Diabetic Thanksgiving

[Joshua_Shorter]

I don’t really know the difference between type 1 and type 2 in terms of diet. I’m aware of what it is medically but am not sure how that affects what people eat. I don’t want to backslide during this time of year. Unfortunately my husband can’t have ham either - no red meat which he says includes pork even though some people call that “white” meat. He can have chicken and turkey as well as seafood.

I’m working on finding lower-fat alternatives to cheese since we both love cheese and the high fat versions are tempting but I’ve read diabetes can increase risk of heart disease.

One thing that is surprisingly hard for me to give up is diet soda although I’ve heard many times it’s not good for people especially diabetics.

thanks for the reassurance

The main difference I was talking about is that I can inject some extra insulin to help me handle a meal with a little more carbs whereas you are going about it by diet alone.

I eat almost as much fat as I want. Meats, cheeses, etc. I also drink Diet. Dr. Pepper and the only one who complains about that is my dentist.

 

[Joshua_Shorter]

I think a healthy meal is good for those with and without diabetes.

This are my thoughts. You may need to speak with your doctor for how many carbohydrates you and your husband should eat throughout the day.

My ideal day is to have 4 servings of carbohydrates each per lunch and dinner, with possibly 2 servings of carbohydrate for a snack between lunch and dinner and again after dinner.

A quick way to count a serving of carbohydrates is to look at the food label of a prepared food or in a carbohydrate book for fresh food.

A carbohydrate serving is 15 grams of carbohydrate.

A meal might look like this:
3 oz turkey breast
salad made with lots of non-starchy vegetables - 2 T olive oil based dressing
1/2 cup sweet potato (prepared in microwave, sprinkled with cinnamon)
non-startchy vegetables steamed:
—broccoli with carrots
----sliced zucchini and cherry tomatoes heated together in a skillet, sprinkled with basil

At this point, I would roughly call this meal 1 serving of carbohydrate or 15 grams of carbohydrate.

So, the above meal still has room for 3 more servings of carbohydrates or 45 grams of carbohydrates.

I usually eliminate foods with wheat or gluten in my diet. If you want bread or stuffing (gluten or gluten free), check the serving size and carbohydrate amount. Then measure the amount you put on your plate.

I look at a food and decide “is it something I want to ‘spend’ 15 grams of carbohydrate eating or drinking?”

Don’t forget to look at the number of carbs and the serving size of drinks. I usually drink water.

You can make a healthier pie or a carb loaded pie. Some pie (frozen Key Lime) may have 55 grams of carbohydrate in one serving size piece (1/8 pie). That is almost the entire 60 grams that I would want for an entire meal. By cutting the pie slices into 1/16 of a pie, the pie counts goes down to close to 30 grams or 2 servings of carbohydrates. Meaning the meal can contain 2 servings of carbohydrates.

You can make a fantastic meal and stick to 60 grams of carbs (which is 4 servings) or even less.

You can use 30 grams of carbohydrate for pie as your 2 servings of carbohydrate for the snack between lunch and dinner.

Sometimes, we mistakenly believe we have to over-eat on Thanksgiving or holidays and eat high fat, high carbohydrates. We can celebrate and enjoy healthy eating.

You are off to a wonderful start by planning in advance to serve a healthy and tasty meal for your family.

60 grams of carbs for one meal is an awful lot for a diabetic trying to control their blood sugar with diet and exercise. A more reasonable meal might actually be 15-20 grams per meal.

A lot of the succesful diabetics I know don’t eat more than 60 grams of carbs in one day, much less one meal.

 

[Bonnie]

60 grams of carbs for one meal is an awful lot for a diabetic trying to control their blood sugar with diet and exercise. A more reasonable meal might actually be 15-20 grams per meal.

A lot of the succesful diabetics I know don’t eat more than 60 grams of carbs in one day, much less one meal.

I thought that was rather high also. I eat a max of 30 carbs per day. That’s the only way I can control my BG. Generally no carbs for breakfast (usually an egg or 2), then 15 to 20 for lunch and the remainder at supper.

