"Bruce©" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 02:38:20 -0500, jinx the minx
> > wrote:
>
>>It's also not an All About Julie group. Or a Shopping For Food group. Or
>>an I Need To Eat This Way Because I Have Gastroparesis group. Or an I
>>Can't Eat That group. Or any other excuse you use when you justify
>>tearing
>>down what other people post about cooking. How is that different or even
>>okay to do? Can you say double standard? You posted the original recipe,
>>and we as your audience are entitled to comment on it, plain and simple.
>>If you didn't want the feedback, you should have kept your carb concoction
>>to yourself. And really, my comment was in agreement with and directed to
>>Barbie, not you, until you shouted that you needed more attention which I
>>am now giving you, so be happy. I'll repeat my agreement: it's far too
>>carb laden, and I am entitled to say that regardless that this isn't a
>>diabetic newsgroup.
>
> Is the entire US diabetic? I don't know anyone who's diabetic, but in
> this newsgroup it seems to be the standard. What have you all been
> eating the past 50 years?

I can only speak for myself as to what I ate but no, not all Americans are
diabetic.

My mom considered bread to be poison. As such, we rarely ate sliced bread.
My dad took sandwiches in his lunch. We had cold meatloaf sandwiches on
road trips perhaps 2-3 times a year. French toast or toast for breakfast
about as often. We did have stale donuts at least once a week as they were
cheap. Also occasional biscuits, cornbread or quick bread such as date nut
or cranberry. Rolls only for holidays or company. So not often. She also
thought that cheese made us fat so that was rationed as were olives. Not
sure why the olives were.

I will say that we dined out a lot as my mom hated to cook. I took over
most all of the cooking at 12 and did some of it prior. My mom was fond of
packaged things like Rice A Roni and taco seasoning. I was not and
preferred to make from scratch. Even tortillas and pasta when I could get
the ingredients or time allowed. But... Both parents were from the Midwest
so that sort of fare is what we mostly ate at home.

A very common meal was hamburger patties eaten with no bun and canned peas
on the side. Spaghetti Red, Hamburger Helper (not if I could help it but
mom loved it), tuna casserole, mac and cheese from a box, tacos, pot roast,
ham, pork chops, chicken, occasionally steak. Mostly plain meats. No
sauces or gravy. Not even seasonings. Potatoes were not served at every
meal but when we had them, they were usually mashed. Sometimes home fries.

During the Weight Watcher years I often just didn't eat except for the
veggies as most meals were white fish poached in water with dill or tomato
juice. Liver and onions once a week.

Breakfast was usually cereal. Either oatmeal or cold. I hated most cold
cereal so again, didn't really eat much of it. My mom also pushed sliced
bananas for breakfast which I hated and tried not to eat. But sometimes we
had grapefruit. Always just enough juice (usually orange) to swallow our
pills. We were required to take allergy pills daily and also vitamins
although when we were small, the vitamins were chewables.

Lunch at home was usually Campbell's soup. But when we got older, we also
had canned chili, ravioli and sometimes something else like Beefaroni. We
also had a lot of tuna salad. My brother hated raw tomato so his would be
on a lettuce leaf and mine would be stuffed in a tomato. Perhaps a few
crackers or pretzels on the side. We also had cottage cheese (which was not
rationed) and fruit.

We were required to buy our lunches when in school. My mom believed in the
hot lunches until she finally tried one. Then we were no longer required.
I didn't mind the fish sticks or hamburger gravy, both of which were served
with mashed potato. Also the tacos which had beans and weird cheese inside.
I also liked the canned vegetables. But that was about it. There was
almost always a small roll which I did eat only because the meals seemed
very small and it was never enough food for me. I flat out will not eat
things that I don't like, even when hungry. Since I often didn't eat much
breakfast or most of my lunch, I always raced home, hungry. Exception was
5th grade. I then worked in the cafeteria so had all kinds of leeway with
food that year!

Dinner almost always had one or two canned vegetables and a salad. Although
the salad was often just iceberg. When I had my garden going, we would
often have a relish plate as well or fresh vegetables such as peas instead
of the canned. Sometimes my mom made soup and we had popcorn with that.
Sometimes she made stew or some kind of tough chewy beef or chicken with
noodles.

