8) THE RECOMMENDED DIABETES DIET
d) Foods to eat in Moderation
1) Less than 1/4 cup once a Week:
lean beef cuts (cut all the fat off!), 95% fat free hamburger, ham, low fat or fat free cheeses, Egg BeatersTM.2) Tough to know:
Reaction of each item is highly variable depending on grinding and cooking levels of the particular brand. Reaction of any individual is also variable depending on the acid level typically present in any given person's stomach! These items include: pumpkin, winter squash, sweet potato, brown rice (some brown rice is "good" starch, some is "bad" starch), noodles, no sugar low oil whole grain pastas cooked firm (al dente and skip the meat as hamburger, meatballs and sausage are all loaded with bad fats. Note that high quality semolina pasta is much better that cheap "flour" pastas and that there are several brands of high fiber pastas), sourdough bread, steamed potatoes, breakfast cereals (except for selected whole bran cereals, see below), whole corn (the starch from "waxy" corn is high glycemic index, the starch from other corn is low glycemic index, how do you tell which one is which?). It is a good idea to make a meal of one of these foods, then measure the after the meal (postprandial) blood glucose level two hours later. If it's 140 or 150 the food is probably acceptable for you. If it's higher, cross that food off your list.Evidence from the wear patterns on Paleolithic skull teeth show that 50,000 years ago man did not eat much in the way of wild grains (wild grain wears teeth because of its mineral content, yet severely worn teeth are not a feature of even elderly Paleolithic skull finds). In any case, before man started cultivating them, the fiber content of starches such as corn, wheat, potatoes, and rice was very high. The hundreds of varieties of small potatoes still cultivated high in the Andes have very high fiber content. And the starch itself was an amylose starch, a starch which is slowly digested and converted to glucose.
Today, in the USA, in grains and potatoes, the fiber and mineral content is gone and the starch is largely amylopectin, a starch which is rapidly converted to sugar by the body (because amylopectin is rapidly converted to sugar in the mouth, it is sweeter than amylose and more satisfying to the sugar hungry American palate). Now that hasn't happened with much of the carbohydrates consumed in the rest of the world, although the scene is rapidly changing. That is probably why Chinese men have so much lower levels of diabetes than American men, despite eating huge amounts of rice. The rice they eat is different!
3) Moderately High Fiber Foods (maximum of 4 times per week):
Commercially prepared baked beans can be good. Be careful, some canned baked beans are loaded with sugar and salt; some canned baked beans are not loaded. If you want safe baked beans, take canned unprepared beans; add artificial maple flavor and sucralose (SplendaTM, SucraPlusTM, AlternTM) artificial sweetener and cook. Since a commercially prepared can of beans will have 40 to 60 grams of digestible carbohydrates these should be rare treats unless the can be split into two or more servings. Fat free refried beans are very good and there are several different very tasty types. Canned chili with beans can be good (careful, some canned chili's are loaded with sugar and salt; some chili's are not loaded with sugar and salt). High fiber pastas can work but pasta sauces are problematic. Alfredo and other creamy sauces are loaded with fat. Marinara sauce can have 600 calories per cup because of the high olive oil content, so spaghetti has to be a rare treat. There are some pre-prepared spaghetti and lasagna dishes in the frozen food section of the supermarket which have less than 6 grams fat and less than 300 calories. If it comes dinner time and you have only had 30 grams of carbohydrates that day, you might splurge on a can of chili. A better option is to have half a can of chili and a green vegetable for dinner.4) OK in Small Amounts if the Fiber is High:
"Whole grain" breads which have at least 25% of their carbohydrate grams as fiber (and no "high fructose corn syrup") have low glycemic indexes because of the fiber. But watch out, the fiber content needs to be high compared to the digestible carbohydrate ("net carbohydrates" or "total carbohydrates" minus fiber). There is no accepted legal definition of "whole grain" so some "whole grain breads" are just refined flour with some brown coloring and a small amount of whole grain. Look for "100% whole Grain Bread". Also remember, "whole grains" don't make very good breads because of their structure, so the grains are genetically engineered to produce good breads at a "whole grain" level by eliminating some of the fiber genetically, rather than by refining the fiber out of the flour. This genetic engineering which lowers the fiber content invariably significantly raises the glycemic index of the resulting bread.So eat one or two slices of a whole grain bread only if the fiber level in the bread is 20% or more of the carbohydrates (AND high fructose corn syrup is not greater than 2%). There is some good whole grain pita bread and some dark 100% pumpernickel bread which meets these criteria. There are some excellent (if somewhat tasteless) whole grain breads made for the Adkins diet that contain soy protein. And then there is "hemp seed" bread with a picture of a marijuana leaf on it in the health food frozen food section which is a whopping 55% fiber (it would be just your luck they'd give you a drug test the day after eating some of that bread!). While you may eat these high fiber breads you probably should eat less than 30 grams of digestible carbohydrate per serving.
5) Very High Fiber Foods:
Oatmeal (small packages of oatmeal generally have sugar or sugar alcohols in them, get the large round boxes), all subject to a maximum of 20 grams of digestible carbohydrates per meal. Probably the best fiber food is bran cereal, namely Bran Buds™ and Fiber One™ (all the rest of the bran cereals have way too much sugar or refined flour). You eat Bran Buds™ and Fiber One™ almost every lunch, as you can eat a bowl of cereal that only has 20 grams of slowly digested carbohydrate and 25 grams of fiber, which you should religiously weigh out on an electronic scale as 45 grams of cereal. Use skim milk and sugar free sweetener.6) Prepared Foods:
Read the labels and only eat a pre-prepared food such as a soup or microwave dinner if starch, modified food starch, corn starch, sugar (sucrose), dextrose, maltodextrin, honey, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup is listed as "under 2%". A surprising number of prepared foods have sugar as their second or third item. "High fructose corn syrup" is another common ingredient in prepared foods that is a very high glycemic index food and needs to be under 2%. Most 100% whole grain breads contain high fructose corn syrup. Even the new "flavored" tuna fish packets have sugar in them. Even dried fruit often has sugar as an added ingredient. "Fat free" wieners and franks have large amounts of corn starch in them (and large amounts of glycated proteins). ALL of the "good" low glycemic level carbohydrates will convert to "bad" high glycemic level foods if they are cooked for a long time. For instance, firm lightly boiled frozen lima beans are low glycemic index foods, but soft mushy canned lima beans in a well cooked ham soup are a high glycemic index food. Note that eating frozen food is always better than eating canned food as canning is nothing more than a cooking process, and cooking in any form predigests the starch.7) Limited to seven servings per week (high fructose sugar):
apricots, apples, peaches, tomatoes, onions, berries, pears, tomatoes (don't eat stewed tomatoes, they have large amounts of table sugar added),
Current Chapter: 8) THE RECOMMENDED DIABETES DIET
a) Moderation Type 2 Diabetes Diet
b) Moderation Food Pyramid
c) Foods to avoid
d) Foods to eat in Moderation
e) Good Foods to eat Regularly
f) Recipes
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