Making sense of the senseless

NicoleDiana · Post by **NicoleDiana** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:37 am

I am (1) not fond of being fat and (2) even more disgruntled with doctors trying to peddle drugs to me.

There seems to be a pill for this, that causes that, leads to another pill for that but it causes this...you see the cycle. I want to be in better health without ingesting lab created concoctions.

I am overweight by around 80 pounds and up until 1 week ago, was eating whatever I felt like, obviously. Now that I've decided to address problems, I'm sitting here wondering where to begin.

Nutrition wise, I need to address two medical problems: extremely low potassium and Type II Diabetes. The one pill I will take is Glucophage.

Suddenly, desire to get in shape is slamming into the fact that I just don't understand the whole food-to-sugar conversion thing that our bodies do.

I'd love to have a dialog here about what sorts of foods are safe for Diabetics, how to plan a hearty breakfast (yep, I skip this important meal and need to learn how to eat right) and what foods are good to have on the day's I'm going to be working out after getting off from work.

And for the love of all things healthy, how much water really is enough?

Thanks so much.

NicoleDiana · Post by **NicoleDiana** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:14 am

Ah, now that I've read the "read before posting"

and reviewed meal plans, I can reduce the above rambling to a two question topic:

Is the Daily Meal Plan 2 (found here: http://fittracker.shapefit.com/index.ph ... lan&wid=93) safe for a Diabetic?

Also, what is a good substitute for the fish? I know it is good for me but I don't like the taste of seafood.

cassiegose · Post by **cassiegose** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:15 pm

Good subsitutes for fish include: chicken breast, lean cuts of pork and red meat, tofu, eggs/eggwhites, and lean turkey. I don't particularly care for the tast of most fish either. Have you tried tilapia? It has a milder flavor than most fish. Its not too bad.

Hope this helps!

woodshedder · Post by **woodshedder** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:59 pm

NicoleDiana wrote:I am overweight by around 80 pounds and up until 1 week ago, was eating whatever I felt like, obviously.

Hey Nicole, I'll leave the diet questions to those around here who are more knowledgeable than myself. But I just wanted to say congrats on your newfound motivation! OK, forget first sentence, I will provide one leetle piece of advice if I may...

Find a healthy way you can eat that you can stick to forever, and then do it. Doing it that way, you might lose the weight more slowly than if you did something more drastic diet-wise, but it will also be permanent. The time it takes to get to your goal is less important than being able to maintain your desired weight long-term. GOOD LUCK!!!! ...and give us some updates from time to time.

NicoleDiana · Post by **NicoleDiana** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:31 pm

cassiegose wrote:Good subsitutes for fish include: chicken breast, lean cuts of pork and red meat, tofu, eggs/eggwhites, and lean turkey. I don't particularly care for the tast of most fish either. Have you tried tilapia? It has a milder flavor than most fish. Its not too bad.

Hope this helps!

Chicken = fish substitute? That is great news for me!

I have tried Tilapia and still had no taste for it. For reasons unknown to me, I have realized that if it lives in the water, I don't like the taste of it. Go figure.

NicoleDiana · Post by **NicoleDiana** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:33 pm

woodshedder wrote:
NicoleDiana wrote:I am overweight by around 80 pounds and up until 1 week ago, was eating whatever I felt like, obviously.
Hey Nicole, I'll leave the diet questions to those around here who are more knowledgeable than myself. But I just wanted to say congrats on your newfound motivation! OK, forget first sentence, I will provide one leetle piece of advice if I may... Find a healthy way you can eat that you can stick to forever, and then do it. Doing it that way, you might lose the weight more slowly than if you did something more drastic diet-wise, but it will also be permanent. The time it takes to get to your goal is less important than being able to maintain your desired weight long-term. GOOD LUCK!!!! ...and give us some updates from time to time.

Thank you. I'm going to embrace this site and the tools that are available, including the forums. It will be a pleasure to get to know the regulars as I work through the biggest struggle of life.

Boss Man · Post by **Boss Man** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:52 pm

For a Diabetic such as yourself, you need to make sure your Carbs intake consists of mainly low GI intake.

So obviously most Fruits are fine, including Tomatos, (very low). Be a little wary of Bananas, and stay away from Watermelon, it's high GI, and possibly Melon as well.

Other low Carb foods include Mushrooms, Broccoli, Soybeans, Cashews, Peanuts, Skimmed Milk, (forget the number) etc etc. Most veggies are fine except Parsnips and Potatos.

Avoid Rice, (except very small portions of Brown or Wild), you could use Rice combinations with thinge like Peas, Beans, Peppers, and Mushrooms, when you have it, and be careful with Whole-grains, as they are moderate to high GI, although if you have Cereal with Milk, you can cut overall GI, and Glycemic load, (bloodsugar spike), with Milk potentially, but that would depend on the actual amount cereal Carbs. The bigger the amount, the less the Milk can reduce some of the Cereal Bloodsugar increase.

You need to be also aware with Mushrooms, Rice and Legumes, of the Amino Acid content, so you don't over consume Protein, if you add something like Chiken, Turkey etc etc.

Most Legumes should be okay, but remember the Amino Acid content, so be careful when factoring in your Protein, not to go too high on Protein if you don't need to, this also applies to Lentils.

You could occasionally have things like Low Fat Cheese if you wanted, for Carbs, Proteins and Fats, and also a good Micronutrient content, but don't be too dependant on it.

Don't go for simple Carbs too much, so dried Fruits, like Dates, Sultanas, Currents etc etc, can be quite moderate to high GI, and offer you fast Bloodsugar spikes, which might not be beneficial. Complex Carbs offer slower increases, which would be better.

The best time to eat anything like those fast Bloodsugar spikers, would be if you felt yourself going Hypo, but again, I wouldn't go massively on those either at that point.

Hopefully that helps.

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:09 pm

sister in law is diabetic and runs a foundation called reality check...email her for assitance i'd say

http://www.realitycheck.org.au/

tell her troy says hi

cassiegose · Post by **cassiegose** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:57 pm

Swanso... your name is Troy? Where'd Swanso come from?

swanso5 · Post by **swanso5** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 2:16 am

who has the name swanso???

well we have australian rules football over here (1000 x better than grid iron and 1000000 x better than soccer and rugby) and team are the sydney swans...in 2005 we won the whole thing so it's meant to be swans05 but i typed it wrong

now that you know name you can stalk me...please do

vamp · Post by **vamp** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 7:21 am

Troy, cool, well if we are giving names today, mine is Chris

LOL

Making sense of the senseless

Making sense of the senseless

Re: Making sense of the senseless

Re: Making sense of the senseless