HI Melanie:
I am Verdungal, and my husband has been a Type 1 diabetic now for over 40 years now.
We used to eat packaged cereals and my husband's energy level was always low. All this changed when I read about the benefits of whole grains,.
Amaranth seeds makes an excellent breakfast and takes only 15 minutes to cook . After cooking, you can also add any other nutritional bonuses like Chia Seeds, Wheat Germ, or Flaxseeds.
Amaranth seeds contain protein that is unusually complete for plant sources(15-18%) and contains respectable amounts of lysine and methionine, two essential amino acids that are not frequently found in grains. It is high in fibre and contains calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus and vitamins A and C. Its iron content, is five times more than wheat. It contains two times more calcium than milk.
Hulless Barley also makes another great breakfast. It is easily cooked in a rice cooker.
If you don't have time to do this in the morning, you could do this the evening before and voila , an instant breakfast waiting for you .
Regards
Verdungal
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Hi Melanie,
I'm Ginger from HealthCentral's www.diabeteens.com. I've had Type 1 for ten years, and am a personal trainer and yoga instructor, and newly competitive powerlifting. I wanted to post because a few aspects of this 1600 calorie diet seems counterintuitive to me.
For instance, the breakfast meal is really, really high in carbs and low in protein.
The carb count total doesn't quite add up:
1/2 cup oatmeal =28
1/2 cup milk =6
1/2 cup raspberries = 4
1 medium peach = 13
total carbs = 51 grams of carbs
••••
Next is the snack of popcorn, which may be calorie light and fat-free, but consists purely of carbohydrate which would just impact the blood sugar without providing any reliable and sustainable energy. As even the American Diabetes Assoc recommends, I would think a low-carb protein source would be more appropriate. It may add 50 to 100 calories in order to add cottage cheese or nuts as the snack, but it would call for much less insulin for a diabetic and therefore lead to better weight management considering insulin stores many the carbs we eat as fat. And if we reduce the carbs we eat, we also reduce the number of things we are putting into our body that have the potential to raise our blood sugars.
Ginger
Hi Ginger,
Thank you for your reply.
1/2 cup cooked oatmeal contains anywhere from 15-20 carbs. Instant oats do contain a higher carb count (around 28g), but this is not what I'm suggesting here. So, going with the higher carb count, this is my carb count:
1/2 cup oats 20g carbs
1/2 cup milk 6g carbs
Peach 9.3g carbs
1/2 cup raspberries 7.4g carbs
Total carbs 42.7g carbs
Personally I believe this would be a very acceptable breakfast, but as with any disease you do need to work out what foods will work for you on an individual basis.
To add more protein and fat to the breakfast instead go for eggs, cheese, peanut butter, seeds, or plain yoghurt etc.
I disagree that the popcorn would not provide a reliable and sustainable source of energy. It is a wholegrain food and completely acceptable. The glycemic index of plain popcorn is around 55. So, this categorizes it as an intermediate glycemic index food (low GI food values less than 55).
But, of course a snack of nuts, cottage cheese, or something like plain yoghurt would also be great snack options.
It is impossible to cover all aspects of the diabetic diet in just one post. I have noted however that speaking to a professional would be advisable to get an individualised plan.
Melanie, thanks for the clarification on the oatmeal!
True, you can't be expected to create every ideal diabetic diet. I'd still recommend any higher-portein low-carb option over a grain for a snack, despite its rank in the GI. Decreasing this amount of carbs from meals throughout the day and thus decreasing the body's insulin needs can lead to much easier control for many diabetics.
Thanks for your response!
Ginger
i agree with your critique here that this pattern is too high in CHO, especially in the AM when insulin resistance is higher- one thing i want to ask you tho- as a powerlifter, mightn't it be a better regimen to go high CHO/high insulin to build more mass?- even Barry Bonds had insulin in his doping regimen!- my understanding is that CHO loading was standard for post exercise regimens, but now fat loading seems to be more optimal pre-event for endurance?- what do you think is the optimal regimen for powerlifting, and how is it modified for diabetes?- i suspect there is a real area for learning here- there are some famous type 1 athletes (Jake Plummer, Adam Morrison), but i've never seen if their diet/insulin regimens are similar
hi!
Yes, absolutely when you're training at the intensity of powerlifting! (http://gingervieira.blogspot.com/).
But this is in conjuction with serious training. I train four times a week with a load of anywhere between 70 to 95% of my 1 rep max on bench, deadlifts an squats, and that kind of stress on the muscle requires lots of calories, for recovery, for strength development, etc.
Before I was doing powerlifitng, and I was just doing bodybuilding training, I was not eating nearly as many carbs.
Of course, the average reader on this site is not a diabetic powerlifter, they are a diabetic and hopefully a diabetic who exercises, and thus don't need a major amount of carbs.
The carbs I do eat though, are still high-quality: oat bran, oat meal, brown rice bread (I'm celiac), sweet potatoes, etc. Popcorn would not be on the list in terms of quality carbohydrates.
-Ginger
In terms of the overall diet for a powerlifting, a good balance of carbs, protein and fats.
Not an over-do of any of it.
Even though we're diabetic, our bodies still build muscle and strength the same way. The only difference is that we make sure our blood sugars are under control because you can't build muscle without enough insulin or with too high blood sugars!
You can follow the program for a healthy powerlifting diet as a diabetic, but your primary goal is of course good blood sugar maintance too.
A bizarre side note, my body has gotten so used to the training, that my blood sugar was at 130 before I trained, an hour later after working really really hard, still around 135!
Ginger
Hi there!
The "Diabetic Athletes Handbook" may be useful to you. It's written by Dr Colberg, and does contain a little about powerlifting.
You can read an excerpt here.
Awesome! Thanks!
There's also Doug Burn's book (he's a bodybuilder...and really just inspiring, nutrition shtuff aside).
-Ginger