What foods can and can’t you eat

[Amberzak]

i was chatting with a fellow type one about foods we can and can’t eat and it’s fascinating how some foods seem to have different effects.

We both found we can tolerate orange juice in small amounts with food, but normal coke is as a no-go which we assume is the fizzy.

I can eat crisps but a lot of people say it gives them issues. But equally some people can eat something that’s 20 grams of carbs and not need insulin but I would definitely need insulin.

Anyway, what food can’t ypu eat. Or what food can you eat that surprised you that others can’t?

Egg fried rice is very difficult for me. On the rare days I get takeaway, I just prepare for the highs I’m likely to get.

 

[Robin]

This is an interesting one, because once I started thinking about it, I realised its not so much a case of what I can't tolerate, but more about the circumstances in which I can't tolerate it.
For example, wheat. I can eat spaghetti, with bol sauce, but bread (except Burgen or other low GI) spikes me. But that's probably because I eat a larger portion of bread with less accompanying fat and protein, rather than the bread itself.
My biggest spike comes after coffee and cake in a garden centre ( my weakness!) but that's because I can't usually bolus up front for it. If I had the same at home, I'd bolus half an hour in advance, have a small bit of cake, and then another small bit half an hour later.
There are things I never eat (unless hypo) like sweets, or full sugar coke, but I never had them pre diagnosis either.

 

[miguel81]

As has been said many times on this forum - we are all different - there is no stereotypical diabetic. What foods are good or acceptable to one of us may certainly not be good or acceptable for another. For instance my dinner every night always contains potatoes or rice or pasta which are foods a lot of diabetics appear to shun. Yes, I've had my moments but nowadays these are few and far between. It's just a matter of trial and error and once the results of eating these things are learned and assimilated you know what quantities are acceptable and which foods to avoid if the results are unacceptable.

 

[Robin]

As has been said many times on this forum - we are all different - there is no stereotypical diabetic.

Yes, Michael, we are all different, and we do work out what works for us. I still find it interesting, though, (as per Amberzaks post, and just as a talking point) to hear what other people's different tolerances are.

 

[Northerner]

It's worth browsing the Food Experiments thread to see how people got on with a series of 'troublesome' meals, quite a variety of reactions 🙂 I can't really eat pizza because it has to be a big one (couldn't possibly just have a slice or two!) and then it becomes carb overload (when I did the Food Experiment I thought I was doing OK, but I have since learned that I just don't really cope well with all that fat and carbs). I'm fine with pasta, although it's not a favourite meal of mine (typical!). I did train myself from an early stage to cope well with sausage and mash - my favourite meal! Getting the insulin and timing for that was a priority! 😱 🙂

 

[Mark Parrott]

Being a type 2 on diet & exercise only, I can't bolus for anything. Regular white or wholemeal bread will spike me something rotten. Burgen & Lidl protein rolls are fine. Pasta also sends me into orbit, so I generally avoid at all costs. I have mixed results with rice. Sometimes spike, sometimes not. If I stick to a small portion, I'm usually ok. Chips from chippy are lethal. Oven chips not quite so bad. I can tolerate most root veg except potatoes, though I still watch portion size. Porridge is fine as long as I mix it with double cream.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

The time of day I eat is a big factor for me, I only know this because I work nights and have done lots of experimenting with foods on my night shifts
I can have white baguette, crisps and chocolate (not all in one night mind!) with hardly any spike if I eat them after midnight. Still can't tolerate homemade cakes or scones though, but am OK with Viennese whirls or tunnocks teacakes.
I am less insulin resistant between 12am - 6am and my meter is set to reflect this.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

The only tning I've really completely abandoned is breakfast cereal. Doesn't matter how full of fibre it alleges to be, I may as well be eating a bowl-ful of jam.

I very rarely risk porridge (which I know many people rely on and have no problems with) but even that is pretty high risk, so I don't do it often.

Having said that, with my habit of 'eating boring' at breakfast and lunch (I generally have exactly the same thing to reduce the variables a little) I can see that I can eat exactly the same things and get either HUGE spikes or barely a wobble. And all it takes to transition from one to the other is a very very small basal tweak. Tch! Diabetes gremlins eh!

