Re: New here - strange symptoms

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On 31 Dec 2005 18:55:32 -0800, "periphery" <sertralpuck@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>There is a book called Conquering Diabetes by Anne Peters, MD. I was
>really surprised when she recommended eating more fruits and
>vegetables. She writes, "We recommend two servings of fruit and three
>of vegetables every day." I know it depends on the individual
>tolerance, but aren't most fruits bad? I read on here that some
>tolerate strawberries better than oranges, grapes, etc.... that's fine
>by me :)


G'day G'day "Periphery",

I haven't read Anne Peters' book. There is nothing unusual about
recommending T2 diabetics eat two servings of fruit and three of
vegetables. Who knows it might even be good advice. I say MIGHT
because it depends on the choices you make fit the general 2 fruit and
3 vegetables prescription.

There are many dietary approaches to dealing with T2 diabetes. Some
advocate a low fat regime on the basis that insulin resistance is
associated with consumption of some fats ... so one might as well make
things easier be banning all fats. This isn't thought by most people
to be the best approach. The ADA for instance recognises that some
fats eg the monounsaturated fat found in olives, avocados and
macadamias isn't problematic. One simply trades away a portion of
ones carb intake and replaces it with monounsaturated fats.

Most T2s here find they need to restrict their intake of carbohydrates
in some fashion to avoid post prandial excursions ie high blood
glucose one or two hours after meals. There is no set one size fits
all pattern as we all different in the percentage of beta cells that
have gone to the great pancreas in the sky and we all differ in our
levels of insulin resistance. The only way we can make sense of it
personally is to monitor our own blood glucose levels rather regularly
to start with. Check out Jennifer's advice to newbies. It's the best
thing since sliced bread. Talking of sliced bread kind of brings us
back to your question. What about the recommendation for vegetables
and fruit?

Each food we eat that contains carbohydrate imposes a certain glycemic
load on us. What this means is that each serving results in a certain
number of grams of glucose being transferred into our blood stream.
Obviously serving size matters. A few people say they can eat
anything ... so long as they keep the serving size small enough.
That might mean they can eat two potato chips or twenty. Believe you
me it is an individual thing. Then there is the percentage of
carbohydrate in the food. Some foods are notorious because they have
a higher percentage of carbohydrate than might be suspected. All
common breads have in excess of thirty percent carbohydrate. This
makes them tricky to handle without getting an unwanted rise in blood
glucose after a meal. Potatoes are a vegetable with a similar
reputation. However this is where some people are led astray. They
think all vegetables are much the same ie vegetables = carbohydrates.
This simply isn't true. Most vegetables have a high water content and
don't have large percentages of carbohydrate unless they are the
storage organs for the plant.

Kate has an excellent list of "free" vegetables which have small
amounts of carbohydrate and can be eaten freely in reasonable
servings.

Some people knock all root crops. This is a bit harsh IMHO. Carrots
have a low percentage of carbohydrate AND if one eats them raw an even
smaller percentage is converted into blood glucose.

If we look at fruit we find some complete surprises. Sweetness is not
a good guide to carbohydrate content. Berries typically have about 7%
carbohydrate. At the moment strawberries are plentiful. In Winter we
depend on frozen blueberries and blackberries etc. Stone fruit like
plums, peaches, nectarines are typically about 12 to 15%. Notice that
is way, way lower than bread at over 30%. What this means is it easier
to get the serving size right OK, I tend to avoid tropical fruit
like . They tend to push my blood glucose up more than I like even at
small serving sizes. Of course you might be different and the only
way you'll know is by testing, testing and more testing.

Put simply, most fruit and vegetables because of their high water
content allow T2 diabetics to consume them in reasonable serving sizes
without risking high post prandial glucose levels. Give tomatoes a
try. I find I can eat heaps of them. For me they are a safe
fruit/vegetable. Others don't.

Why bother with fruit and vegetables?

Well many of the ones that are safe options for T2 diabetics are
excellent sources of important substances called bioflavonoids.
Beta carotene is one you might be familiar with. There are many
others however that play a vital part in reducing the risk of certain
complications eg the orange colour hidden in many greens protects the
eyes from age related macular degeneration. A simple description of
T2 diabetes includes the notion that it is accelerated aging. We need
to take an aggressive approach to reducing age related risks. A
yellow substance called lutein also found in green vegetables reduces
the risk of scarring in the aorta. What that means is it reduces the
risks of coronary heart disease. T2 diabetics, are generally thought
of as being at four times the normal age-related risk of coronary
heart disease. It pays us to do every little bit we can to reduce
that risk. The biggy of course is getting post prandial blood glucose
and subsequent A1c down to levels approaching non-diabetic status.

> Sorry for this disjointed post... hope it doesn't come across as
>trollish. ----periphery, dxed T2, 2005

Hey, I don't know you well enough to call you anything but a friend I
have as yet hardly met. Best wishes in getting control of your T2
diabetes and remaining complication free. Welcome to asd.

Best wishes and congratulations on getting a diagnosis that has
started you on the journey of gaining control of the situation.


--
Quentin Grady ^ ^ /
New Zealand, >#,#< [
/ \ /\
"... and the blind dog was leading."

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/quentin
.

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