Husband Is Having Medical Problems

Protein is good; limit the simple carbs.

2 eggs for breakfast with oatmeal on the side is great.
Sandwiches are fine as long as you don't slather them with goop. A slice of cheese, lettuce, a tomato/onion and meat on light bread is ok.
Dinner should be a meat, green and red veggies (avoid corn, it is starch= carbs=sugar). A good garden salad (lettuce greens, cucumber, tomato, black olives, onion, etc.) with a full fat dressing (usually low fat varieties have more carbs!) can be a side dish at every meal if you want. Avoid bread on the table, or pasta, or any other "white" stuff like potatoes or rice.

Dessert can be fresh fruit. The darker berry type fruit is best. Oranges and grapefruits and such have more calories and sugars. My favorite dessert is fresh strawberries with a dollop of whipped cream. YUM! And guilt free!

Snacks are easy: nuts. Peanuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, sunflower nuts, pumpkin seeds, etc... they all have protein and good fats and omega's. Filling, energy, and blood sugar stabilizing.

1) FIRST of all, his Doctor SHOULD BE referring him to a Nutritionist.
THEY will tell you, what foods your Husband can/cannot eat, how to eat, recipes, how to cook, and give you information and answer your questions.
Whatever way you cook for him, it HAS TO BE, per his Diabetic condition.

2) My late Dad was Diabetic. So I know how this is. My Dad also had heart problems/high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and complications from Diabetes. It affects your entire body and circulatory system and nervous system. My Dad also had eye problems because of it. And was on Dialysis 3 times a week. He also had had open-heart surgery.
He died, from Diabetes.

3) Ultimately, your Husband has to be the one to do what is needed. He needs to exercise, and eat properly. A Nutritionist will tel him how. Per HIS condition.

4) As a Wife, you do the best you can. But "nagging" a Husband about it will not help. Diabetes is life altering and very unnerving for many Men.
It can also affect Libido. Know that.
My Mom would nag my Dad and really say to him how frustrating it was that he had these health problems. It does not help. It makes it worse.
Know that.

Ultimately, a Husband needs a partner..... in all of this, and acceptance.
And joining a community 'support group' can also help. For HIM.

5) I took my Dad to all his Doctor appointments. He could no longer drive due to his failing eyesight from Diabetes. I spoke to his Doctors in front of my Dad. To learn myself, what his condition is and what to do... even per his medications.

6) You CANNOT do this for him. You CANNOT do this without knowing, real knowledge about it from a Professional or a Nutritionist. Because- each person's condition, is different. It is NOT a one size shoe fits all.

You can tell your Husband about my late Dad.
There was a point, that my Dad would NOT even tell us or my Mom, about what the Doctor's told him about his condition.
His health deteriorated.
Once you have Diabetes, you cannot cure it.
You have to manage it.
Not by running marathons, but everyday things. Even if that means walking up and down the street. Per HIS level of condition.

My Dad, died because of it. He also had had a Stroke.
Before that happened, my Dad's health deteriorated to the point he could NOT even work anymore. And he had his own business. My Dad was a self-made man and very successful. HE was in construction TOO... and put together HUGE projects and commercial developments. He knew construction, development, project management, and did Consulting for contractors too.
I know about that all.

Help your Husband, but don't nag him. Not saying you do.
Assist him.
Be his "Partner" in this.
A Man... has unique emotions about it. And how their life may or may not change. Due to Diabetes.
Let him vent.
Let him worry too and be there for him.
Let him talk about it.

He cannot just do, what everyone else is doing per his condition. In other words, don't just do what someone else says... because it may not be, appropriate for him.
You need to see a Nutritionist. Per HIS condition and liver issues.
He should also see a specialist.
My Dad, per his condition, REGULARLY saw:
His PCP
His Eye Specialist
His Renal Doctor (kidney doctor)
His Heart Doctor.
A Nutritionist

Bear in mind, that even "skinny" people can have Diabetes. It is not only 'fat' people who have it.

All the best,
Susan

There are many success stories of people who have switched from PRE-diabetic conditions to being healthy. But they made dramatic nutritonal changes. And they followed the advice of proper diabetic cooking techniques as well as seeking advice from a certified nutritionist. Your husband has all the classic symptoms of a person who has eaten a lot of fast food and quick take out? Has he?

He must stop all processed foods. No simple carbohydrates (simple sugars). No desserts. No sweets. No pre-sweetened cereals. No white breads, except real sour dough. No donuts. No fried food.

Eat lots of healthy lean proteins: chicken, lean steaks, fish, pork, cottage cheese.
Eat tons of fresh fruits and veggies, roasted in EVOO, S&P, or steamed.
Eat oatmeal with cinnamon, whole grain breads. Real Potatoes are actually good, just not loaded with tons of butter and sour cream. Use those in moderation.

If you are at all addicted to sugar and carbs I would start by resetting this. You can do this by following a low carb diet for 2 weeks. It really works-afterwards you do kind of lose your taste for it. Esp sugar-which is SO bad for you. Worse than many people realize. Start doing some research on it and learn the chemistry behind it and you wil be amazed. It will also arm you with great information to help your DH and inspiration to stay on the right path.

A good one to try is South Beach supercharged. Or the mediterranean diet.

Definitely talk to a nutritionist first, but you can check out diabetic cookbooks at the library or bookstore.

