Late Meal Suggestions?

[J Phelan]

I have been Type 1 for 42 years and have a rubbishy diet. However, it is my husband who is the only one of us working that is my concern. About a year ago, my husband developed a kind of borderline Type 2. I am seeking to find what he can eat for dinner that is not too heavy.

Basic problems are as follows:
1) he is 69 years old
2) vegetarian
3) breakfast comprises of breakfast biscuits (occasionally porridge)
4) lunch is a rushed affair as he only gets about half an hour so is generally a couple of cheese sandwiches, a bag of crisps and a couple of biscuits
5) dinner he is struggling with as he doesn't get home until about 10pm. Ergo, by 10.45pm when he eats dinner he is too tired really for a normal meal and it's an effort. He obviously needs an amount of time to relax and therefore, by the time he has finished and messed about on his laptop he is showering way beyond midnight and going to bed about 1.30am. Then, his alarm goes at 5.30am and he leaves home about 6.45am and returns home about 9.45pm (ish).

Needless to say, he feels pretty exhausted most of the time as his job is pretty stressful with customers etc and the "upper echelons of management" keep banging on about shop targets. He has suffered from a nervous disposition for about 50 years and has to take blood pressure pills and other tablets for his nerves.

The only thing I could think of for the evening meal was something involving rice or spaghetti with quorn pieces involved and his usual salad - problem is that messing about with spaghetti is a bit difficult for me at that hour of the day (as the kitchen looks a little like something from a Louis Theroux documentary) and reheating such things in the microwave nukes most of any nutritional content that may have been there originally.

Any suggestions?

 

[Sally W]

A quick veggie tea is to very slightly wilt a handful of spinach in a pan, pour over a couple of beaten eggs and cook without stirring. You can roll this up like a wrap and add in the middle some diced avocado and tomato. It’s quick and healthy.

 

[Madeline]

What I really notice is his meals are very carb heavy - breakfast biscuits and porridge, sandwiches, crisps, biscuits, rice and pasta. Those are going to be his areas of issue, if you can swap them out.

Would he eat eggs or a full fat greek yoghurt for breakfast? Ditch the sandwiches for a salad or veggies with cheese, eggs, or a veggie source of protein.

 

[J Phelan]

Thanks for your reply. He hasn't got time to fiddle about with eggs at breakfast but the yoghurt is a possibility. He does need carbohydrates though for energy and, as I say, at work he has to eat "on the hoof" which kind of removes the ability to use a fork! I think he grazes from about 11am at work with the bits and bobs he has as that has to last him from 8.15am until 8.15pm which is a rather long time.

 

[Drummer]

Actually the idea of carbs for energy is just that - an idea straight from the marketing department of all those brands wanting to sell us carbs.
Vegetarians are rather in a cleft stick as it is the carbs which are what they can't eat - any way to avoid eating heavy starches or sugary foods is good.
I found a very low carb bread in Asda this week - it is a protein bread, expensive, but under 8 percent carb.

 

[J Phelan]

Well done on your weight loss! For fear of sounding pedantic, vegetarians are okay with carbohydrates! Meat and fish are the "no go" things (which, of course, contain no carbs). The NHS and other such places recommend somewhere around 250g CHO daily. When diagnosed Type 1 at aged 9, the diet was completely carb based: 30g for breakfast, 10g mid morning, 40g at lunch, 10g at about 4pm, 50g at dinner and 10g bed time snack. In those days (somewhere during the reign of Queen Victoria it feels now) the animal insulin was identical each day and the carbs all weighed out for each meal.

 

[Madeline]

No Type 2 is ok with carbohydrates, vegetarian or not. Carbs, unfortunately, are the issue - they convert to glucose in the body, and the T2 diabetic simply can’t cope with them. We get our energy from fat instead. The lower carb he can go, the less medication he will hopefully need. There are T2’s here who have gone into remission by going very low carb, no meds, just diet and exercise.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Yes, I think Drummer meant that vegetarian type 2 diabetics can't eat carbs because of the diabetes, but struggle to find enough suitable foods which won't send up their blood sugar because their vegetarianism means they don't eat meat and fish - is that right, @Drummer ? Though eggs, cheese, yogurt, and nuts are all fine from both points of view, and if he's only borderline type 2 (prediabetic?) he won't need to be quite as careful about avoiding carbs as someone with a type 2 diagnosis would. I would definitely avoid rice or spaghetti last thing at night though, as they strike me as very likely to lead to full-blown type 2. I don't cook, I'm afraid, so have no helpful ideas for veggie evening meals beyond obvious things like omelettes, but Sally's recipe sounds good to me 🙂