David’s Diabetes Diet

My friend Gretchen Becker once complained that there are so few foods that we can safely eat. She was particularly appalled by the AGEs that cooking foods at high temperature produce.

I do find plenty of good tasting foods that are good for me to eat. But I also have a list of what to avoid.

The newest addition to that list of negatives is foods high in AGEs. I have also learned to avoid prepared foods that are high in sodium, and I will soon be writing an article about a great new salt substitute that is coming to market.

I avoid the “fats that kill,” that Udo taught me about. This are primarily the transfats, which we have recently recognized as the worst of all fats. I won’t eat anything that has the words “partially hydrogenated” on the nutrition label.

Saturated fat is almost as bad for us, especially for our cholesterol levels. I try to minimize it, but have not yet learned how to avoid it completely.

My biggest problem is with dairy products, even though I don’t drink milk. But butter works wonders on most vegetables. I also love to melt fresh mozzarella cheese on Morningstar Farms Veggie Breakfast Sausage Patties. I often have this combo for breakfast, choosing mozzarella because it is lower in saturated fat than other cheeses.

I now avoid non-organic food almost completely. And I reject all farmed-raised fish in favor of the wild.

Going easy on starches, especially rice, potatoes, and wheat flour has finally become easy for me. I can do without rice completely, but I do love potatoes, which have a lot of nutrition going for them, even while they are high glycemic. I have switched from the highest glycemic potatoes, baked Burbank russets, to lower glycemic varieties, especially the small new potatoes, and enjoy them steamed or boiled.

One of the hardest dietary lessons for me to learn is something that I don’t remember ever seeing in writing. Maybe it can help others.

This lesson is to avoid those food that I like so much that I can’t stop eating or drinking them. My list of those foods that I like so well includes kefir, stinky cheese, and prunes. I have had to learn to go cold turkey on them.

I’m sure that you will note that David’s Diabetes Diet talks only about foods and does not include a single recipe. That’s because the food choices are the basis of a diet, and the recipes will follow.

Do you have recipes that you can share based on these nutrition principles? If you do, I think all of us would appreciate you comments.

You may also enjoy these items:
Diabetes Diet
Understanding Type II Diabetes
Type II Screening Tests