Diabetes And The Gluten-free Diet

[Mother of Jibril]

Next month my family is driving up to Wisconsin for the holidays. We're going to be there for at least a week. My mom suggested that we go grocery shopping when we get there (definitely) and I told her I was also planning to do most of the cooking. Good deal! She said she would do the dishes

My mom developed diabetes in her 50s, but lately her blood sugar has been all over the place... her doctor put her on insulin (I'm pretty sure she's the one that gave me the DQ8 gene, so this could be type I diabetes). Our visit is a good opportunity to try the gluten-free diet... but she asked a good question and I didn't know the answer. How do you handle the carbohydrates? I assume a diabetic would have to go easy on the gluten-free alternatives... pizza crust, muffins, cookies, etc... because all carbs are converted to glucose. I also know that diabetics have to eat on a regular schedule to keep their blood sugar level. Is there anything else?

Thanks for the input!

[confused]

Well I am on low garn/gluten free diet. I am pre-diabetic and celiac. I was told to basicallly eat meat, fish,veggies and rice products for my meals. Then for my snacks an rice protein drink/smoothie or an lara bar, or nuts and an fruit.

I have been doing this for an week and feeling pretty good. I do have to remember to eat tho, or i get all shaky and sick to my stomach.

paula

[julirama723]

Low carb diets are FABULOUS for controlling diabetes. I have many friends who actually no longer need to take any sort of pills/medication/insulin because they've learned how to control their blood sugar and prevented pre-diabetes from turning into full blown type II diabetes.

Low carb is really quite easy! It's very healthy, and it tastes great. The key is to avoid processed foods, and to avoid "gluten-free" products like cakes, cookies, breads, etc. Those products are made with carbs that have NO fiber and are high GI/GL.

Stick with foods that have a low glycemic index/low glycemic load. Basically a low carb food pyramid would look like this:

legumes grains

fruits fruits starchy veg starchy veg

nuts/seeds nuts/seeds dairy dairy

healthy fats healthy fats healthy fats meat meat meat

veggies veggies veggies veggies veggies veggies veggies veggies veggies veggies

What I mean by that is the diet consists of mostly fresh vegetables (I'm familiar with Atkins, and HALF of our daily carbs are supposed to come from vegetables, which have LOTS of fiber and nutrients.) some healthy fats, and some meat. Low-carb diets are NOT high-protein diets--this is the most common misconception I see. Low-carb diets usually keep protein around 25-30% of daily calorie intake. Depending on the specific plan, healthy fats constitute the majority of the day's calories, anywhere from 40-70%. This doesn't mean you gorge on butter and bacon. One tablespoon of olive oil added to cooked veggies is enough to keep the balance intact. A splash of heavy cream in your coffee is also enough.

The idea is to eat whole, unprocessed foods. Shop the perimeter of the store. Buy fresh produce, fresh meats, fresh dairy, nuts/seeds, squashes. If it came from a farm, eat it, if it came from a factory, ignore it.

It's also about planning. Eat at least every 6 hours (though that's more of a metabolic thing than a blood sugar thing.) When you do eat, make sure you're NEVER eating carbs by themselves, always eat them with a bit of fat. Fat slows the absorbtion and avoids a blood sugar spike. Generally, eating meals or snacks that contain a mix of fat/protein/carbs is the best thing. Rice is actually very low in fiber and high in carbs. Even though it's generally a non-allergenic food (and an easy to digest food on the SCD) I'd avoid it frequently because it is a grain, which can cause quite a blood sugar spike.

Here's an example of what I eat on a LC plan:

Breakfast: 2 hardboiled eggs with salt

Snack: apple w/peanut butter

Lunch: 1 cup string beans, small grilled chicken breast, 1 oz. cheese

Snack: 1 red bell pepper cut into strips, 1 oz. almonds

Dinner: taco salad (lettuce, homemade salsa, homemade guacamole, seasoned ground beef, 1 oz. shredded cheese)

There's nothing unhealthy about that! I actually eat at least twice the recommended daily allowance of veggies.

If you have questions, feel free to ask!

