Recommend a good cookbook for diabetic
 

I know we have several here with this condition...

I am a type II diabetic and wife has decided we should try to get me off my meds by changing our lifestyle. I am all for it... I would love to stop taking the pills and drop a few pounds.

Looking at Amazon I get four pages of diabetic cookbooks...

Anyone have one, two, or three books they like?

Thanks,
Scott

The Zone diet works pretty well but it takes work and isn't inexpensive and you get sick of food. Jennifer Aniston was a big proponent a few years ago, don't know if she still is. I went from 217# to 192# on it but have only been loosely following it since. Exercise helps a lot. I have to reduce my meds when I remember to work out consistently.

Don't waste your time with diets. Get one of those little books that has all the nutritional info. It has the Calorie count, Fat grams, and MOST important for Diabetic the Carb counts. follow this little book for a few days. You won't need a diet but you'll be more aware of what foods you should stay away from. Then it becomes a lifestyle instead of a passing thing. this coming from a diabetic that is on the insulin pump after taking 4 shots a day for 18 years.

You are describing the Zone diet. Portion control and ratios along with not eating processed foods as much. Think of it as a guide to healty eating, or eating like your grandparents.

I am still a firm believer that HFCS has a lot to do with the increase in Type II and general obesity. People not getting out as much as well.

I don't use a specific cookbook; just stay away from carbs and exercise regularly. You can alter many recipes to lower the carb count.

Use a calorie counting app on smartphone or computer. I like "Calorie Count". It will show you calories, fat, carbs, sugar, etc.

I am not too informed on diabetes but my impression (not more) is that if the goal is to go off meds, losing significant amounts of weight is the primary factor, rather than targeting a specific low-glycemic index diet.

I am only 13 pounds over my ideal weight, I can't even float in the pool when we swim. No significant amount to lose here.

As others have said, we diabetics' enemy is carbs. Once you begin to see what foods have the most carbs, you'll be amazed - and informed as to why you're carrying redundant flesh.
Also, get moving.
Good luck.

I need to drop 30+ lbs., as well.

my friend talked to a nutritionist at the hospital that specialized in diabetic stuff. they worked out a game plan.

i DO know that part of the game plan was for him to eat six tiny meals a day. like two fish tacos, in corn tortillas..bowl of yogurt..stuff like that. he always had food on him. he just stopped whatever he was doing and and graze.

he was never full or hungry. he had a hell of a time getting used to the program, but it worked. i believe he is off of his meds and training for a half marathon.

the tiny meals limited the spikes, and deep valleys in his body chemistry. he tried to explain it to me.

Sure. We're not diabetic, but we use these quite often:

The Primal Blueprint Cookbook: Primal, Low Carb, Paleo, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free (Primal Blueprint Series): Mark Sisson, Jennifer Meier: 9780982207727: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle (9781936608751): Diane Sanfilippo, Bill Staley, Robb Wolf: Books

Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook: Real Food for Real Life: Sarah Fragoso: 9781936608638: Amazon.com: Books

Amazon.com: Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking for a Gluten-Free Kitchen (9781936608935): Julie Sullivan Mayfield, Charles Mayfield, Mark Adams, Robb Wolf: Books

Diabetic Recipes & Menus: Dinner, Desserts, Snacks and More : Recipes and Cooking : Food Network

Cindy says this one is the best site of all the diabetic cooking links we have..

I could not sleep in the middle of the night and caught Dr. Mark Hyman on PBS with his "Blood Sugar Solution". Book, diet, video and recipes in link below.

Dr. Mark Hyman

Spot on, I learned a lot in just 45 minutes.

Not sure if he made this word up "diabesity", but here is the short version of it:
8 Steps to Reversing Diabesity | Dr. Mark Hyman
The above has much in common with the video below, both talk about the liver and blood sugar (low gluten diet).

http://www.thedietsolutionprogram.com/5-foods-to-never-eat/?m=ad&r=aff&hop=manybrooks

Bought and read "The Zone" book 5-10 years ago... good stuff but fell off that diet lifestyle.

Also saw Dr. Mark Hyman on PBS, also good stuff but seems like he stretched a 15 minute brochure into a 90 minute infomercial... much like other books on diabetes, half the book is testimonies (or padding) about how the authors diet changed their life.

I agree all that is needed is to cut carbs and sugar... problem is got married three years ago and wife loves her carbs and deserts.

I have been preaching a low carb diet to her for years but don't seem to be getting through to her... she also wants to lose some #'s so I was hoping if I could give her a cook book it might help push her in that direction

The whiter the bread, the sooner you're dead.

