This is the most important subject regarding diabetes regardless of it’s type. This is also the most difficult and sensitive subject for all the patients, especially the newly diagnosed. What should you eat from now on? What should you avoid? Is there anything that you can still eat from time to time?
Well… I’m here to tell you that all the diets work as long as you avoid 99% of all packaged foods, all sugary soft drinks, fruit juices and blended juices, sugar in all its forms, all refined products and trans-fats. In other words, all the ultra-processed foods. It is time to give preference to home cooking, to spend a little more time in the kitchen. You might even like it! With all the recipes available on the internet in different formats like text or video, life is much easier and home cooking becomes a pleasure in the kitchen, a delight for your taste buds and a balm for your body. I know that for some of you, the time is limited because of all the jobs that you have so you can maintain a certain standard of living. However, do not forget that the continuous stress and fatigue are major factors for developing diabetes. Maybe it is time to step back, rethink your life, decide what is more important for you and your health and don’t be afraid to do some changes if necessary…
What can you eat? Veggies and fermented veggies as many as you want, legumes, fruits, seeds, nuts, whole grains, herbs and spices, fermented dairies, eggs, fish, seafood and with moderation you can have meat. Try to diminish the portion of the latter, make it so that the meat becomes the side-dish of your meal. It would be very healthy choice for your body if you would join the flexitarian movement and avoid meat one or two days a week.
What can you drink? Water as much as you can during the entire day, tea, herbal infusions, kefir and any other fermented drinks, coffee with moderation because it drains the calcium, inhibits the iron absorption and also influences the effects of the medication.
What is the catch? Your pancreas is worn-out so it needs a break. You’ve seen what are the main roles of the pancreas: it produces hormones to regulate your blood sugar and also enzymes to break down the protein that you eat. Therefore the diet that you choose should contain less carbs and less protein as possible at least for a few months until you stabilize your numbers or until you reverse your diabetes.
There is another important factor that should influence your choice and that is your general health condition. If you have other health issues then a careful planning of your diet should be done. Normally you should discuss a meal plan with a nutritionist.
For example: keto diet is excellent for the brain so if you had brain strokes or you started to forget things and words, then you should feed your brain more fat and protein and less sugars from fruits and legumes. If you have pancreatitis, then your menu should contain less fats and protein as well as limited amount of carbs. If you have cancer, vegan diet is the best because the acidity of the meat feeds the cancerous cells and helps them multiply. If you have heart issues or high cholesterol, a lean protein diet is advisable. For kidney issues a whole grain, whole food diet with less protein and fats. If you have no other issues, a Mediterranean diet is the best. And so on… Keep in mind that diabetes is reversible with any diet as long as you keep away from the processed and refined food, sugars and sugary drinks.
How many carbs should you eat a day? Carbs are almost everywhere except for meat, fish and eggs! You will find them in veggies and in fruits, in legumes, in seeds and grains. Plants need glucose to grow as glucose provides the energy for this process. Legumes, seeds and grains contain even more carbs than a fully developed plant as they are the life givers of new vegetation. Therefore much more energy is needed for the creation of this new life.
You will see that different diets allow a certain amount of carbs per day. Something from 30 carbs a day to 160. In my opinion, 30 is not enough, 160 is too much… But I’m only an ordinary person and you should rather listen to your doctor. However, 130 carbs a day seems a reasonable amount, that is also the minimum recommended by the general food guidelines for a healthy person. Nevertheless, if you wish to reverse diabetes you should keep it under 100 carbs a day. Keep in mind that the less carbs you eat, the better for your body! There is a catch though: your brain is the biggest consumer of glucose. The second fuel is fat. While you still have fat reserves, it’s okay. But once that you arrived to your healthy silhouette, you will need to increase either the fat or the healthy carbs intake so your brain will have the right amount of fuel to use.
How many times should you eat a day? Again, opinions are divided as there are doctors that advise you to eat 5 or 6 times a day very small portions. Others will tell you to eat two, three regular meals with no snacking. Some will say 3 meals of 45 carbs and two snacks of 15 carbs. Personally, I consider this exaggerated for a diabetic, however there are people who are doing well on this diet. Do not forget that your pancreas is tired! It needs a break! If you eat 5 times a day, the pancreas will never stop working! In addition, your BS is most of the day on high levels because of the continuous eating.
The most advisable is to have 3 regular meals at 4 hours distance at least one from the other, dinner should be lighter and it should be eaten 3 to 4 hours before sleeping time. Thus the digestion will be always complete, all your organs have time to rest as well and your pancreas gets a chance to heal.
Our personal experience is the following: we tried to keep a low carbohydrate diet with an intermittent fasting of 8/16 in my case and 10/14 in case of my mom. We had two main meals, breakfast or brunch and dinner and a snack in between. We also took care that dinner was 3 to 4 hours prior to sleeping time. Personally, I never loved to count the carbs because I have a personal issue with food. I respect it too much to waste any and I also cannot take it away from someone’s plate. Nevertheless I always took care that we had the right amount of healthy carbs always accompanied by fiber, fats and protein. With that in mind, our diet is/was the following:
Breakfast: 5 different fruits (season fruits and all of different colors – if the fruits were too big then we divided them into half and half each), followed by a handful of walnuts or pecan, then a toast with cold cuts or eggs, or cheese, or tuna and a cup of coffee. At some point, we gave up on cold cuts because of all the chemicals and preservatives they contain. I replaced them with sardines, home-made guacamole or simply just with unrefined olive oil mixed with some sesame and flax seeds. Sometimes we had cottage cheese instead of the toast, sometimes a Greek yogurt with chia seeds, or a bruschetta, or an omelette.
