Calling all DIABETICS or Parents with Diabetic children

Weggy

Yeah I can understand that. No one wants to be taken ill in public, be it simply being sick in the street, or a more severe hypo or epileptic fit.

How often does he have hypos?
The thing to look at, surely, is why he's having hypos at all. There are enough ways of telling now that a hypo is beginning, allowing the person time to take action ie shaking, headache, sweating, and by monitoring the blood sugar with an electrical reader (something I always carry around with me)
The other thing is to always carry a sugar source around. I carry a handful of jelly beans around with me in my pocket!
Also diet is crucial. I'm on the GI diet so Im mostly eating foods that release their sugars slowly into my system. Therefore, my blood sugar stays fairly level throughout the day, rather than the peaks and troughs experienced by a traditional diet.

Weggy

headchef wrote:

Weggy
Well done on the cholesterol BTW. As a young diabetic my OH was told to eat lots of cheese for snacks as it was non-carb and filling! He is finding it very hard to break the habit and hasn't got there on this cholesterol yet. He asked me 'so what can I eat that is low in carbs and fat?' 'Er, celery!' was my reply (Had the man never been on a diet before!!)

Thanks :beer:

Treatment and advice have, thankfully, changed over recent years - especially as the condition becomes more and more common.

I love cheese! And yep, it's been a problem for me too but have him try the healthy living cheeses from Tesco. They do both spreadable, and normal cheese 'blocks'. None of them taste too bad to be honest. And you can always add some herbs or garlic to them just to pep them up a bit.....

Also, why is he watching his carbs? Good carbs (pasta, wholegrain bread) are the sort of foods that give a slow release of energy..... exactly the thing he needs to be eating!

WHA

I've been really surprised how such a small amount of exercise has a massive impact on my sugar levels.

During the week, with being "desk bound" I tend not to get much exercise though my sugar levels are within the limits. At weekends, my sugar levels plummit with just an hour or so walking round the supermarket, a little bit of gardening or DIY, or a walk or cycle with our little boy. I really had no idea that the effect would be so huge.

Now I've taken to doing more during the week - walking to the post box in the other direction to the nearest - only 5 minutes more walking. Also walking to the local post office when I used to use the car - about a 20 minute walk. Again, my sugar levels during the week have dropped.

headchef

Hi Weggy
Didn't explain myself very well. I was thinking of the reasons why some diabetics might run their blood sugar high and be 'poorly controlled' (and therefore run the risks of later complications) - they may fear having hypos. OH is a so called 'well controlled' diabetic in that his average blood sugar level is healthy (judging by his, now 18 monthly, checks) although he does have the occasional hypos and very occasion severe ones. I understand this is because he endeavors to keep his BS normal but he sometimes slips up (esp, as WHA pointed out) when he is more active etc, or stressed.
He is finding too that the old signs he used to have of tingling lips etc are no longer present, but you are right in that he can look deathly pale etc. It's just sometimes he and we, his family, miss the vital signs to test blood sugar and take action. :mad: (with myself)
The diet things you suggest (and fruityslh) regarding the GI are inspiring!
I really do think OH has engineered (does that sound callous? It's not meant) his eating habits so that he can have high sugared foods not long after his main meals (and of course they contain lots of bad fats). I'd love to know more about your 'average' day of meals. We know from the checks that his kidneys, eyes etc are great, it's his heart I'm worried about now! I'm goign to get that healthy cheese (and only that cheese so temptation is out of the way). :rolleyes:

Weggy

Hi again

The most worrying part of your post, in my opinion was:
'so that he can have high sugared foods not long after his main meals'

What foods do you mean? Whats he eating? High sugared foods shouldnt be a part of any diabetics diet, except in emergency use to control a hypo.

My diet is pretty simple really. Grab a book from Tesco that lists the GI grouping of each food. Then he needs to eat plenty in the green category (low GI), go easy on the amber, and mostly avoid the red (High GI).

Simple things are cut out added sugar (from tea, coffee etc) and cut down on salt.

A typical day would be muesli with skimmed milk in the morning (a cliche but the most important meal of the day), some fruit or mixed nuts (non salted) mid morning. Salad for lunch, sometimes jacket potato (which are high GI but use a low GI filling like beans etc) afternoon snack is more fruit or nuts, and dinner would be a lean piece of meat or fish, new potatoes and steamed veg. Also key is to make sure he's eating the 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.

Oh, and drink plenty of water, and cut out caffeine all together!

