Brittle Diabetic question

[Guest guest]

I have a question regarding my brother-in-law who is a brittle diabetic. My

sister called me tonight asking me if I could help her with this. Her

husband is on medicare and is on 20 mg of lantis daily. She has a diabetic

calorie and carb book which says that he can have 2000 calories per day but

she can't find where it says how many carbohydrates he can have daily, and

is there a difference between complex and just regular carbohydrates? I

told her he needs to see a dietician but she doesn't think Medicare will

cover it - could someone out there please respond? She doesn't think he is

getting enough to eat.

Thanks so much.

Debbie in Mich

[Guest guest]

> I have a question regarding my brother-in-law who is a brittle

diabetic. My sister called me tonight asking me if I could help her

with this. She has a diabetic calorie and carb book which says

that he can have 2000 calories per day butshe can't find where it

says how many carbohydrates he can have daily, and is there a

difference between complex and just regular carbohydrates?

Debbie in Mich

Debbie,

I'm a brittle diabetic and on Lantus, with Humalog injections

before each meal to account for my carb intake. But, I also have

CP, so my diet is hard to explain, because the brittle diabetic in

me who is trying to maintain tight control over my BG rises tries

not to eat too many carbs, but go heavier on fats and protein.

Whereas the CP in me needs to stay low on fats, be careful of

protein and eat lots of carbs! Be thankful that your brother-in-law

doesn't have CP, too!

The American Diabetic Association says that about 50% of one's

diet should be carbs. IMHO, I find this advice contradictory, since

it is a known fact that carbs cause the highest rise to your blood

glucose. Other diabetic groups stress low carbs- thus low blood

glucose levels. I'm choose to go middle of the road, moderate

carbs.

Comlex carbs are better than regular carbs, because they don't

rise as high or as quickly as regular carbs. In other words, you'd

get a fast, high peak (and then a quick drop) with 8 ounces of

juice, as opposed to a more gradual rise and less of a peak with

a baked sweet potato. So the potato would be better than the

juice in that respect.

Many " low carb " diabetics won't even touch white potatos, pasta

or rice, or white flours, because of their high carb content. A

moderate carber like me will, in moderate, measured quantities,

because I need carbs for my CP diet. The low carber's make up

for this absence of carbs by consuming higher quantities of fats

(meats) than I'm able to.

What your sister needs to do is get a calorie/carb/fat/protein/ food

sheet. I use a site right off the internet that lists all the nutrional

values of just about any food you can imagine (except trendy fast

food and restaurants, I have a separate site for that). If your BIL

can have 2,000 calories a day (same as my regimen), what your

sister should do is use this nutrional sheet to plan out the meals

for BIL each day. IMO, I would still suggest that he try to stay

lower on carbs than the 50% that the ADA recommends,

because of the high rises they produce. That's about 200-210

carbs daily. I try to limit my diet to no more than 100-110 carbs a

day, otherwise I'm spending all my time trying to bring my levels

down, and they are already hard enough to control for a brittle

diabetic without adding fuel to the fire.

Tell your sister that if she would like to write to me about this, I'd

be happy to try and help. Feel free to give her my address.

Here's the site for all the nutritional listings that I use:

http://www.caloriecountercharts.com/

And here's the fast food and restaurant site:

http://www.elviradarknight.com/diabetes/restaurant.html

I hope this helps.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

hhessgriffeth@...

South Carolina

SE & SW Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments or advice is personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for professional medical consultation.