so we arent talking the packaged ham or chicken more the cooked version? How come coleslaw i would have thought that is very bad as alsp cheese.
I think its a body thing craving the carbs but also emotional also. If i have a bad day at work guess what i want to eat a takeout.
You have to understand what carbs are and which foods they are in and which have very few or none.
There are 3 macro nutrients.... carbs, protein and fat.
Carbs are easily broken down by the body quickly and easily and release all their energy as glucose. Usually in the first hour or two after eating..... which is why we recommend testing 2 hours after eating. They are the bodies preferred source of energy because they are easily broken down.... which is fine if you have efficient insulin production to utilzed that glucose and keep your BG levels reasonably steady, but not so good if your insulin production is compromised or not efficient and levels spike high and then drop, creating this hunger and causing you to want to eat more all the time.
Grains are all about 60% carbs, so anything made with grains or grain flour will be high carb and obviously sugar or anything containing sugar and fruit and root vegetables like potatoes including sweet potatoes, parsnips and to a lesser extent carrot and beetroot.
Protein.... In the absence of eating enough carbohydrate, the body can break down protein to release glucose, but this happens much more slowly, seems to start to release about 2 hours after eating and slowly releases over several hours thereby allowing your body's insulin producing to manage it a bit better. About 40-50% of protein is broken down into glucose as oppose to 100% of carbs.... so protein will have significantly less impact on glucose and should enable your body to manage your BG levels better.... less spikes and troughs and more steady rise and fall.
Obviously sources of protein are meat, fish and eggs but also dairy like cheese and lentils beans etc although the latter also contain some carbs.
Fat. Only about 10% of fat breaks down to release glucose so this has the least impact on your BG levels and it releases over an even longer period than protein, so a nice slow trickle of glucose means this is even easier for your body to balance it's glucose levels. Fat is also very rich so mostly you can't eat a lot of it, so you are less tempted to over eat and it sates hunger. It is in fact believed by some in the medical profession that our low fat diet may in part be responsible for the rise in obesity and Type 2 diabetes because we eat too much carbohydrate and not enough fat to make us feel full.
Fat of course is a very hot topic because many schools of thought believe it is responsible for high cholesterol and cardio vascular disease and even just the types of fats with the pro fat brigade being split over what is healthy fat and what isn't. Some beieve naturally occurring fats are healthy, like butter and cream and fatty meat and cheese and eggs and olive oil and nuts, whilst others are concerned about many of these fats being high in saturated fat. It is all a bit of a minefield and you have to do a bit of research and find what makes sense to you and perhaps consider your family history.
Anyway, you may well have been advised by your GP or nurse to go low fat and low salt and low alcohol and wholemeal/wholegrain carbs and plenty of fruit and veg because that is standard NHS advice, even though we know that the wholegrains provide almost the same carbs that white carbs do, so neither are good if you are trying to control your BG levels through diet. Also, it is shown that diabetics are more prone to cardiovascular disease so they double down on the low fat advice. However if you cut carbs right down, you need an alternative source of energy for your body to run on and fat has the least impact on BG levels, therefore helping to stabilize your BG, stop your constant hunger and help you to manage your diabetes and even lose weight.
Hence cheese and coleslaw featuring on my list, with pork scratchings. Coleslaw is just mostly shredded cabbage, a bit of carrot and perhaps onion mixed together with mayonnaise which is a blend of oil and eggs ie fat and protein.... So coleslaw is pretty low carb and features in my diet quite a lot and in particular cheese coleslaw because everything tastes better with cheese! I also have real double cream (not Elmlea) in my morning coffee because cream is lower carb than milk and helps me not to feel hungry and it tastes good, so makes sticking to the diet easier. Interestingly, since diagnosis and eating low carb and lots more fat, my cholesterol has come down and many other people find this too although there may be a temporary period of increase during the weight loss phase.
Anyway, I am conscious that I have typed a lot but it sounded like you were not fully understanding the nature of food types and carbs in particular when you were asking about fat, so I felt like you needed a comprehensive run down of the whole shebang!
If you need any further explanation, please ask. A lot of this stuff is controversial and I have tried to cover both angles, but I am biased to what works for me, so hopefully someone else will come along and counteract that bias with their take on it. Ultimately, you have to figure out what resonates most with you and choose an approach which reflects that and see how you get on and ideally use a BG meter to see how your body responds and give it a month or two and if you don't see some improvement then consider a different approach.
The important thing for me is that it doesn't have to be all sack cloth and ashes. Yes, I eat a lot more fat these days but I eat an awful lot less carbs, so I need that fat to make my food enjoyable and provide me with energy. What I love is that I am no longer constantly craving food and thinking about what I can't eat and feeling miserable and deprived. I eat tasty low carb food that contains a higher level of fat than the NHS would like, but I feel fitter and healthier and "younger" than I have for many years.... which ultimately equates to good quality of life.... and my cholesterol is better instead of worse so for me 4 years down the line from when I started this seems to be the option that works for me, plus I have much better control over my disordered eating because I don't have those cravings anymore or very rarely (usually if I have had a few too many carbs at a social event) but it is relatively easy to get back on the low carb wagon and be happy staying there.... ie it is sustainable for me.
I should aslo say that as a Type 1 diabetic, I could eat normally, but for me this low carb higher fat approach has resolved so many other health issues that I don't want to step back onto the slippery slope that normal eating would lead me back to. I am quite convinced that this is healthier for me as an individual.
