She said you can have half a cup of spaghetti noodles. I was so hungry after eating that.
Several thoughts:
- Part of that is that all of us Americans are used to extra-large portions -- you can adjust to a proper quantity, but it won't happen overnight.
- The other part is, you need to add vegetables -- maybe a side of broccoli or mix your 1/2 cup of noodles with 1 cup of zucchini noodles.
- More vegetables are pretty much the answer to Diabetes. In general, green leafy vegetables are lower in carbs than root vegetables, but any vegetables will "fill you up" and keep you full longer than carbohydrates. I roast up a big batch of mixed vegetables every Monday and Thursday and eat them all week.
- While we're talking spaghetti meals, note that Alfredo has fewer carbs than Marinara.
She mentioned eating a hamburger with just half the bun.
Wasn’t easy with toppings.
Cut it half like a sandwich /don't just eat the top. Or have the hamburger on a plate. It's fine to have a double-burger on half a bun -- meat, in general has no carbs. But be careful about carbohydrates in breading and condiments.
Does metformin help if you want to treat yourself to say one cookie or half a donut or even a soda.
Not really. When you go to the Dietician, ask how many carbs you should have for breakfast, lunch and dinner -- your Dietician will be able to personalize this for your age, weight and nutritional needs. If you're going to have an occasional cookie or doughnut, it needs to fit into that guideline. So if you're going to have the cookie, you probably need to have the salad /not a sandwich for lunch.
I don’t like the idea of having to do so much thinking and planning just to eat.
Yeah, and that's what got you into this situation. Sorry to be rude, but that's the truth.
Consider that what's hard is a CHANGE in your eating habits. Once you get into the habit of having only no-carb drinks, and once you're in the habit of having half a sandwich + a salad, it won't be as hard as it is now.
But, no, planning is part of your life now.
You want to look at the number of carbs in a serving. Guacamole is only 2-3 grams of carbs in a serving, but a serving is 2 Tablespoons. If you were eating chips and dip, you may have had more than 2 TBSP. Still not bad. The chips -- assuming tortilla chips -- is 22g in 15 chips. So again portion size is important.
Yes, one of the best pieces of advice I ever got was, Read the BACK of the food packaging, NOT the front. Words they use on the front like Keto, Lite, Low-Carb have no legal meaning, but they have to tell the truth on the back of the package.
The two things you should really study are the serving size and the carbs.
funny thing about the meters and testing I asked the RN about a meter and she said that since Ill be on metformin that I wont need to check which seems really odd
This is horrible advice. Especially while you're new to this, you need to "test" to know how things affect you, and it's really personal to your body. For example, apples are awful for me.
I’ve been reading a lot on what I can eat by doing searches and I’ve been reading a lot of conflicting info.
One place I read says cheese is ok then says it’s bad.
I’ve always heard potatoes are bad yet some places I’ve read says it’s ok.
Also just curious as to opinions on what we had for supper the other night.
Steak. Half of baked potato with I can’t believe it’s not butter. Very little. Salad dressing. Sautéed mushrooms and onions. And water. Just wondering
Especially online, you can't believe everything you hear. Listen to your Dietician and read legitimate books.
Everything is okay in moderation -- but you have to learn how many carbohydrates are in those things + balance everything you eat in a day.
Butter is no-carb, as is sour cream. Mushrooms are almost no-carb. Onions (like other root vegetables) are moderate in carbohydrate. Be careful about salad dressing (and other carbs) -- they vary widely.
The biggest reason this is hard /confusing is that you have an idea in your head about what's healthy -- but that doesn't line up with a Diabetic diet. For example, wheat bread is more healthful than white bread, but both are equally carb-filled.
