"Orlando Enrique Fiol" wrote

> Hi all. Over the past few months, I'm beginning to come to terms with my
> pre-
> diabetes and have arrived at a number of troubling realizations. As I
> survey

Any medically mandated diet shift is troublesome at the start.

> many of the usenet diabetes support groups, I find few foodies or people
> for
> whom food takes on largely aesthetic and cultural meanings. These folks
> seem to
> eat on the basis of science and health. In one exchange, I found myself
> talking

At one time I checked such groups and found the adjustment of the set I was
in, was to down-play food. There are surely groups that support foodies but
I didn't find any. Here however, you will find us.

> to someone who never eats socially, who never goes to gatherings with the
> express purpose of sharing food. Being totally blind, food is a huge
> source of
> pleasure and human connection in my life.

Then you need to preserve that. Your friends share a like desire for good
food with the company. I'm part of a similar group (it's on Fidonet, not
usenet) and several are diabetics. Well controlled diabetics who love
cooking and sharing food.

> How can I bridge the gap between what my body needs to eat and what I
> enjoy as
> a foodie? How do many of you strike this balance?

Over *time* is the answer. In my cildhood I had to eat pretty much a
diabetic-like diet. Hypoglycemia (a variation, genetic amd tracked for 5
generations, was born with it). Once I moved out from home, I had to learn
carefully *why* Mom only fed us certain things. Mom's a *wonderful person
(just turned 80) but not really a foodie.

That particular adaption was easy as I went back to childhood foods then
slowly expanded to add more foods. I set a task to try 1 'new to me' thing
each trip to the grocery store. It might be a new spice, or a veggie I'd
never had. It was really easy at the start because I'd only experienced 4
types of canned soups, had never had cabbage or squash (winter or summer).
The only pork I had ever had was porkchops (fried to death and
toothbreakingly hard) and bacon. Oh wait, she got sausages once in a blue
moon (grin).

Now, you've not had so limited of a set, but there are still going to be
oodles of things you've never tried. You should get a glocose monitor if
you havent already. The reason is you need to know what spikes *you* which
may not be the same as what spikes another. The OP may think they have it
all down pat and their advice is for you as well but that's not true. Do
watch for that. Just understand that because *they* can't handle 1/2 cup
rice, doesn't mean *you* can't. Glycemic indexes are just a guideline.
Your own testing will show you where and what to portion control.

You've got the obvious stuff. Watch the pastas and breads. Have small
portions then test.

I later found I have to cut fats and cholestrols because I run very high
there so I had to adjust my eating. I did this over time, finding things I
liked in the new items that replaced ones I shouldn't eat as much of. I am
diet controlled for that now with testing every 6 months and eye-poppingly
high on the 'good cholestrol'.

Then, the hubby (who eats same meals happily) was found to need a salt
reduced diet. AGG! We'd used salt as a flavor adjustment to a low sugar
low fat diet for years. Again, it took *time* but we worked at it bit by
bit and still are adjusting, finding new items that are reduced sodium that
we *like*.

> If you're low-carbing and
> your friends want to go out for dim sum or French pastries, how do you tag
> along without feeling excluded? Also, how do the aesthetics of portion
> control,
> weighing and measuring intersect in your lives with spontaneity and sheer
> pleasure in food? I look forward to some lively discussions.

Well, what my friends and I do, if we go out (instead of cooking in) is find
a good spot that has something for all. A place that has dim sum will have
other things such as garlic fried green beans with pork. The french pastry
place may be a little harder but I've seen many have olive and cheese plates
as appetizers.

Think outside the box. If they have appetizers you can have, enjoy and
share those about! Above all, try new things that are on the 'on list' for
you. Like, I keep meaning to try an artichoke. It sounds right up my
alley!

Favorite comfort food? LOL! Japanese eggplant, washed and just sliced long
then brushed with olive oil, bit of black pepper and (ok shoot me!) bacos.
Bake at 350 until it's just starting to brown. Grin, allowable for both of
us and you can use something better than bacos if you want to. Don BTW
doesnt get the bacos (unless he steals on off mine or Charlotte's) but gets
MS Dash and crumbled dried crunchy chile spiced baby shrimps.

I've got tons of eggplant recipes using 'Japanese eggplant' (the long thin
asian ones which need no peeling and are not bitter).