Author: Emma

Emma Baird is an award-winning writer, specialising in romcoms and fiction that focuses on relationships, and a type 1 diabetic. She is also the co-author of The Diabetes Diet, co-written with a doctor. Most importantly, she is the guardian of one very spoiled cat…

Giving Up Diet Coke – an Update

Emma4 Comments

diet cokeThere’s no point in making grandiose announcements on a blogging account and then failing to follow them up so here is an update on my attempts to give up diet coke…

A success. I no longer drink diet Coke in the quantities that I used to (a litre and a half a day, ahem!). I have saved myself considerable money as, like many others addicted to the fizzy stuff, I insisted on the real thing and I liked to drink individual servings rather than buying it in big bottles. It’s “fresher” that way, if you can ever use words such as “fresh” to describe Diet Coke.

[EDITOR’S NOTE – “ER… NO???!!]

I lasted almost four weeks without any diet coke. I stopped having chewing gum at the same time so that I could limit my exposure to any kind of artificial sweetener entirely. After week four, I had one (a 500ml bottle). One a week. That lasted roughly four weeks and then it crept up to two, then three and then one a day.

Which is where I am now – a one-a-day girl. When I used to drink three of these 500ml bottles a day, it used to take a lot of willpower not to drink any more. That same willpower comes into effect with drinking just one a day. So it’s willpower that has had a lot of practice. Continue reading “Giving Up Diet Coke – an Update” →

Sugar in Fruit

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Sugar-in-fruit-webgraphicWe do love a good infographic here at The Diabetes Diet – and this one by Zoe Harcombe caught our eye…

If you are following a low carbohydrate diet to improve your blood sugar control, then fruit is something you need to treat with caution.

You can eat fruit as part of a low-carbohydrate diet, but in moderation (one to two portions a day) and certain fruits are better than others, such as berries. It’s also best to eat fruits after you’ve eaten your meal as this will slow down the absorption of the sugar in them.

If you choose not to eat fruit at all, there are plenty of nutrients and fibre in vegetables – red peppers are an amazing source of Vitamin C, for example – so you won’t be missing out on anything.

The Health Benefits of Good Sugar Control

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healthy person
We prefer happy health messages!

Oof – another week, another story about diabetes: this time the ticking time bomb that affects the UK with those suffering from type 2 diabetes now numbering more than 4 million and this figure predicted to rise to 5 million in less than a decade.

Nothing new there exactly, as experts have been predicting this particular time bomb for a while. I’m not a great fan of such stories because of their gloom and doom tone. It’s all very well frightening people, but fear isn’t always a great motivator.

Why not stress the good things that happen when you take control of your diabetes? As a type 1 myself, I can personally vouch for how different you feel when your blood sugar is under control.

Like you could conquer the world!

In contrast, when your sugar levels are running higher than they should, it makes you grumpy (as my husband and mum can certainly vouch for), depressed and tired on a day-to-day level.

If you watch your diet carefully, eat low-carbohydrate meals and take regular exercise, you can start to:

  • enjoy higher levels of energy
  • feel less tired
  • feel as if you WANT to exercise or get active
  • feel sociable
  • see your skin improve (rashes clear up and the tone evens out so that you look younger)
  • lose weight if you need to and enjoy the confidence and other feelings that are usually associated with losing excess weight
  • see improvements in your dental health (high sugar levels often result in gum disease)
  • reverse certain complications associated with diabetes
  • enjoy improvements in your relationships (it’s really hard to have great relationships when you are feeling like s**t)
  • sleep better (though maybe you won’t just be going to bed to sleep, see above bullet…)
  • feel better after you eat (instead of wanting to go to sleep).

Do you want to add any other improvements you have seen or experienced since taking control of your blood sugar levels? Please let us know in the comments. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

Emma2 Comments

new-years-day-1064217_960_720Happy New Year to everyone who follows The Diabetes Diet blog. We wish you health and happiness (and normal blood sugar levels) in 2016.

If you’re planning to kick-start low carb eating or in need of low-carb menu planning ideas, check out our blog as we’ve got loads of delicious recipes here, and plenty of information via the D-Solve course and the How to course which will help you work out how to deal with your diabetes.

And if you want that little bit extra help in a book where all the information is in one place, check out the Diabetes Diet here.

Rob Kardashian Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

Emma2 Comments

Världsdiabetesdagen

As you might imagine with a condition as prevalent as diabetes, the topic is in the news frequently.

One article that caught our eye this week was the news that Rob Kardashian has type 2 diabetes. Rob Kardashian (in case any of you are saying to yourself, “who??” having recently returned from an extended sojourn on Mars) is a member of the all-powerful Kardashian k(c)lan*.

Members of the family are famous for breaking the internet with their ginormous bottoms, transvestism, dating men their girlfriends really should have sat them down and had an “avoid like the plague” word about, and spending vast sums of money.

Rob has been famous of late for steering well clear of family gatherings, most notably sister Kim’s wedding to Kanye West, and publicity.

As publicity loves nothing more than rumours of family fall-outs and fatness in celebrities, it found him anyway and recent pictures have shown a rather over-weight and unhappy looking young man.

