Shove over, carbs!
You know you’re diabetic when you go to lunch and your plate looks like this when you’re finished. I went to Pei Wei (speedy chinese food) for lunch yesterday and ordered a spicy chicken and veggie dish. When the server asked me if I wanted brown or white rice with my meal, I should have just said “neither, thanks.” Clearly, I was only interested in the non-carby bits, and man, was that half of the meal tasty! The final product made me laugh though: Meat and veggies = gone. Carb mountain though, remains.
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Comments
But bring on any other mountain!!
Tim - I generally go low carb, but not necasarily full on Atikins. I mostly just stay away from the real heavy carbs: pasta, rice, potatos - anything that could really send my BG up quickly. The meat and veggie portion of the meal was carrots, bamboo shoots, chicken, and green beans. Tell me, how much food is a “carb serving,” as you mentioned in your comment? Is it like an exchange? Four seemed like a lot to me, but maybe it’s not. I’d love to know more!
Four is 4x15g carbs. I guess they call it an exchange. I’ve been “counting” my carbs since being diagnosed in 2009, though I only figured out I was type 1 April 20th. )My brother Jeff has been type 1 since ’71). I find I need that many carbs to have enough energy to function. I generally eat brown rice, whole wheat bread and (very rarely) whole wheat pasta. I also eat Cheerios for breakfast. In addition to the carbs, though, I do eat lots of vegetables: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and romaine lettuce are some of my favorites. One of my carb choices is always half a piece of fruit (apple or banana generally) for every meal. I’ve eliminated milk and put almond milk on my cereal in the am. I also allow myself a sf vanilla latte in the evening with almond milk. I think men generally need a little more carbs than women and I’m pretty tall 6’3″, though not big (about 180lbs). My only difficulty now is that I’ve gained about 10 or 15lbs I don’t want. I would rather weigh about 165 or 170. What exercise do you suggest for losing weight slowly and safely? I already do fast walking, but I’m thinking of adding some weight work and stretching.
Deven - I hear ya! I actually only order one thing at Pei Wei because of that exact sauce issue. Almost everything has a sugary sauce on it! And of course, now that I’m sitting here, I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the dish I order - its just veggies and meat and a garlic sauce, and its the only one I order there!
Tim - I hear ya on the weight gain. The problem is, artificial insulin is the BEST weight gainer in the world. Different from the insulin we produce naturally too - artificial insulin packs on the pounds well, which is why many people with diabetes restrict the amount of carbs they eat - it keeps the weight off becuase it lowers the total amount of insulin you need each day. But, like you said, we all need some carbohydrate to function, especially when we’re active. Your idea of adding weight training is a good one - muscle burns more calories than fat, so when you build muscle, you burn more calories no matter what you’re doing. Also, I’d ask your endocrinologist about Symlin - I’ve been on it four years and it helps restore some natural physiology in terms of appetite, insulin needs, and controlling your liver (which is very necessary wit Type 1 diabetes, although very underrated!). Hope that helps!
So, are you going low-carb? If you are, how does that work? If you aren’t, what carbs did you have with your meat and veggies? I’m still doing the regular four carb servings per meal and two per snack. Does that work for most other T1s, too?