Still Confused - Contradictory Advice

[SkinnyLiz]

hi Dave,
Low fat works to control IBS. Works so well that had forgotten about it. Until a recent reminder from eating small amount of cashew nuts. Must be about 30 years on low fat, with minimal red meat.
The recent collection of tests also revealed slightly raised cholesterol levels. So Doc was banging on about Low Fat, without realising that Low Fat is my normal Diet. To be fair he has only been my doctor for a few years and have visited him about twice in that time.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

Not sure someone "at risk of diabetes" should be testing much (if at all)! (Not yet, anyway.)

If I had to guess, I'd guess eating a healthy diet would make sense, and by "healthy" I'd suggest a bit lower carbohydrate than is recommended, and worrying a bit less about fat (so full fat milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.), but mostly because I suspect that's where the advice will be going anyway.

So what Antony Worrall Thompson suggests is likely sensible, even if it disagrees in some details with the more official advice. Doesn't sound like there's that much disagreement; just some details. And probably they don't matter that much, since (presumably) nobody's planning on eating huge quantities of pulses.

Low fat works to control IBS. Works so well that had forgotten about it... Until a recent reminder from eating small amount of cashew nuts. Must be about 30 years on low fat, with minimal red meat.
The recent collection of tests also revealed slightly raised cholesterol levels. So Doc was banging on about Low Fat, without realising that Low Fat is my normal Diet. To be fair he has only been my doctor for a few years and have visited him about twice in that time, for problems entirely unrelated to diet.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

Well depends why you need a low fat diet Liz. Certainly not for diabetes sake and you haven't mentioned any other medical problems. Is it in the blurb you've picked up along the way or something blurb has led you to believe is healthy?

Low fat works to control IBS. Works so well that had forgotten about it. Until a recent reminder from eating small amount of cashew nuts. Must be about 30 years on low fat, with minimal red meat.
The recent collection of tests also revealed slightly raised cholesterol levels. So Doc was banging on about Low Fat, without realising that Low Fat is my normal Diet. To be fair he has only been my doctor for a few years and have visited him about twice in that time, for problems entirely unrelated to diet.

 

[Alister]

Ignore all printed material and even some of what you read on here - be guided by your BG meter !

a bit late but this is probably the best piece of advise here. the reasons there is so much confilcting advise are twofold :-

1) despite what they may claim diabetes is not fully understood by the medical profession (or anyone else).
2) Everyone's needs are different & what works for me may not work for you (this probably explains point 1).

Test & retest until you find an acceptable diet that give acceptable results (again you definition of acceptable may differ)

 

[Ljc]

a bit late but this is probably the best piece of advise here. the reasons there is so much confilcting advise are twofold :-

1) despite what they may claim diabetes is not fully understood by the medical profession (or anyone else).
2) Everyone's needs are different & what works for me may not work for you (this probably explains point 1).

Test & retest until you find an acceptable diet that give acceptable results (again you definition of acceptable may differ)

I heartily agree.

 

[Hamrag]

Must say I agree with Jenny. Be guided by your meter ! You see we are all different in what carbohydrates our bodies tolerate well. TBH I feel that the Eatwell plate it may also be called the healthy eating plate is not only not suitable for us but may not be suitable for non diabetics, only time will tell, as far as I know all printed matter from Gp chemists etc will be based on this plate.
With testing you will find foods that you tolerate well that I may need huge doses of insulin to cope with and it would be a shame to cut something you like out when you don’t need to.

This is my take on the food pyramid/eatwell plate.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I heartily agree.

Ditto!

 

[Deleted member 21371]

It's worth investing in a meter.
Don't change your diet, simply test 2 hours after eating.
You may find one or two foods that give you a rise in BG.

Then tailor your diet to fit around that.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

low fat diet has kept IBS under control for several decades, had actually forgotten about it.

 

[Hamrag]

low fat diet has kept IBS under control for several decades, had actually forgotten about it.

I am the opposite ! Fat does not effect my IBS, However Bread and Beer, gives me acute lower abdo pains and acid reflux at night.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Fat used to give me awful acid reflux, so much I actually got prescribed Gaviscon for it.

I went on a low fat diet, and it vanished over night,.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

then you understand trying to balance the different conditions dietry needs.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

then you understand trying to balance the different conditions dietry needs.

It's completely different for everyone to be honest.
I was morbidly obese, so I had a lot of weight to lose, so a low fat, low GI diet worked very well for me.
I did test a lot to see which carbs I could eat, and which carbs I couldn't to find the low GI foods that worked.
And put in an exercise regime to reduce the insulin resistance as well.

 

[SkinnyLiz]

Am trying to step up the exercise.

 

[Sharron1]

Hi,

It is all so much trial and error I don't think I really appreciated it. How are doing with the food diary? I am still amending mine - and it is interesting to see how this never ending journey is working out.🙂

 

[SkinnyLiz]

food diary, has a several days blank, when the grandkids came to stay, just wasn't motivated to keep it up then. but doing ok, most days is somewhere near. #best guesstimate

 

[Sharron1]

Don't worry, it's not obligatory to keep a food diary. I give myself a gold star when the BGL is particularly low! It makes me laugh when I see them.

 

[SB2015]

This is my take on the food pyramid/eatwell plate.

That looks like some common sense.

 

[SB2015]

food diary, has a several days blank, when the grandkids came to stay, just wasn't motivated to keep it up then. but doing ok, most days is somewhere near. #best guesstimate

Whatever info you have you can use. Days that are blank do,not matter, just record when you can and then review what info you have. I moved away from a daily record as I found it too much to do, so then I resented feeling I had to do it. Now I do what I find useful, sometimes daily, sometimes not. Do what you can and use what you do, rather than worrying about what you can’t do.

Enjoy having the grandkids. Smiling uses more calories than frowning.