Good evening @A DiabetesTeam Member, Aaron, Angele, Nathan, Arm from Guia, the Algarve, Southern Portugal.

I've been controlling my diabetes journey with right eating, portion control, Japanese science and medicine, exercise if your doctors allow, attitude, and a compelling reason to do what is necessary. I sleep 6-7 hours nightly, 8 is better. I do 10-15 minutes self care daily. Baby steps.

I am half Japanese and a recovering rice-aholic, I ate rice 2-3 meals a day my whole life. Now I have 1 tablespoon 2x a month and savor it for the taste and memories, more and the binge temptation is too great. Baby steps.

I like the Japanese medical mindset of getting to the source of the problem and correcting it, rather than just treating symptoms with medications. Baby steps.

I plate my food before eating on a 7 inch plate- portion control. The Japanese say 1/2 plate of very low carb vegetables, 1/4 plate of protein, 1/4 plate of high fiber or whole grain carbs or carb friendly fruit. Baby steps.

The Japanese say to eat in this specific order. First 2 bites vegetables, eat slowly and savor each bite. Next protein, next carb. Repeat this order till done. Savor each bite, eat slowly. The Japanese surmise that your digestion rate is set by the first 2-3 bites it sees. So digestion slows flattening the glucose spike. Baby steps.

The Japanese say to walk 10-15 minutes immediately after eating. this redirects blood from digestion to your muscles slowing digestion, flattening the glucose spike. Baby steps.

Glucose spikes are the enemy and lead to diabetic complications and comorbidities. Such as neuropathy, retinopathy, kidney disease, heart disease, blindness, amputations, brain damage, etc.

My go to very low carb vegetables are cruciferous - cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bok Choi, brussel sprouts, napa cabbage, Chinese cabbage, kale, etc. And cucumbers, egg plant, zucchini, summer squash, some spaghetti squash, green beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, parsnips, radishes, beets, turnips, rutabaga, asparagus, greens of all types including spinach, lettuces, collards, turnip greens, radish greens, poke weed, etc, young fiddlehead ferns, celery, green onions, leeks, chives, onions, garlic, parsley, mints, dandelion greens, endive, watercress, gourmet greens, ginger, cilantro, basil. Some flower pedals like mints, pansies, chamomile and squash blossoms. I eat avocado too, it is 1 net carb per serving. Baby steps.

Beat down your diabetes monster one baby step at a time. I can do baby steps. Don't let diabetes control your life. Enjoy your life on your terms. Rejoice in both the good times and the not so good. I wish for you more good days than bad and have many exceptional days too.

Be the Samurai Warrior you never knew you were.
And never give up, never surrender, never ever.
You got this.
Have a wonderful day.

Mentioned Users

A Diabete...

Hi Aaron, Angele, Nathan, Arm, @A DiabetesTeam Member.
I'm going to start with the basics.

When on diabetes meds, it's so important to eat at regular intervals to maintain energy and to keep from going hypo, hypoglycemic effect.

I don't do diabetes medications at this time and I can easily go hypo. Hypos suck, I hate hypos and will do anything to avoid them. If your body is used to high numbers, hypo symptoms often present at higher numbers than the textbook 3.9(70).

7.0(126) or less are the desirable morning fasting blood glucose numbers.
7.8(140) or less are the desirable 2 hour numbers. Numbers below this threshold will not add to cumulative existing vascular damage.

This diabetic vascular damage is the source of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, heart attacks, stroke, nerve death, slow healing wounds, amputations, liver damage, diabetic eye diseases, kidney damage, CKD, dialysis, WML (White Matter Lesions) in the brain, Alzheimer's like symptoms, and much more.

Arrest those symptoms right where they are today by eating right while maximizing your carbs to keep under that 7.8(140) number.

Most newer diabetics can handle 100-130 carbs spread appropriately over 3-5 meals and 1-2 snacks. 4 meals spaced evenly throughout the day should work well for most. Try
0700 breakfast
1100 midday meal
1400 snack
1700 dinner
2100 evening meal
Meals would be in the 20-25 carb range.
Snacks should be 15 carbs or less.

Each meal should be balanced and plated on a 7 inch plate.
Half plate very low carb vegetables,
Quarter plate protein,
Quarter plate high fiber or whole grain carbs. Or serving of diabetic friendly fruit.

Whatever schedule you decide on needs to be consistent.
Some people eat a meal every 4 hours and then leave 1-2 snacks for later. Your diabetes journey need consistancy and regular intervals when taking diabetes medications.

Mentioned Users

A Diabete...

Graham can answer this, He is the Professor on explaining these issues.

I don’t avoid carbs at all cost. I try to maintain carbs to single digits. I also take my BS before my meal and 1 hour after meal seeing if your BS went up or down.

I eat to my meter, don’t worry about plate portions and have four meals a day. Most days I leave out snacking as this affects my bgs even when the snack is low carb. Also snacks tend to put my weight up. I also find the amount (weight) of food affects my bgs irrespective of how much carbs there are in it. The higher the weight the greater risk of a rise in bgs.

But as the song says it’s different strokes for different folks. I just wish many of the so called experts would realise this instead of their one size fits all approach.