I have been diabetic for 13 years and in pretty good control. I've been
mostly vegetarian (eat fish occasionally) for about 9 months and still
having some trouble putting it all together. Are there any other vegetarians
here? I'd love some idea of what your daily meal plan consists of.
tia,
Leslie

"leslie" > wrote in message
...
>I have been diabetic for 13 years and in pretty good control. I've been
>mostly vegetarian (eat fish occasionally) for about 9 months and still
>having some trouble putting it all together. Are there any other
>vegetarians here? I'd love some idea of what your daily meal plan consists
>of.
> tia,

I was a vegetarian. Prior to diabetes I ate mainly beans and rice or beans
and pasta, and some other vegetables. Ate occasional cheese and eggs.

That was too many carbs for a diabetic. So I amended the diet. I will tell
you what I ate back when I was first diagnosed and better able to handle
carbs. These days my diet has been changed to take into account my other
medical problems such as gastroparesis. Because of that, my body does not
digest fruits, vegetables or fats very well. So what I can eat now is next
to nothing. And I've had to add in chicken and tuna for protein.

Anyway... My breakfast was always a serving of cottage cheese (the kind
without modified food starch) or an egg and two pieces of buttered toast. I
ate either fiber added white bread or rye bread, depending on what I could
find at the store and what the pull dates were. I tried to keep it as close
to 15 g of carb per slice. As my body became less able to handle carbs, I
cut back on the amount of toast, and eventually stopped eating it entirely,
increasing the amount of cottage cheese and eggs I ate.

Lunch was almost always the same. 2 bean tacos (taco shells or tortillas
with the least amount of carbs I could find) with some cheese, onion, pepper
and onion and some additional raw veggies. As my body became less able to
handle carbs, I cut out the taco shells or tortillas. I made a dip of the
beans, cheese and onions with some salsa and used bell peppers cut into
scoops to dip it up with.

Dinner was usually a big salad of assorted vegetables with some cheese
and/or eggs, kidney and/or garbanzo beans on top. I usually added some
nuts and occasionally a small piece of fruit, cut up. If I needed more
carbs, I added a small piece of chocolate to this meal. If I were making
pasta for the family, I might have that for dinner instead. I might make
macaroni and cheese or spaghetti. I also sometimes had hummus with pita and
some raw vegetables.

My bedtime snack was usually popcorn and cheese or some crackers with Swiss
cheese, tomatoes and onions. Sometimes hummus and crackers or raw
vegetables.

Fast forward a few years. I learned that I was allergic to eggs, cheese and
almonds. I did some research and attempted to do a raw vegan diet. I also
learned (but didn't know why just yet) that my body could not handle carbs
very well at all. I never made it fully raw but in the beginning I seemed
to do a lot better. Until the stomach went all wonky on me.

Anyway...

For breakfast I usually had a handful of pumpkin seeds. If I needed more
carbs I might have a little fruit, a few crackers or pretzels.

Lunch was raw vegetables with some nuts or sprouts for protein.

Dinner was the same sort of big salad as before, minus the eggs or cheese.
I might have some raw nut cheese made of macadamias or cashews, or just some
nuts on the salad. I might have some sprouts, or if I had no sprouts, I
would have some cooked dried beans. Another favorite meal was raw onion
bread (not really bread but a combo of ground flax, onions and other things
formed into squares and dehydrated on low heat) made into a sandwich with
tomatoes, lettuce and Swiss nut cheese, or peppers stuffed with nacho nut
cheese.

Bedtime snack was usually not raw food, although sometimes I'd have the
sandwiches I just mentioned. Often it was hummus with some crackers or
pretzels, popcorn, crackers with peanut butter, or a peanut butter and jelly
or peanut butter and pickle sandwich.

Although I loved the mostly raw diet, I had to make some changes because my
body just doesn't digest the raw foods properly at times. I still try this
diet when I can, but at times I have to do other things. The raw diet
taught me to love nutritional yeast (used in nut cheese and other things).
It is high in protein and B vitamins and it tastes like cheese!

Tonight I made stuffed potatoes. They are baked potatoes, tops cut off and
hollowed out to form a shell. The potatoes are then mashed with rice milk,
olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper and some chopped green onions.
I then stuff the mixture back in the shells. I always make extra so I can
overstuff them. I then drizzle with more olive oil, sprinkle with Sweet
Hungarian Paprika and bake until heated through. I had two of these for
dinner along with some canned green beans.

