My husband has been on a low carb / no medication diet for diabetes for years.  We measure his blood sugar frequently and he is lucky in that he can eat a few more carb than lots of diabetics and still keep his blood sugar within the normal range.  He eats in restaurants in the way you recommend.   We have very little trouble asking for substitutions (double vegetable instead of starch is usually the easiest).  The other trick is portion control, portion control, portion control of those iffy items.  It's not that he can't eat any beans, or even a bit of rice, but that he can't eat much of it.  A taste of a reasonably unsweet dessert (e.g., flan) makes a happier person...

One thing you don't mention is our experience is the more fat in the meal the less the impact of the meal on his blood sugar.  That could be because he does still produce insulin so his body can catch up because the fat slows the digestion. 

Some things we don't think of as dessert are extremely sweet (and have become more sweet over the years).  We live in Texas and the barbecue sauce here is similar to dumping a sugar bowl of sugar over your meat.  No extra bbq sauce in restaurants for him!

What we take for him on trips is cheese.  If the hotel has breakfasts included that are all carbs (the usual case), he eats his own cheese.  If they offer an apple, that will work for him.  Banana, nope! I agree cheese might be difficult for long trips or if there is no refrigeration, but cheese keeps fairly well and is easy to eat.  Nuts are another staple for travel. 

David Mendosa, Health Guide

1/ 1/12 8:39pm

Dear Judy,

 

Thank you for your comments. You add a lot of good points from your experience and that of your husband.

 

David

David Mendosa, Health Guide

1/ 1/12 8:40pm

Dear Judy,

 

Thank you for your comments. You add a lot of good points from your experience and that of your husband.

 

David

David Mendosa, Health Guide

1/ 1/12 8:40pm

Dear Judy,

 

Thank you for your comments. You add a lot of good points from your experience and that of your husband.

 

David

Dear David,

I was rather surprised to read that you regularly eat bacon and sausages.  Both are extremely salty and who known what bits and pieces go into sausages. Surely both, also contain nitrates/nitrates which I have always understood to be a No No  for any type of healthy eating.

Can you convince me otherwise? I would enjoy a rasher occasionally.

A long term diabetic (27 years) and long term follower of your excellent programme.

Edgar

judyn

1/ 1/12 9:05pm

Gil also eats bacon or sausage very frequently for breakfast.  Salt is not necessarily a problem for everyone and I don't salt the eggs.  His "juice" is fake.  If his morning blood sugar measurement is good, he may get some low carb flatbread (available at Walmart) with a little sugar free jelly or some berries.  The nitrates and preservatives are certainly a concern, and everyone should make their own choices. 

 

It is our experience that if you get your blood sugar under control your blood pressure problems may be solved automatically.  By "under control" I mean normal, not what the doctors say...  In A1C terms, I mean low 5's. 

David Mendosa, Health Guide

1/ 2/12 12:09pm

Dear Edgar,

 

Your point about nitrates and nitrites in sausage is well-taken, and I will make sure to look into that closely. When eating out, I am willing to make some compromises, because restaurants basically pick the food they serve on the basis of taste rather than health anyway. But I do sometimes eat sausage for breakfast at home (as I just did). I buy it at Alfalfa's, a market here in Boulder that has much higher standards than even Whole Foods, and I know that they make the sausage in the store. But I will be sure to look into just what they make it from and the level of nitrites and nitrates that it has. The bacon that I usually buy from Alfalfa's says that it has no added nitrates or nitrites.

 

Salt is a separate issue. Thanks for raising it. After reading Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet book, I literally threw away my salt shaker. But I had some problems and had the opportunity to talk with Steve Phinney, one of the authors of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living (which I have also reviewed here), I have become convinced through my own experience that we need a moderate amount of salt in our diet. 

 

And just this morning I ran across a reference to a study showing that low-salt diets are actually unhealthy for our hearts. The link is http://www.naturalnews.com/034528_salt_intake_diet_stroke.html#ixzz1i9rT669V and I haven't yet looked for the original article, but this link says:

 

"Those who consumed between 4,000 and 6,000 milligrams of sodium per

day--more than double the current recommendations--were at the least

risk for heart disease and stroke. People who ate a diet lower in salt

didn't experience less risk, but more. Researchers found that people

who consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of sodium per day were actually 20

percent more likely to experience death or hospitalization related to

heart conditions, compared to those consuming between 4,000 and 6,000

mg daily."

 

Best regards,

 

David

David Mendosa, Health Guide

1/ 2/12 12:10pm

Dear Edgar,

 

Your point about nitrates and nitrites in sausage is well-taken, and I will make sure to look into that closely. When eating out, I am willing to make some compromises, because restaurants basically pick the food they serve on the basis of taste rather than health anyway. But I do sometimes eat sausage for breakfast at home (as I just did). I buy it at Alfalfa's, a market here in Boulder that has much higher standards than even Whole Foods, and I know that they make the sausage in the store. But I will be sure to look into just what they make it from and the level of nitrites and nitrates that it has. The bacon that I usually buy from Alfalfa's says that it has no added nitrates or nitrites.

 

Salt is a separate issue. Thanks for raising it. After reading Loren Cordain's Paleo Diet book, I literally threw away my salt shaker. But I had some problems and had the opportunity to talk with Steve Phinney, one of the authors of The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living (which I have also reviewed here), I have become convinced through my own experience that we need a moderate amount of salt in our diet. 

 

And just this morning I ran across a reference to a study showing that low-salt diets are actually unhealthy for our hearts. The link is http://www.naturalnews.com/034528_salt_intake_diet_stroke.html#ixzz1i9rT669V and I haven't yet looked for the original article, but this link says:

 

"Those who consumed between 4,000 and 6,000 milligrams of sodium per

day--more than double the current recommendations--were at the least

risk for heart disease and stroke. People who ate a diet lower in salt

didn't experience less risk, but more. Researchers found that people

who consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of sodium per day were actually 20

percent more likely to experience death or hospitalization related to

heart conditions, compared to those consuming between 4,000 and 6,000

mg daily."

 

Best regards,

 

David

I travel quite a bit within the US, and sometimes outside it also. I have found Subway salads to be the answer to healthy diabetic eating on the road. At least in the US, I read recently, it has the most establishment of any fast food chain, so I fiind I am seldom far from one. I believe they are also starting to pop up outside the US as well.