After school snacks were usually limited to a red Delicious apple, a big raw
carrot or pretzels. Maybe a small sliver of cheese too. We had popcorn
almost nightly before bed.

I did buy candy pretty much every week with my allowance. Usually the
chocolate covered fudge bar that Sheldon has mentioned as it was only 5
cents. For a time, my friend and I went to the movies every Saturday and I
got a small box of hard cherry flavor candies. In those days the offerings
at theaters were much smaller than they are now. But if I was careful, I
could make the box last through the double feature. We could also bring our
own food and drinks.

My mom liked to serve frozen blueberries (in their frozen state) for dessert
but my brother and I would not eat those. Sometimes we had other fruit but
I was never big on fruit. Mostly if there was dessert, it was fruit. But
mostly there was no dessert unless we had company.

My mom did a lot of cookie baking for a while and so did I but it seemed
that mostly we had packaged cookies. Vanilla wafers during the Weight
Watcher years. The cookies were mostly for my dad's lunch. We could eat
them if we asked. We could have two. One for each hand. But I rarely ate
them because they were rarely of my choosing. My dad also frequently
brought home stuff from the Hostess outlet that he would sneak to us when my
mom wasn't around. But I didn't like that stuff either. Once in a while I
would try a pie.

When we dined out, I liked to get a roast beef dinner but we didn't seem to
go to too many places that served that, especially as I got older. Or I
might get a steak. But if there was a salad bar, I would get just that. I
also loved soup so if what they were serving that day sounded good, I would
have that and maybe something like an English muffin. Once in a while I
would be allowed to get a sandwich so would get a tuna melt, Super bird
(turkey, cheese, bacon and veggies I think) or a grilled cheese with
veggies. Or a chili size which was a burger covered in chili, cheese and
onions. But I mostly just ate the chili part. My parents hated it when I
ordered sandwiches so I didn't get those often.

As a kid, I would not eat pizza, ever. Also would not eat most burgers or
fries. However, my dad would get me a McDonald's double burger and fries
when they got pizza. They didn't get pizza often. To me this was like
punishment or lesser punishment. I didn't like McDonald's either but at
least it didn't gag me. Turns out the problem there was the sausage and
black olives that they always got on the pizza. Although I love olives, I
don't like them heated. And I have an extreme dislike for greasy meats.

My mom loves candy and did seem to buy it often but in small amounts. Often
it was stuff that my brother and I didn't like. But if we did, she would
cut it up so we only got one bite each. We usually had friends or neighbor
kids over so whatever it was had to go around. And during the fall/winter
we always had nuts in the shell. We could snack on those but we generally
stopped after two or three because they made such a mess and were hard to
open.

For drinks, we had hot or cold tea. Mine was always unsweetened but I
sometimes had lemon. Also Wylers which was like Kool Aid but it had to be
sugar free, as was our soda. The soda was usually Shasta. It was bought by
the case and several cases each week. The entire shelf and floor under the
workbench was full of soda. We were only allowed regular for our Slushie
mugs. The diet wouldn't slush. But... We had to have other kids over. We
all took turns making them and each of us got one bite. My mom also pushed
us to drink milk with meals. I sometimes made hot chocolate for my brother
and his friends but I didn't like it.

I got my first apartment at age 19 and quickly went vegetarian for the most
part as I couldn't afford much in the way of food. I ate Carnation
breakfast bars when I had a coupon for them. They were very cheap with a
coupon and they contained vitamins. I had no money to buy vitamins. Or
boiled eggs or occasionally cottage cheese. That was my breakfast.

Lunch and dinner when I could afford it was a really big salad of whatever
greens I could procure. Same with whatever other raw veggies. Canned
beans, olives, cubes of cheese, nuts, and perhaps chopped boiled egg. Never
dressing but sometimes lemon. A roll or bread if I had it. I almost always
made bread from scratch (but did not make it often) but if I had a roll, it
would be a purchased one. By the time I got off work, the bakery nearby
marked whatever was left down to almost nothing. So I would sometimes be
able to get a roll.