I realize most diabetics wouldn't be able to eat two potatoes. Here's why I
seem to be able to. I have gastroparesis. That's delayed stomach emptying.
If I eat much in the way of fiber or fat, the food sits in my stomach for
too long, not being digested. Somehow this drives my BG up too high. If I
eat something easy to digest, like the inside of the potato (I didn't eat
the skin), it goes right through me like it should and my BG remains fairly
normal. Weird, huh? I find now I can also eat a lot of white rice. Brown
rice doesn't work so well for me because it has more fiber. Last night I
made spaghetti with white rice pasta, plain tomato sauce with a few herbs
and plenty of nutritional yeast for a cheese flavor. That meal worked well
for me.

One thing I learned about the vegetarian diet is that you do not have to
combine your foods at the same meal. They used to say if you ate beans you
had to offset them with some corn or rice or another grain. Well, that's
not entirely true. So long as you eat some other form of grain sometime
during the day, you do not need to eat it at the same time as the beans.
And you need to make sure you are getting enough B vitamins, particularly
B12. I highly recommend the nutritonal yeast for this. I add it to baked
goods for my daughter (she has food allergies too so I make much of her food
from scratch), and she loves it on popcorn.

On Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:10:23 -0400, "leslie"
> wrote:

>I have been diabetic for 13 years and in pretty good control. I've been
>mostly vegetarian (eat fish occasionally) for about 9 months and still
>having some trouble putting it all together. Are there any other vegetarians
>here? I'd love some idea of what your daily meal plan consists of.

Have a google on alt.support.diabetes for a guy called Anil, Leslie.
He's posted that kind of info over there a few times.

I don't think he's posting at the moment, but he's a very interesting
person when he's around, with a diet that he's controlling his
diabetes with very successfully.

Nicky.
T2 dx 05/04 + underactive thyroid
D&E, 100ug thyroxine
Last A1c 5.5% BMI 25

In article >,
says...
> Are there any other vegetarians
> here? I'd love some idea of what your daily meal plan consists of.
>

Hi. I have been vegetarian since 1986; got diagnosed last summer with
diabetes, and have been muddling my way through major diet changes.

Breakfast is almost always a couple/three slices of morning star farms
(fake) bacon, two eggs, scrambled with or without cheese and vegetables,
and an apple or pear. Bryanna Clark Grogan's scrambled tofu (the recipe
should be floating around the web somewhere) is also an option.

Lunch varies. Lately, I've been buying lots of fresh veg in large
quantities from Costco--the bag of cut broccoli, carrots, snap peas,
grape tomatoes. I have those with Costco dips that I vary--the hummous,
the spinach dip, etc. I can also chop those veg up and add to my
morning eggs. Bean burritos on low carb tortillas I get at the grocery
store are another option. I'm a big believer in planned leftovers, too.
A piece of fruit is dessert.

For dinner, I mostly eat what I did, just without the rice or pasta. I
spike with almost every grain, so I've quit trying to find substitutes,
and I just do without. You may be more lucky. And I've developed a new
regard for tempeh, winter squash, and other "exotic" things. And then,
the ubiquitous apple or pear can always be added.

As a new vegetarian, you may want to get a couple of low-carb vegetarian
cookbooks (I recommend Low-Carb Vegetarian by Margo DeMello and Carb-
Conscious Vegetarian by Robin Robertson. Skip the Celia Brooks Brown
one.) I don't cook all that much from those books, but they serve as
inspiration. Then again, I like to cook.

Eating a lot of salad with any meal, even breakfast, also works well.
The more goodies you add to the salad, the more interesting it is. I'll
add pumpkin seeds, capers, soy nuts, a tiny handful of dried cranberries
without added sugar (hard to find), and other fancy stuff to a regular
salad. Good dressing helps, too.

I'm not perfect. I slide when I eat out--it's enough of a chore to find
vegetarian food, much less diabetic friendly vegetarian food, but I'm
better at home. I can post a couple of my recipes, but I warn you, they
use tofu and dried tofu sticks and other things that you may not like.

Woof

"Woof Ridge" > wrote in message
k.net...

<snip>

> Eating a lot of salad with any meal, even breakfast, also works well.
> The more goodies you add to the salad, the more interesting it is. I'll
> add pumpkin seeds, capers, soy nuts, a tiny handful of dried cranberries
> without added sugar (hard to find), and other fancy stuff to a regular
> salad. Good dressing helps, too.

