There are hundreds of books about diabetes and food. Why should you read this one?
The answer is because this is written by a diabetic who practises what he preaches. I am neither a doctor nor a dietician, nor do I claim to be. I developed these ideas to save my life, not to practise a profession.
Read what others have said about my ideas and suggestions in this book. As this is the first edition of my e-book the following representative comments are selected from many responses on forums, personal emails or comments on my blog. I have edited for brevity but I have not changed any words. Only first names are provided for privacy reasons. For those interested I have included other responses at the end of this book.
From the ADA Forum.
I have wanted to tell you for several months now how much reading your blog has helped me … I had severe stomach pains, went to the ER - had acute pancreatitis caused by gallstones resulting in emergency gallbladder removal surgery. Oh, and by the way, you have diabetes. I was in the hospital for a week and they sent a nutritionist to see me. Turns out she was the same one I had seen the week before when I was going to get lapband surgery. She gave me the food pyramid handout and told me to eat pretty much like they were finally feeding me in the hospital. Breakfast: french toast and high carb cereal. She also told me to go ahead with getting the surgery and it would take care of the diabetes.
I also saw an Endo who put me on lantus & novolog … I really had no idea what to eat and really didn't have any hunger anyway … At first I wasn't sure if you all were right because it wasn't what I learned in the hospital but I kept reading and also bought some of the recommended books. I educated myself with your help. I also have lost 85 lbs so far this year by going low carb. My a1c went from 9.2 in January to 5.8 in May. It was then, and only then that I cried. I feel great and my test results are great. I owe so much to you and I just wanted to send you this personal note to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.
Gayle,
From the Diabetes Support Forum UK.
I can't wait for Alan's book. As someone involved with UK diabetes forums I know first-hand that good sensible unpatronising down-to-earth peer advice is invaluable. It is no understatement to say it saves lives. T2s face much conflicting and confusing information. … I regularly recommended Alan's excellent blogs as a prime source of information, hope and inspiration. Based on extensive research, but delivered in an accessible non-judgemental way, they are a world-class resource. Little wonder, then, that Alan is trusted and admired across the globe.
Terry
From my blog: Type 2 Diabetes – A Personal Journey
Your words of advice have been kind, forthright, humorous and full of real-life information. I am SO grateful that you were there as a resource on the ADA boards from my very first "pre-diabetic" question. With your firm encouragement and the others on the board, I bought myself a glucose meter, used it almost painlessly from the beginning and knew just what to aim for as I adjusted my diet and life. Without your comments, I think I might have gone for years without making any significant changes in my lifestyle until it was almost too late. My doctor now says I am the most successful patient she has ever had at changing her life for the better, and you were really the one responsible for that.
Athena
Reviews of the Print Edition are here: Customer Reviews
What on Earth Can I Eat?
Food, Type 2 Diabetes and
You
by
Alan Shanley
Everything in Moderation – Except Laughter
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Alan Shanley, Pottsville, Australia
This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the copyright act, no part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, re-cording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright owner .
1) Diabetes 2) Diet 3) Health 4) Self-Monitoring Blood Glucose
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Disclaimer
This book is based on the author’s own experience and research as a type 2 diabetic and is not aimed to replace any advice you may receive from your medical practitioner. The publisher and author of this book assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. The author is not a doctor, nor does he claim to be. No action should be taken based solely on the contents of this book. Readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well being.
Acknowledgements
I am immensely grateful to all of the people who helped me so much on usenet’s diabetes newsgroups misc.health.diabetes and alt.support.diabetes when I was a scared, brand new type 2 diabetic and also to the many people I have encountered since on the ADA forum, the dLife forum, the UK Diabetes Support forum and the diabetesworld Yahoo group.
I owe special thanks to my wife Lorraine, who has supplied love, understanding and innumerable cups of coffee for countless mornings as I left her for my virtual companions on a personal diabetes journey in cyberspace.
*****
Navigation Notes.
Click on any Section or Chapter heading in the Contents index to go directly to the section or chapter. Click on any Chapter heading to return to the Contents.
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CONTENTS
Chapter
1. Diabetes and Diet
Chapter
2. About the Author
Chapter
3. Choosing Wisely
Chapter
4. Getting Started
Chapter
5. Exercise
Chapter
6. Testing, Testing
Chapter
7. Dawn Phenomenon and Liver Dumps
Chapter 8. Weight Loss Cooking and Eating Plan
Chapter
9. Cooking as a Survival Skill
Chapter
10. Breakfasts
Chapter
11. Grazing
Chapter
12. Snacks
Chapter
13. Eating Out
Chapter
14. The Price of Eating Healthy
Chapter
15. Cinnamon, Spices and Herbs
Chapter
16. Red, Red Wine
Appendix
A. What to Eat at First
Appendix
B. Painless Pricks
Appendix
C. Test, Test, Test
Appendix
D. Millimoles and Milligrams
Appendix
E. Books and Links
Appendix
F. Travelling with Type 2 Diabetes
Recipes:
Keeping it Simple
Stir
Fry and Salad Mix
Simple
Salad Dressing
Hearty
Vegetable Soup
Beef
Burgundy
Cheesy
Guacamole Dip
Napoli
Sauce
Sweet
Curry
Breakfast
Stew
Psyllium,
Fibre, Muesli and Nuts
Stuffed
Mushrooms
Chili
Crab
*****
INTRODUCTION
Whether you have just been diagnosed with diabetes or you have been fighting this condition for many years the single most confusing question facing you as a type 2 diabetic is “what should I eat?”