Snack time: mixed nuts, home-made popcorn, yogurt or skyr, a fruit, or a salad, peanut butter, an avocado with some cheese, a boiled egg, pork rinds, chicken rinds, veggie plate or very carefully chosen vegetable chips made of actual veggies not flakes nor powder and so on. We didn’t have all this at a time! Only one product a day with a cup of tea or herbal infusion.
Dinner: salad is a must as an entrée, followed by a main dish. I would recommend to have half of the salad as it is and the other half to accompany the main dish. Instead of buying it, please do the dressing yourself. It is very easy: oil, vinegar or lemon juice, salt and pepper. You can add some sour cream or mayonnaise to it, your preferred herbs and spices. I would advise unrefined olive oil or avocado oil and apple cider vinegar for the dressing, I will explain in another article why. As my mom never loved salads, I always cooked a veggie soup for her or vapor cooked or baked her some extra veggies. It is important that fiber gets first to your bowel so it will form the patch that will block or delay the absorption of the carbs later on. The main dish should be composed mainly by veggies, some protein from legumes or meat and some carbs from whole grains, whole rice or white or red potatoes (the older the potatoes are, the more carbs they contain). There is a way to lower the spike of the potatoes if you boil or bake them with the skin previously, cool them for some time and you cook them later according to your wish. You can even fry them if you want to!
Dessert: if you were used to finish your meal with something sweet, then maybe you should take the Swiss or the French as an example and have some cheese with some walnuts and a few grapes at the end of your dinner. Or do as the Italians do and have a decaf espresso. It will help your digestion. Until you reverse your diabetes, try to stay away as much as possible even from sugarless treats as they are very misleading. Your brain needs to get used to receive less and less sweets and as long as you eat your dark chocolate or sugar free candies or whatever, you will always crave for sugar! Stay away even from images and recipes at least until you have your cravings under control. That doesn’t mean that you cannot have a piece of cake on special occasions!!! Only make sure to have some fiber and some protein just before the cake!
Plan your meals! Plan your proteins! You have 7 days a week so if you could divide them as follows, it would be great: 1 day fish and seafood (imperative for the Omega 3 intake), 2 days vegetarian (eggs, cheese, legumes: beans, lentils, chickpeas, soybeans etc), 2 days poultry, 2 days red meat. If you wish to increase the “fish/seafood” days or the “vegetarian” days just replace one of the “poultry” or the “red meat” days.
Remember: the reversing of your diabetes starts with your next meal!
01
MEDITERRANEAN DIET
The ultimate diet
It is the most complete and balanced diet from the nutritional point of view with a good macro and micro nutriments intake. An excellent diet for a diabetic who wishes to reverse his diabetes and stay healthy for the rest of his/her life. The Cretan cooking stands out, the island being famous for having the healthiest population during the 20th century, before the “invasion” of fast food.
02
Keto diet
The brain diet
It is a low carb, high fat diet. Most of the legumes and fruits are not permitted as they are very high in carbs. This diet allows between 20 to 40 carbs per day. Protein and fat intake are highly recommended as the brain will need a fuel to replace the carbs deficiency. This will induce the state of keto-acidosis. It is important to pay attention to it to prevent any emergency situation.
03
Vegan diet
The pancreas and cancer diet
Using vegan whole food diet, will take care of your heart, your arteries and, of course, of your pancreas as well. Protein is acidic and it will always be an excellent food for the cancerous cells. Avoiding it, the sick cells will starve and eventually die thus making possible the reversal of cancer. The pancreas will enjoy this diet as it gives a break from producing hormones and enzymes necessary to your digestion.
04
Vegetarian diet
The heart and cholesterol diet
A good, vegetarian diet based on whole foods will not only reverse diabetes but it will also lower your cholesterol, clean your arteries, keep your heart healthy, restore your sexual appetite, improve your sleep and your general state of mind. This will be also valid for the vegan diet. Although the pancreas will work a little bit more than when eating vegan, it will still be thankful to you for this choice.
05
paleo diet
Most likely a good choice
This diet wants to reproduce the diet of the paleolithic human. You should not eat the food if it did not exist 10000 years ago. An impossible idea as today’s fruits, veggies, grains, protein are totally different from that age. Nevertheless it is still beneficial for the diabetics if followed correctly.
06
carnivore diet
The “multiple allergies” diet
It is based exclusively on the consumption of meat, sometimes fish, eggs, low-lactose dairy and fats, avoiding completely veggies and fruits. The lack of carbs reverses diabetes. It needs to be supplemented with minerals and vitamins. Also keep an eye on your kidneys, eyes and pancreas.
07
balanced diet
The easiest to manage
It contains anything but processed or refined foods and drinks. It also avoids unhealthy carbs and sugars. Make your animal protein a side dish (try to avoid it once or twice a week) and increase your whole food intake (veggies, fruits, legumes, grains, nuts).
Final note
You can do it!
Just make the right choice for yourself!
All of these diets work as long as you make healthy choices and replace the processed foods with home cooking!
Our choice was the Balanced Diet, Mediterranean being our 2nd favorite.