I need ideas please.

[Harbormaster]

I am type II diabetic and have been focusing on taking better care of myself.

Through experimenting with foods I have found that I can't eat rice, potatoes, pasta, or regular bread without my glucose levels exploding. (Having a Continuous Glucose Monitor has been a Godsend. Expensive, but a Godsend.)

I have been relegated to being a meat and vegetables guy these days.

But here's the thing: I'm tired of steamed broccoli, roasted brussel sprouts, sautéed cabbage, and green beans. Corn and peas are a no go. I eat tons of Romaine lettuce salads with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, olives, bacon, and cheese but that's getting old too.

Any ideas of other veggies or cooking methods a brother can try?

Thanks in advance.

ps: I don't technically live in a food desert, but I do live in a pretty rural area.

 

[LYU370]

Fish, eggs, spaghetti squash, zoodles...

 

[SmokinAussie]

Noodles are out Andy. Edit: Miss read that. Zoodles are in!

But Anyway Clarke, you have to have a No Carb diet.

First thing: Go into Netflix and it it's still there search for a doco called The Magic Bullet.

Secondly, look up Mark Sisson's Keto Reset Diet.

Thirdly, there are a lot of other resources out there with keto recipes.

Also, investigate the concept of Intermittent Fasting. The secret to this working for you is to follow a high protein, high fat diet and if that works for you, it should just happen by itself and your sugars will remain stable.

Finally, we do have a thread here https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=269300 which goes through a lot of info on Keto and Weight Loss.

For personal reference I lost 50kg, reversed my cholesterol profile and am no longer "pre-diabetic"

I had some Ice Cream last night. I'm bad and I'll pay for it. But that's the first time since Christmas!

Cheers!

 

[ssv3]

My dad had type II diabetes and he beat it. He started with dropping lbs first, avoiding starch and sugars plus intermittent fasting which he still does. He also started making his own breads, sweets and buying better ingredients to make them with. He eats absolutely 0 foods that have preservatives so basically nothing out of a box, can, package etc. As soon as he dropped the weight everything came under control and diabetes disappeared. He still checks out clean today as they diagnosed him about 15 years ago roughly. To be fair he nipped it in the bud as soon as he was diagnosed so he went hard at first and gained control.

He now eats, drinks whatever he wants and no issues at 73. He will demolish mashed potatoes, rice, bread, pizza, pasta, dessert etc as he loves carbs but usually cooks/bakes everything from scratch and again in moderation. He eats a lot of eggs, dairy, fish, pork, soups, stews and veggies with his meals. Both raw and cooked veggies. His regiment (now habit) has helped him stay thin with 0 focus on avoiding any specific foods.

 

[bschoen]

Agree with weight loss first. Works wonders.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

I didn't see cauliflower in your list. In my semi quest to drop some lbs. I decided to try cauliflower rice instead of real rice. Seasoned up right and not overcooked is not bad. Grilled zucchini and squash is also a staple right now.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

You need some Soul Food. Turnip greens cooked with a big ole piece of salt bacon. Not steamed! A few shrimps would be go too.

 

[Harbormaster]

I am down weight-wise. I'm down about 60 lbs from my peak weight and have been holding pretty firm where I am. Could stand to lose a little more but...
I have my A1c down to about 6.7 or so, so I'm doing well, just getting bored of the same old foods.
Just bought cauliflower tonight. Going to steam it and make some mashed cauliflower to have with a pork roast I cooked last night. I did try it riced once. It wasn't bad, just didn't have the same "mouth feel" as rice. When I'm jonesin' for beans and rice I still eat it, just can't have it as often as I want.
I make a tasty zucchini/onion/tomato dish that's a great side.
Anyhoo, thanks for the input so far. Looking forward to more!

 

[bowhnter]

Okra, and more cheese.

 

[JclinATX]

You can roast cauliflower, broccoli, and asparagus similarly to brussel sprouts. Can also grill asparagus and zucchini. Grilled kabobs with onions, peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

I hear you though. I’ve done low carb off and on for a few years. It can get repetitive when I get complacent, or busy at work.

 

[oldgfbbq]

Diagnosed Type II in May 2023, lost 30lbs, take Metformin, should be able to control with diet at some point, but not there yet.

I have added sliced brined/marinated artichokes to various salad mixes (just greens, no goodies), both from Costco. After shaking the jar, the brine is used as salad dressing. Sometimes add ham/beef/chicken/tuna/salmon/avocado.

Sandwiches - Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pita Bread has 9 carbs per piece (at Wal Mart). One slice of bread may have as many as 11 carbs per slice. Typically use half and stuff with cheese and meat, a few salad greens with various flavors mustard.

Iced Earl Grey Tea has been a refreshing change from soda and has surprisingly been a nice alternative to beer. It hits that "something not sweet" drink need I have. I average 2 beers per week.

Breakfast - Using half a pita described above, I melt cheese on top, then add pre-cooked turkey bacon and cook longer. Sort of eats like pizza, not stuffed pita. Costco also sells a breakfast "fritatta" made with egg whites, spinich, cheese....basically quiche without the crust.

Pork rines - very low carbs but high in fat. A great chip alternative.

Orange Juice - Been using sugar free Tang with a squirt of Pineapple/Mango water enhancer as a substitute.


