Recipes please!

[Annoyingwhineycat]

I am really struggling to know what to cook . I have high blood sugar, high cholesterol and need to lose weight. If I eat eggs I worry about cholesterol. How many eggs is too many etc. If I have feta cheese with salads is that a bad thing?
I am eating very little meat now, mainly chicken occasionally. I eat salmon at least once a week. Avocados are good but they are high in fat. Milk is full of sugars but oat milk is too. Almond milk is processed .
I only eat sourdough bread occasionally, have cut out pasta and only eat brown rice occasionally in small quantities. I’m not very good at making salads unless Greek salad.

I need some ideas which are healthy, low in bad fats and sugar and carbs. It’s a minefield. I have Greek yogurt with frozen berries for breakfast or scrambled eggs with sourdough. I’m stuck there too. Help!

Highly recommend the Hairy Bikers Eat to Beat diabetes books and also the Caldesi book Reverse your Diabetes.

When you were diagnosed, did your GP send you to a dietician or give you any dietary advice?

When DH was pre-diabetic, he had a 6mth, online course, organised via the GP. Initially weekly, then after a month it was monthly. This was in London. Maybe its not the norm everywhere, but might be worth asking about.

I was offered an online course but didn’t gel with it. The advice seems to differ very widely. I was told by a dietician that porridge is fine when I know it really isn’t. She doesn’t agree with Michael Moseley on anything and doesn’t think low carbing is the way to go. So I didn’t have much time for her.

Are you testing your sugars at home?
Are you keeping a record of what you are eating and drinking?
if not then I would recommend it, I found it really helpful in figuring out which foods I could handle and which sent my sugars out of control.

Basic guidelines are:

1. Don’t eliminate any food groups, but do limit carbs with your focus being on eating complex carbs like wholegrains, seeds, berries, green veg rather than high starch, white bread types.
2. when you eat carbs pair them with fat or protein so apple with peanut butter, toast with avocado
3. plenty of fibre and protein 4 a 20 min brisk walk after a meal really really helps your body to process the sugar

Meal ideas:
Omelette - can load it with onions, peppers, mushrooms, ham, chicken etc to make it really filling and add fibre.
Meat and 2 veg style meals - chicken breast with corn on the cob and tenderstem brocolli, steak stir fry with sugarsnap peas, beansprouts, green beans and asparagus, chicken thigh tray bake with big chunks of onion, carrots, sweet potato, cherry tomatoes and seasoning.
If making a lasagna for DH and DD I hold back some of the red sauce and meat and use it to stuff mushrooms/peppers and roast it alongside the lasagna.
Im a lazy cook so love my slow cooker, I have a base recipe of 500g whatever meat I fancy (pork shoulder, beef shin, mince, turkey thigh), tin of tomatoes, 2 packs of pre-prepared sliced fresh mushrooms, bag of pre-prepared baby carrots, bag of pre-prepared sliced red onion. If I can be bothered I soften/brown everything before putting it in the slow cooker, if I can’t be bothered then I just leave it in the cooker on high for longer. Add in some seasoning that you like, some chilli or a handful of red lentils if you like those. It’s adaptable just avoid starchy veg and carbs. That gives 4 portions, I have 3 for lunches and 1 for the freezer, then I make a new batch with different flavours. The freezer collection builds a bit so I have emergency meals when I need them.

I don’t eat fish so no suggestions there but would just go with the basic idea that you can eat whatever meals you had before and sub out or reduce the carb, eg instead of a mound of rice have a small amount and a portion of cauliflower/broccoli/babycorn/greenbeans/mushrooms - roasted, fried, boiled, steamed.

Check out the recipes in the Low Carb section

Low carb will definitely help you. And ignore what your dietician is telling you!