 

[Joshua_Shorter]

I thought that was rather high also. I eat a max of 30 carbs per day. That’s the only way I can control my BG. Generally no carbs for breakfast (usually an egg or 2), then 15 to 20 for lunch and the remainder at supper.

That is pretty standard amongst the diabetics to whom I look up.

Thank you for being a good example to the rest of the diabetic world.

 

[Bonnie]

That is pretty standard amongst the diabetics to whom I look up.

Thank you for being a good example to the rest of the diabetic world.

Thank you! While being a good example is good, it was 2 people who I call “good bad examples” that gave me that last kick to do something about my diabetes. One has had both legs amputated and will likely die soon. He is very ill. Then last summer I reconnected with an old folk dancing friend. 40 years ago he could dance the night away - now he’s massively overweight and in a wheelchair.

I realized that that’s where I was heading and I knew I couldn’t live the life I want from a wheelchair. Talk about being “scared straight!”

And success! Lost another 2 lbs this past week and feeling great! Walked a mile yesterday - it’s been years since I could manage that distance.

 

[Miss_Felicity]

Both of my parents and my significant other are all diabetic so I’ve been a caregiver all my life. I will say that we typically eat the classic thanksgiving food but watch portions and not stuff ourselves. Diabetics can have a treat as long as its moderation and not too often. If this is his first thanksgiving after diagnosis than perhaps consider letting your husband have his favorites but in smaller portions and minimize overeating. Perhaps don’t make enough to leftovers the following day(s).

 

[juno24]

I thought that was rather high also. I eat a max of 30 carbs per day. That’s the only way I can control my BG. Generally no carbs for breakfast (usually an egg or 2), then 15 to 20 for lunch and the remainder at supper.

I am really curious to know how you accomplish this. 30 carbs per days means almost no fruit, vegetables, dairy or grains in your diet. Just as an example, 1 medium apple (a very healthy food) has about 25 carbs. ! cup of broccoli has about 5. So, with just those 2 servings of fruit/veg you’ve reached your limit. I’m not doubting that you eat the way you say you do; I am just really curious to know how you accomplish it.

 

[EasterJoy]

Both of my parents and my significant other are all diabetic so I’ve been a caregiver all my life. I will say that we typically eat the classic thanksgiving food but watch portions and not stuff ourselves. Diabetics can have a treat as long as its moderation and not too often. If this is his first thanksgiving after diagnosis than perhaps consider letting your husband have his favorites but in smaller portions and minimize overeating. Perhaps don’t make enough to leftovers the following day(s).

Fiber also lowers glycemic index of carbs–that is, white bread with fiber added would have a somewhat lower glycemic index than the same bread without the fiber added–so don’t small down on the veggies, either. Starting with salads and veggie portions of a considerable size also contributes to a feeling of fullness, so the smaller portions won’t feel meager.

One has to be careful about eating lots of fiber and lots of the sugar alcohols like mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol and so on in a short time span, for obvious reasons.

 

[EasterJoy]

Thank you! While being a good example is good, it was 2 people who I call “good bad examples” that gave me that last kick to do something about my diabetes. One has had both legs amputated and will likely die soon. He is very ill. Then last summer I reconnected with an old folk dancing friend. 40 years ago he could dance the night away - now he’s massively overweight and in a wheelchair.

I realized that that’s where I was heading and I knew I couldn’t live the life I want from a wheelchair. Talk about being “scared straight!”

And success! Lost another 2 lbs this past week and feeling great! Walked a mile yesterday - it’s been years since I could manage that distance.

The day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas are two of the worst days in terms of seeing diabetics and others on restricted diets showing up in hospital emergency departments. Metabolism does not change for holidays.

 

[Bonnie]

I’m not doubting that you eat the way you say you do; I am just really curious to know how you accomplish it.

Last December I read one of Dr. Richard Bernstein’s books about the low carb way of eating for diabetics (he’s T1). It took a while to wrap my head about his ideas, but I’ve finally caught on to it.

