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angie207
Raw Master
I am on a plan to reverse diabetes, and I need to not eat any fruit, honey, agave, etc. until my blood sugar stabilizes, and then only low-glycemic after that. I realized I have a lot of recipes that are sweet, or have at least some sweet components. I want to be successful at this, but all I can think of is what I am used to. Any ideas? The only non-sweet recipes I am thinking of so far are: Kale salad, raw tacos, sushi rolls, zucchini pasta with marinara or alfredo, and green salads (of which I only have one that the dressing isn’t sweet – I told you!) Anyway, suggestions & recipes would be greatly appreciated! :)
Edit: I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, & most of the info. about diabetes is for type 2 (90% of diabetes cases are type 2). If anyone has any more info. for type 1, that would help, too.
Comments
You could probably just exclude any sweetner in your recipes? What about stevia??
So you have diabetes? Agave nectar is supposed to be good for diabetics. That would mean you can eat anything with agave nectar. If I’m wrong, then what you’ll want to do is get creative with salad. My Simple Filling Salad recipe is delicious, sorry I don’t have the link but look at my profile and I only have one salad recipe, that’s the one. The dressing is red wine vinegar and olive oil, that shouldn’t be high-glycemic. I’ll think up some creative recipes for you and I’ll post them soon!
Angie, is there a specific program you are following?
Wow! You guys are quick – Thanks!
skinnoz – I have always had a really bad feeling any time I have thought about using stevia.
rawclaire – I was diagnosed with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes seven years ago. Agave nectar is low-glycemic, but I am not supposed to eat any fruits (even low-glycemic ones) until my blood sugar is stabilized.
Hippie Chick – I am going to be following Dr. Gabriel Cousens’s Reversing Diabetes program, at least the majority of it. He uses it to treat type 2 diabetes all the time, but three or four people with type 1 diabetes have been successful with it, too.
Also, while I was first posting the topic, the mail came, with the books I had ordered by Dr. Cousens! I’ll let you know more as I find it out :)
Raw foods ALONE will reverse diabetes. Even if you ate fruit. Though I agree that skipping the fruit is very beneficial for not. Also, you could use stevia as it has no sugar. Also, its like $8.00 for 2 oz and you only use a drop so it goes a long ways…making it a cheap sweetener. The only thing is not everyone likes the aftertaste.
I know that raw foods alone will reverse type 2 diabetes, and even when I ate fruit & honey, I only needed about one-third the amount of insulin as when I ate cooked food, but I am not totally well, yet, and that is my goal – to be 100% healed! Thanks for the input, everyone, & keep it coming! I feel like I am a starving person coming to a huge banquet, with all the information, encouragement, support, recipes & ideas I get here. Bless you all!
Dr. Brian Clemment fromn Hipppocrates Health Institute also highly advises against diabetics eating ANY fruits and sweetners because of the high sugar content (we have hybridized fruit to be sweeter over thousands of years, so it is not as “natural” this way as the original fruits). He also recommends eating sprouts (of all kinds) and juicing sprouts (along with wheatgrass juice that Hippocrates and Ann Wigmore – the founder of Hippocrates- is known for). According to him and their studies, sprouts (which contain the purest essence of living, vital life force) introduce living enzymes back into our bodies to help regenerate our cells from the ground up, so to speak. This is, of course, a very simplfied explanation. He has some fascinating books out for more specific info regarding healing through foods.
Best wishes to you!
Please keep us posted on your progress! I have a friend who is Type 1 and I am trying to convince her to try the Cousens approach – we went and saw him speak about it a month or so ago. He has had some luck with curing Type 1 but much more with Type 2 so I think she is a little skeptical. Plus, she is currently not raw or even vegetarian so it’s a big step. I’d love to hear how it works for you! Also, how do you know when it’s okay to decrease your insulin? She’s a little nervous about when to do that. Best of luck to you!!
On recipes – I just made this rawcotta – from Ani Pho’s book – and that would be good with slices of zuchini (maybe dehydrated a bit), drizzled with a little EVOO. Yum!
aspire – Thanks for the info! I just started some seeds sprouting yesterday, because I realized that I need to add them to my diet in order to get the enzymes I need. I didn’t know he had written books. I found it ironic & funny that my diabetes doctor’s name (the one I went to when I first started eating high raw) was Brian Clements! When I heard of Brian Clement that you mentioned, I laughed & thought, that’s funny, it’s God’s way of telling me this is the kind of doctor/healer I need. :D
Tryingraw – I believe I can be cured. Not everyone has that belief. If your friend can come to that belief, then she will seek out the things that will really help her get well. Even if she doesn’t want to be totally healed of diabetes, raw food has given me a ton of energy & I use a lot less insulin than when I eat cooked food. I’ll definitely keep you all posted!
Thanks! That’s what I tell her too – how much better I feel since I’ve been doing raw. It’s been life-changing for me. I don’t think it could hurt her – only help. At worst, she’d at least decrease her insulin. But you can only point people in the right direction and encourage them. I’d much rather her try this than go on the pump like she is thinking of…
And I think you can be cured too! I really do. Best of luck.
Tryingraw – sorry, I forgot about the decreasing insulin question. Doctors will say that you should only decrease it when your blood sugar is getting too low with the amount of insulin you are taking. I haven’t read/heard Dr. Cousens’s method yet, so I don’t know if it is the same. If it is in his book, I’ll tell you.
I just saw your last post. The pump was a life saver for me because I hadn’t found raw food yet. But, I feel like the pump has made it easier for me to be slow about really making the changes to get well, because it has made it so convenient to be diabetic. Someone I knew when I was first diagnosed didn’t want me to ever start using insulin, because she knew/believed there were alternative treatments that could heal me from diabetes. I was scared & didn’t know what those treatments were, so I went the insulin route. Now, I believe what she knew back then, and it is time to heal. If only I had had the courage to listen to her! But, everything for a reason – I have learned a ton & I am better able to help other people because of my journey. Good luck with your friend!