[missy'smom]

I'm still adjusting to diabetes after being diagnosed with it this past month. I test often and find that I can tolerate 15g-20g carbs per meal without going over 140. I have to make sure I get enough protein in the meal though and move around after eating. Many mainstream dieticians recommend 45g, just so you can compare. I'm not on insulin or meds. and that probably makes it different for others, who may be able to eat more than I do. I eat 4 meals a day, about every 3 1/2 hrs. I am finding that the gluten-free grains like brown rice and quinoa spike by BG up less than white rice. I go by the packages to see how much rice or quinoa to measure out or cook to get the number of carbs I can handle. I still eat gluten-free bread but slice it thin and mine is made with some oats and flours other than white rice. I don't know how much of a difference in our flours there is. I'm still learning. I have Rice Chex but have learned how much through testing and reading the label. I actually take out a measing cup and measure out my rice, quinoa and cereal and place it on my plate-every meal and probably will forever! I eat gluten-free pasta too(brown rice) but again, measure it and go by the package-which sometimes isn't helpful(because they list a serving by weight rather than a quantity that we can measure in our kitchen) so I turn to the American Diabetes Association guidlines for a serving-1/2 c. for pasta.

[ShayFL]

It's very individual.

Oatmeal will spike my BS, but the same amount of carbs in brown rice wont. It is weird. But certain foods spike my BS. White bread used to be the worst for me. Yet I could eat a custard with loads of sugar and not get the spike. For me it is food specific. Even certain "healthy" foods will do it (like carrots will spike me). With this said, I try to keep my carbs per meal at less than 30 and ideally around 25 (I dont count veggies as carbs unless they are starchy like squash or high in sugar like carrots). If I keep the carbs at that and dont eat the foods I know will spike me no matter how much I eat, my BS stays within range and I feel good.

I also exercise daily. No excuses.

I drink lots of water because water will clear excess sugar out of your blood. You pee it out.

I dont eat processed foods. I dont eat any flours ever (not even whole grain). They just spike me too much.

I just eat lots of veggies, low sugar fruits, squashes, sweet potatoes, meats, nuts & seeds and now my homemade yogurt.

Grains IMO are the biggest contributing factor to diabetes and heart disease. So I avoid them. Recently, I decided I would have a bit of rice, corn or quinoa like once or twice a month. But I find I dont really love them like I used to.

[Mother of Jibril]

Oatmeal will spike my BS, but the same amount of carbs in brown rice wont. It is weird. But certain foods spike my BS. White bread used to be the worst for me. Yet I could eat a custard with loads of sugar and not get the spike. For me it is food specific. Even certain "healthy" foods will do it (like carrots will spike me).

That's very interesting! My mom says "no matter what she eats" her blood sugar is out of control, even when she's being "good" and avoiding sugar (she has a terrible weakness for ice cream). I know she has a lot of emotional issues with food... and has been misled by all the hype about "low fat" diets. Plus my dad is a super picky eater. Just about every dinner consists of meat, potatoes, a vegetable (at least I got them eating frozen instead of canned), and a glass of milk. For snacks and other meals he's addicted to peanut butter sandwiches. My mom has major problems with fatigue and arthritis (she also has fibromyalgia), so just cooking one meal a day is a lot of work for her.

Still... I can't help but wonder how much better my mom would feel on the gluten-free (even better, Gluten-free Casein-free) diet. Maybe then she would be able to tell if foods like carrots are spiking her blood sugar!

[RiceGuy]

Actually, although most gluten-free bread recipes are heavy on the carbs, it doesn't have to be that way. There are a number of gluten-free flours which are much lower in carbs, and higher in fiber and/or protein. It does depend however, on personal preferences. If you're looking for "white bread", then it's probably not going to happen. At least not from my experience. I prefer the darker, heartier sort of breads anyway, so this is what I've been pursuing when baking breads.

Some of these flours include buckwheat, coconut, teff, fava, white bean, garbanzo, soy, montina, and mesquite. Nut meal from almonds and such are also comparatively lower in carbs too. Some with more carbs (but not bad IMO) include amaranth, millet, and sorghum.

Still, I agree that limiting breads is probably a good idea in general for a diabetic. Of course, using Open Original Shared Link instead of sugar should help too.

[AliB]

Because gluten-free foods are usually very high in carbs they are best avoided by diabetics. All Diabetics have problems digesting carbs properly - that is why they are Diabetic!

