This post describes the diet that I've adopted over the last eighteen months to successfully deal with my non-insulin dependent Type 2 diabetes which is still being treated with metformin.
I'm a sixty-six-years old non-insulin dependent Type 2 on metformin only. I was diagnosed over nine years ago in the very early stages with a fasting level just over 7 and HbA1c of only 5.7%. My situation slowly progressed - i.e. deteriorated - for eight years by following the "do not test" and "eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate" advice usually given to Type 2s. Eventually, my HbA1c reached 9.4% and my GP prescribed metformin - and then very soon after doubled the dosage.
At that stage and against my doctor?s advice, I started to test and by doing that soon came to understand the effect that different foods had on my blood glucose levels. By using that information and gradually changing my diet over the last eighteen months, I have fully reversed my Type 2 diabetic situation. Today, all my numbers are better than they were at diagnosis - in most of the cases by a massive amount. If I went to the doctor today then by the most-commonly-used diagnostic tests - fasting blood glucose levels or HbA1c - they would say that I did not have diabetes.
Basically, the main thing that I've done is to cut out almost all the starchy carbohydrates - e.g. cereals, bread, potatoes mainly but I'm also very careful with rice and pasta too. In my opinion this has been by far and away the main reason for my dramatic improvement in blood glucose levels.
My HbA1c has dropped from a high of 9.4% to in the 5s the last five tests - and a lowest-ever of 5.1% last time. I'm hoping to take it below 5 very soon.
I have described below the diet that I've basically settled down to eating. This diet wasn't adopted overnight and isn't something that I've read about. My current diet developed slowly by testing - to see what effect different foods had on my blood glucose levels - and then slowly adjusting my diet accordingly. My current typical eating and drinking patterns are as follows:
Breakfast
Usually grilled (but sometimes fried) bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms - sometimes an egg too.
- Or, mushroom, bacon, cheese omelette.
- Or, if I ever eat cereals instead then it's always Lizi's granola (low-GI nut-based) these days. I eat no other kind of cereal whatsoever these days ? not even porridge.
- Or, occasionally, low-fat natural yoghurt with berry fruits instead.
I never eat bread or any other cereals except Lizi's granola at breakfast ? and certainly no porridge.
Lunch
Almost always meat (usually ham or chicken) or fish or low-fat cottage cheese with a big salad (lettuce, spring onions, peppers, radishes, celery, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, with a few grapes or chopped apple) - with a small amount of linseed/flax seeds added - plus a dressing made with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.
No bread or potatoes ? except very occasionally and ? if I do - only a very small amount.
If I'm in a pub situation then I usually eat beef or gammon steak with vegetables - sometimes with a few chips. Salads are another very good option too when eating out.
Evening Meal
Meat (usually chicken) or fish with various vegetables - sometimes as a stew type meal.
Sometimes I eat low-GI type brown rice or spelt or pulse pasta or something similar.
I?ve recently started to substitute cauliflower for potatoes to make such things as cauli-mash cottage pie, or cauli-rice type dishes. I?ve found that such dishes give very good post-meal blood-glucose readings. Cauliflower is a great substitute for potatoes.
Never any bread or potatoes - or anything like pizza, naan bread, chapattis or suchlike even if I'm in a restaurant - except very occasionally. If I do eat any of these foods it would only be a very small amount ? a piece.
Snacks
I eat fruit throughout the day and every day - loads of it - as well-spaced-out snacks - never as part of another meal apart from where shown above - I pick the smallest pieces of fruit that I can find and eat all the following every day usually sometimes more than one of each (but never at the same time) - apples, pears, satsumas, plums frequently - and occasionally, bananas, kiwis, peaches or grapes. I fill my pockets with fruit whenever I leave the house and eat it as I move about. However, a word of warning about fruit, quite a lot of people with diabetes tell me that fruit causes their blood glucose to rise to high levels so, if eating fruit, people need to test to establish what it does to their levels.
The rest of the time, I nibble at small portions of:
A small amount (around 20g) of mixed nuts and dried fruit - usually every day.
Low-fat yoghurts - most popular Muller Light but others too.
Low-fat cheese - with one or two oatcakes or Ryvita Thins.
Tesco Light cottage cheese with pineapple.
Oily fish - rich in omega-3 types - sardines, mackerels etc.
Pickles - beetroot, cucumber, onions, red cabbage etc.
Cherry tomatoes
Cold vegetables if there are any in the fridge.
Ice cream is just about my only weakness and very occasionally, I eat an ice cream cone. I stress very occasionally.
In general, I never eat packets of crisps, buns, biscuits, sweets, chocolate, cake and suchlike on a regular basis. On vary rare occasions indeed, I might eat one biscuit or one small piece of chocolate ? I stress this would be on very rare occasions indeed. I might have a few crisps or small piece of cake or bun in a buffet situation.
Alcohol
I used to drink a lot of alcohol but these days drink very little (about five units a week and certainly less than ten) - mainly the odd glass of red wine or sometimes a small whisky. Very rarely, I will have a little more red wine on a special occasion when out for the evening and I'm not driving. These days, I rarely ever drink alcohol in the house even though my wife and family do. I must say, it wasn't always like that!
Other Drinks
Various teas (spiced, earl gray, redbush etc, etc) and coffee (mainly decaffeinated but not always) all black with a sweetener - I try to vary the drinks depending on the time of day.
If I ever do use milk - e.g. with Lizi's granola or in drinks - it is always the 0.75% or 1% fat milk types.
I drink sparkling bottled water or just plain old simple tap water by the pint with my evening meal.
Very, very occasionally these days I might drink a Tango Zero or sometimes Tesco?s diet ginger beer.
I never drink fruit juice or non-Zero drinks and only very rarely any beer or lager these days
Supplements
I?ve never been a person for taking supplements but these days I?ve started to use the following on a daily basis:
- a multivitamin tablet once per day
- an omega-3 one capsule once per day
- an apple cider vinegar tablet last thing at night
- Occasional, use of cinnamon (sprinkling on foods, in teas etc)
Weight Loss & Exercise
By the way, I'm still calorie counting because I still want to lose more than the 5 stone that I've lost already. I'm intent to take my BMI to below 25 - i.e. into the normal weight band - I'm almost at that stage with a BMI of around 28 - down from BMI 40. I might take it as low as a BMI of 22.5 - i.e. my supposed "ideal weight" as defined by the health people. These days I'm eating around 1,300 to 1,500 calories per day most days and occasionally (about once a week just a little more). Despite that, I never feel hungry!
I don't put very much of my improvement in blood glucose readings - if any at all - down to my loss in weight. Why not? Quite simply because the lowering of blood glucose levels came about immediately that I started to change my diet - i.e. in days or weeks. I say this because I found that I didn't have to wait until I'd lost a lot of weight before I got my improvement and that may help to motivate others who find losing weight to be difficult. In my opinion and in my case, I consider that it was the dietary change that was most important - i.e. mainly the cutting back dramatically on my starchy carbohydrate intake which led to my improvement.
In addition, I do very little exercise and when I do it's nothing other than just ordinary walking - just a very occasional two to three mile easy walking ? and nothing severe. I really ought to try to do much more exercise for my general health and well-being. The effect of exercise on lowering blood glucose levels is something that I?m trying to test out and experimenting with to try to establish how effective this might be in improving my control still further.
I think that covers just about everything. I hope that other people with non-insulin dependent Type 2 diabetes might find this detailed summary of my current eating habits useful and that my experience might be helpful to them in dealing with getting control of their own Type 2 situations.
If anyone has any further questions then feel free to get in touch.
Best wishes ? John