No sugar (no brainer!), no grains except for ground flaxseed (I make a “bread” out of it), no fruit, no starches (which includes starchy vegetables), no dairy except for half ‘n’ half and cream and a little cheese - but not much of those. (Greek yogurt was the last dairy I hung onto - I miss it! )

The list of what I can eat is much longer: eggs, almost all meats, leafy greens - both raw and cooked, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, some nuts (tho I’m careful with those - the salted variety is a trigger food for me), and more I can’t think of at the moment. It’s early yet!

At first I didn’t understand the necessity of weighing and measuring my portions. Once I started doing that the weight started coming off. After much reading (and the help of a pushy friend ) I added a tablespoon of coconut oil each day. That has been a great help. When you eat low carb the good fats have to go up. Trying to be both low carb and low fat is a recipe for failure. I ate low fat foods for so long, trying to get the good fat back in my diet has been a challenge.

When I first heard about eating this way from a diabetic acquaintance, I thought that there was no way I could eat so little. I thought I’d be starving myself. But I don’t feel all that hungry. I eat 3 meals (I used to eat more!) and rarely snack. Eating after 7pm is no longer an option for me - no matter how healthful the food, my fasting BG goes up the next morning. And I was absolutely convinced that I couldn’t sleep if I went to bed hungry.

Yesterday we drove past our favorite orchard. I told my husband that at first I missed bread, but now I miss the fresh fruit. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get to the point where I can have some without throwing off my BG.

I’ve read that I should be taking a multivitamin, but I’ve never seen the point of that. I eat pretty well. But because I don’t get fruit, I take some vitamin C, and because of living in the almost sunless north in winter (and because I’m older) I take vitamin D.

I had a doctor appointment earlier this week and my doctor was very supportive. He said if I don’t want to take medications (which I don’t because of nasty side effects) restricting carbs is the only way to go.

 

[Bonnie]

I can’t believe I left out the most important help to my diabetic way of eating - St. Pauline Visintainer, patroness of diabetics. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

The St. Pauline Center in the US has a non-working website, SaintPaulineCenter.org (you can read stuff there but not order or send e-mail), so if you want prayer cards or anything else you have to write. The address is:

Saint Pauline Visintainer Center
1150 Chestunt St.
Kulpmont, PA 17834

 

[juno24]

Bonnie, thank you so much for you detailed reply. I was not sure when you stated you at so few carbohydrates whether you meant in the Atkins sense (where people eat 100 or more total carbs, but only count the non-fiber carbs in their daily totals do that it looks like only 30), or if you meant you really ate only 30 carbs total per day.
Your plan actually sounds a great deal like the Medifast weight loss program (which I used to lose a great deal of weight). No fruit, no bread, no starchy vegetables, and lots of protein. I was on Medifast for over a year, and I could do it as long as I knew there was an end to the deprivation. I still follow the basics of the program and I severely limit grains and starchy vegetables. Although I am not diabetic, T2 diabetes runs in my family, so this way of eating works very well for me. The last time my sugar was checked, it was 73 and my A1C was in the normal non-diabetic range (I forget the number, but my doctor was fine with the results).

 

[Bonnie]

Although I am not diabetic, T2 diabetes runs in my family, so this way of eating works very well for me. The last time my sugar was checked, it was 73 and my A1C was in the normal non-diabetic range (I forget the number, but my doctor was fine with the results).

I applaud you! :clapping:

You know you are at risk and are doing something about it. When my dad was diagnosed with T2 years ago and I knew darn well I was pre-diabetic, I did nothing. So now I have full-blown diabetes. Even after my diagnosis I lived in that nasty river denial.

But when I really looked at what would result from denial, I knew I had a choice: continue to eat whatever I wanted and have a short and unpleasant life, or control my desires and really live. I chose the latter.

It’s a lot of work right now, but any new set of skills is. Sometime - I hope soon - I’ll have most of the carb numbers in my head and won’t have to look everything up. But I don’t know if I’ll ever give up my food diary. I put in it how I feel and exercise as well, so I have a good idea of what caused a jump (or drop) in BG or BP.