I never tell people I have diabetes, well, non-family people. I hear all the horror stories from my SIL that in the beginning of her diagnosis, she told some friends and office workers, and not one week did not go by that one or another would question her as to why shes eating a cookie or putting a teaspoon of sugar in her coffee.
God forbid she has a piece of birthday cake or a cupcake to celebrate.
Why do people think they know better than us, what we can and can not eat?
I never followed a meal plan when I was diagnosed. I suppose since I was only in the "pre" stage, there was not mad rush to change my life. First thing I did was gather as much information as I could get my hands on and then started, slowly making one major change a week. When I say major, I don't mean cutting out all those foods not advised as OK, I simply made substitutions. Three years later I am still learning so much about my disease and as more 'super foods' become accessible I try to incorporate them into my diet.
The Nudge told me that he had to give me credit at this late stage in my life to actively seek out these foods and eat them. I have to admit it's made a difference in his life also.
I think that my dad's artery disease and how hard is was (and still is) for him to change and understand his bad eating habits has made me determined to not get so set in my ways that it effects my health.
I found that I rarely eat rice (which I ate at least 3x a week) or as much pasta (at least 2x a week before), I have lost my yen for sugary sweet desserts, use less than a tablespoon of salt a week and unless I am baking, I rarely use butter and find I have to freeze it dare it go rancid. Luckily, I was able to get my A1C test down to normal as well as my cholesterol and BP and have kept it that way for 2 years now.
Even though I most of my post are diapropriate recipes and information on new and improved foods I have discovered and reviews on how good or bad they taste, I do not do enough to get this information out there and I certainly do not provide enough diabetic nutritional information on the meals I do eat.
I get newsletters and weekly updates from a few Diabetic magazines and sites along with the regular food ones and am constantly amazed at how many diabetics still do not know how to eat the correct foods, the correct amounts and how to make a healthy meal plan. I blame the fact that the majority of people ages 50 and under have never even used a frying pan let alone a knife. I see how Cosco revamped their whole specialty food section to half the store from maybe 4 refrigerator cases. It is virtually impossible to find packaged meals that are diabetic friendly.
I believe that by combining good meal choices you can utilize the semi homemade approach to making a proper and healthy meal plan in the rat race called life. I will try to do better, no, I WILL do better.
Starting on this Sunday, I will post a week's menu plan that will contain +/- 1500 calories a day and stay within the ADA guidelines of proper recommended exchanges to help keep your diabetes under control.
If you have no weight concerns you can up that amount and I have a worksheet that you can duplicate weekly to keep track.
I will post the recipes in red sometime during the month and a few new ones that can be used at a later time. Hopefully this will help someone to see exactly what an average day's amount of respectable food is and learn how to make substitutions for foods you would enjoy eating along the way.
When I showed The Nudge, he thought it only correct that we should also follow the plan and I thought it was an excellent idea. This way I can make adjustments along the way and we can discuss what works and what doesn't.
See you on Sunday. In the meantime you should download my Exchange List, my Food Diary Sheet and the GI for easy referral. You can find them all on this page.
My first post will be for Italian Cheese and Egg Strata Muffins.