Newly Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes: Wondering if You’ll Ever Be Able to Enjoy Treats Like Chocolate, Ice Cream, or Granola Again?
September 6, 2008 by Anne
Filed under Anne Holmes, Blog, Diabetes, Food & Recipes, Wellness
If you’re like most Baby Boomers who’ve suddenly found themselves with newly-acquired Type 2 diabetes, you were probably totally shocked when routine blood work during your annual check-up revealed your blood glucose numbers were “out of whack.” (Sorry, Highly Technical Term)
It Seems Baby Boomers Are More Likely to Develop Type 2 Diabetes
The typical Type 2 Diabetic profile includes:
- Over 40
- Sedentary and overweight, especially with excess weight around the middle (“Apple” body type)
- Hispanic, Black, Native American, or Asian background
The Good News is You Can Handle It – Even the “Healthy Eating” Part!
Here are some helpful tips to get you started on the road to glycemic control:
- Set goals for controlling your diabetes with your doctor
- Arrange for some training in how to handle your new challenge. (Many hospitals and clinics now have diabetes education offerings, and many insurance programs cover this)
- Check out web sites designed to help you manage your diabetes, too. All have great tips and recipes. Here are several good ones:
Be Honest About Your Eating Habits
When you meet with the dietician during your diabetes training sessions, it’s tempting to try to put a “good face” on your eating habits, but best to tell the truth… Your goal is to find out what changes you need to make in your diet in order to keep your blood glucose numbers in control.
- Don’t worry, most likely you will still be able to enjoy eating many of your favorite foods – but now you’ll learn to use healthy moderation
- Your dietician will show you that you don’t have to settle for boring food; in fact, you’ll still be able to enjoy loads of foods with ethnic and regional flavors
- Realistically some foods may have to be prepared differently
- But amazingly, many of your old favorite treats, like ice cream, chocolate or granola will probably still fit into your healthy new regimen.
- Apparently it’s not so much about the sugar, as it is about something called the “glycemic index” which measures how fast a food is likely to raise your blood sugar.
Your Dietician Can Best Advise You on Your Situation
Everyone’s specific situation is different, and diabetes is not to be ignored, so this post does not attempt to provide medical advice. But just to prove that you probably will be able to enjoy some of your old favorite foods – in appropriate moderation, of course – here are a handful of diabetic diet-approved recipes for granola. For help with your dietary calculations, all of them come complete with nutritional information.
Remember, Granola isn’t Just for Breakfast (or Hippies) Anymore… Never Was, Actually
You can also enjoy it as an appetizer, a snack, or pack it with you on a hike. The hiking-take-along concept is important; since you’ll most certainly be looking for ways to get more exercise, and a brisk hike accented at the end with a snack like one of these crunchy and naturally sweet granolas can be extremely satisfying!
What a Delicious Way to Reward Yourself for Working Up a Healthy Sweat!
Why not plan to enjoy one of these delicious and nutritional recipes today!
[...] made muffins for brunch guests the other day, and it was an excellent exercise in stress management. I had fun, I changed my routine, and took action to reduce my stress, all things that are good [...]
One thing that is worth mentioning is the ‘danger’ of so-called ‘diabetic’ foods.
Mostly these are foods that have less refined sugar, or where it has been partly or wholely replaced by fructose.
In moderation, eating them is fine, but many of them stil end up with almost the same carbs as the normal version, and many people incorrectly assume them to be ‘carb free’, or at least ’safe’ to eat like they ate the normal product in their pre-diabetic days.
[...] always with all cooking, feel free to exercise your own creativity: I made today’s waffles with oatmeal, applesauce and spices, but if you don’t have applesauce or oatmeal on hand, you [...]
I def agree with Conan ~ eating these kind of foods in moderation is possible. Doctors can also teach diabetics about food exchange and sugar monitoring.
Ive heard from several people that you can actually control your diabetes through diet. Is this correct?
I think im getting borderline diabetes cause I get reaction now to sweets. I try to live a healthy lifestyle, but diet is most importance from my experience.
Some interesting stuff you are sharing, I appreciate it and I would bet that some of my viewers would like to see it as well.
@ Alice “I’ve heard from several people that you can actually control your diabetes through diet. Is this correct?”
Depending on the type of diabetes – Yes moderation on your food intake can reduce the long term effect.
Thanks for sharing.
I have a friend’s mother who had a complication to diabetes and it ended up shutting down her kidney functions, is this common? She eventually had her son donate a kidney… even so, her diet is very strict.
type I diabetes should be treated with insulin from the start but type II is different in that in the early stages sometimes it can be controlled with diet alone but most of the patients will require medications ultimately.
There are some interesting things you can do to balance out your insulin levels. I just find it hard for diabetics to try it because it is a risky thing to experiment with. Putting on muscle has actually been shown to provide more balance for insulin.
I believe you can still eat the treats that you love most as long as it is within your doctors advise.
Having Type 2 diabetes is not the end of the world for you, lets just say, it is a new challenge in your life that needs utmost attention and discipline. Doctors can only do much as to giving you advises, it is up to you to heed those or not.
Some of the comments above seem to indicate that people with diabetes will always end up on medication – this isn’t so. If caught in the early stages or if mild, type II diabetes sufferers don’t have to rely on medication IF they are prepared to make the required lifestyle changes, which does mean being honest with yourself and with what you can achieve. Diabetes can be controlled through diet and exercise rather than meds.
My husband was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes last year at age 44. He was at least 60 lbs overweight and craved every sugar known to man! With a sugar reading over 500 at a doctor visit, his life has been changed forever (and for the better!). We both learned about diabetes in a hurry and know watch the carbs (glycemic index), portion control and increased exercise. As a result he has lost 45 lbs, his blood sugar remains in the normal range, and found he has alot more energy than ever before!
Good article. Many people don’t realize that most cases of type 2 diabetes can be reversed with some changes in your life.
Yes, that’s right Paul. We actually can reverse it as long as we keep healthy life. With proper treatment, a little workout (don’t be too hard to yourself), not smoking, good diet plan like mention above, you actually can enjoy a happy life. By the way, thanks for sharing this. Like you said, everyone situation is different. It is recommended that we should refer to our doctor first before we taken up those ‘yummy’ foods again. I missed it a lot. It’s been a while now.
Diabetes can be prevented by just having a physically active lifestyle. Just exercise everyday and avoid eating too much. Avoid sweets and high carb foods too.