Interesting read is the 80-10-10 diet by Dr. Douglas Graham.He describes sugar’s 3 stage journey through the body and the role of insulin. He writes, “eating a high-fat diet, cooked or raw, contributes not peripherally, but directly and causally to all misleadingly named ‘blood-sugar metabolic disorders.’” It’s the fat, not the fruit—a little confusing to digest at first. “Sugar + Fat= High blood sugar” (raw pie)!
lzhpt – Interesting. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder, not metabolic, but the information could still apply, I suppose. Thanks!
I started reading “Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine” by Dr. Cousens, and already I am learning a ton!
Okay, so the list of foods I can eat for the first 3 – 6 months is even smaller than I thought. I’ll post the list & maybe people can help with recipes? Although the Rainbow Green book has some recipes, I would always welcome more :)
just a thought on recipes – how about savory green smoothies? Green for Life has several recipes in the back of the book, including things such as dill and sun dried tomatoes. Also, how about buckwheat cereal with cinnamon (with nut or seed mylk, without the dates)? I’ve also heard that chia is good for diabetics, as well as cinnamon and aloe.
Here is the total list of what I will be eating: nuts & seeds (but no cashews or peanuts) young coconut meat, raw vegetables (but none of the following: yams, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, hard squash, parsnips, pumpkin & rutabaga), avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini & yellow squash, red bell pepper, lemon & lime, sea vegetables, oils (flax, olive, sesame, coconut, almond, & sunflower only), chlorella, spirulina, Klamath Lake Algae, legumes
That’s it! (It says stevia, but I haven’t felt good about using it.)
HELP, PLEASE!!
Edit: Also, no grains, except buckwheat & quinoa, which are seeds that are sort of grain-like.
newbie – I didn’t see your post before. Thanks for the ideas – I have never liked the idea of greens & fruit together, so the savory green drinks I might really like, and the buckwheat cereal sounds good! I knew about cinnamon, but not about chia or aloe – GREAT! I am about ready to go to the health food store to buy some of the things on my list :) It is great to know I have the support of all of you!
ani’s cook book outlines how to soak/dehydrate buckwheat to make it like “rice crispies.” chia and aloe help to slow glucose absorption. with the list of ingredients that you have, it looks like you can make a close approximation of ani’s sun burgers, guacamole, bruschetta (one of my favorites – tomato, fresh basil, salt, olive oil), nori rolls with avocado/cucumber and a nut spread, zucchini hummus with red peppers for dipping, coconut yogurt, Rejuvilac with lemon, sea noodles with marinara sauce, ‘real’ cream cheese (http://goneraw.com/recipes/1358-Real-Cream-Cheese)... I’ll think of some more
newbie – thanks for the ideas. No rejuvelac, though – no grains, except buckwheat & quinoa, which are seeds that are sort of like grains. I’ll edit my list to reflect that. Yes, I have made the cream cheese – yum! Is Green For Life Ani’s book? Or a different one?
Can’t read all this now…but VERY interested…thought about going to Tree of Life and doing that 3 week thing with him..but am iffy. BTW I have been type one for 20+ years and on a pump. Let’s stay in touch…maybe even a diabetes sticky????
You may want to check out the book The 80-10-10 diet. I just got it today and although I haven’t read the whole thing, according to the author (Dr. Doug Graham) you should actually be cutting out the fat (nuts, seeds, oils) and not the fruit. In fact, the more fruit the better.
It would take me way to long to explain why – it takes him quite a few pages. I know it seems TOTALLY counter-intuitive, but he does make a VERY convincing argument. And he does goes into details about reversing diabetes.
Like I said, I haven’t even finished the book yet, so I don’t know how I’ll feel about it when I’m done. But so far it makes a ton of sense to me.
Hippie Chick – Yes! Let’s stay in touch.
GregX999 Thanks for the info. about the book. Let me know when you’ve read more. Most diabetes is type 2 & that is what the books tend to focus on. Let me know if it says anything about type 1. :)
Green for Life is Victoria Boutenko’s book. Ani Phyo’s cookbook is Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen.
Oops! I’ve been reading further, and no buckwheat or quinoa for the first 3 – 6 months, either, but I can have cacao & Himalayan or Celtic salt. I’ll edit my list.
GreggX999 – The diet Dr. Cousens recommends is lowfat, too. His method of no fruits is only for the first few months, and it is because this is a diet that is free of anything that causes fermentation in the body. It gets rid of Candida, among other things & is recommended for everyone, not just diabetics. Later on, certain fruits are fine – mostly just low-glycemic fruits, though.
It looks like you should get a nice spiralizer – a strong one that can handle root veggies. then you can do lovely pastas using a different base every night – pesto on carrot/parsnip pasta, marinara on zucchini, etc.
Winona – I can’t have carrots or parsnips for the first few months, but the pesto is a great idea! I will think about the spiralizer for after the initial phase – do you know what brand(s) can do hard veggies?
I remembered I have also made good raw pizzas :)
It is so strange; I am switching to a diet that is extremely more limited than before, but I feel more free because this diet feels like just what my body needs :) I got the book, made my list & then went shopping yesterday, and my mouth has been watering constantly at the thought of all these greens & vegetables! I made a very bitter chocolate bar with cacao & coconut oil, and a filling made of young coconut meat & almonds chopped together in the food processor. I know I couldn’t do this without the support from all of you (my mom thought I was extreme already & can’t figure out why I would do this, even though I told her I feel I need it & that it works for people to reverse diabetes!) THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!