Low Carb Cookbooks

I finished my DAFNE course in early February and have been trying to make changes at home, diet and exercise and so on. I recently bought a couple of low carb cookbooks which I am finding helpful:

'The low-Carb Cookbook' by Elaine Gardner (2011) Published by Southwater
"Lose wight the smart way with 150 healthy, tasty recipes;


'Recippes for Health: Diabetes (2000) Azmina Govindji and Jill Myers, Published by Thorsons "Low-Fat, Low-Sugar, Carbohydrated counted recipes for the management of diabetes." (bought this one on amazon marketplace as it was pub in 2000); and

'The Vegetarian Low-Carb Diet Cookbook' (2011) by Rose Elliot, Publ Piatkus. "The fast no-hunger weightloss cookbook for vegetarians."

My HbA1c has gone from 10.4 to 8.00 since finishing the course and I have lost 2lbs in weight.

I still have bad days because of other conditions, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis which can upset diabetic control when they flare up, but am managing better than I had initially thought I would.

I am also hoping to lose more weight, I am 10st 10lbs at 5'4" in height, and want to lose the excess 10 lbs. I am hoping this will help not only improve the diabetes further but also to reduce inflammation factors and help my other conditions. I try to exercise by walking more and gentle exercises because my mobility is not great.

Any advice or other cookbook/diet recommendations from others who have been through the same and have to manage other conditions alongside diabetes? - thanks

How are you going with this Mairead?

I attended an exercise conference last weekend, and an unintended consequence (well, the organisers of the conference didn't expect this) was that a number of diabetics attending the conference have been experimenting with low-carb diets and almost all have been uniformly positive as to how much easier it has been to control BGs. I have been trying this out this week, and instead of a BG diary resembling massive peaks and troughs, I have seen very smooth looking graphs for the most part and I'm really encouraged by that.

Hi Warwick, I am really happy to say it has been going very well, especially in terms of controlling blood sugars and losing weight. So good, it has been terrific for my eyes, the retinopathy has stabalised. The Diabetes Centre and the Eye Dept. are very happy with my results.

Before I went on the DAFNE diet one of my favourite foods was cheese, I used to buy low fat cheddar mostly, but it wasn't really that low in fat. I didn't know that too much cheese can bring about gallstones. And sudden wight loss can aggrevate them. Had gallbladder removal surgery last November and nearly died - this had nothing to do with my diabetes or low carb diet. In fact, I am thankful to the Dafne diet for helping me be fit enough to withstand the surgery.

Now I eat Feta cheese and lots more varieties of low carb foods as well, and was very grateful for the Dafne course in not just helping me with my diabetes but also these other problems I have been dealing with. I am being encouraged to eat a bit more now and have occasional treats. I am now 9st 2lbs in weight - at 5'4" in height, and my Hba1c is 7.1.

Another thing Dafne has helped enormously with is my Rheumatoid Arthritis [RA]. Less fat - less swelling - less pain and damage. I always knew there was a link between sugar and RA control. Also, I take drugs for the RA, and they help, but are significantly helping more since the improved diet - thanks to DAFNE.

I am heartbroken to hear that the Dafne course is no longer available in some diabetes centres, it brings such a positive change to our lives. When we had the course I had hoped we would have a an annual, or even bi-annual, one-day refresher course for the following reasons;

Lifestyles: Our own lives can be busy with work and family commitments, travelling a lot with work, or in managing other illnesses and so on. It is not easy to remember everything we learned at the time of the course. I keep all the material we were given and refer back to that from time to time and it helps, but there are times I wish I could ask the medical staff more questions.and learn more about the latest thinking in controlling the condition.

Changes: Some things had changed in diabetes care over the years that I knew nothing about and Dafne was very beneficial in that regard as well.

The running of the Dafne courses may be expensive, however, the returns in terms of improved health must surely far outweigh such expenses.

Wow. Your stories beat mine :-)

And congratulations on the excellent weight, HbA1c and reduced pain. My mum suffered from RA, and I know from that how debilitating it can be.

I'm very pro-DAFNE too. I recommend it to every type 1 I meet. Certainly the amount of knowledge I have compared to pre-course is vast. And so helpful in knowing how to beat high or low BGs.

Take care,
Warwick.

I was very impressed with my DAFNE course,completed in April, and have achieved a much more stable set of blood test results: my aim is to get my Hb1c down below 8 (old money), and looking at my records it may be possible! I m on a lot less insulin, for more or less similar amounts of food. At last after 40 odd years of diabetes I m achieving some kind of consistent control! I ve given up the crafty trips to the sweetie machine at work, so hopefully some weight loss will follow.....! I also recommend the course to any type 1 diabetics I meet,its been so good for me! Glad to know its worked for others as well!

Hey Neville,

I'm finding that focusing on getting protein every meal is really cutting own on my desire for carbs. When I have sweet treats (caramel slices, sigh), I don't actually feel full afterwards and I keep wanting more. But with a meal of eggs, or lentil soup, or beans, I stay full until the next meal time.

Because I am eating less carbs, I need less insulin and it is far easier to avoid the highs and lows I was experiencing previously.

Al the best with your A1c.

Warwick.

Ta Warwick! DAFNE was a real revelation to me: 42 years a diabetic, started on glass syringes and urine testing: about ten min injection training with an orange, and away you go. Diet sheet was so basic! Even when I was taken off animal insulin and put on Humalog, no further instruction! I only found out the ten second injection after a run of particularly bad blood tests! As for injecting for what you eat,the DAFNE method has introduced some reason for the blood tests, and as I noted more disciplined eating! Even tonight with quite a high CHO meal, injection was 7 units less than pre DAFNE! Only thing now is to get a little bit of gym work in to complete the good work.....

Hi,

I'm also following low carbs diet and finding it just great as I inject less insulin. I started this five months ago and lost 7kg, even though my weight was always within the standard, but i feel healthier.