<snip>

I got a dehydrator and made my own dried cranberries. I made the mistake of
not cutting them in half before drying, so it took days. But they came out
really cool! Instead of being chewy like raisins, they are crispy and
puffed full of air. I like them a lot!

In article <U7pYh.15$Hd1.3@trndny07>, says...
> I got a dehydrator and made my own dried cranberries. I made the mistake of
> not cutting them in half before drying, so it took days. But they came out
> really cool! Instead of being chewy like raisins, they are crispy and
> puffed full of air. I like them a lot!
>

Great idea! I have a dehydrator and cranberries in the freezer.
Woohoo!

Woof

Woof Ridge > wrote:
: In article >,
: says...
: > Are there any other vegetarians
: > here? I'd love some idea of what your daily meal plan consists of.
: >

: Hi. I have been vegetarian since 1986; got diagnosed last summer with
: diabetes, and have been muddling my way through major diet changes.

: Breakfast is almost always a couple/three slices of morning star farms
: (fake) bacon, two eggs, scrambled with or without cheese and vegetables,
: and an apple or pear. Bryanna Clark Grogan's scrambled tofu (the recipe
: should be floating around the web somewhere) is also an option.

: Lunch varies. Lately, I've been buying lots of fresh veg in large
: quantities from Costco--the bag of cut broccoli, carrots, snap peas,
: grape tomatoes. I have those with Costco dips that I vary--the hummous,
: the spinach dip, etc. I can also chop those veg up and add to my
: morning eggs. Bean burritos on low carb tortillas I get at the grocery
: store are another option. I'm a big believer in planned leftovers, too.
: A piece of fruit is dessert.

: For dinner, I mostly eat what I did, just without the rice or pasta. I
: spike with almost every grain, so I've quit trying to find substitutes,
: and I just do without. You may be more lucky. And I've developed a new
: regard for tempeh, winter squash, and other "exotic" things. And then,
: the ubiquitous apple or pear can always be added.

: As a new vegetarian, you may want to get a couple of low-carb vegetarian
: cookbooks (I recommend Low-Carb Vegetarian by Margo DeMello and Carb-
: Conscious Vegetarian by Robin Robertson. Skip the Celia Brooks Brown
: one.) I don't cook all that much from those books, but they serve as
: inspiration. Then again, I like to cook.

: Eating a lot of salad with any meal, even breakfast, also works well.
: The more goodies you add to the salad, the more interesting it is. I'll
: add pumpkin seeds, capers, soy nuts, a tiny handful of dried cranberries
: without added sugar (hard to find), and other fancy stuff to a regular
: salad. Good dressing helps, too.

: I'm not perfect. I slide when I eat out--it's enough of a chore to find
: vegetarian food, much less diabetic friendly vegetarian food, but I'm
: better at home. I can post a couple of my recipes, but I warn you, they
: use tofu and dried tofu sticks and other things that you may not like.

: Woof

I am not a vegetarian but have a few suggestions for non-meat meals and
items I am able to use. One is a non-fried or breaded eggplant parmigian,
using naked slices of eggplant either bakes or microwaves (softer) then
topped with sauce of yur choice and sliced mozzarella and grated parmesmam
cheese, whether baked or microwaved.

Breakfast of cottage cheese, small amounts of a few fruits and a big
dollop of lo fat yogurt works ell for me. Just be sure to use small
amounts of rht fruits(3 or 4 varieies of berries, 1/5 of an apple or
mango, etc, no bananas)

In general I can't handle much grain, but I find I can have small amounts
of barley, say in a soup and lentils, also in a soup made with about half
the lentils called for in most recipies. I also have discovered black SOY
beans, which are naturally full of fiber. I make a chili of them recently
and ate too much, not fo rmy BGs but fo rmu digestive tract. A few day
later I had a smaller portion and everything was OK. You can also use
these in soups, etc. the do, however, thae an enormous amount of time to
cook. I will be trying them in a pressure cooker to see if that 3 hour
time can be reduced. You might be able to make these a staple of a
vegetarian diet.

there is also spaghetti squash, which you can use in place of spaghetti
with sauce an d cheese on top. Not quite the same, but it is close
enough for me to work.

Just a few suggestions to help you along.

Wendy