I also made big pots of soup and big batches of pasta. I would portion this
out and freeze to take to work for lunch.

Dining out was a different story. Usually once a week when I was legally
old enough, or if I could manage to get in otherwise, my friends and I would
go to whatever happy hours we could go to that served free food. We took
turns ordering a drink. One of us would get a well (cheap cocktail) drink
and the rest would get coffee. Coffee is usually free here in bars and
cocktail lounges. Here would be one exception to my vegetarian meals.
Tacos were usually what they served for free but sometimes we could get
other things like cheese and vegetables. This would essentially be a
desperation meal for many of us so we would make do with what we could get.

On the weekends, we made the rounds of the stores that had free samples.
The health food department of one store put out lots of cheese. If we were
unable to get enough samples, then we might buy a few things like raw fruit
and vegetables, a chunk of cheese, small loaf of bread, then eat the stuff
in whoever's vehicle we used to get to the store.

We also ate a lot of popcorn at my house. My friends bought me a hot air
popper. Although I prefer pan popped, in those days, the oil was an added
expense. We drank coffee with this which I also made. We all took it
black. I also ate peanut butter sandwiches and canned peas for protein when
I could afford them.

Thankfully that phase of my life didn't last too long because I really was
hungry most of the time.

When I had more money, I began eating dinner out much of the time. Usually
soup or salad and usually vegetarian meals but I might sometimes get
something with tuna, turkey or even chicken soup. Salad bars were still
common and that was always my choice, provided that they had a lot of fresh
veggies and not just prepared salads.

As the years went by, I made new friends and stopped dining out as much.
Began cooking at home a lot more although I continued to eat a lot of soups
and salads. And three things came into play here. The push was for a low
fat diet and I took it to the extreme. So much so that I wasn't consuming
the recommended amount of fat. At that point in time, we could buy many
kinds of low fat cheese. Some tasted so good that I suspect they really
were not low fat. However, my mom drummed into me how cheese would make me
fat so I still rationed even that.

Breakfast was often muffins that I made with oats, whole wheat, egg whites,
applesauce, fresh or dried fruit and nuts. Those nuts were the main source
of my fat. And while I was still eating a lot of veggies, there was not
much protein and proportionally my diet was mainly carbs and limited
strictly to 1,000 calories per day. Some now think this kind of diet can
cause type 2 diabetes.

At this time, I also developed high BP and was put on a new class of med.
The Beta Blocker. Which has since been linked to diabetes but... It's sort
of a chicken and egg thing. Did this med cause the diabetes? Or is it that
people who developed high BP at around age 25 like me have the start of
Syndrome X which is a precursor of type 2 diabetes? Dunno.

Another cause of type 2 can be various psych. type meds and steroids, both
of which I think are over prescribed. I did not know of the connection with
steroids and I had many steroid shots. Twice for an allergic reaction to a
bee sting and many times in my nose for ear and sinus infections which I now
believe were caused by my food intolerances. Most likely dairy and egg.

I will now fast forward to my pregnancy. I was diagnosed with gestational
diabetes but I believe it was really type 2 as it came on quite early in my
pregnancy. But two things I did not know then. One being that reactive
hypoglycemia is thought to be a precursor to type 2 diabetes. I had this
for most of my life. And two, I had a lot of relatives on both sides of the
family who had diabetes. I only knew of one. But due to my advanced age
and a medical problem that runs in my husband's family, I had to have
genetic counseling. This meant getting medical histories from as many
relatives as I could.

Only then did they admit that they had diabetes or some long deceased person
in the family had it. They kept it hidden because of the stigma attached to
it. That is what they told me. And even today, lots of people still do
this. You may well know some diabetics. They just might not want you to
know. The perception of many is that we are nothing but fat pigs who ate
crap until we got diabetes. As you can see, I tried to eat what I thought
was healthy. But maybe it wasn't really so.

Some here have accused me of oversharing. I don't care. I have also heard
that some people are very private people. That's a foreign concept to me.
I figure I am who I am, and I am an open book. I see no reason to hide
things. Of course I do not go around mentioning to anyone I see that I am
disabled or have diabetes or whatever. But if the subject comes up, I will
admit to these things. I see no reason not to.