High Cholesterol and Diabetes

[DanJARMouse]

My dad has just been diagnosed as diabetic and has high cholesterol levels.

He is visiting us for 2 weeks in August, and I really wanted some advice on what to feed him while he is here!

My dad loves food, obviously too much, but nothing has ever been out of bounds before!

I need some tips as to what will go down well, while at the same time being suitable for me, DH and 3 kids.

We usually eat meat and veg/pasta meals, but we are guilty of too many choccy biscuits and cakes once a week!

Any help is most welcome!!!

Is your dad a type 2 diabetic? I'm assuming so from the high cholesterol.

My dad is type 2 diabetic and on medication for high cholesterol. He's made big changes to his diet. A typical day for him would be:

B: Low sugar beans on wholemeal toast with some fruit

L: Lentil soup and wholemeal roll

D: Baked fish, boiled new potatoes and vegetables.

Low GI carbohydrates are best so boiled new pots instead of mashed, or brown rice and pasta instead of white.

Lean protein - so chicken or fish rather than minced beef or steak

If you're making a desert then avoid anything too sugary and maybe have fresh fruit instead

yes, Type 2. Diet controlled for the first 3 months, as he will be taking cholesterol tablets with a view to being tablet dependent diabetic later in the year. Docs didnt give him too much info to go on!

So bread will be wholemeal now rather than white. Everything like beans etc will need to be low sugar variety.

Chicken and fish I can do - potatoes.... are they still ok?

Deserts here seem to be yoghurt or fruit for the kids anyway. Us adults dont usually bother, unless its a fruit salad or strawberries and cream.

Its all so new in my head, I just dont know where to start! Are breakfast cereals ok? He likes rice crispies, weetabix etc with semi-skimmed milk. Would 1% milk be better?

Sorry for all the questions!!! Im completely clueless when it comes to this sort of thing!

I'm seeing a dietitian at the moment for PCOS and have to eat a diet similar to a diabetic to keep my blood sugar stable. The dietitian's advice was to make sure that 1/4 of the plate is lean protein, 1/4 is carbohydrate and 1/2 is vegetables.

So potatoes are ok as long as there aren't too many of them. Boiled new potatoes are much lower GI than mashed potatoes - something to do with mashing breaking down the starch. Definitely best to avoid mash, unless you mash in other veg like swede/carrots/cauliflower.

Breakfast cereal is ok though weetabix would be better than rice krispies. The best thing is porridge if your dad likes that. Oats are excellent for diabetics because they keep blood sugar stable. Lots of cereals have hidden sugars so check the labels before buying. Anything with more than 12g of sugar per 100g is considered high in sugar so should only be eaten occasionally.

Regarding milk, the lowest fat milk you can cope with is best, though Semi-skimmed is ok if your dad finds Skimmed too watery.

Diabetes UK have lots of helpful information on their website.

Here is the best information on high cholesterol. DD and DH have raised cholesterol and the main advice re: meat is sometime misenterpreted as very limited intake. In fact they can eat and pure meat, eg, steak, lamb, chicken, etc, but must avoid processed meat, eg, sausages, bacon etc.

Basically, if you avoid processed foods as much a possible that will be a big help. Give up the cakes/biscuits for the time he is there and provide plenty of fruit and veg.

Also, it is probably worth getting your levels checked in case your Dad's cholesterol is genetic. DD was diagnosed at 10 months old and we were told to get ours checked - we then found out that DH's is raised and they both have familial hypercholesterolaemia.