If I were you I'd avoid white bread, white potatoes, white rice, and fried foods. And of course sugar!

I'm not diabetic but I lowered my triglycerides and lost weight by cutting out refined flour and sugar (basically eating foods lower on the glycemic index).

There is a great book titled Save our Bones. It is written for people who want to reverse or prevent osteoporosis. But the eating plan is really what everyone should be doing. It has the most comprehensive chart of alkaline vs. acidic foods I have been able to find. If you do 80% alkaline/20 acidic foods you won't have to count fiber grams or calories. There is also a fantastic website that goes with it: http://www.saveourbones.com. (But you won't find the list there.

First get your husband Eleotin this is for prevention and cure for diabetes, I have been using it for going on 3 years and my blood sugars are normal they wer at 95 just after 3 days of starting it, and it's all natural non medication, also I take fish oil for my trycliserites, and I take flaxseed for everything else, also I took off 69 pounds while taking Eleotin it's called
Eastwood Biomedical Research Inc the phone number is 1-###-###-#### tell them J. Louis recomended them and I do beliecve they will give you a discount, what you aredoing for your husband right now is what my husbnd did for me when I almost died 2 and a half years ago, he researched alot and found the Eleotin and researched it deeply and I'm cured. I pray it all works out for you and your husband. J.

Updated

First get your husband Eleotin this is for prevention and cure for diabetes, I have been using it for going on 3 years and my blood sugars are normal they wer at 95 just after 3 days of starting it, and it's all natural non medication, also I take fish oil for my trycliserites, and I take flaxseed for everything else, also I took off 69 pounds while taking Eleotin it's called
Eastwood Biomedical Research Inc the phone number is 1-###-###-#### tell them J. Louis recomended them and I do beliecve they will give you a discount, what you aredoing for your husband right now is what my husbnd did for me when I almost died 2 and a half years ago, he researched alot and found the Eleotin and researched it deeply and I'm cured. I pray it all works out for you and your husband. J.

Hello, The classes should really help. After my heart attack (about 5 years ago), I changed everything about my cooking. My husband was a little harder to convince. I cooked for him and me seperately everyday. Little by little, I changed some of his recipes. I had him eating low fat and a little healthier. Unfortunately, he passed away a year ago, March.
When I had my heart attack, I had been in Weight Watchers for a couple of months (that wasn't the cause). I had clogged arteries and now have stints and a defibrilator. I read ALL labels of foods which I eat. I eat only low calorie, low fat (especially low saturated fat), low cholesterol, low sodium foods. At first, I thought this would be impossible and limited myself to a very bland diet. However, as time went on, I was able to find many good foods to eat. I already was eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, so that part was very easy. Weight Watchers is great because they teach you how to eat sensible smaller portions several times a day. When you read labels, you will see the portion size. I never ignore that. I lost a total of 85 pounds. Some of this was Weight Watchers, some was beginning my thyroid medicine. I feel great and I don't starve.
As far as excercise, will he take a walk with you and your baby in the evenings? That's my main excercise. I also work out with dumbells for my arms. I have a bone disease which prevents me from doing some excercises. I also babysit my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter part time (now that's excercise).
Good luck.
K. K.

when my step-grandpa was diagnosed with diabetes Grandma got a bunch of diabetes cookbooks from the library for recipes. I recommend that! Cheaper than going out and buying them, and you can copy out the ones you like.

Diabetic Living is a great website for recipes! My co workers husband was diagnosed last year and she cooks alot of recipes off their website. My hubby and I are not diabetic but these recipes are great for anyone too!

http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/diabetic-recipes/

Foods that are high in fiber, coupled with drinking lots of water, are always a healthy choice (and can taste really good as well). Our family loves to eat black beans: black beans in burritoes (whole wheat tortilla, a little bit of cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato or any other vegetables you want, and salsa) are really good; and also we like vegetarian black bean chili. We usually buy a chili mix, put black beans in instead of meat, and add vegetables like tomatoes and onions. There are lots of recipes that use beans (many vegetarian ones, though you don't necessarily have to become vegetarian. Good luck!

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Oatmeal every morning (its a miracle grain). Very light dinners, even cereal is better than a 3 course meal for dinner. Eat a healthy lunch. If you arent going to exercise you really have to watch portion control. You can go vegetarian and eat a lot more food, but if you are meat eaters you really have to watch the portion control. Add water. You should always have a bottle of water to sip on all day long. Fresh fruits like apples and pears really curb appetite and are so good for you.

My husband was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a few months ago. We made slight changes to our everyday recipes - turkey sausage instead of ground beef, light sour cream, skim milk, 2% cheese, thin crust pizza instead of thick crust, dreamfields pasta noodles, low carb tortillas, sugar free ice cream, unsweetened ice tea, etc. Lots you cannot tell a difference and some it just needs time to adjust your taste. He was following more of a low carb diet until his dietician said he needed more carbs in his diet - stick to the healthy kind of carbs - no white bread and stuff like that. Brown rice, beans, etc. Just start checking the labels on things and watch the carbs - go for high dietary fiber amounts. My husband enjoys eating healthy and our family is on board too. He is still in his honeymoon phase of not needing insulin just yet. He's been able to control it with diet and exercise thus far which won't last forever. Type 2 from what I understand is controllable with diet and exercise. It's a lifestyle change and a good one too!