to do with insulin requirement. The body can burn two fuels, either carbohydrates or fats. If you choose your fuel to be fat, it will mean your requirement for insulin is lower. However if you are fat burning, as soon as you have a bit too much carbohydrates it will revert to carbohydrate (sugar) burning and your insulin requirement will go up. One must also consider whether one needs to lose weight or not. At one time (I do not know if it is the current thinking) some in the medical profession thought it was a waste of time teaching new older diabetics about eating differently because if they had eaten a certain way all their lives they were not going to be able to change. It is easier if everyone round you is also eating lower carbs and you have to be extremely strong to sit there eating Turkey and sprouts whilst everyone else is tucking into stuffing, roast potatoes, roast parsnips etc. Putting aside all the other aspects (e.g. weight etc) lowering fats and still eating high carbs might be good generally (although that is a matter of opinion) it means a person with diabetes will have to take more medication and all that it involves. I think if a person knows how the body works they can make up their own mind easier than just listening to people say this that and the other is better or not and they are better equipped to make up their own mind as to what they want to do.

 

[ianbilly]

PS low carb and low fat is also not practical as it will just end up as low calorie. OK in itself but not sustainable because you get hungry more. At least with low carb higher good fats you don't get so hungry. Remember fat does not need insulin and diabetes is to do with insulin requirement. The body can burn two fuels, either carbohydrates or fats. If you choose your fuel to be fat, it will mean your requirement for insulin is lower. However if you are fat burning, as soon as you have a bit too much carbohydrates it will revert to carbohydrate (sugar) burning and your insulin requirement will go up. One must also consider whether one needs to lose weight or not. At one time (I do not know if it is the current thinking) some in the medical profession thought it was a waste of time teaching new older diabetics about eating differently because if they had eaten a certain way all their lives they were not going to be able to change. It is easier if everyone round you is also eating lower carbs and you have to be extremely strong to sit there eating Turkey and sprouts whilst everyone else is tucking into stuffing, roast potatoes, roast parsnips etc. Putting aside all the other aspects (e.g. weight etc) lowering fats and still eating high carbs might be good generally (although that is a matter of opinion) it means a person with diabetes will have to take more medication and all that it involves. I think if a person knows how the body works they can make up their own mind easier than just listening to people say this that and the other is better or not and they are better equipped to make up their own mind as to what they want to do.

My weight , blood pressure etc are all fine, my GP just said i need to cut down on carbs, sugars and eat more protein. I also need to lower my cholesterol and was prescribed a statin for that.

 

[Martin Canty]

Lowering the carbs should help the cholesterol.... As others have said, I would not fear the fat, but use healthy fats & avoid corn & vegetable oils

 

[Dave W]

Eggs are virtualy zero carbs whatever way they are prepared. Here's a synopsis of the CoFID ( 2015 Composition of Foods Dataset) data:
Eggs fried in sunflower oil - Carbs, trace: Fat, 15.7: Sat Fat, 3.35
Eggs fried no fat - Carbs, trace: Fat 11.4: Sat Fat, 3.2
Eggs Poached - Carbs, trace: Fat 10.6: Sat Fat 3.00

Poached seems marginally better, but I personally don't think the differences are all that significant, but am quite prepared to be told I'm wrong as I'm still learning. However in my case I enjoy a decent breakfast of eggs, bacon and tomatoes and or mushrooms fried in olive oil as it doesn't push up my BG the way that all the cereals I've tried have done.

 

[Ditto]

I use olive oil and Dr A says 'sensible use of butter.' Plus it's winter, you need fat to keep you warm. Doesn't do the Inuits any harm does it? They eat tons of fat or did.

 

[Dave W]

Just noticed your comment regarding reducing cholesterol ianbilly, so here's the cholesterol data for cooking eggs and it's quite surprising as frying in oil seems to produce the lowest CHO levels.
Eggs fried in oil - CHO 371
Eggs fried no fat - CHO 445
Eggs Poached - CHO 423

 

[DeusXM]

True, but it's worth noting there is no connection between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol.

 

[Dave W]

True, but it's worth noting there is no connection between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol.

I didn't know that, so does it mean that if I'm needing to reduce my blood cholesterol, my cholesterol intake doesn't factor?

 

[Northerner]

I didn't know that, so does it mean that if I'm needing to reduce my blood cholesterol, my cholesterol intake doesn't factor?

The vast majority of cholesterol is manufactured by the liver - statins work by restricting the liver's ability to make it, which is why they should be regarded as very powerful drugs. Cholesterol is necessary for life - it helps form the myelin sheath that protects every cell in the body 🙂 I believe dietary cholesterol influences around 20% of your total cholesterol, 80% from liver, but there's also research that suggests the balance is naturally adjusted by the liver to maintain a certain level in healthy individuals i.e. if you increase dietary cholesterol then the liver dips its production, so no overall benefit/harm from what you eat 🙂 I think that plant sterols (like those in Flora and other products) can help reduce cholesterol levels by up to 10%. Worth reading The Great Cholesterol Con for a good understanding of the issue 🙂

 

[DeusXM]

The other thing to bear in mind is that the speed at which your liver produces cholesterol is determined by how much insulin is in your blood. The more insulin you have going round, the more cholesterol your liver makes. As a T2, you are likely to be insulin resistant, which means your body produces a lot of insulin but it is not effective at reducing your blood sugar. Therefore, when you eat foods that raise your blood sugar (carbohydrates), your pancreas produces loads of insulin, which then causes your liver to produce more cholesterol.

The way statins work is they interrupt the effect of insulin on the liver, so less cholesterol is produced.

Follow this to the natural conclusion and it should be clear that your cholesterol level could potentially be reduced simply by eating fewer carbohydrates.

 

[Deleted member 16779]

My weight , blood pressure etc are all fine, my GP just said i need to cut down on carbs, sugars and eat more protein. I also need to lower my cholesterol and was prescribed a statin for that.

The trouble with too much protein without fat is that your body will start to turn the protein into glucose - it would rather burn fat if it's there. The important thing to remember is that you'll have to eat less volume - fat is roughly double the calories per gram of carbs, happily it doesn't take that much fat to make a meal much tastier - 10g of fat in mayonnaise or dressing will transform a dreary salad for instance, A plate of cauliflower on it's own is tedious, but with cheese sauce - hallelujah!

Having read up on statins - one of the side effects is diabetes for instance, and the slim chance they'll actually do any good, compared to the drastic way in which they work,the complete lack of understanding of GPs as how the various cholesterol levels work I decided to give up taking them. Eating low carbs and a reasonable amount of fat has brought my balance into much better numbers.

The real key to managing your own blood sugar levels is getting and learning how to use a meter - you might be lucky and be able to get one on prescription, but even if you have to buy one yourself, it's worth it to understand what's going on inside and see your improvements.