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I can't eat much in the way of carbs without insulin, but anything up to about 10g of carbs is OK. With the help of very small amounts of insulin, though, I can eat oats, pasta (though I have to inject a bit extra for white pasta), rice, normal bread, and potatoes. I can eat bananas, grapes, and slices of melon. I can eat tinned fruit, dried fruit, and I can even eat fruit juice if I freeze it first (the cold slows down the absorption rate).

In fact, there's only one thing I've found which I absolutely can't eat because it makes my blood sugar rocket, no matter how much extra insulin I have, and it's .... eggs Yep, absolutely no carbs at all, and even if I quadruple the insulin I'd be injecting for the rest of the meal, if I have eggs for dinner I will be sky high for the rest of the evening. I think it is a very mild food intolerance - there was someone here who said they had the same problem with nuts.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

The time of day I eat is a big factor for me

Me too! - I need sooooo much more insulin first thing in the morning that I do for the rest of the day. And I can eat almost anything at lunchtime without it having much effect at all.

 

[Northerner]

Me too! - I need sooooo much more insulin first thing in the morning that I do for the rest of the day. And I can eat almost anything at lunchtime without it having much effect at all.

I'm exactly the same - between a third and a half of my daily insulin intake goes on my one slice of Burgen toast in the morning 😱

 

[Grogg1]

Being a type 2 on diet & exercise only, I can't bolus for anything. Regular white or wholemeal bread will spike me something rotten. Burgen & Lidl protein rolls are fine. Pasta also sends me into orbit, so I generally avoid at all costs. I have mixed results with rice. Sometimes spike, sometimes not. If I stick to a small portion, I'm usually ok. Chips from chippy are lethal. Oven chips not quite so bad. I can tolerate most root veg except potatoes, though I still watch portion size. Porridge is fine as long as I mix it with double cream.

Like yourself I'm type 2 but use metformin 500mg a day. I can eat meat lasagne if it's generously filled but not vegetable lasagne. I eat a half portion of rice i.e. today I had firecracker chicken in Wagamamas and left half the rice and was under 6 two and half hours later. A couple of roast potatoes are fine but chips are a big no for me, probably because I eat too many!!

I can eat a welsh cake with butter on it but not without and shop bought cakes are a big no no but homemade okay. Soy ice-cream (Swedish glace) is okay as is proper ice-cream from an ice-cream parlour that makes it on the premises (I know they do as I worked there), but shop bought frozen ice-cream is not so good.

Wine loves me and I love wine!!

 

[Amigo]

White bread and pastry will get me every time. Oven chips and pasta less so surprisingly.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I can eat a welsh cake with butter on it but not without and shop bought cakes are a big no no but homemade okay.

I'd forgotten cake! It's odd how much they vary. R makes chocolate brownies, loaded with sugar, and I barely have to inject anything for them - more than half a unit extra and I'll probably be hypo before dinner - but if I eat one out I'll need a couple of units, and if I eat a scone out I'll need 3 or 4 units and may well spike a bit too.

 

[grainger]

Kettle crisps. Other crisps are fine but kettle crisps send me sky high no matter what I do.

Crumpets which I love do not love me.

Most other things I seem to be ok with but I haven’t had any fruit juices since diagnosis and I steer clear of “sweets”. Tend to avoid potatoes as I prefer pasta, rice etc anyway and find wholemeal pasta is fine and basmati doesn’t seem to cause me any issues.

 

[khskel]

I seem to be OK with most things except any chinese in a lurid red sauce. I even get pizza right most of the time provided it's a thin crust.

 

[Bloden]

Me too! - I need sooooo much more insulin first thing in the morning that I do for the rest of the day. And I can eat almost anything at lunchtime without it having much effect at all.

Snap!🙄

Pizza and pasta are a challenge, but with a bit of experimentation I think I could learn how to eat them - I just can’t face the highs and lows while practising...one day.🙄

 

[Bloden]

I seem to be OK with most things except any chinese in a lurid red sauce. I even get pizza right most of the time provided it's a thin crust.

Do you really want to eat that glow-in-the-dark sauce, khskel!

 

[Cookiemonster2017]

dried figs😳but I love them!

 

[Beck S]

Tortillas will send me right up. I love those with fajitas so I've really go to be careful. Tortilla chips however, not so much, so I can still have nachos. Flipping weird.