We are bombarded with conflicting answers from all sides; from doctors, dieticians, diabetes educators, magazines, newspapers, TV, the internet, family and friends. They all claim to be right but many will be wrong.
This book is intended to help you answer that question – for you.
One of the problems with all of those conflicting sources of dietary advice is that they are generalised. The people promoting the conflicting and confusing array of diets, herbal cures, supplements and other magic bullets do not know you as well as you do. Nor do they know your other medical conditions, your food allergies, your exercise limitations or how your body reacts to different foods at different times of the day.
My intention is to show you how to find a way of eating that suits you, and you alone, to help control blood glucose levels, achieve and maintain optimum weight, provide good nutrition and minimise the possibility of future complications from diabetes.
New to diabetes?
Are you newly diagnosed? Possibly you have just found out you have type 2 diabetes? Or impaired glucose tolerance? Or impaired fasting glucose? Or pre-diabetes? Or the doctor said "you have got a touch of sugar" or something similar?
And you’re in shock?
Why me?
Well, I do not really have an answer for that. To me it seemed bloody unfair. Why me? What did I do to deserve this? And I railed against the world for a while. But then I decided to get on with it. Because I cannot change the past and how can I correct the mistake of choosing the wrong grandparents? Particularly as I liked mine.
What about the old-timers?
Or maybe you have had diabetes for many years. You initially tried to do all the things your doctors and dieticians told you would help. You took your medications and you “ate healthy” and you did some exercise and you tried hard.
It worked for a little while. You lost some weight, maybe a lot of weight. Your HbA1c and fasting numbers got better.
But then it stopped working so well and it got harder to stick to the diet and you lost fitness, gained weight, added more medications or insulin and lost that initial drive to beat this condition. Now the doctor looks gloomy and says that you will inevitably progress to those nasty complications unless you change. But you do not know what is left to change or how to do it and you are nervous about adding extra medications. Or maybe those complications are already appearing. So you keep asking yourself – what now?
The blame game
My first suggestion is the most important one of all. It is NOT your fault. Take a deep breath, sit back, and relax.
Forget the hype and the TV ads about obesity, lifestyle, whatever - that is in the past, even if it was relevant, and there is not a darn thing you can do about it. Those TV ads do not mention that 10-15% of type 2 diabetics are normal weight or underweight at diagnosis. I wasn’t slim so I will talk about the rest of us and how to lose that excess weight later in this book.
You should also forget everything you think you know about “eating healthy”. Start again with a clean slate, because a lot of the things the dieticians told us in the 20th century are slowly being proved to be wrong in the 21st.
Now is the time to act
OK. So you have a flawed glucose/insulin system. I do not care what label they put on it, or what stage you are at, what matters is what you intend to do about it. First, the good news. Unless you have been diagnosed at a very late stage, this is a slow-moving disease. You have time to learn, time to correct things and time to improve your health for a long-term future. There is more good news. Nearly every person I know who used this diagnosis as a kick-start to get fitter and healthier has improved many other aspects of their health at the same time.
I wrote this book for all type 2 diabetics; but, to be honest, I know it is not really for everyone. If you are one of the vast majority of type 2 diabetics who are content to let their doctor manage their condition by taking the prescribed pills or insulin and doing little else, then stop now.
If your idea of watching your diet is to order diet coke with the Big Mac meal; or ordering steamed brown rice instead of fried rice with your Chinese dinner; or whole wheat instead of white bread for your lunch sandwich then I probably can’t help you. I have a diabetic friend who claims his main form of exercise is jumping to conclusions or sweeping the room with a glance. This is not for him either.
I wrote this book for the many people with type 2 diabetes who are prepared to do a little extra to save their lives or improve their health. I can offer big rewards in terms of health for that small extra effort, but only if you do the work.
That does not mean that I will be telling you to train for the Olympics, or even to run around the block; but I will be suggesting some moderate exercise. Nor does it mean that I will be suggesting an extreme diet, eating cardboard bread and plastic cheese with rabbit food; but I will be showing you how to make some effective improvements to your present way of eating.
Are you prepared to do a bit extra, with the possibility of living a longer, happier life by deferring or delaying the terrible complications of diabetes? I hope so. My own goal is for those complications to arrive about ten years after I depart the planet in my sleep as a very old man.