Comments by "Ginny Jolly" (@ginnyjollykidd) on "What Diabetes Does to the Body | Can You Reverse It?" video.

Yes, there's a glycemic index, no it's not on the package. I have used a combination of plate division and carb counting (30g per meal X3 plus 30 g for snacks for females, an extra 25 g/day for males). Also taking my blood sugar, sometimes testing a food before and an hour after to see how my body acts upon it. Glycemic index is only a number used for research comparison. It doesn't really measure a whole lot. I think I get a better idea about any one food if I measure my blood sugar before and after a food. If a food makes my blood sugar stay high at 1 hour afterwords (close to 200, and I've measured some at 200+ a few points), then I know it is a high-glycemic food for me, and I must watch how much I eat of it at a time. Otherwise, I eat fruits and veggies of lower glycemic index like apples, peanut butter, meat-heavy foods, avocados, cucumbers, and other stuff in the produce section. I try to stay away from bread and rice, and if possible I remove rice from any frozen dinner. Since rice is mostly pure carbs, removing even five grams makes a difference, since each gram of carbs contains five calories each, and 25 calories removed makes a difference. Now I know why there is frozen riced cauliflower in the freezer section at the store. I've used it as a filler for stuffed cabbage successfully, and my stuffed bundles make 41g - carb meals. I've also found a small electronic scale useful. Mine cost $15.00,and a number of them cost $20.00 - $30.00. I try to keep to one slice of bread since one slice has 23g carbs. I like light rye, and it has about 3 or more grams less per serving of carbs per slice. Pair rye with sliver-sliced lean beef, Swiss cheese, saurkraut, and Thousand-Island or Russian dressing (Reuben on Rye), and you have an excellent, carb-friendly meal. Things like that. For cakes and cookies from scratch, I'd have to count total carbs and divide the whole thing by servings and determine carbs per serving. Yes it's a pain in the derriere, but it becomes easier as you do it more. Then you can save the info. And there are always carbs posted in the nutrition info on a food package. Another tool I use is Nutritionix.com where you can look up the nutrition info on most foods. It's the most comprehensive database out there. But I've read nutrition information since I was a child of about 8 yo.
3
This slide is a sample of healthy tissue. I'm sure you can Google more for comparison.
2
@MarkSmith-js2pu Fruits and grains are fine. Nothing is off the table. You just manage it. On the divided plate, half is protein and dairy. One quarter is high-carb foods, and one quarter is low carb foods. Yes, discover what produce and proteinacious foods you might like, but don't pass up high sugar content fruits. There is a lot of nutrition in those fruits. And there are foods that help prevent sugar spikes as well as medicines you are prescribed.
1
In a way, I think eating junk food saved my life. I love fruits and veggies, and I credit that and being able to eat a healthy diet through cancer treatment. But after I broke my ankles, I wasn't able to exercise like before. But I still ate well. Then I got onto a Krispy Kreme doughnut kick. Several months later I saw my Primary Care Dr. and he said, "Oh, by the way, you have diabetes." I was shocked. But I think I wouldn't have known so soon if I hadn't pushed my blood sugar with doughnuts. With Metformin and managing my diet, I learned about my condition, and I continue to learn. I have learned a number of physiological causes of certain symptoms. I worked hard at physical therapy so I could go back to the gym. I am modifying my diet to limit intake of junk and high-carb foods to one or two servings so I can still have the taste and feel while being good with my blood sugar. So for example if a serving of a pie is 50 g carbs, I take half a slice so I get the taste but reasonable carbs. My doc says it's not sticking to the serving size that gets a lot of people.
1