I fare a lot better on a low-carb regime with plenty of fresh vegetables. I found that even on insulin I could not control my BS enough and the hbA1c (the average reading taken through a blood test) was usually around 12 or more. What I have found very helpful and the only thing that has really worked is Vitabase Blood Sugar Formula which is not only good, but also very reasonably priced even with the high shipping charges I have to pay to get it from the States to the UK. It might be worth passing on this info to her (Google Vitabase).

I started as diet controlled type II when I was 40, 11 years ago, but eventually progressed to insulin along with the Metformin, but in the end even that was not bringing it down enough and I was loathe to up the dose too high as it was encouraging weight gain. As your Mom is on insulin she probably, like me does not produce much of her own insulin. The Vitabase seems to help the body deal with some of the insulin resistance. For the first time since I became diabetic I was waking up with normal readings! They are all natural - herbal, vitamin and mineral-based and I would recommend anyone to at least give them a try. They are not a licence to eat whatever you want, but they do help a lot with control.

I tend to have the occasional rice cake and also deal with whole grain rice better than any othes but because of my digestive issues I am following the Specific Carbohydrate diet which does not include any grains or starches so am keeping those to a bare minimum.

I am sure a lot of my digestive problems stem from eating too much of the 'Western' diet-filled obsession with high-carb, high-sugar rubbish and not having had enough good fresh (un-sprayed to within an inch of its life!) vegetables over the years, especially raw ones which contain a lot of enzymes. Enzymes are what a lot of us lack (especially the carb-digesting ones) and cooking destroys them. Pasteurisation destroys them in milk and dairy too, so between that and cooked food we are consuming a lot of enzyme-dead food. No wonder so many of us are dairy intolerant - the lactose-digesting enzymes that would normally be in the milk are no longer present.

The gluten damage prevents enzyme formation in the gut as does gut dysbiosis and rogue bacterial activity - I am convinced that some of the rogue strains of the little beggars down there actually have the ability to switch the enzymes off so that they can preserve their food source of undigested carbs! If you have ever had anti-biotics then you are almost certain to have some degree of an unbalance in the gut flora, and the more you have had the worse the dysbiosis.

AB's kill the good guys along with the baddies but there will always be survivors. If the survivors are baddies then they will grow to fill the space left by the destruction of the good guys and there will be nothing to stop them - they will then have become resistant to the AB's so they wont stop them either! Hence the huge explosion of very problematic and hard to control Candida and yeast overgrowth and the constant march of other very nasty AB-resistant bacteria.

I am eating plenty of home-made live plain yogurt and taking probiotics and it is helping, but I will have to wait and see how well. If I ever find a way to get past the little beggars and switch the enzymes back on, be sure that I will let you all know!

[Live2BWell]

I am also pre-diabetic, and the carbohydrates are a major issue especially considering that many speciality celiac foods are loaded with carbs. I limit my carb intake as much as possible, because carbohydrates are worse than actual sugar when it comes to diabetes. Also following the glycemic index. It's best to stay with foods that are below 70-75ish on the glycemic index. If you google glycemic index foods, you should be able to come up with something. I got a list from my doc. Best of luck!

[julirama723]

This link might be helpful if you are interested in GI/GL:

Open Original Shared Link

You can look up the glycemic index of a specific food, and you'll also be given a glycemic load score based on serving size. Not all foods are listed, but quite a few are, and it's a good starting point.

[Juliebove]

I'm diabetic. I use insulin but am type 2. I don't have to eat gluten-free, but daughter is allergic to wheat so I don't bring too much of that stuff into the house.

I generally can't eat gluten-free bread because it's too high in carbs. I can eat rice in limited amounts. I can eat gluten-free pasta in limited amounts. But we're all different. My dad and brother are both diabetic and can eat waaay more carbs than I can. Sometimes I feel like just looking at carbs will raise my blood sugar.

[Nancym]

Many Type 2 diabetics are using low carb diets to control the disease, some are able to get off meds entirely. There's a book called Dr. Bernstein's diabetes solution a lot use. Another forum I recommend is Open Original Shared Link. Type 1 diabetics also use the diet to reduce the amount of insulin they have to use.

If you're a celiac it isn't any different from if you aren't, really. I don't think those celiac replacement foods are any better for you (probably worse really, more starch) than the foods they replace.