According to TMZ, the 28-year-old was recently hospitalised and subsequently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. High-profile people with type 2 diabetes aren’t hard to find – Brian Cox, Tom Hanks, Sir Steven Redgrave and Larry King for starters – but Rob is unusual because he’s so young.

On the other hand, diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is on the rise – and it’s on the rise in people of a younger age. One 2007 article, for example, looked at incidences of type 2 diabetes in children under the age of 17 in the UK and found that “the frequency of type 2 diabetes appears to be increasing” blaming it on the increase in childhood obesity.

Poor Rob is likely feeling overwhelmed and unhappy at this moment in time, wondering what this diagnosis means for him and the way he lives his life.

On the plus side though, having now been diagnosed he can get on with making himself feel much, much better. Type 2 diabetes can and is improved all the time by lifestyle factors such as diet (and of course we’re going to promote the low-carb diet here a la The Diabetes Diet) and exercising regularly.

And of course if Rob would like any of our recipes for the dishes that can support his return to health, he’s welcome to peruse our website!

 

*In a gloriously egotistical way, mamma Kardashian insisted on naming all her kids with K names, even the ones with names not usually spelt with a K. You gotta admire it.

Pic thanks to Oskar Annermarken on flickr.

 

 

Pensioner Celebrates 80 Years of Living With Type 1 Diabetes

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Pic thanks to Diabetes UK

Congratulations to Clifford Whittaker – who this week celebrated living with type 1 diabetes for 80 years.

The Essex pensioner received an HG Wells medal from Diabetes UK in recognition of how long he has lived with the condition.

Mr Whittaker told the BBC he had never allowed his diabetes to stop him from doing anything and that his late wife Doreen had played a part in keeping him healthy over the years. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 8 and only stopped driving two years ago.

Sharon Roberts of Diabetes UK said Mr Clifford was an inspiration, showing people that it was possible to live a long life with diabetes if you managed your condition well.

Read the full story here. Pic thanks to Diabetes UK.

If you want help managing your diabetes for great blood sugar control, check out the Diabetes Diet. 

Pork Meatballs – Low Carb

Emma2 Comments

Mince of any kind is really versatile and pork mince makes the most amazing meat balls. My recipe for them is very simple indeed – it creates dense meatballs, but that’s not an issue with me.

Aldi stocks Scottish-sourced pork mince which is approved by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), and Red Tractor-scheme approved pork in other parts of the UK. The two accreditations should mean that the pigs are subjected to higher welfare conditions than pork without them, although the charity Compassion in World Farming has challenged the claims of the Red Tractor scheme. If in doubt, buy your mince from a farmer’s market or buy organic or certified free range.

Pork Meatballs

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

pork meatballs500g pork mince

1tbsp finely chopped fresh sage

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Mix all the ingredients together (don’t be stingy with the black pepper). It’s easiest to mix them with your hands – and shape them into small balls, just a little bit smaller than a golf ball.
  2. Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for half an hour. Serve with a tomato sauce over spiralised vegetables, or steamed cauliflower or chop in half, fry off in olive oil and use in a salad with some crispy bacon strips.

Each meatball has 1g of carbs per ball. 

As an added bonus, here’s my favourite way to eat pork meatballs – for breakfast! This is not the most appealing looking dish (we’re more about substance over style here at Diabetes Diet), but it’s really quick and easy once you’ve got a stock of meatballs to hand.pork meatballs scrambled eggs

Pork and Eggs

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

  • 4 pork meat balls
  • 2 large eggs
  • 10ml olive oil or 10g butter
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Chop the meatballs into quarters. Heat the oil or butter in an omelette pan and add the chopped meatballs.
  2. Allow to brown and then add the beaten eggs (which have been seasoned with a little salt and pepper – you won’t need much because the meatballs are seasoned).
  3. Move the eggs around as if you are scrambling them. It won’t take long to cook them – about 30 seconds.
  4. Serve with some vegetables (if you want to feel virtuous).

Allow about 1g of carbs per serving (and 5g of carbs if you serve it with 75g of green beans as I’ve done here). 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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thanksgivingWe have a sizeable American audience so Happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating the occasion with your friends and family today.

Thanksgiving means… well, a lot of food of course and a lot of carb-laden options.

Candied yams, pumpkin pies and stuffings made with breadcrumbs etc.

Of course, you can’t be perfect all the time when trying to stick to a low-carbohydrate diet, but if you do want some low-carb versions of your favourites, here they are…

Butternut Squash Soup – a favourite starter made lower-carb by the good folks at Atkins.

On the same website, there’s a great recipe for green beans, which can be served as an accompaniment to the roast turkey.

Lowcarbdiets has a stuffing recipe which uses low-carb bread, vegetables and seasoning to create a lower-carb version of this roast turkey accompaniment.

Still with Lowcarbdiets, the site also includes a pumpkin pie recipe which has roughly 8g of carbohydrate per serving so you don’t need to miss out on this seasonal speciality.

Finally, Mark’s Daily Apple has a whole host of delicious sounding recipes – from wild mushroom soup with vegetable confetti, devilled eggs, zucchini (courgette) and squash gratin to scallops wrapped in bacon and crab bisque. Check out the full range here.

As it so happens the Thanksgiving meal isn’t a million miles away from the typical British Christmas menu, so hopefully our British readers will find some inspiration for their own Christmas cooking.