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Joy’s diet: The doctor’s diabetes diet for dummies

3 min read

I have a friend who is a type 2 diabetic. She attributes her diabetes to the way she ate for the first 50 years of her life. She described her way of eating as follows: Her breakfast consisted of a glass of chocolate milk. At 10 a.m. she would open a 12-ounce bottle of cola and sip it until noon. At noon she would open another 12-ounce bottle of cola and sip that until about 3 p.m. Then she would have a snack consisting of another 12-ounce bottle of cola, which she would sip until dinner. At 6 p.m. she would have dinner. At 8:30 p.m. she would open her last 12-ounce bottle of cola and sip that till she went to bed.

Processed versus unprocessed

Joy went into a coma in 1989. When she went to the doctor, he diagnosed type 2 diabetes and prescribed a change in her diet. He gave her very simple rules to follow for each category of food (Joy is not a nutritionist) and one general rule. The general rule for all foods is that processed is bad and unprocessed is good. Processed means canned, bottled, bagged, boxed, packaged, frozen, pre-prepared. Unprocessed means fresh, raw. Processed food is found in the central part of the supermarket. Unprocessed food is found around the perimeter of the store. That’s where you will find the fresh produce – fresh fruits and vegetables; fresh meat, fish and fowl, butter, eggs, cheese and dairy.

Carbohydrates

The rule for carbohydrates: White is bad. Yellow – use with caution. Green is good. Under white would fall sugar, white flour, white bread, pasta, white rice and potatoes. Under yellow is corn, squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and cooked carrots; raw carrots seem to be okay. Under green would be all vegetables that aren’t white or yellow. These would include asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and sauerkraut, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, escarole, garlic, onions (in small amounts), peppers (any color except yellow), mushrooms, parsley, spinach, greens of all kinds (including collard greens, turnip greens, lettuce, watercress, etc.), string beans, summer squash and zucchini. Even though cauliflower is white, it would fall under the green category.

Joy can eat fruits that are not too sweet: all berries, peaches, tangerines, grapefruit, melons (even watermelon), apples, pears, kiwi, avocado, lemons, limes, nectarines, plums, cherries, pineapple. These fruits must all be fresh, not canned or dried. The fruits that Joy cannot eat are bananas, oranges, grapes, dates and figs.

Fats

All forms of raw nuts are included: Almonds, cashews, hazel nuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, walnuts, macadamia nuts. Raw seeds such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds are fine. Nut butters such as almond butter or cashew butter are acceptable so long as they contain no sugar or hydrogenated fats. She can eat all kinds of natural cheeses and olive oil. Joy can eat butter and eggs.

Proteins

Joy can have fresh fish, fresh shell fish, fresh fowl and meat. Red meat and pork she limits to 2 or 3 times a week and to small servings of 3 or 4 ounces. Processed meats such as cold cuts, bacon, frankfurters, sausages, pepperoni, luncheon meats, canned meats are out.

Joy has made food her medicine. She has three general guide lines about what to eat:

Eat only unprocessed food.

Eat only food you like.

Listen to your body.

Mary Lou Williams, M. Ed., is a lecturer and writer in the field of nutrition. She welcomes inquiries. She can be reached at (239) 267-6480.