I found out in April 2011 that I have type 2 diabetes. I've
managed it with diet and medication. My diet dropped sugar,
flour, potatoes, most fruit, and most other starches or high
carb/sugar content foods. Essentially goods are chosen
primarily for their low glycemic index, something I learned about
long ago when Melissa and I followed the South Beach diet (before
they caved to commercial pressure and started licensing their name
to all sorts of junk - yeah, I did that diet before it was cool ;)
). It's a little bit South Beach Phase I and a little bit Atkins,
maybe a little Paleo, but I never really looked into that.
The net effect has been to lower my blood sugar down to the
point where I was able to cut the medication in half. My last
check-in, which included the time over the holidays, showed my
average for the three months including Thanksgiving and Christmas
to be in the high 5s. Normal is 6.0. When I started, I was over 12.
That 5.something was with still having things like blueberries,
nuts, and the occasional treat at a birthday or Christmas
party.
So it astonished me to see today more than one "
Diabetic Food Pyramid" online, at established sites, which
promoted starches and breads as the primary foods that diabetics
should eat. Most even show bananas yes, bananas the higest
glycemic index fruit out there, in that big bottom
foundation portion. That's just irresponsible. I know that type 2
is different from type 1, but even my friend Scott Hanselman
found that when he ate low-carb like salads with chicken, his sugar
was really easy to control.
So, half tongue in cheek, I present to you the real Men's Food
Pyramid.
Half tongue in cheek because I try not to each that much red
meat (or anywhere near that much bacon) despite it's nomness,
but given the choice between one of those
and some sort of pastry or high carb thing (often the
choice for breakfast when traveling. I die a little inside when I
see "continental breakfast" on the agenda), the meat wins
every time.
Oh, and I need to eat a lot more vegetables - we all should.
PS. The title is not deliberately sexists. It's just whenever
any woman in my life sees a diet that looks like this, they turn a
little green.
PPS. My doctor totally supports my diet and has been astonished
with the results. I do need to lose more weight, though :)