I'm not sure one can eliminate all carbs from meals. My doctor suggested 120 total carbs per day for me. He didn't care how I got there, but limit to 120 per day. For the most part, my meals were around 15-20 carbs per meal. After finding a base line diet that yielded certain results, I have branched out to other foods (a cookie, beer, deli sandwich) on a periodic basis to learn what I can eat and when.

You are not alone!

 

[4ever3]

Eat to live, not live to eat.




#vegetableskill

 

[Harbormaster]

Okra

Not gonna happen.
I love foods from the South: BBQ, collard greens, grits, crawdads... but I can't do okra.
Being from America's Dairyland I am a huge milk drinker, until I saw how many carbs were in 8 ounces of 2% milk! I have switched to unsweetened almond milk. Not as good as real dairy, but I'm getting used to it. Would be way better if I had a half dozen chocolate chip cookies to dunk in it.
I found some breads at Walmart that are very low carb Keto breads (Carbonaut), only a couple of grams of carbs per slice. Been eating a lot of sandwiches lately. Also switched from chips to pork rinds.

 

[Mikhail]

Grilled onions, peppers, squash, tomatoes, asparagus, eggplant, heck, even broccoli and cauliflower and green beans. A little olive oil, S&P and you're right there. Plus you can grill the meat on the other side, so easy. Delicious.

 

[BDAABAT]

Hi Clark. First, good for you! Losing 30lbs is not easy. Congratulations!

Unfortunately, the 1ac you posted is still elevated. That means, there is still excess insulin being pushed out to bloodstream. This isn’t ideal.

Would suggest considering further limiting carbs/calories to get a1c closer to 5.

T2D sucks. It’s associated with tons of poor health consequences.

The good news? It’s entirely reversible.

The bad news? Meds don’t really work. They can help to try to control symptoms, but they don’t stop disease.

Revering requires ongoing self discipline. Changing diet, losing weight can reverse disease. That’s the only thing that works to reverse T2D.

Re: veg options to consider.

Cauliflower. Roasting works! So does faux potatoes.

Other veg: roast!

Good luck!
Bruce

 

[Harmony BBQ]

Consider intermittent fasting in order to limit the amount of time each day your body produces insulin. Lots of info out there, it’s not all that hard to do, first couple days are the hardest while your body adjusts. I am not diabetic but have been doing intermittent fasting for several months with good success on weight loss and improved energy levels. I had routine blood work done last month and the results were the best I’ve had in decades. Another tip is to avoid all seed oils, harder to do that but it’s worth it.

 

[sudsandswine]

You could do a side of more meat to go with your meat :becky:

Another tip is to avoid all seed oils, harder to do that but it’s worth it.

Can be hard to do, but it eliminates a bunch of options that are unhealthy for you for other reasons as well. If it comes from a box or a bag (or even a restaurant), it probably has seed oils in it.

 

[SmokinAussie]

A note on Intermittent Fasting.

While I practice it successfully I would not recommend that to someone actually on Insulin. In Clarke's case it's better to adapt his diet more carefully so that IM starts more by accident than a deliberate attempt to fast.

Higher density foods: fats and proteins require the body to work harder to get the nutrition out of them. You feel full for longer and can skip snacks entirely. Personally I eat once a day. No snacks. Just water or tea or black coffee until dinner and then I wake up feeling full. Don't try this until it comes naturally to you.

Clarke, being a dairy lover you can eat as much high fat cheese as you like. On some days, I might just decide to have a cheese and charcutterie platter for dinner with olives and maybe a little salad. It's all you need.

How many times have you served such a platter for guests before dinner and found by dinner you are quite full?

Oils. Please investigate MCT Oil. I don't need it any more but you might like to have a read up about it. It works well as an appetite suppressant and can give you a bit of energy through the day.

Back to the Diabetes. There's 2 factors involved here.

1. Not producing insulin at all. (Becoming Type 1)
2. Producing insulin but having insulin resistance in the cells of your body.

It's the balance of the two which we don't know in Clarkes case and this is why IM isn't a good idea until we can establish that Clarke's insulin dosage drops and perhaps stops.

You have to avoid a hypo.

The good thing is having a closed feedback loop monitoring system which is going to give this info pretty quickly.

And then there is the bread. Even low carb, no carb is not an option IMO. Just have a handful of nuts, pork rinds, olives, biltong (air dried and not sweetened meat) with you. Forget the sammiches etc. If you get out of the habit of eating them, you are less at risk of having a store bought regular sammich when you find yourself out of your local routine and hungry.

Sorry if that's TMI.

Cheers!

Bill

 

[4ever3]

Speaking of dairy, and speaking from experience, it’ll start a firestorm in some communities if you tell them that as mammals we have absolutely no need for dairy of any sort after weaning. Oh LAWD!

 

[LYU370]

You can eat as many mushrooms as you'd like. Kraut is another one. Make a stir fry, just leave out the noodles and rice. Glad you figured out how many cards in milk, switch to light cream instead. Real dairy and extra fat you need for keto. Or just skip it all together, I almost never drink any dairy, once in a great while I'll add some to coffee.

If you try IF, once you get used to it, try a full on fast. I did it a few years back. Stopped after seven days, lost 40lbs. blood sugar dropped down to normal range. Just make sure to test often, also need extra salt. I drank the cubes of salt water, aka beef broth cubes.