Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Diabetic Diet made Easy

So, you just came home after being the diabetic diet. You have pamphlets, a book, booklets, and handouts to read. The trouble is, you are hungry NOW! And, you haven'thad a chance to read the book yet!

BTDT, got the T-shirt. Below is a down-and-dirty way to get started towards a healthy diabetic diet. It isn't very PRECISE, but it is pretty darned close!!!!!

LUNCH: Any thick, meaty sandwich will do, preferably with either a side salad or put lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. A peanut butter sandwich will also do. If you like, a few pieces of onion would be excellent!

And, while I am NOT talking about the subway footlong, as that is 2 sandwiches instead of one, the 6 inch Subway sandwiches fit nicely into the diet plan. If you are at home, a tuna fish sandwch or a peanut butter sandwich will do. Preferably with non-starchy vegetables like lettuce and celery.

DINNER: Meat the size of one or two decks of cards, either a potato or a grain product the size of a small womans fist, and salad.

You might be worried about the amount of salad dressing you can use, but until you have read the materials don't! This is close enough to get you started!

Milk or sugar-free iced tea to drink: I keep  a pitcher of tea in the fridge.

BREAKFAST: An egg and a piece of toast will do if you are as small as I am. Or, 2 eggs and a piece of toast if you are larger than 5'2", which I am NOT!

SNACKS: Eat at LEAST 3 snacks a day: I sometimes eat 4 when I am active. An easy snack is a fistfull of saltine  crackers. I eat 5 crackers but I am short. OR, a whole graham cracker. OR, a piece of fruit  (A half a banana counts as a piece of fruit). Pretzels. Or Jerky or cheese or nuts.  Or, leftovers. When I wanted another piece of chicken or whatever at a meal but it was not on my diet I used to set it aside for my next snack. It made it easier to stay on my diet!

Snacks are important and the diet will NOT work unless you eat your snacks! The body of a diabetic person does not slowly absorb nutrients, it dumps everything into your blood stream all at once, which makes your blood sugar go up too high, but then it drops too low and you run on empty long before your next meal. Don't run out of gas: eat your SNACKS! If your intake of food (fuel) is slow and steady, your blood sugar will even out.

YOUR REWARD FOR FOLLOWING YOUR DIET!

You will no longer feel tired and a little stupid after eating. We all have lives to live, and it is a torment to feel like taking a nap just when your full attention is needed! That kind of fatigue happens when your blood sugar is bouncing up and down! You will feel better once you are stable.

Your blood pressure will go down. Mine went WAAY down and I went off of my blood pressure pills, with my doctors approval, for 10-odd years. I am back on them now but then I am much older than I was.

You will not be nearly as hungry. Aside from a few STRONG bursts of appetite at the very beginning, I am far less hungry. I sit down with an appetite, yes, but I no longer feel like I am shaking with hunger at mealtime. And, if I get hungry too soon, I tide myself over until dinner with a couple of crackers. And, because you *ARE* less hungry, you will loose weight.

This is not intended to be the entire diabetic diet, this is just to get you started. It is INTENDED to help you, when you are in the middle of the literature, to decide what's for dinner tonight!

You will need a scale to weigh things for a few months to check your portion size, and to check your memory for portion size now and then.

Now that my blood sugar is stable, I no longer feel like somethng the cat vomited up. It is worth following the diet just for that!

Live long and prosper!

Terri

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