On Oct 20, 8:18*pm, sf > wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Oct 2012 17:17:46 -0500, Ema Nymton >
> wrote:
>
> > The South Beach Diet replaces bad carbs with good carbs, and bad fats
> > with good fats. The diet seems to be helpful for diabetics or anyone
> > trying to control blood glucose levels. It is actually a healthy diet,
> > and it works well for my firstborn. When I want to lose weight, I go on
> > a low carb diet.
>
> Thanks, Becca! *That would really help my husband. *He says he's
> "official" now, although he's not taking any medication yet. *My blood
> glucose level is on shaky ground, so it will help both of us.
>
> --
> I take life with a grain of salt, a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila

If you reduce carbs to 10-15% of your total calories (and weight those
heavily toward low glycemic foods), keep protein about the same (eat
as much or as little protein as you crave), and replace most of those
carb calories with fat (about 50-70% of calories from fat), you won't
have much to worry about as far as glucose levels. Insulin is for
type 1 folks. Then you can carefully add carbs back, and find the
level you tolerate. Atkins, Zone, and South Beach are all
instructive, but you don't need to follow any of their programs, just
get the general mindset. The key is making sure you eat enough fat to
get your cells used to burning ketones as well as glucose. High oleic
oils like olive oil, and foods rich in oleic like avocados, olives,
pecans and cashews are great choices.

Stay the heck away from empty carbs like wheat and rice, and avoid
potatoes too, at least for a while. Potatoes as a treat are OK, as is
corn, again, as a treat. If you can get your mind around substituting
fats as staple food as opposed to starches as staple calories, you're
going to be fine. If you can reject the pro-grain propaganda that
we've all had pounded into us for decades, you can stop pre-diabetes
in its tracks. Most folks can't do that because of the pervasive anti-
fat bias.

You like tequila. Well, one or two shots of tequila are fine, two or
three for your husband, since he is male, but I suggest a shot of
olive oil a day. Then there's chocolate. Sure, chocolate has sugar,
but if you give up empty starches, you can afford the carbs in
chocolate--of course in moderation. Calorie for calorie, chocolate is
not only more thrilling than bread or noodles, but more healthful, and
chocolate sweetened with erythritol and/or sucralose is *really*
healthful.

Then there's fiber. Green leafy veggies are spectacular, but adding
stuff like psyllium husk is good too. Citrus fiber products like
Citrucel are even better than psyllium--and far better tolerated by
many folks--but they're much pricier.

--Bryan