My wife got one that Gourmet magazine put out, was not too bad. We had it at the office, would copy the recipe for them if they asked. The binding started falling apart from people tearing pages out.

Cookbooks are so last century! Use Google and find zillions of online recipes, that's what we do. They're free, too...

Recently started up medication for type 2. I am averaging about 150 glucose level before breakfast. Nutritionist is saying I need to get that to 100. Is that even possible? If so, what would your suggestions be?

I will leave this one up to the docs... but I have been on meds for probably 10 years... IMHO (uneducated) 150 is a good number... 100 is borderline low... I suggest your get a second opinion.

If your diet is appropriate and you're excersizing sufficiently, you may need to increase your medication dosage or change the medication itself. I was having problems with my fasting glucose levels as well as an increasingly higher A1c, so my doctor put me on Lantus (long acting insulin). That cured it. Either way, discuss with your doctor at your next visit. Also, 150 fasting glucose level isn't horrible.

I could up my exercise some but it's good to know 150 is not that high. She wanted 100 in the am and up to 160 or so after meals. I havent had the A1C test yet.

Somebody mentioned portion control, I think that's my biggest mistake. I tend to eat in too large quantities when I do eat. I'm working on that now trying to stop still feeling a bit hungry. I think my original high reading was high because of binging on lasagna the night before.

Scott, I understand and agree that wanting to control your condition with diet and exercise to reduce and/or eliminate the meds is ideal.

If you want to consider a natural approach that has science and clinical evidence to support claims for blood - glucose balance do a bit of research on cinnamon. There are two varieties of cinnamon, Ceylon and cassia. Cassia is the type most researchers have used when studying cinnamon and diabetes.

Some research has shown that cinnamon may lower blood sugar by decreasing insulin resistance. In those with type 2 diabetes insulin does not work as well. This leads to higher blood sugar levels.

Also, check into Green Coffee Bean extract. I realize the craze that has been created by Dr. Oz with respect to GCB for weight loss, however, when I was working with a Doctor from the University of Alberta, Canada on scientific evidence to support the efficacy of this ingredient he (a typeII diabetic himself) was astonished at the body of evidence to support blood - sugar in diabetics.

If you do some investigating yourself you may be quite surprised at the natural options available to help.

Hope it works out for you,

Best regards,
Mike

My at rest blood blood sugar went from 200 to 100 (11.2 to 5.6) over a period of 6 months by diet. I counted calories. Average male eats 2000 calories a day. I targeted for 1500-1700 a day. Eat smaller amounts.

My insurance co. likes to see A1C below 7...which translates into below 180 glucose.
My endocrinologist laughs at my ins. co.'s standards. She says between 80 - 120 is ideal.
.
I've been on Medicare now for 3 years and I must say that I've met some very deception medical people.
In it strictly for the money.
.
.
When I began to look at the enormous amounts of carbs in the food I was eating, I modified my eating habits & lost 12 lbs. the first month.

Hi I am Lane's girlfriend. If you go to the American Diabetes Association website, they have recipes and you can do a search. For example, in the search bar I wrote chicken and I got 436 recipes. It gives you the nutritional information, serving size and grams of carbohydrate. Hope this helps.

Ok not a DR. but I have been a type 2 diabetic for a while, I had trouble somewhat like yours I would wake up and blood glucose was about 145, but the night before when i went to bed they were 120ish, what was happening in the middle of the night my liver decided i was low on sugar and dumped glucose into my system pushing my sugars up when i woke up, try a little test look at your blood sugars 4 hrs after dinner, if they are in the 120 ish range try eating 2 ritz cracker sandwiches with pb about 45-ihr before u go to bed, also I will recommend quacker oats lower sugar oatmeal for breakfast(skipping breakfast is unwise u need it to start an insulin response) for those that haven't tried it glucerna choc shake makes a good stop gap or lunch, pollo loco 2 pieces(no skin) 2 tortillas and steamed vegetables for dinner and maybe a little fresh fruit for evening snack, get on the treadmill 45 min a day preferably in the am
good luck I know diabetes sucks

Thank you for the tips. I'll start checking before bed, see what I get. Are the crackers supposed to raise the blood sugar to keep the liver from dumping it?

yes it should give you just enough of a bump to hold you over until you wake up, don't wait too long to have breakfast either.

Dawn Syndrom. I had that and tried to explain to my doctor who then insisted on significantly increasing my meds even though I was having hypoclycemic episodes in the day. I switched doctors.

Good stuff! I have been taking cinnamon but will check on what type.

Blood sugar this morning was 160...

Aiming for a morning reading in the 100-150 range...