My dad has had type 2 diabetes for the last 6 or 7 years, but for most of the time it's been fairly mild and as long as he took a pill in the morning he was fine the rest of the day. Recently though his doctor told him he really needed to start watching what he ate. He gave him a whole list of things not to eat, but the only thing he told him specifically to eat was brown rice... My dad has it in his head that he just can't eat things with a lot of sugar. I explained to him that it's carbs he really needs to be watching and not just avoiding desserts. But that left us with questions like what does he eat because he's mostly a vegetarian (except when we eat out) and almost everything else has carbs. I'm very familiar with type 1 diabetes because 2 of my best friends have it, but I don't know exactly how to translate that over to type 2. My friends can eat carbs as long as they take the right amount of insulin to cover it, but if my dad isn't on insulin does he not eat any carbs there? How would you even do that? Anyways, if someone could explain it a little better and maybe share some recipes that would be really awesome. Thanks!
John W2012-02-11T20:04:58Z
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There are differences between carbs so when choosing between carbohydrates, choose the lower glycemic index carbohydrates. There's also glycemic load which also takes into account how many carbs is in a usual serving. The lower glycemic index carbohydrates take longer to become glucose so the glucose level is spread out and easier for the pancreas to handle, it's like taking rush hour traffic and spreading it out through the day. Another way to spread out the load would be to eat smaller meals but more frequently.
I hate trying to count carbs and calculate portions so I just use the plate method. Using the portion control and 30 minutes of exercise each day I was able to lose over 150 lbs and go off diabetes medication all together.
The three main things to watch in your portion control is those foods that relate to the ABC's of diabetes:
AC1 - This means limiting the carb portions to keep the blood sugar levels steady, hopefully under 7.0, 6.0 is even better. A way to help this is to increase the fiber content of the carbs so as to slow their absorption, i.e. instead of all white flour, use half wheat flour, instead of white rice, brown rice, instead of regular pasta, whole grain pasta, etc...
Blood Pressure - Diabetics of both types die of heart attacks or strokes 66% of the time, a leading cause of heart attack and stroke is undetected hypertension. Keeping the sodium intake at 1500 mg or less is helpful so finding salt alternatives to spice up foods and choosing lower sodium versions are preferred.
Cholesterol - This speaks to the heart attack and stroke danger again. Using healthy fats (Omega-3, no trans fat, low saturated fat) and eating leaner meat help this the most.
People with type 2 diabetes need small amount of the right carbs. When your talking to your father he needs to know the right proporton of meat,fish turkey ,chicken .The proportion is the size of his hand . He needs small amount of carbs (Sweet potato ,brown rice ,egg noodles.) Then the rest of the plate in vegetables. If your father a vegeterian he needs lentils and kidney beans and all those things so he gets his protien..If your father feels like a sweet then light icecream with a jelly or yoghart, or all kinds of fruits.. When he eats breakfast it can be porridge or brown bread . Its very important that your father knows that he has to control his diet not the medication. People get lazy and think they can still eat and drink what ever they like and think that a pill is going to stop them from having diabetes If your fathers on 1 pill tell him he doesnt have to take medication if he watches his eating habits and checks his readings every day. If he doesnt i can tell you that he will be taking more pills in 2 years time to try to control his diabetes.