Sounds hard, and it is, but it can be done and I've never felt so good!

fruityslh

My DH had a really high cholestrol reading at one of his checks and after speaking to the dietician he pinpointed it to the cheese (hubby loves it and he was taking cheese sarnies to work every day) I now buy the Healthy Living Cheese from Tesco as I find in the supermarkets near me, it has the best range, however, I never use it to put on the top of a lasagne or anything else cheese topped as it goes very rubbery, I now make a bechamel sauce and add matured extra strong full fat cheese to give the sauce a cheese flavour, but only in very small quantities.

As for snacks my hubby is the toast monster, until I paid a fair wack for a really good toaster, I was getting through a toaster every 4-6 months, we also changed to wholegrain breads (bumped up my shopping bill a fair bit), we also bought him a toaster for work so he could gorge on toast there as well, which I thought was much better than chocolate bars and crisps (which he would deny buying ) .

He also likes noodles, so I have loads of the 9p packs for when he fancies something different to toast.

As for a normal day, he'll start off with toast (mm no surprises) and juice for breakfast, occassionally he'll have some muesli, he then goes to work with a great big bag of stuff, which is usually 2 ham or chicken salad sandwiches, approx 10 cherry tomatoes, an apple chopped up in a bag with sultanas, a small bag of mixed nuts and toasted seeds, a slice or two of bran loaf (it's like malt loaf but made from all-bran), he has a sweet tooth, so I also make chocolate cornflake crispies (which also have crushed all-bran bits in) that he takes with him and I also make my own muffins (freeze really well) which I make using bran again, but I only make the mini muffin size.

For tea, it could be anything, such as Pasta in a tomato sauce with bacon bits (or leftover chicken pieces from a roast)and mushrooms (now skip the cheese topping)

Sometimes I'll do a stew and put in some sweet potato and pearl barley with loads of veg, bit of meat and slow cook occassionally have a couple of dumplings as a treat sometimes

Pizza (buy the cheese & tomato bases and add own toppings, as we have mainly healthy stuff in the house, he can't be tempted by the pepperoni) with some garlic bread and salad

Chicken or prawn + Veg Strifry with Basmati Rice

Salmon with new potaotes (the only ones my hubby will eat) and veg

My hubby also likes pies, but we've now moved onto using (bought) filo pastry for some interesting pie concoctions (also do mince pie filo parcels at Xmas, as he loves mince pies, which restricts him to only a couple of his mothers extremely rich ones)

I try my best to make it seem like we are eating nice things (as my hubby calls them) rather than looking like we are constantly on a diet/ watching what he eats, as he just simply hates the fact that he is "different" and can't lead a normal life. He's also quite thin, so doesn't like the whole diet thing, he just want's something filling

Sorry I've rambled on, but I hope this helps someone

Oh and by the way, his cholestrol level is now down to an acceptable level (after only 6 months, it was the cheese that did it!!!)

Weggy

We ARE normal.... it's those eating rubbish McBurgers and processed foods that arent normal! :rotfl:

fruityslh

I agree with you Weggy, but it's changing the mindset of my other half, I have learnt it takes time and he eventually comes round, he's just a bit slow on the uptake. I can bet you that at some point someone will mention a fantastic new diet (the GI) and he will say he's been following it for years.
You win some you loose some.

Weggy

I understand. In the news at the moment, you only have to look at George Best to see that not everyone can change their mindsets, despite warnings that they will die if they dont.........

It is hard, but it's really worth the change. I now dont feel hungry during the day, where before I'd get really bad hunger mid afternoon and reach for the chocolate bars or sweets..... giving you a sugar spike, and then you're hungry again soon after..... It's worth the change so you dont get that.

headchef

Thanks Weggy and fruityslh. Ha! Just as I thought - my OH is engineering his eating habits to have choc and crisps when he should be eating a bigger portion of his main meal spuds/pasta and having a 'light' snack if needed. I've chatted to him about this in the past because I remember learning about nutrition in school and kept thinking he should eat more of the slower realease carbs and maybe top up with a plain biscuit. His daily habits are: eat lunch/dinner, hour later out comes biscuit tin and scoffs 2 choc penguin type biscuits or more. I have suggested that he eat garabaldies (sp?) or something which have the about the same carb content but are low in fat compared to choc biscuits and have the currants in the middle (as you've suggested Weggy - dried fruit). Mm as I control budget and shopping think I will take over (I plan to make my own biscuits too - very OS). Thanks for that both of you!! Thank you taking the time and going into so much detail - I'll use it as a blue print for both of us.